ABUAD's Team SCORA Celebrates World AIDS Orphans Day In Grand Style (Pictures + Details).

Israelmore Ayivor once said "Don't be a pepper on the eyes of people; Rather be the salt on their tongue and make a difference that influences their sense of belonging to the earth".

The Standing Committee on reproductive health including AIDS which was inaugurated sometime last year and has been earlier described as not just a team , but a team with a difference ready to change and impact lives.

The standing committee on Reproductive Health including AIDS (SCORA) is one of the six standing committees of the International Federation of Medical students’, within SCORA, medical students from all over the world work on issues concerning reproductive and sexual health and this can be through advocacy work, projects or through peer education.

Reproductive health is a very wide subject, ranging from sexual rights, to women’s health and HIV/AIDS. However, the five main areas within the field of reproductive health viz: comprehensive sexuality education, violence against women, maternal health, access to safe abortion as well as HIV/AIDS, it’s prevention and stigma discrimination.

As a result, the ABUAD team for SCORA, as the National representatives for SCORA in Nigeria, is out to make sure that its impact is felt not only in ABUAD, But in other parts of the country and the world at large through the different programs that have been scheduled for the running year such as; online debates, campaign against issues such as rape, child molestation, international seminar against gender inequalities and village outreaches amongst others.

I wonder if Isaac Singer ever knew about TEAM SCORA when he said “The greatness of art and doing is not to find what is common but what is unique”, having conducted an international recognised online debate in March, ABUAD’s TEAM SCORA accomplished yet another milestone on Thursday, 7th of May 2015, which was the International World AIDS Orphans Day.

TEAM SCORA led her team of delegated and elite medical students cutting across all levels to a Rural Sensitization outreach which was organised by The Standing Committee on Reproductive Health with AIDS (SCORA) and The State Aids Control Agency (SACA), Ekiti- State Chapter.

The outreach had in attendance; 20 medical students, 3 health personnel from SACA and a female photographer from JOYCEP Photography.

The team left ABUAD at about 10:20 am and got to the first rural station at Ido –Ekiti at about 12’o clock on Thursday. On getting to Ido-Ekiti , the team headed straight for the Federal Teaching Hospital(FTH) Ido-Ekiti , where delegated members met with residing members of the team at Ido- Ekiti.

Two schools were involved in the sensitization program namely the Federal Teaching Hospital Nursery and Primary School as well as the Federal Teaching Hospital Secondary School, where members of the team spoke about the causes, effects and means of prevention of HIV/AIDS amongst other health related topics that were discussed during the sensitization program.

Onyinye , a 300 level medical student who also happens to be a major member of the team said “One of the best ways to fight stigma and empower HIV positive people is by speaking out openly and honestly about who they are and what they experience”

Conclusively, I would like to say that Henry Ford was not wrong when he said “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress; and working together is success”, and I would also like to use this medium to congratulate TEAM SCORA as well as the entire medical body and ABUAD in general on yet another milestone accomplished…KUDOS!!!

                                                              #Oshamo