I wanted to be one of the first people to submit an entry for this new edition and prompt. I hope I am somewhat successful in that quest.
It is week 151 episode 1 of the #hivelearners community and this is certainly one of those prompt topics that I immediately got excited by the moment I saw it.
I am a recently graduated doctor from the University of Ibadan. And if there is anything I know for sure that I learned during my many years at the University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH), it is the fact that...
HEALTH IS MASSIVELY UNDERRATED.
Health is really massively underrated, by a whole lot of people, even educated, literate who you'd think would or should be more knowledgeable and conscious of their health.
What I observed was that NOT ALL, BUT MOST, of the patients that came to the hospital only came to the hospital if the disease or symptom was causing them severe pain, or only after months, sometimes, years of the symptoms disturbing them. Often, by the time they present, the disease would have progressed significantly into a bigger problem for both the patient and doctor. They end up spending more and stressing the doctor more for urgent solutions.
To be fair to the populace though, most of them are not educated enough about common symptoms. Non governmental organizations receive money from generous donations for organizing health awareness programs and end up embezzling the lion share of the money, leaving the masses with half-assed programs with a very narrow reach. Really despicable behavior.
The government as an entity is also seemingly passive about the things that actually matter in society such as health. Currently, the University College Hospital has been completely devoid of electricity supply for over 3 months. The medical consultants in UCH have also been on strike for over a month now. The resident doctors of teaching hospital in Ilorin have also been on strike for a while now, decrying the dilapidated state of the hospital. Their demands have been met with radio silence from the government. A hospital that used to have over three hundred doctors now has only forty three, leaving then brutally overworked for the same meagre salary. This will invariably negatively affect the patient's experience at the hospital occasionally, which might deter them from presenting to the hospital early in the future.
The state of the economy, especially in Nigeria, is also a viable factor why people may choose not to present to the hospital with their symptoms as early as possible. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the physiological needs of food, water, clothing etc. have to be met before someone can easily think about settling higher needs such as health or self actualization. With about 56% of Nigerians living in poverty according to the latest 2024 statistics, it is no wonder that people would rather have risk death with their health than choose to starve. One is still a slim possibility, while the other is a near certainty.
The reasons I have given only begin to scratch the surface, but I hope the picture is getting apparent.
However, despite the many valid reasons why you might want to act otherwise, it really is advisable to go for checkups when you can. It doesn't b even have to be a full checkup. At the very least, your blood pressure and blood sugar levels should be closely monitored. Those two are things that can be easily monitored and can affect a lot of bodily processes and systems of their values are far away from the normal ranges. You can even get a personal glucometer and sphygmomanometer in your home for you and your family to use. This can increase the frequency with which people get tested.
In conclusion, health is wealth. Guard it jealousy, for you've only got one life.
That's one thing that scares me also
What if I go there healthy and leave with a contagious disease because the government didn't provide the necessary things
I think good health is not an underrated blessing. We just tend to pay less attention to it until our body forces us to do the needful.