The Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) has emphasised the importance of health awareness for professional engineers, noting that engineers’ work environments could expose them to various health risks.
The Chairman, APWEN Lagos Chapter, Engr. Bosede Oyekunle, stated this during a hybrid health awareness seminar and meeting of the chapter on Wednesday.
Oyekunle, a fellow of Nigerian Society of Engineers(NSE), said that the seminar became necessary for members due to the physical and mental demands of their work.
She noted that regular health check-ups and awareness programmes would help in identifying potential health issues early, reducing absenteeism and increasing work efficiency.
According to her, the seminar aims to provide valuable resources and support for managing mental well-being, addressing stress, depression, and anxiety.
This, she said, would help members to understand occupational hazards and take preventive measures to mitigate potential health problems.
“As we celebrate our nation’s 64th Independence Day, we are reminded of the importance of health, unity, and progress. Today, we’re proud to host this health awareness workshop, focusing on preventive care, wellness, and empowerment.
“By prioritizing health awareness, professional engineers can maintain their physical and mental well-being, ensuring a healthier and more productive workforce, “she said.
The Workshop Facilitator, Dr Adaobi Ebere, a Consultant Family Physician, while delivering lecture on causes, prevention and treatment of hypertension cautioned engineers to avoid some daily habits of taking too much caffeine/energy drinks, and ensure that they check their BP regularly.
She noted that hypertension remained one of the silent killers that affects one in three adults worldwide.
“About 1.28 billion adults aged 30-79 years are globally hypertensive, two-thirds of which live in low- and middle-income countries,”she said.
She noted that hypertension risk factors include older age, family history, co-existing disease like diabetes mellitus or kidney disease.
Others include some modifiable factors such as overweight/obesity, physical inactivity, unhealthy diets (high in salt, high in saturated and trans fats, low intake of fruits and vegetables), increased alcohol intake, tobacco consumption and stress.
She urged participants to adopt a good lifestyle management such as regular exercise, healthy diets through low salt diets and avoidance of processed food, good vegetables and fruits intake, good stress management, drastic reduction of alcohol ingestion and total abstinence from the use of tobacco products.
On his part, Dr Oluwagbemiga Durojaiye, a fellow of the West African College of Physicians, urged participants to always ensure that they go for regular check-up so as to ascertain their cholesterol levels, kidney functionality, Liver enzymes level, thyroid hormone levels and urine analysis.
According to him, the best gift that an individual can give to himself or loved ones is regular check-up.
“We must know our numbers, the results of our previous medical check-ups when it comes to all the mentioned tests, even more than how we know our phone and bank account numbers, “he said.
