The Federal Government has announced plans to incorporate Emergency Health Education into Nigeria’s primary and secondary school curriculum.
This follows a recent Emergency Health Education Curriculum Conference organised by the Health Emergency Initiative in partnership with the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council.
In a statement made available on Tuesday, the organisers described the conference as a major step toward strengthening health security and emergency preparedness within the country’s education system. The event brought together stakeholders from the health, education, policy and emergency response sectors to deliberate on strategies for integrating emergency health knowledge into schools nationwide.
Speaking at the conference, the Executive Secretary of NERDC, Salisu Shehu, stressed the need to institutionalise emergency health education across the school system. He said embedding such knowledge in the national curriculum would help build resilient communities and nurture a culture of preparedness from an early age.
Chairman of the HEI Board of Trustees, Emmanuel Imafidon, characterised the collaboration with NERDC as a significant achievement in aligning emergency health awareness with national education standards. He reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to ensuring that Nigerian children acquire essential life-saving skills.
According to the statement, the conference featured presentations from more than 20 experts, including scholars, medical consultants, practitioners and certified trainers. It also included policy discussions and strategic planning sessions led by NERDC’s curriculum development team.
Participants observed practical demonstrations such as basic first aid for road traffic accidents and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
In his closing remarks, HEI’s Executive Director, Paschal Achunine, disclosed that Emergency Health Education would be incorporated into relevant core subjects in both public and private primary and secondary schools after necessary approvals are secured. He added that a standalone curriculum module would also be developed to reinforce the initiative.
Achunine further revealed that the Health Emergency Rapid Aid initiative would support the nationwide rollout by strengthening rapid response capacity and enhancing hands-on learning.
Partner agencies at the event described the initiative as timely and critical, pledging to fast-track policy adoption, strengthen collaboration across sectors and ensure effective nationwide implementation of the programme.
