The World Health Organization reports that young people account for 40% of all new infections with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), that globally an estimated 4.6 million youth are living with HIV, and that 69% of all people living with HIV are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Educating youth and raising awareness is an effective way to combat the spread of this disease. In 2008, an oilfield services company launched HSE for Youth, an initiative that reaches out to young people to inform and empower them to make responsible decisions about health, safety, and environmental (HSE) topics. A key health-related topic of the initiative is raising HIV/AIDS awareness. HSE for Youth has implemented educational workshops on HIV/AIDS in Africa. The workshops are led by trained volunteers using age-specific materials. Awareness on this health issue is raised through interaction at the workshops and the young people in attendance are encouraged to share what they learn with their peers and families. Several thousand youth have participated in the workshops throughout the region since the program's inception.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2014 officially published a notification of an outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Guinea. With reports of the spread of Ebola in the following weeks in neighboring countries, the likelihood of its introduction into Nigeria was real. In July 2014, a confirmation of the index case in Lagos, Nigeria, caught the country unaware and unprepared. For an oilfield services provider with more than 1,500 employees in Nigeria representing over 20 different nationalities it became imperative to put up a strong, dynamic, and comprehensive response plan to manage the imminent outbreak. An immediate step was to engage with the relevant authorities in Nigeria to ensure prompt access to accurate information and establish internal communication platforms within the existing company systems. Multilateral engagements were established with various stakeholders within and outside the industry, as well as with government agencies. Within the company, training packages were developed and delivered to employees to ensure high levels of awareness of the disease, and knowledge sharing with their families was encouraged. An emergency management plan was developed and implemented that included identification and training of emergency responders, deployment of relevant resources, introduction of control measures within company facilities, and medical service provider alliances. Through the dedication, determination, vigilance and collaboration by the Nigerian government and its health agencies, industry stakeholders, and the international health agencies, Nigeria was declared an Ebola-free country by WHO in October 2014. This required the company to begin a phased deployment of the de-escalation the plan, while taking into account the presence of Ebola within the subregion and the need to maintain vigilance and keep awareness levels high.
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