Second year Caribbean School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica students will on Friday host a community health fair, the final project of the health promotion module.

The aim of the health promotion module is to enable students to understand the concepts of health promotion and the strategies used in the promotion and maintenance of health in the individual, family, and community.

The event, dubbed ‘My Health, Your Health, Our Health’, will take place at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium, UTech from 9 am. It will explore topics such as proper waste disposal, HIV prevention, fire safety, preventing teen pregnancies, healthy eating and nutrition, physical activity and exercise, hygiene, violence prevention, mental health and wellness and preventing mosquito-borne diseases.

The health fair will be hosted by media practitioner Daniel Jarrett, and will also provide HIV/STI screening and counselling courtesy of Ashe, plus blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, BMI (body mass index) testing, as well as haemoglobin screening made possible by the National Health Fund. There will also be BMR (basal metabolic rate) testing and immediate printed results, plus free oxymetres sponsored by Windsor Wellness Centre.

In addition, there will be presentations by the Jamaica Fire Brigade on fire safety techniques; JN Bank on financial wellness; NSWMA on proper containerisation of waste; and the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) on awareness and prevention of drug abuse. In the afternoon there will also be a Zumba session to encourage physical exercise in a fun and exciting way.

Course representative Shaniecia Dixon said there is truth to the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and subsequently people stand to benefit from the health education that will be given at the health fair.