MEDIA RELEASE – 28/02/20
New Dawn FM and the Bougainville Health Department, with the assistance of K10,000 from Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), will soon be launching a weekly radio program, dedicated to improving the health of Bougainvilleans.
The program, to be aired on 89.9 New Dawn FM, will cover a wide range of health topics of relevance to Bougainvilleans with the aim of raising greater levels of awareness and understanding.
Some of the subjects to be covered include communicable diseases and water sanitation, lifestyle illnesses such as diabetes, maternal childhood health; the importance of seeking medical assistance in cases of measles, tuberculosis, HIV or malaria; through to heart health, family planning, managing teenage pregnancies and educating listeners on the effects of illicit drugs.
BCL chairman Sir Melchior Togolo said the company was proud to be supporting the new radio program and commended both New Dawn FM and the health department for such a worthy initiative.
“Improving the health standards and outcomes of Bougainvilleans must remain of highest priority given its intrinsic link to enhancing living standards and quality of life overall. As the old saying goes, if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything,” he said.
Mr Togolo said healthier communities were generally more productive and happier communities and in particular; we needed to focus on reducing the instances of health problems that were preventable and initiatives such as this would assist those aims.
Well-known radio personality Aloysius Laukai will be hosting the new program and each week he will be speaking with respected doctors, health officers and other specialists across the many topics that will be covered.
“Our aim is to reach as many people as possible with useful information and advice. The better-informed people are the better equipped they will be to make good decisions regarding their health,” he said.
Other topics that will be covered include mental health, dental and eye care and first aid. Mr Laukai said it was planned for the program to run for 52 weeks on a Thursday evening with a repeat on Friday mornings.
The first program aired last night 27/Feb, at 8.30 pm on 89.9 New Dawn 89.9 FM when Mr Laukai spoke with ABG health secretary Clement Totavun who officially launched it. Episodes will be aired every Thursday 8.30 pm BST and repeated on Friday morning 8am
Due to the Corona virus issue, secretary Totavun explained the plans the health department had made on how to react to the virus if it was detected on Bougainville.
The program will also be made available on the NewDawnFM Youtube Channel.
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For further information, please contact:
BCL Communications Manager || Denika Seeto || denika.seeto@bcl.com.pg