Figure 1: Picture Credit – The Fiji Times Newspaper
Students of Marist Brothers High School (MBHS) exchanged their signature White Uniforms to wear RED on Thursday the 29th September as part of celebrating World Heart Day (WHD).
WHD was established to commemorate and celebrate the work being done to combat cardiovascular diseases around the world. As the second leading cause of death in children and youths aged 5-29, Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) was the focus in this year’s celebration.
MBHS Student, Jonathan Lawd spoke to the school as a Person Living With RHD sharing his journey and focusing on the symptoms of RHD and how we mustn’t be careless with our health.
Joining MBHS were other schools in the Central Division (Suva Grammar School, St. Annes Primary, Marist Primary, etc.) that also set aside a dedicated time where students can seat through RHD Knowledge Awareness Sessions whist others also exchanged their Uniforms for RED wear.
Discussions are on going with the Ministry of Education as we plan to have WHD 2023 celebrated in all schools across Fiji.
By taking the awareness and advocacy campaigns to the schools we hope to instill in the lives of these students (and their parents, families and teachers) a much-improved understanding about RHD as well as their general health seeking behavior.
