The Chairperson of the KNUST Wellness Committee, Prof. Ibok Oduro wants continuous investment in health and wellbeing for improved productivity.

She observes a lack of attention to healthy lifestyle.

She said this when the Centre hosted its inaugural awards ceremony and mini food bazaar to acknowledge outstanding contributions to wellness and well-being by health educators and fitness enthusiasts.

She explained, “In life, change is not easy. For people to take their health seriously, is not easy. It needs to be an intentional decision. We seem to budget for other things but not our health, our well-being examples social mental, emotional and financial Wellness, we don't think about them until we are sick, then we spend huge sums of money on it.”

She continued, “We believe in ‘prevention is better than cure’ If we do this then the money spent at the hospital on drugs will be used for Wellness activities.”

The awards ceremony acknowledged the dedication of individuals who have played a pivotal role in fostering a culture of wellness on campus through the KNUST Saturday walk and aerobics to the KNUST Wellness Month screening.

The KNUST Wellness Centre has been operational since 2021, and is dedicated to medical education, physiotherapy, diet therapy, psychological counselling, sport and exercise, games and dance. The Centre has been organising screening programmes on Hepatitis B and C, breast cancer among others.

Awardees for the event included the College of Engineering which swept two awards; the ‘Most Conscious Wellness College award’ and the ‘Teamwork award’; College of Agriculture and Natural Resources won the ‘Most Creative College award’; Mrs Mercy Vanessa Darkwaa Appiah-Castel and Dr Nana Akua Abruquah for the ‘Leadership award’.

The rest are; Mr Benedict Ansere and Miss Florence Azuma for the ‘Most Punctual Male award’ and ‘Most Punctual female award’ respectively, Mr Emmanuel Mfum-Mensah as recipient for the ‘Star Performer award’, Mr Dominic Ntrakwa Ofori  popularly known as ‘Dee’ as the ‘Most Committed Fitness Coach award’ and Dr. Charles Apprey for the ‘Above and Beyond award’.

The Ansere family was also awarded as the Most Committed family.

Mrs Mercy Vanessa Darkwaa Appiah-Castel, an awardee, commended the Centre and shared her excitement. “I want to say a very big thank you to the KNUST Wellness Centre. We are grateful for the recognition. It is my belief that this recognition will encourage all of us to put in the best in all that we all do.”

The event underscored the KNUST Vice-chancellor and management’s commitment to prioritizing the wellness and well-being of its community members.