Dance legend, Kafayat Shafau-Ameh popularly known as Kaffy through her Foundation; Kreative Arts Foundation for Youths (KAFFY), has said it is partnering with stakeholders to bring health insurance to Nigerian dancers due to the spate of health issues causing death among them.
This was disclosed at a two-day virtual conference tagged ‘Dance2Health’, where Kaffy and other stakeholders such as; healthcare providers, life coaches, dance group leaders and artists assembled to proffer a sustainable healthcare package for dancers.
Kaffy explained that the summit which is first of its kind, was birthed in response to the growing concerns of health challenges faced by members of the dance industry.
“More than 98% of dancers lack health insurance and self-awareness. The majority lead a lifestyle of drugs, peer pressure, poor mental wellbeing, and personal irresponsibility.
“This is the bane of the industry. Until every corporate dance leader is shouldered with the responsibility of ensuring that every staff (dancer) has a valid health insurance cover this industry lacks a heart,” Kaffy stated.
She also revealed that aside from the healthcare insurance initiative, her foundation will launch a mental health support group where dancers can meet twice a month.
Before the summit, Kaffy noted she had done a survey of how many Nigerian dancers would be interested in health insurances and impressively, 250 responses were recorded within 42 hours.
Thefore, plans for the first phase of the initiative with an initial 500 dancers who would benefit from the healthcare insurance plan at an affordable rate are being concluded.
“We agreed to start small in Lagos by running with a proper organizational structure, proper registration of dancers within local government areas, evaluating the cost of healthcare per unit, and finally putting up a system that stirs sustainable support and sponsorship is the way to go. This conference is an ongoing conversation that was proposed to run twice per month,” Kaffy said.
