Frontpage News (3257)
Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio have found a way to cure type 1 diabetes in mice. It is hoped that the novel technique – which boosts insulin secretion in the pancreas – will reach human clinical trials in the next three years.
Study co-author Dr. Bruno Doiron, of the Division of Diabetes, and colleagues recently reported their findings in the journal Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. Type 1 diabetes is estimated to affect around 1.25 million children and adults in the United States. Onset of the condition is most common in childhood, but it can arise at any age.
The federal government has disclosed that Nigeria ranks first in high tuberculosis burden in Africa and 4th among 30 countries globally. The Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, said efforts were on top gear by the Federal Ministry of Health to achieve the target of providing one machine per local government area across the country in the fight against tuberculosis epidemic.
More than 1,000 people have died in an outbreak of meningitis in Nigeria, the Centre for Disease Control said Thursday, but added that the spread of the disease is slowing.
The outbreak has mostly affected children in Africa’s most populous country. As of May 9, a total of 13,420 suspected cases had been reported in 23 states with 1,069 deaths, giving a fatality ratio of eight percent, the CDC said in a statement.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has said identified stigma and discrimination as factors that prevent epilepsy patients from seeking medical treatment.
Adewole said that instead of consulting doctors, relatives often sought unorthodox treatment that is not beneficial to the patient’s recovery. The minister, who was represented by Dr. Olufemi Fasanmade, said this at the inauguration of the Samuel Olafemiwa Oladehin Foundation, an initiative established to campaign against epilepsy.
The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has raised concerns over the report that 60 per cent of drugs being sold in the villages are fake. The group raised the alarm at a press briefing to unveil the 2017 PMG-MAN forum themed “improving access to medicines: the imperatives of local manufacturing and effective supply chain management.”
Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Azeez Adeduntan, says the state government is set to raise a N50 billion endowment fund to overhaul health care delivery in the state. Adeduntan disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)on Wednesday in Ibadan at the take-off of the state’s Free Medical Mission project.
Prof. Modupe Onadeko, a former Reproductive Medicine Consultant at the University College Hospital, (UCH), Ibadan, has said that no fewer than seven out of 10 Nigerians are hypertensive. Onadeko made this disclosure while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Ibadan on the occasion to commemorate the 2017 World Hypertension Day.
According to the consultant, 50 per cent of the affected people are unaware of their condition while the remaining ones do not even bother to seek any medical help.
The Rivers State government has shut down the Churchill Primary Health Centre in the town area of Port Harcourt. It was gathered that a three weeks old baby got missing last week after being administered immunization in the health centre.
News on the streets of Churchill area has it that the three weeks old baby who was reportedly missing was later found dead three days after, on the corpse of an unknown woman.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has revealed that $3.2m (N1.08bn) worth of HIV drugs expired in storage. Adewole said this while delivering a speech at the ‘Dissemination Meeting of 2016 National Health Facility Survey’ in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has called on stakeholders in the health sector not to perceive the sector as expenditure oriented but as a business venture where there will be return on investments.More...
The Federal Government of Nigeria has inaugurated the Governing Council/ Boards of some of the health Professional Regulatory Bodies under the Federal Ministry of Health.
The minister said this in Abuja today at the National Stakeholders ‘Validation Meeting of the second National Strategic Health Development Plan framework. According to him, putting money in the health sector should not be regarded as an expenditure; instead, he said it an investment that would yield dividends.
He recommended that stakeholders should not envision the sector as expenditure-oriented, instead, he asked that they see it as an investment that will yield returns. “Health is an investment because there is going to be return on investment.”
The Senate yesterday commenced the process of making health insurance compulsory for all in the country. The move came as the Senate held a public hearing on the repeal of the law establishing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to be replaced with the National Health Insurance Commission (NHIC). 
The Federal Ministry of Health said Nigeria could face shortage in health workers by 2030, when it would need some 149,852 doctors and 471,353 nurses. In a speech marking the International Day of Midwives, the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole cited a 2016 scientific modelling projecting estimates of health workers.
At the current growth rate of doctors and nurses, by 2030, only 99,120 doctors and 333,494 nurses would be available, the projection shows. “This implies a shortage of about 50,120 doctors and 137,859 nurses. This translates to 33.45% gap in doctors’ supply and 29.25% gap in nurses’ supply,” Adewole said. “This shortfall will make the country health system vulnerable if there is no urgent and concrete plan to address the situation.”
