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Here’s why chewing your tablets is wrong, according to pharmacists
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When people chew drugs that are designed to be swallowed, it not only affects the efficacy of such drugs but also worsens the degree of their side effects, says National President, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Dr. Samuel Adekola.
Adekola said that people should take drugs based strictly on instruction by a pharmacist. According to him, chewing or, equally bad, swallowing of drugs without water, affects their dissolution in the stomach as well as their absorption in the small intestine, thereby making them less effective. The pharmacist who disclosed this during an interview with PUNCH HealthWise said that chewing enteric-coated drugs could aggravate their side effects such as ulcers because they are not designed to be chewed.
World is currently facing shortage of 900,000 midwives -Report
Written by Super User
The 2021 State of World’s Midwifery report by the United Nations Population Fund, the World Health Organisation, the International Confederation of Midwives, and partners shows that the world is currently facing a shortage of 900,000 midwives. The figure, according to the UN agencies, represents a third of the required global midwifery workforce.
The report also indicated that the COVID-19 crisis has only exacerbated these problems, with the health needs of women and newborns being overshadowed, midwifery services being disrupted and midwives being deployed to other health services.
The Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 has advised Nigerians to disregard a video clip being circulated on various social media platforms as the new guidelines released by the committee.
The committee said that the guidelines in the trending video were issued over a year ago in April 2020. In the 55-second clip obtained by one of our correspondents, the National Coordinator of the defunct Presidential Task Force on COVID-19,
The African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases at the Redeemer’s University Nigeria, Ede, Osun State, says the strain of COVID-19 currently ravaging India has been detected in Osun and Edo states.
The virus is the same as India’s strain, but different in characteristics, says ACEGID researcher, Prof. Christian Hapi. This is even as renowned professor of Virology, Oyewale Tomori,
Why Nigeria should be worried about India’s COVID-19 variant –Researcher
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A healthcare research scientist, Dr. Oladipo Kolawole, says Nigeria should be worried about the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in India, noting that the country must do whatever is necessary to prevent the importation of the Indian variant.
Speaking with PUNCH HealthWise on Tuesday, Kolawole, who is a lecturer at the Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State, said Nigeria must step up surveillance activities to ensure that new COVID-19 variants are not imported into the country,
Deworming pregnant women reduces neonatal death, low birth weight
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Deworming pregnant women can reduce the risk of neonatal mortality and odds of low birthweight in countries with soil-transmitted helminthiasis, a new study has revealed
The study, jointly carried out by researchers from the Syracuse University and SUNY Upstate Medical University, New York, and the World Health Organisation, was published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal. Based on findings from the study, the researchers called for an increased global effort towards the distribution of deworming medicine for pregnant women, noting that the benefits far outweigh the costs.
Why wearing tight clothes in pregnancy isn’t worth the trouble
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Maternal health experts have decried the rate at which pregnant women wear tight-fitting clothes, especially among young mothers, saying it could have adverse effects on their health and, possible, that of their unborn babies.
Experts say that the womb does not grow out of the pelvis until 12 weeks of pregnancy and most women will still get away with wearing their normal clothes until then.
The global fight against COVID-19 pandemic last week received a boost with the approval of Chinese-made Sinopharm COVID19 vaccine by the World Health Organisation. The approval, experts say, will give more countries access to COVID-19 vaccines.
Describing the approval as a positive development, experts say it would scale up COVID-19 vaccination in the African region, as many African countries have barely moved beyond the starting line.
Lagos announces new vaccination strategy to prevent COVID-19 third wave
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The Lagos State Government says it is deploying a new vaccination strategy to prevent COVID-19 third wave in the state. The state’s Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi disclosed this during a press briefing on Wednesday. According to Abayomi, Lagos was deploying what he described as “a ring strategy” to ensure the third wave of COVID-19 is prevented in the state.
Explaining what prompted the vaccination strategy, the commissioner said, “Given the small number doses received, the Ministry of Health wishes to deploy some of these vaccines via a ring strategy. “Ring vaccination controls an outbreak by vaccinating and monitoring a ring of people around each infected individual. The idea is to form a buffer of immune individuals to prevent the spread of the disease.”
Fans and well-wishers of Olanrewaju Fasasi, a.k.a Sound Sultan, have expressed concerns for the musician’s health after reports on Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with throat cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy in the United States.
As previously reported, The PUNCH contacted a close friend of the 44-year-old singer, who confirmed Sound Sultan’s presence in the U.S., but was unable to ascertain the purpose of the crooner’s visit to the country. The PUNCH provides an overview of throat cancer, explaining its types, causes, and symptoms. Throat cancer refers to cancer of the voice box, the vocal cords, and other parts of the throat, such as the tonsils and oropharynx.
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About 38 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been acquired by the continent out of which 22.4 million doses have so far been administered, representing 1.8 per cent of the African population. Meanwhile, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has reached 4,660,304 as of Thursday, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said yesterday.
NMA Alleges Plot to Impose VC on LASU, Prevent Medical Doctors from Emerging
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Medical doctors in Lagos State, under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Medical Guild and Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), have alleged that there are plans by political forces to impose a vice chancellor on Lagos State University (LASU).
It said there was also a plan to prevent medical doctors, who are professors of clinical medicine, from emerging as vice chancellor in the university as part of a larger conspiracy. Chairman, NMA Lagos, Dr. Adetunji Adenekan; Chairman Medical Guild, Dr. Oluwajimi Sodipo and Chairman, MDCAN LASUTH, Dr. Mumuni Amisu, yesterday, in a joint statement on the vice chancellor selection crisis in LASU, said:
The World Health Organisation Country Representative for Nigeria, Dr. Walter Mulombo, said Nigeria and other African countries would no longer receive funds to support polio eradication activities from January 2022.According to him, Nigeria and other countries on the continent had been removed from the priority list having been declared polio-free.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary of the FCT Minister, Anthony Ogunleye, on Thursday, quoted Mulombo as saying this when he led a delegation of the WHO to update the minister on key public health issues.
Working long hours increases death risk from heart disease, stroke –WHO
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The World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organisation, say 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease occurred in 2016, noting that most of the deaths recorded are among people who worked for long hours. WHO, in a statement from its headquarters in Geneva on Monday, said that the figure was the first global analysis of loss of lives and health associated with working long hours.
“WHO and ILO estimate that in 2016, 398, 000 people died from stroke and 347, 000 from heart disease as a result of having worked at least 55 hours a week. “Between the Year 2000 and Year 2016, the number of deaths from heart disease due to working long hours increased by 42 per cent and from stroke by 19 per cent,” it said.
