Frontpage News (3256)
The Kwara State Government said it has spent 96 percent out of the World Bank support for the implementation of HIV/AIDS in the state. The State Deputy Governor, Elder Peter Kisira stated this in Ilorin during the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) advocacy visit to the state. While reiterating the state’s commitment to HIV/AIDS programme and other health related programmes in the state, Kisira who is also the chairman of the state AIDS Control Agency (KWASACA) said that this was demonstrated by the reduction in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS from 4.3% in 2001 among the women that attended anti-natal clinics to 1.47% in 2012 among the general population.
The Deputy Governor explained that four line ministries health, women affairs, youth and sports development, education and human capital development are implementing HIV/AIDS programmes in their sectors including the 16 local government areas of the state. He called on NACA and developed countries to give Kwara State special consideration in view of its border to three countries Burkina Faso, Niger Republic and Benin Republic as citizens of these countries come to the state on a daily basis. Earlier, the Director General of NACA, Professor John Idoko commended Kwara state for its health insurance scheme which he noted has been captured by the agency as micro model being adopted by other states of the federation.
Can Buhari transform the healthcare system for good? When Flora Shaw, a British journalist and novelist, gave the most populous black nation its name, Nigeria, in preparation to becoming an independent state, and having been dominated by Britons until October 1st 1960, one would think by now the name should be ranking among developed nations of the world considering its enormous natural and human resources, which were all waiting to be enhanced after the foreigners had left more than five decades ago. But at 55, various institutions in the country, including the health and educational sector, as well as our economic institutions are still grappling to be at per with institutions of some other countries that got their independence at about the time Nigeria did. Singapore, Malaysia, Cyprus, among others, according to some school of thoughts, have long passed Nigeria in terms of healthcare, economic level, poverty alleviation and other several parameters that determine the strength and progress of a country.
THISDAY investigations as Nigeria turns 55 today, revealed that the chief sector where the citizens feel the country has not faired well considering the resources at its disposal is the health sector. Majority of the populace says they have lost confidence in the Nigeria’s healthcare system, especially its primary healthcare, hence there was no need celebrating Nigeria at 55, rather, stakeholders should look inwards and reflect on what must be done to prevent the abysmally high maternal mortality rate, lack of primary healthcare for the ordinary citizens, especially in hard to reach areas, lack of quality and affordable healthcare, incessant strike actions in the sector, high cost of treatments, among others.
Malaria Drug Counterfeiting Has Dropped From 19.6 To 3.6 Per Cent – NAFDAC
Counterfeiting of anti-malaria drugs has reduced from 19.6 percent to 3.6 percent in Nigeria, Director Special Duties, National Agency of Food Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Dr. Abubakar Jimoh disclosed. Jimoh made the disclosure during an enlightenment campaign at the Malkohi IDPs camp in Yola Saturday. Jimoh who represented the Director General of NAFDAC Dr. Paul Orhii noted that the feat was achieved following the deployment of cutting edge technology adding that his organisation deemed it fit to take their campaigns to IDP camps in order to bring safety awareness to the inhabitants.
He noted that their concern for the IDPs, made his organization to also donate assorted drugs chief among which are anti malaria and anti biotic drugsThe DG noted that another reason for their intervention was to ensure that food, drugs and other consumables being used in the camps are wholesome and also to ensure that the food is fortified with vitamin A while the salt is iodized. Jimoh added that his organization has forged a working relationship with NEMA to enhance the control and administration of drugs and food in the various camps across the nation noting that in the same breath, NAFDAC is also partnering with the wife of the President as they are pursuing the same cause.
The IFC’s The Business of Health in Africa report opens with this statement: “Sub-Saharan Africa has about 11 per cent of the world’s people, but it carries 24 per cent of the global disease burden in human and financial costs.” This is further compounded by the fact that 50% of the region’s healthcare expenditure is financed by out-of-pocket payments, which have catastrophic consequences for the mass of Nigerians eking out these payments.
The study goes on to postulate that between 2010 and 2020, about $25-$30 billion investments will be needed in healthcare assets such as hospitals, clinics, and distribution warehouses in order to meet up with the growing healthcare demand. This is based on the fact that close to 60% of the health services are provided by the private health sector. This raises a germane question: how will private health sector in Africa, nay Nigeria, raise the needed funds to boost the industry’s capacity to provide health services that meet up with the demand? Enter Equipment Leasing!
The Convener, Arise Women Medical Outreach, Mrs. Siju Iluyomade, has urged the Federal Government to provide subsidised health insurance for the less privileged. Iluyomade made this call at a briefing in Lagos. According to her, the health sector is in need of an intervention in financing and only the government has the resources to support indigent Nigerians. She said, “The change we expect is that every Nigerian should have access to basic medical care no matter how poor they are.
Health care delivery should not be for the middle class or the rich but for every one that wants to live well. It is the government that can provide this for the people, individuals can only support.” Iluyomade, who said the organisation had provided free health care services to over 60,000 Lagosians since 2013, explained that it was committed to supporting the rural poor. The Chairperson, Arise Foundation, Abuja, Dr. Mojisola Odeku,
The Chief Oversight Officer, Sustainable Health International, Dr. Mike Omotosho, has said that Nigeria is not yet free from polio. The World Health Organisation on September 25 had delisted Nigeria from the comity of countries with polio. Nigeria, according to Omotosho, needs three consecutive years of non-interrupted transmission of polio cases before it can be free from the disease. Omotosho, who is also the Governor of Rotary International District 9125, stated this at a briefing in Ilorin, Kwara State.
He said, “After all the (WHO) findings, they removed us from the list of polio -endemic countries. It does not mean that we do not have polio again. We still have polio in Nigeria and we are not polio-free. Before we can be polio-free, we need two more years of hard work. “We actually need three consecutive years of non-polio case before Nigeria can be said to be polio free. However, we are no more on the list of polio endemic nation. The moment we have one single case of polio, we are back to square one. That is the reality. We will begin to count afresh.”
Healthcare Delivery: Ambode Seeks Private Medical Practitioners Support
Mrs Bolanle Ambode, wife of Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, on Thursday urged private medical practitioners in the state to complement government’s efforts in providing quality healthcare to the citizens. She made the call while receiving the executive members of the National Guild of Medical Directors, who visited her in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the visit was part of the activities marking the 2015 Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the guild.
Ambode said that government alone could not bear the cost of healthcare delivery in the state, remaking that the responsibility required public and private collaboration to drive. ”Private hospitals have been contributing a lot to healthcare delivery in Lagos State and we appreciate your efforts. ”We urge you to do more because healthcare is essential to the growth and development of the state,” she said.
The government of Ekiti through the State Hospital Management Board (HMB) is making moves to re-position the healthcare system in the state and boosting healthcare delivery. To achieve these, the governor of the state, Ayodele Fayose has directed that medical facilities in the state should be properly equipped and adequately staffed. To this effect, the State Hospital Management Board (HMB) has commenced the process of recruiting no fewer than 100 medical personnel in compliance with the instruction.
The Permanent Secretary (HMB), Dr. Kolawole Aina, who made this known, in Ado- Ekiti, disclosed that the agency had commenced interviewing shortlisted candidates from about 1,000 applicants for the various existing vacancies. Aina said that 20 medical doctors and 50 nurses would be recruited into the public service in the course of the exercise. He listed other cadres to be employed to include pharmacists, health assistants, health information officers, dental technicians, physiotherapist, medical laboratory scientists and image scientists.
According to him, the existing vacancies were consequential upon disengagement of workers from the public service, noting that many workers had retired without corresponding replacement over the years.
Source:Healthnews Nigeria
The Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has reiterated her commitment to improve maternal health and reduce the rate of infant mortality in Nigeria. She made the statement on Thursday in Abuja when Mr Perry Colderwood, the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria paid her a courtesy visit at the Presidential Villa. She noted that the wife of any leader have the responsibility to assist her husband in various ways since he is busy with state affairs.
She said that this informed her decision to float her pet project, “Future Assured’’ to provide alternative life line for Nigerian women and children. “I decided to come up with a project called “Future Assured’’ to help in reducing maternal and infant mortality rate and support girl-child education. “The project is also to enlighten parents on how to restrain their children from being indoctrinated into social vices. “Monitoring daily activities and control of every child is a unique family affair. “We need to educate women on how to control their children in order to avoid a situation where they would fall victims of indoctrination to social vices inimical to the society,’’ she said.
The Federal Government has allayed fears while debunking rumours of another Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) incidence in Nigeria, following the rumour of a suspected outbreak in Cross River State of a 21 year-old-male student of the University of Calabar.. Speaking to journalists yesterday in Abuja over the rumours of an outbreak, the permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr Linus Awute, stated, “The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) hereby confirms that there is no Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria, and thus Nigeria remains Ebola- free.
Meanwhile, the victim was said to have been admitted in the casualty ward of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital by the mother and other family members with bleeding, diarrhea, vomiting, skin rashes and mouth lesions. His temperature on admission was 37 degrees centigrade and his vital signs were stable. The parents said that the patient had never travelled outside Calabar. On the basis of the signs and symptoms, a tentative diagnosis of viral hemorrhagic fever, to rule out Lassa fever was made.
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The Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) said at the weekend that it sealed 178 patent medicine stores in Rivers State. The council also said an undisclosed number of persons were arrested during their enforcement exercise in the state. The Director and Head of department in charge of inspection and monitoring at the council, Pharmacist Antonia Aruya, at a press briefing in Port Harcourt said they were in Rivers State to carry out an enforcementGlobal Efforts To Eradicate Polio Suffers Setback With New Case In "Laos" (NOT Lagos!)
World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday announced that Laos has suffered a case of vaccine- derived polio which is a new setback to a global effort to eradicate the crippling disease after the virus resurfaced in Ukraine and Mali. The WHO said an 8-year-old boy died of the disease on September 11, and genetic sequencing suggested the virus strain has been circulating in the area of Bolikhamxay province, which has low immunization rates, for more than two years. There is no cure for polio, which attacks the nervous system and could cause irreversible paralysis within hours of infection. But a global vaccination campaign has all but beaten the wild polio virus, with only Pakistan and Afghanistan reporting cases of wild polio virus infection this year.
Specialists have warned that vaccine-derived cases – such as this one in Laos and previous ones in Ukraine and Mali – could hamper progress towards global eradication. The WHO stressed that “ending polio for good requires eliminating both wild and vaccine-derived polio.” It added, however, that because of relatively limited travel to and from this area,
The director general, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Prof John Idoko, has said that Nigeria is at a critical stage of ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to him, having reached the progress of halting HIV/AIDS transmission to less than 4 per cent in 2010, the country is now on its way to eliminating the scourge. Idoko made these disclosures yesterday in Abuja when he led the management team of the agency on a courtesy visit to the headquarters of LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group.
The NACA DG who solicited partnership with LEADERSHIP Group, explained that at this stage, information going out is very critical with regards to passing the right messages across. He said, “The number of new infections is coming down; the number of people dying from HIV is coming down and one of the big areas we are struggling with, interrupting transmission from HIV positive women to their babies is also coming down. So, we are very grateful to your paper and all the others that have supported us.
Worried that over 40 per cent of Nigeria’s adult population is hypertensive; the Federal Ministry of Health has entered into partnership with Neimeth Pharmaceuticals which sees the price of antihypertensive drugs cut by half. According to the Director of Food and Drug Services at the Ministry, Gloria Chukwumah, “4.5 million Nigerians over the age of 15 are hypertensive. The prevalence is much more in the urban than in the rural areas and it affects 40 per cent of the adult population.”
She stated this yesterday at the inauguration of the FITGAH (Fight the Good Fight Against Hypertension) Partnership Working Committee by the permanent secretary of the Ministry, Mr Linus Awute saying the scope of this partnership which will cut across the urban and rural divide will involve mass screening and isolation and medicine administration at lower cost up to 50 per cent for free. He said the committee will work to bring other organisations into the fight against hypertension to promote efficient healthcare delivery system through rational drug use.
