The Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria says the Federal Government’s N512. 21 billion allocations to health in the 2021 Budget estimate cannot galvanise desired development in the sector.Dr. Makinde Akinlemibola, Chairman, Lagos State chapter of the association, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Lagos.

NAN reports that President Muhammadu Buhari on October 8 presented N13.8 trillion as 2021 Budget estimate to a joint session of the National Assembly. The proposed allocation to the health sector in the budget was N512. 21 billion for both current and capital expenditure, and N35 billion for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.

Deaths directly or indirectly attributable to the first wave of COVID-19 infections across 21 wealthy nations earlier this year exceeded government tallies by 20 per cent on average, according to a study published on Wednesday. Looking at the period from mid-February through May 2020, researchers reported 206,000 more deaths than would have been expected without the pandemic. 

But only 167,148 were officially attributed to the coronavirus that has swept the globe since the start of the year, infecting tens of millions. Many of the roughly 40,000 unaccounted-for deaths were due to COVID-19

The Chief Medical Director, University College, Hospital, Ibadan, Prof. Jesse Otegbayo, has stressed the need for public-private partnerships in delivering quality health services to Nigerians. Otegbayo said this while receiving medical consumables and equipment from the Lead Generation Initiative, a non-governmental organisation chaired by Mr Shina Peller. Other items donated by the NGO include two sets of rechargeable pulse odometers, 50 pieces of personal protective gowns and 10 pieces of nebulizers.

Otegbayo said apart from the subventions being received from the Federal Government, the ability of UCH to fulfil its mission as a public tertiary medical institution lies in the support given by donors. According to him, as a public hospital, UCH gives, at least, N100m worth of free medical services to indigent patients who could not afford the cost of treatments annually.

The Nigeria Exports Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) is thoughtfully considering setting up 15 Medical Free zones in at least 15 states of the federation, not minding the torrential pressures from the State governments lobbying to skew the location of the novel Medical Free Zones to their own states.

This disclosure was made by the Managing Director of NEPZA, Prof. Adesoji Adesugba when he was visited recently by the new President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Dr. Pamela Ajayi. 

The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria has approved the training of 200 Midwives and 100 Nurses specifically for Hard-To-Reach rural areas in the State. This was disclosed today when the Director of Nursing Services at the State Ministry of Health, Mrs. Oguche Martina led other heads of Nursing and Midwifery

Institutions on a courtesy visit to the State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Hon. Kingsley Fanwo in his Office, Tuesday. Mrs. Oguche said the initiative was to bridge the manpower gap in the healthcare sector. She said the beneficiaries will be trained for two years at the Nursing and Midwifery institutions in the State, after which they will be posted to work in their communities.

A new World Malaria Report released on Monday by the World Health Organization, WHO has revealed that progress against malaria continues to plateau, particularly in high burden countries in Africa even as it states that gaps in access to life-saving tools are undermining global efforts to curb the disease.

The report which called on countries and global health partners to step up the fight against malaria added that the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to set back the fight even further.

With 1 million people infected and 440,000 lives lost to AIDS in the African region in 2019, the World Health Organization, WHO has raised the alarm that new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths were not reducing fast enough to meet the Sustainable Development Goal target of ending AIDS epidemics by 2030. In the region.

In its message to mark this year’s World AIDS Day with the theme: ” Global solidarity and shared responsibility”  WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti disclosed that children living with HIV are not being adequately identified for HIV treatment.

The Nigerian government on Monday launched the revised National Health Promotion Policy 2019 and four others to address the increasing burden of diseases in the country.

The other strategic documents launched are National Strategic Plan for Health Promotion 2020-2024, Knowledge Management Guideline for Health Promotion 2020-2024, Counselling Flip Chart on Key Household Practices, and Counselling Flip Chart on Family Planning/Child Birth Spacing.

The Federal Government has said it is ready to tackle any form of the disease in the event of its outbreak in Nigeria. Vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, stated this in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, at the commissioning of the state disease control and research center.

Osinbajo noted that with the completion of the state art of the disease control centre, diagnosing diseases outside the country would soon be a thing of the past. He described the centre as the largest in Africa and expressed optimism that with the quality and components of the centre, Nigeria is ready to battle any form of infectious diseases.

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.