After recorded success in monkeys, some African countries are hosting HIV vaccine trials. The success of an experimental vaccine trial with rhesus monkeys is motivating a pharmaceutical company to undertake experimental HIV vaccine tests in Thailand, East and South Africa, and the United States of America US, with 400 healthy participants taking part in the first phase of the trials. 

Scientists say the vaccine protected half of a batch of monkeys against the Simian Immunodeficiency Virus, SIV, which is very similar to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.This development came to light just as a former researcher at Iowa State University, was jailed for fraudulently securing millions in funds for further research on a potential vaccine for HIV that turned out to be fake. 

THE Federal Ministry of Health yesterday said the fake doctor paraded by the police on Tuesday was recruited by the Federal Civil Service Commission and posted to the ministry. The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Linus Awute, told newsmen in Abuja yesterday that the ministry would demand a refund of the salaries and allowances paid the ‘doctor’ in the past nine years. According to him: “It is important to place it on record that the Federal Ministry of Health does not employ any of its members of staff directly.

“He was recruited through the Federal Civil Service Commission which has the statutory powers to do so and then deploys such employed civil servants to any ministry, department or agency according to their discipline and relevance.”

For nine years, he threw away his true identity, bearing his friend’s name, from whom he allegedly stole copies of the academic credentials with certificates and got employed at the Federal Ministry of Health, became the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) branch chairman, participated as Ebola volunteer and earned salaries until the long arms of the law caught up with him.

Martins Ugwu Okpeh, a native of Ogbadibo Local Government of Benue State in 2006 was the best man to his childhood friend, Dr. George Davidson, a medical doctor practising in Jos, when he allegedly stole the academic credentials and used same to secure employment at the federal ministry. According to the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Abayomi Shogunle, an anonymous petition from the ministry prompted the Police analytical tracking and interception centre to begin discreet investigation.

President Muhammadu Buhari has been called upon to unlock the market potential of the health sector to boost health tourism within the country. The call was made by former minister of State for Health, Dr Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria, adding that the private sector can play a decisive role in improving healthcare delivery. In an interview with Financial Nigeria Magazine in New York on Thursday, made available to LEADERSHIP on Thurday in Abuja, Pate, an Adjunct Professor at the Duke Global Health Institute, and an expert in tropical Medicine and infectious disease ,‎  said there are private sector resources potentially out there that can be harnessed.

He said, ” We know that several entities are looking at the potentially exciting role of private equity in Nigeria’s health sector development.” Pate said beyond increasing revenues, the new administration can also reduce the significant inefficiencies and wastage in the health sector as part of its whole-of-government national anti-corruption efforts.

Despite stringent criticisms trailing the introduction of Residency Cards, popularly called Kaadi Igbe Ayo, the Ondo State Government on Wednesday instructed all heads of public hospitals and health centres in the state to enforce the use of the card in their various locations.

According to a statement issued by the Ondo State Commissioner of Information, Kayode Akinmade, the directive was handed down by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, at a meeting with some public health coordinators at the Mother and Child Hospital, Akure.

The statement quotes Adeyanju as saying that the residency card scheme was not aimed at making money from the people of the state, as being speculated but that it became necessary owing to the fact that those benefitting from the free medical services provided by the government were non-indigenes.

The global health body however said the use of Oral Cholera Vaccines (OCV) was proving to be an efficient tool to effectively control outbreaks. Nigeria has been warned against a possible cholera outbreak. The warning was issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO), notifying governments and the international health community that the threat of a cholera outbreak is a major public concern. The global health body however said the use of Oral Cholera Vaccines (OCV) was proving to be an efficient tool to effectively control outbreaks.

According to the WHO, new outbreaks are ongoing in South Sudan and Tanzania, fanned by insecurity and displacement. Intensive control efforts are ongoing and vaccination programmes have been rolled out to target communities at risk.

Dr Leke Pitan, a former Lagos State Commissioner for Health, on Saturday urged Federal Government to encourage Nigerians to enrol into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) for quality healthcare delivery.  Pitan made the plea at a two-day National Executive Council Meeting of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN) in Lagos.

”The Federal Government should make health insurance scheme compulsory as less than 10 million Nigerians have keyed into the scheme. ”We need to encourage Nigerians to adopt health insurance.“Because, it is the best approach to achieving universal health coverage and reduce congestion and pressure at the secondary and tertiary health facilities. ”So, this will enable them to focus on teaching and research to aid preventive and curative medicine,” he said.

Pitan also called for the democratisation of the nation’s health sector to increase Nigerians access to healthcare delivery.

The Kano state task force on fake, counterfeit drugs and unwholesome processed foods said it had arrested 270 hawkers of illegal drugs in Kano from January to date. The Chairman of the committee, Alhaji Abdul Umar, disclosed this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Friday. He said the hawkers were arrested in various parts of Kano metropolis while exposing the items in the sun. “The task force also sensitizes patent medicine shop owners to ensure that only genuine drugs are stocked in their shops,’’ he said.

He added that PPMV’s were also sensitised on the need to sell drugs that are contained in PPMVL approved list issued by the PCN. According to him, the task force had closed over 1,000 patent medicine shops which were found to have violated the laws of the government on their operation in the state.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Acting Administrator, Mr. Alfonso Lenhardt, has announced the US Government’s plans to provide an additional $266 million to help West African countries address critical gaps caused by the Ebola outbreak.

This was disclosed in a press statement made available to journalists yesterday few days after the International Ebola Recovery Conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. According to the statement, the funds will help Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea to address secondary impacts of the crisis.

General Electric has officially commissioned the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Biomedical Training centre, which it refurbished and equipped. The commissioning took place at the Federal School of Biomedical Engineering Technology at the LUTH. The commissioning was in fulfillment of a commitment made by the GE Foundation, to work with other stakeholders in developing a new Biomedical Equipment Technician Training (BMET) project in Nigeria.

It would also address a major need for locally qualified medical technicians to repair and service biomedical equipment. According to a statement,  in the first year of running this programme, about 19 technicians and engineers have been trained.  Statistics also showed that between 50- 80% of medical equipment is usually out of service in low-income countries according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).