Consultant paediatricians have warned against the use of toothpaste, heat from lanterns and hot water for the care of the umbilical cord. Speaking with PUNCH HealthWise in separate interviews, the paediatricians also warned that using cow dung and mentholated ointment for the care of the umbilical cord can lead to infections and neonatal death.

A Consultant Pediatrician and Head of Department at the Massey Street Children Hospital, Lagos, Olanike Olutekunbi, said cord care starts at birth. She noted that after birth, the cord is clamped and cut but a short stump that is left must be well taken care of, to prevent infections.

Breast cancer in men is not as common as it is in women, it, however, spreads faster in men, health experts have said. The experts also warned that despite the wide gap in the occurrence of breast cancer in men compared to women, men should also be alert to the health condition because it spreads faster in men.

They, however, noted that the condition is seen more among older men than young men. Speaking with PUNCH HealthWise in separate interviews, the experts, Professors Abiodun Afolayan and Emmanuel Ezeome, noted that there is no difference in the pathology of breast cancer in men and women.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Oladipupo Williams, was on Sunday reported to have died of COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated with the Oxford Astrazeneca vaccine. Oladipupo was the first child of the late legal luminary, Chief Fredrick Rotimi Williams.

A Facebook post by Oladipupo’s son, Kunle, revealed that his father died on Sunday at a private hospital in Lagos. He wrote, “My father passed away this morning from COVID despite being double vaccinated with Oxford AstraZeneca.” Oladipupo was called to the Nigerian bar about 48 years ago and he became a SAN in 1995.

An obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr. Akinsola Akinde, has cautioned women against consuming their placentas, saying there is no medical evidence to support its health benefits to new mothers. Akinde, former Chairman, Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Lagos.

The placenta is an organ that delivers oxygen and nutrients from the mother’s blood to the fetus. It also removes waste products from the baby’s blood. NAN reports that the act, known as placentophagy, is simply the practice of consuming the placenta after birth, and is gaining popularity among more women after childbirth.

The European Medicines Agency has listed the neurological disorder Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause temporary paralysis, as a “very rare” side effect of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

A causal relationship was “considered at least a reasonable possibility,” the EMA said in an update on Wednesday after a total of 833 cases of the syndrome had been reported worldwide by July 31, from about 592 million doses of the AstraZeneca “Vaxzevria” shot administered.

The World Health Organisation on Wednesday called for countries to avoid giving out extra COVID-19 vaccines until year-end, pointing to the millions worldwide who have yet to receive a single dose.

“I will not stay silent when the companies and countries that control the global supply of vaccines think the world’s poor should be satisfied with leftovers,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists.

Against the narratives that cowhide otherwise known as Ponmo contains no nutritional benefit, a dietitian, Mrs. Oluwakemi Olanrewaju, has said it provides the body with important nutrients. In an interview with our correspondent, Olanrewaju said although Ponmo had low nutritional value when compared to other protein sources, it contained beneficial nutrients and contributes adequately to peoples’ diets.

She said, “Over the years, people have debated about the nutritional value of Ponmo. Growing up, we were told that it doesn’t contain any nutrient and it is just considered as skin but after so many scientific studies, Ponmo actually contains beneficial nutrients which provide the body with important nutrients.

Gynaecologists have said that women living with polycystic ovarian syndrome suffer from psychological trauma because most people have misconceptions about the health condition. Polycystic ovarian syndrome, commonly called PCOS, is characterised by the lack of or infrequent menstruation, growth of male pattern hair and severe acne in women.

The experts explained that the importance of PCOS as a public health issue prompted the decision to make the whole of September a PCOS awareness month. According to the experts, PCOS now accounts for 15 to 20 per cent of infertility cases in Nigeria.

Maternal and health experts have warned mothers against making babies, especially those less than one year, sleep on their stomachs, noting that such a sleeping position makes the babies more susceptible to suffocation, convulsions and sudden death.

According to the experts, sleeping on the stomach is dangerous for the infant, especially when the baby remains in that position for a long time. The experts pointed out that putting babies on their stomachs to sleep comes with a lot of health issues, warning that normal breathing may become compromised, especially when the bed surface is too soft or woollen.

The Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the nation’s health sector due to a number of issues. The MDCAN’s newly elected National President, Dr. Victor Makanjuola, made the call at a news conference organised by the National Officers’ Committee of the association on Sunday in Ibadan.

Makanjuola said that members of the association, at the 12th Biennial Delegates Meeting, were alarmed by the exodus of medical doctors, spate of insecurity, poor welfare of members and lack of modern facilities, among other issues.