Taraba State government, through the state Primary Health Care Development Agency (TSPHCDA), has Thursday begin the distribution of drugs worth N49 million to primary health care centres in the state. Dr Innocent VakKai, Commissioner for Health, who launched the distribution in Jalingo said, the gesture was to reintroduce the hitherto comatose Drug Revolving Programme in Taraba.

According to him, the programme was to address the challenge of perennial out of stock syndrome in both the urban and ruler primary health care centres in Taraba, and in complementing the administrative efforts of governor Ishaku toward improving health care service delivery in the state, and asked the primary health care development agency to ensure sustainable use of the drugs.

Nigeria and four other countries have been identified as responsible for over 80 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in West Africa, the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) said.

Addressing Members of ECOWAS Parliament during the Second Extra Ordinary Session which is holding via video conference, WAHO, however said that the case fatality rate in the region is under control. The Director-General of WAHO, Stanley Okolo, while making a presentation to Parliament, said that as at July 16, the five countries recorded 84,118 cases out of the 96,936 cases in the region.

No fewer than 33 states have yet to begin the implementation of the new hazard allowance for resident doctors, despite their risk of contracting  COVID-19. 

The Secretary of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria, Dr Bilqis Mohammed, in a WhatsApp message sent to   one of our correspondents, listed states that had started paying the   allowance as  Lagos, Ogun, Nasarawa and Enugu. But there was confusion over the payment of the hazard allowance in Ogun State.

The Federal Government and the World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday said that hepatitis B birth dose vaccination still remains the best way to reduce the numbers of new infections in the country, because the most vulnerable time for infection is in the first month of life.

They also revealed that people with hepatitis-related complications are at a higher risk of developing severe cases of COVID-19 and must continue to receive essential hepatitis prevention and treatment services during the pandemic and beyond.

The Federal Government and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday stressed that it is too early to declare that the country’s COVID-19 curve is flattening, as daily new infected cases fluctuate between 500 to 700.

Flattening of the curve simply means that the rate of spread or transmission of the virus has gradually started to slow down. There is still active community transmission of the virus in Nigeria and across Africa.

Nigeria on Tuesday said it has not validated the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19, an obvious reaction to the viral video of Nigerian-trained Dr Stella Immanuel.

Immanuel, also a Christian preacher, claimed in the video that has gone viral worldwide that she has successfully treated more than 350 COVID-19 patients using hydroxychloroquine, Zinc and Zithromax. Immanuel first made the claim on April 27 in a Twitter post in which she also showed support for American President Donald Trump’s backing for the use of chloroquine to treat the virus.

Nigeria’s confirmed coronavirus cases exceeded 42,000 on Wednesday, the country’s disease control centre said, as the virus continues to spread in Africa’s most populous country.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), in its daily update posted on its website, said there were 404 new cases taking the total number of recorded cases to 42,208. NCDC said the fatalities have increased to 684 after five deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. The country of 200 million inhabitants has, like many other African nations, so far avoided the high death rates of the United States, Brazil and parts of Europe.

The Lagos State chapter of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria has urged the Lagos State Government to strengthen the health system in the state as well as to recognise community pharmacies as primary care centres.

In a communiqué issued at the end of its 2020 Annual Summit, the Lagos chapter of PSN urged the Lagos State Government to reconstitute its Primary Healthcare Board to include representatives of PSN, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria and Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria.

The Federal Government and the National Association of Resident Doctors NARD met at the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Abuja, over the recent strike notice by the Resident Doctors.

At the meeting, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige explained to the Doctors efforts the government had made in ensuring that all the promises made to them were fulfilled and the challenges the government was facing. 

Up to 800 million children around the world are being poisoned by lead from water and air pollution, the United Nations warned Thursday in a special report on the “massive and previously unknown” health crisis.

One out of every three children is estimated to have levels of lead — a potent neurotoxin — in their blood that require immediate action to prevent long-lasting damage, the UN’s children’s fund said. “With few early symptoms, lead silently wreaks havoc on children’s health and development, with possibly fatal consequences,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF executive director.