Experts have called on the federal government and other stakeholders to invest more prevention of HIV infection interventions, while advocating for supportive policy and programmes.

They made the call at a media roundtable organised by AVAC Fellow 2020 in partnership with the Journalists Alliance for AIDS, JAAIDS, on the role of media in HIV prevention advocacy with the theme: “Advocating for supportive policy and programmes for effective HIV prevention interventions”.

Irked by the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation’s health system, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has called for immediate implementation of the annual 15 percent budget allocation to the health sector agreed in 2001 by African heads of state in Abuja.

President of the NMA, Professor Innocent Ujah who made the call during NMA Physician’s Week in Lagos, regretted that 18 years after the Abuja Declaration, the Nigerian government has failed to implement the agreement despite huge challenges in the health sector. 

It was testimonies galore among breast cancer survivors when Care Organisation Public Enlightenment, COPE, recently marked its 25th anniversary with a call for more investment in cancer care in Nigeria.

For the survivors, there was joy they survived despite untold hardship occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. They maintained that although many of them are alive, other Nigerians died as a result of the pandemic and the challenges of accessing care in a country where there are no comprehensive cancer care centres. 

World Health Organisation (WHO) and National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) have urged parents to intensify efforts on receiving of polio routine immunisation to avoid resurface of the virus in the country.

WHO has also said that the virus was only eradicated in human but the Agency still take samples for testing to ascertain its uproot in Nigerian societies.

A mental health advocate and founder of Heartrose Care Foundation, Mrs Esther Adekoya, has advised the Federal Government to empower Primacy Health Care centres in the country to provide mental health care.

In a statement on Wednesday, titled, Our heart cry, Adekoya said greater investment in mental health literacy could reduce the burden of mental health problems in the country. She said, “It is our prayers and heart cry that our government will at this time invest in the mental health of its citizens so that there can be greater access. Before the year 2030, we trust that there will be greater integration of mental health into the well-being of all.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it has blacklisted Mars Remedies PVT Limited, India, for manufacturing falsified medicine for a pharmaceutical company in Nigeria.

This is contained in a statement signed by the agency’s Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye on Tuesday in Abuja. The Director-General said that the agency also delisted Ciprofloxacin tablets BP 500mg with (NAFDAC Reg. No. C4-0498) which was manufactured for Pinnacle Health Pharmaceutical, Surulere, Lagos.

As COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt medical services, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has stressed the role of digital technology in healthcare industry. According to its president, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, the disruption has led to drug shortage, inflow of illicit and adulterated drugs, thus necessitating a resilient global supply chain.

Addressing a press briefing ahead of the yearly conference of the body yesterday in Lagos, Ohuabunwa noted that technology revolution was an era of technological progress laced with innovations whose rapid application would cause an abrupt change in the society.

A survey conducted by a non-governmental organisation, Strengthening Integrated Delivery of HIV/AIDS Services, has indicated that about 65,185 persons in Akwa Ibom State are living with the disease.

The health charity said it arrived at the result following a concurrent 10-year testing and counselling in 21 local government areas of the state. The Deputy Director Technical, SIDHAS, Dr Pius Nwaokoro, who revealed the details of the survey in Uyo, said the state had achieved 90 per cent viral load suppression,

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), through its National Emergency Maternal and Child Health Intervention Centre (NEMCHIC), has organized capacity building workshop for Program Managers (PMs) and Zonal Technical Officers (ZTOs) of State Emergency Maternal and Child Health Intervention Centre (SEMCHIC) in Nigeria.

The UNFPA-supported workshop is aimed at strengthening the technical skills of the state PMs and ZTOs on NEMCHIC’s high impact interventions that are tailored towards addressing the underlying causes of high maternal and child mortality and morbidity in the country.

The Delta State Government has resolved the row between the Nigeria Medical Association, Delta State chapter; and officers of the Nigeria Army as a result of the manhandling of a medical doctor who was on his way to work by military personnel.

Dr Raphael Onyemekehia, a consultant physician at the Central Hospital Warri, was assaulted on Saturday by a team of army personnel at airport junction, Effurun, in the Uvwie Local Government