Enugu State government has commenced mass vaccination in Ette and Umuopu communities in Igbo-Eze North Council of the state, following the outbreak of yellow fever in the localities. No fewer than 50 persons were said to have died since last month during which the disease, earlier described as ‘strange’ broke out in the communities.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ikechukwu Obi, in a statement, provided an update on what the state government had done since the outbreak of the disease,

The Provost, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Prof Olayinka Omigbodun, has said the government needs to properly equip primary health care centres in the 774 Local Government Areas, employ skilled health professionals and station an ambulance in each of them as one of the steps towards reducing maternal and newborn mortality rate in Nigeria.

Omigbodun said health workers must also change their attitude to patients and pregnant women to avoid driving them to quacks and substandard medical facilities for treatment and deliveries.

The Director-General of World Health Organization, WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said yesterday that a vaccine would not by itself stop the coronavirus pandemic. Ghebreyesus stated this on a day US biotech firm, Moderna, announced that its experimental vaccine against COVID-19 was 94.5 percent effective, marking a second major breakthrough in the vaccine hunt. Pfizer had also last week said it had developed a vaccine that was 90% effective against the virus. 

The pandemic is raging months after it broke out, with infections soaring past 54 million and claiming more than 1.3 million lives. “A vaccine will complement the other tools we have, not replace them.  A vaccine on its own will not end the pandemic,” Ghebreyesus said.

The Federal Government needs a whopping N7 billion to establish a factory for the production of Anti-Snake Venom for victims of snake bites across the country, according to Dr. Nandul Durfa.

Durfa, who is the Managing Director, Echitab Study Limited, made the disclosure on Monday in an interview in Plateau state. He decried the current cost of the Anti-Snake Venom and the hurdles the government has to scale to get the drugs for snakebite victims.

Benue State government has said that the strange disease that claimed 20 lives in a part of the state has been verified to be yellow fever. The state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs. Ngunna Adingi, disclosed this, yesterday when she briefed newsmen at the end of the State Executive Council meeting.

According to the commissioner, the result of samples collected and sent to the National Reference Laboratory revealed that the disease was yellow fever.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday launched the global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer globally. Outlining three key steps to achieving this – vaccination, screening and treatment, the WHO noted successful implementation of all three could reduce more than 40 percent of new cases of the disease and 5 million related deaths by 2050.

Tuesday’s development represents a historic milestone because it marks the first time that 194 countries commit to eliminating cancer – following adoption of a resolution at this year’s World Health Assembly.

No fewer than 20 new cases of leprosy have been recorded in Kogi State. According to the Kogi State Program Officer, Leprosy Mission Nigeria (LMN), Mrs. Hannah Fashona the new cases were recorded between January and November 2020.

Briefing journalists in Lokoja on Monday at the Covid-19 response palliatives distribution for communities of persons affected by leprosy and disabilities in Kogi State, Fashona who noted that the organization is determined towards ensuring that Nigeria is free from the disease added that the state referral center located in Ochadamu,

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, on Wednesday said the Federal Government,throughthenigeria Centre for Disease Control, was responding to yellow fever out break in Delta, Enugu and two other states.

He said vaccination was on going in the affected states. Ehanire said this while answering questions from State House correspondents at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Taraba  state government under the leadership of governor Darius Dickson Ishaku,  was said to have successfully upgraded no fewer than 97 health facilities in eight out of  the sixteen Local Government Councils of the state to provide 24/7 Primary and Secondary health care services to communities before the closure of the Additional Fund-Nigeria State Health Investment Project (AF-NSHIP)

Executive Secretary of State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) Alhaji Aminu Hassan, who during the closure of the programme yesterday in Jalingo,

The Nigerian Medical Association, Kogi State chapterm has appealed to the Federal Ministry of Health to quickly resolve the controversies surrounding the closure of  Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, to ensure prompt reopening of the hospital.

This is just as the association commended the Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnibe Mamora, for his visit to the centre in Lokoja on Wednesday to fast tract the process of opening of the hospital.