As part of government’s efforts towards a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for all by 2020, the Federal Ministries of Health and Communication Technology, on Monday commenced the process of meeting the health needs of 90 million Nigerians, using a new national electronic-health framework. The digital framework, THISDAY learnt will be implemented in synergy with the United Nations Foundation (UNF), the Save-One-Million-Lives-Initiative (SOMLI), is part of a prepatory meeting towards an all-inclusive African Health Summit slated for 2016. Speaking at the technical meeting, in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary, of the Ministry of Communication Technology, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, who was represented by Tope Fadeshemi, a Director in the Ministry, said government through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has developed an e-governance based master plan that would help in speeding up progress on the provision of e-health solutions for Nigerians. 

He said: "In developing the master plan, it was clear that we looked at all the sectors and health is an area that cannot be kept aside, and with this realization and also in fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Ministry of health and ICT came together with the support of the United Nations Foundation (UNF) to form  a framework toward providing healthy solutions for all Nigerians." According to Olaopa, the strategic partnership of all the stakeholders will help in the direction of having the UHC, in Nigeria in 2020, adding that one of the roles of ICT health is the development of national framework to guide and provide direction for the deployment and utilization of ICT in health care.

Last week the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) cancer arm, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), announced that the consumption of processed and red meat is associated with an increased risk for colorectal cancer.Professor Vikash Sewram, the Director of the African Cancer Institute at Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, who also chairs the South African Ministerial Advisory Committee on the Prevention and Control of Cancer, answers some tough questions about this important announcement.

Who Made The Evaluation: The assessment was part of the IARC’s Monographs Programme that has been involved since 1971 in evaluation of carcinogenic risks to humans – whether it be exposure to chemicals, complex mixtures, biological agents, occupational exposures or lifestyle factors. The evaluation of a risk factor takes place over a period of time and entails interdisciplinary working groups of expert scientists, selected from all over the world, reviewing published studies and evaluating the weight of the evidence that an agent can increase the risk of cancer. Once the evidence has been evaluated and a consensus reached, the agent is classified into one of five categories: Group 1: carcinogenic to humans; Group 2A: probably carcinogenic; Group 2B: possibly carcinogenic; Group 3: not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity; and Group 4: probably not carcinogenic to humans.

A coalition of anti-corruption organisations, Civil Society Network Against Corruption, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to commence a full-scale investigation into the alleged diversion of international fund in Federal Ministry of Health. Briefing journalists in Lagos, , the chairman of Civil Society Network Against Corruption, Mr. Olarenwaju Suraju, said the Global Alliance For Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) had, in 2013, conducted an audit on cash grants allocated to Nigeria between 2011 and 2013. Suraju said after the audit of its programme and support to the federal and state governments with National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) as principal recipient, it discoverered that a whopping $2.2 million was fraudulently diverted.

He explained that despite the alleged mismanagement and diversion of the said fund, independent investigation conducted by the network in Borno, Adamawa, Gombe Bauchi among other Northern states was at variance with GAVI’s claims. According to the group, their investigation also showed that all contracts under the project were dully executed while provisions of the Nigerian financial regulations for the public service were duly Followed in the in the disbursement of duty. He said, “we found letters written by the New York office of UNICEF, a UN agency and an internationally reputed organisation, officially debunking claims in GAVI report as it concerns their transaction with NPHCDA under the contract.

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has said that professional rivalry and clan culture approach have remain the bane of the country’s health sector, saying that the development is endangering the life of patients. The Registrar of PCN, Pharm. Nurudeen Mohammed, stated this yesterday during the council executives’ courtesy visit to the LEADERSHIP corporate headquarters   in Abuja. He said, “By the time we all agree that the patient is the reason we are gathered together, then our health indices will improve. The clan culture means ‘me and my household’. The medical doctor is trying to catch what will favour him, the pharmacists are doing this and the nurses are doing this and the whole system is in shambles.

According to Mohammed, the solution to health sector crisis lies in unison, insisting that health workers must unite because of the patients and not because of what each clan will gain. He said that in a hospital setting, the doctor is meant to prescribe drugs while the pharmacists do the dispensing. “But definitely, this is not the case in Nigeria. When you go to the United Kingdom or the United States, everybody knows his job. In reality, professional ethics are been violated in both ways in Nigeria”, he added Commenting on the way forward, Mohammed said the solution lies on the two professionals sitting down to talk, saying that there must be a change to move the country forward and ensure the implementation or relevant enabling laws.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said on Monday that it would establish mobile laboratories in various parts of the country to check the movement of contaminated agricultural products. Paul Orhii, Director General of NAFDAC, said this in Abuja when the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) retired Col. Hameed Ali, paid him a courtesy visit. Orhii noted that the distribution and sale of contaminated food items had become a major threat to health and the country’s economy and as such there was need for proper monitoring.

The NAFDAC DG said that the organisation decided to establish the laboratories following deadline given by the European Union (EU) for the establishment of a risk management system to monitor contaminated food export. "The European Union has given us a deadline of June 16 next year for us to have a risk management system in place for the reduction of these contaminants in the food export. "Imagine that what is being rejected at the international market is what we eat here and we are also worried of the increased level of cancers, kidney failures and different diseases in this country.

The National Health Bill was accented to by the President on the 31st day of October, 2014. Prior to that historic moment, stakeholders in Nigeria and in diaspora had lamented the absence of any legislation guiding the operations of the Nigerian National Health System. The major lacuna observed as a result of this situation was the lack of clarity on the responsibilities of the different tiers of the Health System in the provision of health care services – a situation that was argued to have accounted for low levels of commitment and investment in health care at all levels, and its attendant below par output.

The National Health Act (NHAct) 2014 is without doubt one singular instrument required to unlock economy and the greatest transformation for the Health Sector in Nigeria. The NHAct 2014 has established the Nigerian National Health System, specifying all the key players and actors therein and their roles and responsibilities. It has strengthened the operations and operators of the Health System for greater and improved health outcomes. Coming at a time when the world is negotiating its future in a post-2015 world is even more significant, because we are now more empowered to become global players in health.

The National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Thursday destroyed fake and adulterated herbal products worth over N5 million in Enugu. The NAFDAC Enugu State Coordinator, Mr Ikechukwu Okoye, who led a team that carried out the destruction, told newsmen that the exercise would deter counterfeiters from producing such unwholesome products. He said that the manufacturer of the products had been apprehended by the agency and handed over to the police, while investigation was ongoing. 

"The suspect operated an illegal factory along Okpara Avenue in the heart of Enugu metropolis, where he carried out the concocted mixture of herbal products and sold to unsuspecting members of the public,’’ Okoye said.The NAFDAC coordinator said that the environment where the herbal products were being produced was hygienically unsafe. "His hidden production site where he mixed the concoction is under a tree with a toilet beside it,’’ he said. Okoye urged the public to join NAFDAC to rid the country of counterfeit, substandard and unwholesome products through prompt

In a recent report, WHO claimed that TB infections now rival HIV/AIDS as leading cause of death from infectious diseases. The report found that during 2014, 1.1 million people died of TB in 2014. During the same period, HIV/AIDS killed 1.2 million people globally, including 400,000 who were infected with both HIV and TB. “The good news is that TB intervention has saved some 43 million lives since 2000,” the director of the WHO TB program, Dr Mario Raviglione, told Reuters. Raviglione insisted that it is time to start funding TB at a level that can make even more of a difference in curbing global deaths.

Interim medical director Doctors without Borders, Dr Grania Brigden, added that the report should serve as a wake-up call that enormous work still needs to be done to reduce the burden of this ancient, yet curable disease. In treating TB expert assert that you will need to have TB treatment for at least six months, to make sure all the TB bacteria are killed. If you have TB of the lungs or throat, after two weeks of treatment you should no longer be infectious. Then, gradually you will start to feel better. This may take weeks, but you will stop feeling sick and tired all the time. Even when you feel better, it’s important to take the full course of your treatment, or you could become ill again.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday declared that Ebola virus transmission in Sierra Leone has ended. WHO made the declaration after 42 days, or two Ebola virus incubation cycles, have now passed since the last person confirmed to have Ebola virus disease had a second negative blood test. This is contained in a statement by Dr Anders Nordstrom, WHO Representative in Sierra Leone. "Since Sierra Leone recorded the first Ebola case in May 2014, a total number of 8,704 people were infected and 3,589 have died, 221 of them healthcare workers, all of whom we remember on this day," it stated.

The country now enters a 90-day period of enhanced surveillance which will run until Feb. 5, 2016 and WHO said it would continue to support Sierra Leone during the period. The World health body highlighted this new phase is critical for ensuring early detection of any possible new case of Ebola virus disease. WHO commended the Government of Sierra Leone and its people on achieving the significant milestone in the country's fight against Ebola. "Sierra Leone achieved this milestone through

The United States Government has announced the theme for this year’s World AIDS Day 2015. The theme, The Time to Act Is Now, was announced on Friday through the official white house website by Douglas M. Brooks, MSW, the Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy and Ambassador Deborah L. Birx, MD, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy. Read the official statement below as published on the White House Blog;

We are pleased to announce the theme for World AIDS Day 2015: The Time to Act Is Now. There is no better time than World AIDS Day to recommit ourselves to achieving an AIDS-free generation. This year, we will celebrate the tremendous progress we have made together in expanding access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care services, and focus on the potential to achieve sustainable epidemic control and end AIDS as a public health threat. In 2015, we know what it takes to prevent HIV infections and improve the lives of people living with HIV, and we are building on the success of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan forAIDS Relief, the release of the United States’ National HIV/AIDS Strategy: Updated to 2020, and our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. The Time to Act Is Now looks to the future and demonstrates the urgent need for action today.