Experts have raised alarm over likely increase in cases of mental illness if urgent attention is not paid to some of the underlying factors that may fuel the upsurge. The professionals who gathered at the 49th Annual General and Scientific Meeting of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria in Lagos highlighted some of the reasons to include extinction of traditional family structure, desperation to make it at all cost, lack of job security, shortage of psychiatrists, non-passage of mental health bill among others.

The Gombe State Government has confirmed the death of four Lassa fever patients out of the 53 suspected cases recorded in the state. Nuhu Bille, the acting State Epidemiologist, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Tuesday.

“This year, we recorded 53 suspected cases of Lassa fever and out of them we have four confirmed cases and the four of them died at the isolated centre at the Federal Teaching Hospital while receiving treatment,’’ he said.

A Senior Health Specialist at the World Health Organisation, Dr Babatunde Okunola, has said that Nigeria and many other African countries are yet to reach an appreciable level in the provision of Universal Health Coverage to their people.

Okunola noted that only four per cent of Nigerians had gained access to quality health care without facing financial hardship.   Speaking during the 2018 African Society for Laboratory Medicine Conference in Abuja on Monday, the WHO specialist said that despite a strong association with economic growth, efforts aimed at transforming universal health coverage from aspiration to reality in Africa had failed to produce the desired results.

The Nigerian government plans to establish regional geriatric centres at tertiary health institutions for clinical care and extend free healthcare services to Nigerians over the age of 60 years, in line with the declaration of the Plan of Action on Healthy Ageing by 2020.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who disclosed this on Wednesday at the first National Summit on Healthy Ageing, said it is in a bid to improve health care services for the aged in the country theme of the summit was “Promoting the healthcare agenda of the present administration on vulnerable populations with a focus on the aged”.

Nigeria is exploring better ways of re-equipping and making public health institutions efficient in order to save foreign exchange drain arising from medical tourism. The Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said a news briefing to commemorate the ”5th World Universal Health Coverage Day,” in Abuja on Wednesday.

The theme for the commemoration is ”Unite for universal health coverage” and the slogan – ”Now is the time for collective action’’.

Health workers across the nation have threatened to embark on an indefinite strike over the federal government’s failure to keep its promise of prompt payment of salary arrears and other allowances owed them.

The workers, under the aegis of Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), issued the warning on Wednesday at the end of the 45th session of their National Executive Council meeting in Abuja.

Following a systematic and inclusive planning and design process, Lagos State is set to commence implementation of the Strategic Initiative towards the attainment of Universal Health Coverage for all residents of Lagos State. The scheme is to be rolled out in stages across the entire State.

In the spirit of equity and affordability, the program has a pro-poor component with the establishment of the equity fund set aside to pay premiums for those who cannot pay for themselves. In addition, the Plan to be rolled out ab-initio is the Lagos State Health Plan (LSHP) which is a moderately priced basic health plan featuring largely primary care and some secondary care to ensure affordability for the majority.

As nations around the globe celebrate International Migrants Day on 18 December 2018, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has launched a technical guidance series on the health of refugees and migrants, in collaboration with the European Commission.

According to WHO’s release, each publication addresses a specific aspect of the health of refugees and migrants by providing tools, case studies, and evidence to inform practices and policies to improve their health.

The wife of the vice president, Dolapo Osinbajo, has appealed to Nigerians to stop the use of hard drugs. Mrs. Osinbajo, in a press statement made available to on Tuesday, made the appeal during a courtesy visit to the minister of health, Isaac Adewole, by the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse.

The courtesy call to the minister, who incidentally, is also a member of the committee, was to advocate for more effort on the fight against the use of hard drugs in Nigeria.

Nigerians have been urged to reduce their salt and sugar intake as well as improve on sedimentary lifestyle to curb the threat of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country. This advice was given on Tuesday in Abuja at the high-level meeting on the multisectoral action plan on non-communicable diseases in Nigeria.

The multi-sectoral action plan is for the prevention and control of NCDs in Nigeria. The document is to serve as a strategic guide for the national response to NCDs for the next six years in Nigeria.