A modified protocol has enabled baboons that received transplanted pig hearts to survive for more than six months. This improvement on previous efforts brings pig-to-human heart transplants a step closer.

Heart failure, in which the heart cannot pump blood around the body efficiently, is a problem of epic proportions. The number of adults living with heart failure in the United States is expected1 to reach more than eight million by 2030, and many of these people will die while waiting for a donor organ.

Tanzania is the first confirmed country in Africa to achieve a well-functioning, regulatory system for medical products according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This means that the Tanzania Food and Drug Authority (TFDA) has made considerable improvements in recent years in ensuring medicines in the healthcare system are of good quality, safe and produce the intended health benefit.

“This is a major African milestone and we are very proud of Tanzania’s achievement, which we hope will inspire other countries in the region,” says Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “Access to medicines alone, without quality assurance, is not enough. With this milestone, Tanzania makes a big step towards improving the quality of its health care services.”

The return of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to the ports and borders in May 2018 after seven years of absence and heightened readiness and alertness of the Agency’s Ports Inspection Directorate have significantly enhanced activities involving the control of importation of drugs, food, chemicals, detergents, cosmetics, and packaged water.

The Agency’s support from the Office of National Security Adviser, engagement with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), support from the Comptroller General and officers of the NCS, plus change in the paradigm of the Agency to Customer-focused and Agency-minded have also influenced positively the control at the ports and borders.

Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, have invented a wirelessly controlled neuro-stimulator that could provide fine-tuned treatments to patients with diseases like epilepsy and Parkinson.

This is contained in a study that was published in Nature Biomedical Engineering in the U.S.

Here is good news for millions of people worldwide contending with diabetes: Scientists have created a new drug cocktail that can induce insulin-producing cells to regenerate at a rate that is fast enough to work in human treatments.

This is a key step in the pursuit of a cure for diabetes that restores the body’s ability to make insulin.

Prof. Isaac Adewole is the Minister of Health. Adewole in this exclusive interview with us unveils the Federal Government’s health plan for 2019 and what the ministry is doing to address the major challenges faced by the sector especially poor access to affordable and quality care. CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes. Excerpts:

What is the health plan for 2019? What does President Muhammadu Buhari plan to do for health if re-elected?

Wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, recently tasked new graduates of the International Centre for Credentialing and Education of Addiction Professional (ICCE) to utilise their acquired knowledge to curb drug addiction among Nigerian youths.

Speaking during the Certificate Presentation Ceremony/launch of the “Lagos Against Drug Abuse Campaign”, LADAC an initiative of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Yaba, FNPHY, Ambode who was represented by Mrs Kemi Durosinmi-Etti, called for the replication of knowledge and expertise with a view to bringing help for victims of drug abuse.

Pharmaceutical companies have been asked to comply with the Mobile Authentication Service initiated by the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in order to combat fake drugs.

The representative of Geneith Pharmaceuticals Limited, Ngozi Onwuka, gave the advice when a non-governmental organization (NGO), Project 25 Klubb of Nigeria, Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Council of Delta State, in conjunction with Geneith Pharmaceuticals and World Health Organization (WHO), embarked on its maiden edition of free medical outreach and sensitisation against common ailments.

After over 58 years of Nigeria’s political independence from her colonial overlords, the performance of her healthcare delivery system remains unpleasant due to several conspiring factors and challenges. However, with the successful berthing of the National Health Act (NHA), Nigeria now has a historic significant opportunity to improve her healthcare delivery system and attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) predicated on the constitutional imperatives of social justice, equity and egalitarianism.

In a bid to rescue Nigerian youths and adolescents from the alarming menace of drug abuse, especially in the North, the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse said it was taking steps to curb the menace.

The Chairman of the committee, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), told THISDAY on Thursday in Yola that data had shown that a good number of youths were exposed to drugs, particularly in the northern part of the country.