IN its bid to give healthcare access to more people, the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency (OYSHIA) has said that no fewer than 450,000 enrollees will be captured by the scheme before the end of the year. This was disclosed by Dr. Sola Akande, executive secretary of OYSHIA, during a two-day media dialogue on how to improve healthcare access for children and women through a state-supported health insurance scheme.

Independent investigation has confirmed that cigarettes sold in Africa are more toxic than those smoked in Europe. However, there are fears that such toxic cigarettes may be in circulation in Nigeria and are being smoked even by teenagers.

The implication of smoking such toxic cigarettes, according to medical experts, is a rise in deaths from respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia.

NIGERIA Labour Congress, NLC, has drawn a battle line with the Federal Ministry of Health over acts of discrimination and injustice against members of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) allegedly perpetrated by the Minister of health, Professor Isaac Adewole.

Leaders of NLC and other Labour leaders had Monday stormed the Ministry to protest the alleged unfair treatment of JOHESU member. Speaking during the protest, NLC President,  Ayuba Wabba, threatened that members of the Congress would occupy Adewole’s office and official residence indefinitely unless he rescinded some alleged hostile decisions the Ministry took against JOHESU members.

Every year Nigerians spend over $1,000,000,000 (N360 billion) on medical tourism with cancer care accounting for $400,000,0000 (N144 billion).

To reverse this trend the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) invested $10,000,000 (N3.6 billion) in establishing a cancer centre at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) to provide world-class radiotherapy and chemotherapy services to hundreds of thousands of Nigerian cancer patients.

Ugandan authorities on Tuesday quarantined 13 people, who picked up a body of suspected Ebola death in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as hemorrhagic fever tests are carried out.

The Ministry of Health and World Health Organisation (WHO) in a joint statement disclosed this in Kampala.

Ms Vera Songwe, the Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), on Tuesday in Addis Ababa called for an improved Public Private Partnership (PPP) in financing Healthcare in Africa.

Songwe made the call at the Africa Business Health Forum, organised by UNECA, Aliko Dangote Foundation and Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede’s GBCHealth. An 89-page study on Healthcare and Economic Growth in Africa, jointly sponsored by the trio was presented at the event.

Until there is a strong synergy between public and private sectors to boost investment in Africa’s health sector, about 16 million jobs will remain elusive and exported outside the continent, United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa’s (ECA) executive secretary, Vera Songwe, has said.

Songwe, who asserted that Nigeria and other African countries presently spend about $14 billion on the importation of pharmaceutical products needed in the continent, due to lack of capacity in local production, said the African’s health sector has the potential to create 16 million jobs.

• Set for human trials

A new drug that can reverse memory loss due to aging and depression has been developed by scientists.

As people get older, especially above the age of 50, they begin to experience forgetfulness almost on a daily basis. Some people misplace things, forget faces and even why they do certain things.

Dr Kunden Deyin, the Plateau Commissioner for Health says the state has recorded 28 new cases of Lassa fever with 10 deaths.

Deyin told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Thursday that 64 cases were taken to the laboratory for confirmation out of which 28 were confirmed to be Lassa fever.

The 3.1 million-strong community of people living with HIV/AIDS has called on the government to commit more support for their welfare as donor funding for HIV services continue to dwindle.

The new leadership of Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS (NEPWHAN) has listed on priorities a “four-year strategic plan” to guide its operations in line with the agendas of its partners, including donor agencies.