The Nigeria Medical Association is set to hold a National Health Summit between November 4 and 8, 2019 to address some of the challenges in the health sector. The President of the association, Dr Francis Faduyile, said the summit, which is in its second edition, would identify the challenges militating against the attainment of basic, affordable and quality health care delivery in the country.

The United Nations Children Education Fund and Ekiti State Government are partnering to bridge the gap in the maternal health care delivery system.

The Permanent Secretary, Ekiti State Ministry of Information, Dr Adekunbi Obaisi, said the partnership was necessary, in view of the importance attached to the health of Ekiti people, particularly pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children, by the state government.

Robust deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will solve 80 percent of the “unacceptable transparency” challenges of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Mohammed Sambo, the executive secretary of the scheme, said this when he visited the Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, according to a Tuesday statement by Ayo Osinlu, the NHIS spokesperson.

Medical experts have stressed the need for residents and indigenes of Delta State to know their Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status. This is coming on the heels of data collated by Caritas Nigeria, a non-governmental organization that put the cases of HIV in the state at 47,000 against the 69,000 cases recorded previously.

Senior technical leader of Delta State Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS (DELSACA), Donald Akpenna; the deputy team leader, Dr. Dorcas Magbadelo; and executive secretary, Dr. John Osuyali, stated this in Asaba yesterday during the inaugural meeting to tackle HIV/AIDS in the state.

Consultant of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) at the University of Jos (UNIJOS), Prof. Innocent Ujah, has condemned the zero allocation for research projects, especially in the health sector, in the country. The former director-general of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) stated this at a conference organized by the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) in Jos, Plateau State, at the weekend.

He was the guest speaker of the event themed ‘Research: A Veritable Tool in Advancing Health Care Systems in Nigeria’. “I have always said that why the fund is not made available for research in Nigeria may be that our policy-makers do not appreciate research, which drives development.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has decried the high level of inaccessibility to drinking water and sanitation in poorest countries of the world, while weak government systems and funding gaps have been identified as culprits.

The apex health institution has also called on governments of countries across the globe to urgently scale up their investment in strong drinking-water and sanitation systems, in order to prevent a disaster in the nearest future. 

The Federal Government has set the process for the fundamental reforms that will transform the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) into a result-oriented public institution, well-positioned for its mandate as a catalyst for the socio-economic and human capital development of the country.

The Executive Secretary of the scheme, Prof Mohammed Sambo, who formally assumed office last month, has continued to inspire internal and external support for the scheme, by series of consultations aimed at building consensus around the reforms.

The NRCS Secretary in Katsina, Mallam Bala Useini, made the disclosure on Sunday during a meeting with various stakeholders in the affected local government areas. He identified the affected councils as Sabuwa, Danmusa, Faskari, Safana, Jibia, Batsari and Kankara.

The Federal Government has advised healthcare workers to be truly professional in the distribution of free mosquito nets to the general public.

Prof. Olugbenga Mokuolu, the National Technical Director on Malaria, National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), gave the advice at the on-going free-Malaria in Kwara, an initiative of Gov. Abdul Razak AbdulRahman, on Monday in Ilorin.

Cancer has overtaken heart disease as the leading cause of death in wealthy countries and could become the world’s biggest killer within just a few decades if current trends persist, researchers said on Tuesday.

Publishing the findings of two large studies in The Lancet medical journal, the scientists said they showed evidence of a new global “epidemiologic transition” between different types of chronic diseases.