The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) came under focus in the last few weeks following allegations of fraud levelled against its Executive Secretary, Professor Usman Yusuf, and his eventual suspension with eight other officials by the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole. Already, a 14-member probe panel has been set up to investigate the allegations against Yusuf and to scrutinize the activities of the agency to expose the extent of rot in the scheme.

No country in the world fully meets recommended standards for breastfeeding, a new report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Global Breastfeeding Collective revealed.

The Global Breastfeeding Scorecard, which evaluated 194 nations, found that only 40 per cent of children younger than six months are breastfed exclusively (given nothing but breast milk) and only 23 countries have exclusive breastfeeding rates above 60 per cent.

lagos—The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, yesterday said that 80 percent of cancer cases in the country are curable even as he disclosed that the Ministry’s database shows that 50 percent of corpses flown into the country involve cancer-related deaths. Meanwhile, the Federal Government has put in place plans to address the menace of the disease, particularly, as it concerns six major cancers in the country, including breast, cervix, colorectal, prostrate, liver and lymphoma.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has reiterated the commitment of Federal Government towards the elimination of viral hepatitis in Nigeria by 2021. Isaac-Adewole The Minister made this statement at a press briefing to commemorate the 2017 World Hepatitis Day with theme ‘’Eliminate Hepatitis’’, in Abuja. Adewole who noted that the First Global Health Sector Strategy on viral hepatitis for 2016-2021, which was approved during the Sixty- Ninth World Health Assembly in 2016, added that there was need for all stakeholders to take proactive steps of knowing their status by getting tested and finally seek for treatment to reduce needless deaths from this preventable and treatable infection.

The immediate past governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has declared that political will and public financing are key to attainment of Universal Health Coverage, UHC,  in Nigeria and the developed world. 

Mimiko who spoke in Lagos at the maiden Scientific Conference of the Association of Feto-Maternal Specialists of Nigeria, AFEMSON,  themed “Reducing Maternal and Perinatal Mortality, A Collective Responsibility,” called for the right   leadership and political will to utilise public fund towards UHC. Presenting his keynote address, Mimiko who observed that from where he quoted data and reports of global and national agencies on the gains and challenges of UHC,   said players and policy makers have  agreed that Universal Health Coverage delivers substantial health, economic and political benefits across populations.

The National Drug Distribution Guidelines is set to take off in Nigeria under which drug sellers in every community would operate from a central location.

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, disclosed this on Monday in Lagos during a visit to the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, to solicit his support for the Coordinated Warehouse Centre in Lagos state. With the creation of the centres, government plans to move all drug traders from open drug markets to one location, as part of the fight against counterfeit drugs.

A new survey by the Nigerian Polling organization (NOIPolls) and Nigeria Health Watch says that the country will need 10,605 new doctors annually to avert health challenges and meet current population growth rate of 3.5% yearly.

In a bid to measure the scope of the trend in emigration of the Nigerian healthcare workforce, particularly medical doctors that has been a lingering problem in the country, the organisations carried out the survey.