Frontpage News (3249)
About six million people are said to die annually as a result of tobacco use, with most living in developing countries. Also, findings published in ‘The economics of tobacco and tobacco control’, revealed that around 80 per cent of the world’s smokers live in low and middle income countries (LMICs).
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) assistant director-general for Non communicable Diseases (NCDs) and mental health, Dr Oleg Chestnov, stated that the economic impact of tobacco on countries, and the general public is huge, quoting a new landmark global report from WHO and the National Cancer Institute of the United States of America.
The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has called for improvement in the quality of services being rendered to enrollees of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in FCT hospitals. The Minister made this call when the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Scheme, Professor Usman Yusuf paid him a visited in his office at Area 11, Garki I District, Abuja on Friday.
Malam Bello said the feedback he has been receiving from enrollees of the Scheme has not been encouraging, especially with regards to the quality of drugs being provided to them.
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibajo has called for public private partnership (PPP) for effective healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
Teaching, tertiary or specialised hospitals are supposed to be the apex health institutions where the most complicated medical conditions can be handled, where researches are churned out on regular basis, and where medical practitioners such as doctors, pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists are trained.Tertiary care is specialised consultative health care, usually for inpatients and on referral from a primary or secondary health professional, in a facility that has personnel and facilities for advanced medical investigation and treatment, such as a tertiary referral hospital.
Nearly 53 out of all people internally displaced across the most affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa are women and girls—and 1.73 million of them are of child bearing age, the Fund said.
The United Nations Population Fund estimates there could be up to 276,000 pregnancies among in 2017 among women displaced in the north east by Boko Haram crisis, and has called for urgent protection of their reproductive health and rights.
The South-East caucus of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has called for a declaration of state of emergency in Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba, according to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN. 
Less than five percent of the N13.5 trillion combined budgets of the federal and state governments will be spent on public health this year. This is despite the poor infrastructure in the sector and the avowal by the government to discourage medical tourism, Daily Trust investigations have shown.
Official data analysed by Daily Trust shows that the two tiers of governments have budgeted a total of N591.8 billion for health, representing 4.3 percent of their total spending this year.
At least sixty thousand pupils in Lagos State public primary schools are to partake in a de-worming exercise to assist in the healthy development and welfare of children in the state.
Flagging off the exercise yesterday at a ceremony organized by the State’ Ministry of Youth and Social Development, wife of the Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode charged parents in the state to encourage hand-washing among their children. She urged them to maintain a clean and healthy environment so as to prevent the children from contracting worm infections.
The Zamfara Government on Sunday said over N200 million worth of drugs were destroyed in a recent fire outbreak at the State Central Medical Store in Samaru area of Gusau.
The state Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Sulaiman Gunmi, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gusau.
Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano has said that people who sell fake drugs should be killed. Obiano also described the sale of fake drugs as “the worst criminal act to humanity.”
The governor made the comments on Monday, January 23, during an accreditation ceremony in the Agulu area of the state.
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Dr Nicholas Baamlong had a narrow miss with Lassa fever virus, a disease that’s killed many and is still killing. His patient was bleeding from orifices, one sure sign of Lassa.
“When we suspected that, immediately we called public health people,” says Baamlong, who heads a committee on control and prevention of infectious diseases as University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada. “Before then we had to isolate the patient and do barrier nursing.” That’s caring for a patient but maintaining protective barriers to avoid infection.
Unless the proposed 2017 health budget is amended, millions of Nigerian children will end up dead this year from severe malnutrition and vaccine preventable diseases, experts have proclaimed. This is despite president Buhari’s avowed promise that his government will ensure the provision of adequate healthcare delivery to Nigerians.Resident doctors’ strike tops agenda at National Council on Health meeting
Medical doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) are set for showdown talk on resident doctors’ strike with the Federal Government.
The Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) and the 36 states commissioners of health are meeting doctors as the 59th National Council on Health (NCH) began in Umuahia, Abia State, yesterday. The NCH is the highest decision making body in the health sector.
The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) has directed its members to stop treating and administering medications on Commissioners, Special Advisers and other categories of political appointees in Kogi State until further notice.
