Frontpage News (3249)
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has revealed that $3.2m (N1.08bn) worth of HIV drugs expired in storage. Adewole said this while delivering a speech at the ‘Dissemination Meeting of 2016 National Health Facility Survey’ in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has called on stakeholders in the health sector not to perceive the sector as expenditure oriented but as a business venture where there will be return on investments.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has inaugurated the Governing Council/ Boards of some of the health Professional Regulatory Bodies under the Federal Ministry of Health.
The minister said this in Abuja today at the National Stakeholders ‘Validation Meeting of the second National Strategic Health Development Plan framework. According to him, putting money in the health sector should not be regarded as an expenditure; instead, he said it an investment that would yield dividends.
He recommended that stakeholders should not envision the sector as expenditure-oriented, instead, he asked that they see it as an investment that will yield returns. “Health is an investment because there is going to be return on investment.”
The Senate yesterday commenced the process of making health insurance compulsory for all in the country. The move came as the Senate held a public hearing on the repeal of the law establishing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to be replaced with the National Health Insurance Commission (NHIC). 
The Federal Ministry of Health said Nigeria could face shortage in health workers by 2030, when it would need some 149,852 doctors and 471,353 nurses. In a speech marking the International Day of Midwives, the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole cited a 2016 scientific modelling projecting estimates of health workers.
At the current growth rate of doctors and nurses, by 2030, only 99,120 doctors and 333,494 nurses would be available, the projection shows. “This implies a shortage of about 50,120 doctors and 137,859 nurses. This translates to 33.45% gap in doctors’ supply and 29.25% gap in nurses’ supply,” Adewole said. “This shortfall will make the country health system vulnerable if there is no urgent and concrete plan to address the situation.”
At least 179 people, almost half of them children, have died of meningitis since January in Niger, where some 3,000 suspected cases have been reported, the United Nations said Wednesday.
"From January 2 to May 7 2017, a total of 3,037 suspected cases of meningitis, including 179 deaths, was reported in the country," said the UN's humanitarian agency, OCHA. "The fatality rate is 5.9 percent."
There is a discernible absence of the CSM vaccine in public health institutions across many states in the South West Zone and Kwara, a survey by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has revealed. NAN gathered from health authorities that this may not be unconnected with the fact that there had not been any major outbreak of the disease in the zone.
In Ibadan, the Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Azeez Adeduntan, confirmed that the state had no stock of the vaccine for the Neissria Meningitis Type C presently ravaging some states in northwest Nigeria.
The Federal Government’s efforts to check the further spread of the Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis in the country may be marred by high cost of dispensing the vaccine in public and private health institutions.
Nigerians who are eager to protect themselves against the deadly disease have said that the cost of procuring the vaccine is prohibitive. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the recent outbreak of the disease, especially in the northern parts of the country has claimed over 813 lives.
The Oyo State Government says it has designated 1,404 facilities for the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week between May 29 and June 2 across the state. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Azeez Adeduntan, made this known in a statement in Ibadan on Tuesday.
Adeduntan said the maternal, newborn and child health week would be held at two health facility centres and two outreaches in each of the 351 wards throughout the state. He said the government was hoping that about 1.5 million children would be administered with Vitamin A during the period.
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The Project Consultant, Kinghaven Medical Second Opinion, Segun Olagundoye, has said that patients are within their rights to seek a second medical opinion on their health challenges.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the World Health Organization’s newly elected director-general, says health as a human right is at the core of his vision for the organization he soon will lead. The former Ethiopian health and foreign minister is the first African chosen to head the organization, which was created 69 years ago.
Workers belonging to all labour unions in Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, on Wednesday staged a one-day peaceful protest demanding for improved condition of service and tools.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workers are asking the management of the hospital to address their promotion arrears, shortage of staff and other rights. The workers said the protest followed a directive from all their national bodies in Abuja to resolve the challenges LUTH facing the hospital.
Malaria, FG re-launches National Mosquito Control, Liquid Waste Management Programme
The Ministry of Environment in collaboration with Andelsta Limited, on Wednesday re-launched National Mosquito Control and Liquid Waste Management Programme. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme is aimed at cleaning the environment and control mosquito that caused malaria and other diseases.
The Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Jibril, who re-launched the programme in Abuja, recalled that the maiden launching of the programme was done in 2009. He said that the re-launched programme is a private driven project, adding that its implementation would be supported by the Federal Government.
