Frontpage News (3249)
A global research and innovation forum led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) was launched on Tuesday to mobilise international action in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The forum co-hosted by the WHO and the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness is funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A 2-day forum kicked off at 9 a.m. Geneva time (0800 GMT) on Tuesday and is expected to end on Wednesday.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association Cancer Committee, Dr Sunday Omoya, has said that Nigeria needs N92bn to provide diagnosis and treatment to cancer patients in the country. Omoya spoke during a briefing recently held in Abuja by the NMA as part of the events marking World Cancer Day.
Omoya said, “The amount represented the budget for the implementation of the four year programme of the National Cancer Control Plan.” The President of the association, Dr Francis Faduyile, said the Federal Government in 2001 agreed to vote 15 per cent of the annual budget for health, but it failed to go beyond five per cent.
ICYMI: Man attacks medical workers, stabs nurse over son’s death
Site Admin
An aggrieved father has attacked medical workers at the Sapele Central Hospital, Delta State, over the death of his child at the medical facility. PUNCH Metro learnt that the man went berserk minutes after medical workers broke the news of the death of his one-year-six-month-old child to him.
The man, whose identity could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report, was alleged to have accused the doctors and nurses on duty of complicity in the child’s death and vowed that “one of them must die with his son.”
Another 88 people aboard a cruise ship off Japan have tested positive for the coronavirus, authorities said Tuesday, as those free of the disease hoped they were spending their last night on board before disembarking.
The new cases take the total from the Diamond Princess to 542 -- easily the biggest cluster outside the epicentre in China -- as the cruise ship has proved an especially virulent breeding ground for the virus despite quarantine. The new cases will be sent to specialised hospitals, the ministry said in a statement, without giving further details such as their nationalities.
Nigeria faces drugs shortage due to Coronavirus, NAFDAC warns
Site Admin
DRUGS shortage is likely in the country should the Coronavirus epidemic continue in China, theNational Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) warned on Monday. The agency boss, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said India which Nigeria depends on for a greater percentage of its drug imports, has already been hit by the ravaging effects of the virus.
India buys most of their materials and active ingredients from China while Nigeria imports 70 per cent of its medicines as well as active and non-active ingredients mostly from the South Asian country.
Covid-19: ECOWAS ministers of health to strengthen regional preparedness
Site Admin
Ministers of Health of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have agreed to support member states for a regional preparedness and response to the ongoing Covid-19 (Coronavirus).
Sen. Olorunnimbe Mamora, Minister for State, Federal Ministry of Health, made this known at a news conference on Monday in Abuja, while briefing newsmen on the outcome of an emergency meeting held in Bamako, Republic of Mali. Mamora said that members resolved to provide technical guidance and tools specifically to member states. He added that member states had also stepped up proactive measures to ensure the best chance of containing a possible outbreak.
The West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science (WAPCMLS) has said that it has concluded plans for the Induction/Investiture of Foundation Fellows and the 2020 Annual Congress of the College coming up on Friday.
Chairman, Steering Board WAPCMLS, Dr. Godswill Okara, who was speaking while addressing a press conference to herald the upcoming event on Monday in Abuja said that the congress will feature the induction and investiture of two hundred foundation fellows of the College drawn from Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’ivoire, Liberia, The Gambia, Togo and Cameroon.
A hospital director in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan, the epicentre of a new coronavirus outbreak, died from the disease on Monday, state media reported.
Liu Zhiming, director of Wuchang Hospital, died from infection with the new coronavirus, which has so far spread to more than 72,000 people across China, the state-owned newswire China News Service said on microblogging site Weibo. His death comes as more medical personnel on the front lines of China’s battle against Covid-19 are falling ill with the disease. China reported last week that more than 1,700 medical workers have been infected, and at least six have died.
The Executive Secretary of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Mohammed Nasir Sambo, has emphasised that Nigeria is under a pressing need to work at double-speed to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in accordance with the global agenda of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
But in realisation of this challenge, the Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said the Federal Government will recruit 50,000 health extension workers who will be deployed to public health facilities. He pointed out that the recruitment was part of Federal Government targets to ensure healthcare delivery to Nigerians in 2019/2020; while the government is also striving to make health insurance mandatory for all Nigerians.
The Federal Government has denied abandoning about 60 Nigerians living in Wuhan, China as coronavirus ravaged the city.
Nigerian citizens, including students living and studying in China, had accused the Federal Government of failing to aid their evacuation from the Chinese province where the deadly coronavirus was first reported and had its largest number of victims. But while reading a communiqué released at the end of an emergency meeting of the Ministers of Health of the Economic Community of West African States on regional preparedness and response to the ongoing Covid-19
More...
Access Bank, in partnership with The ENDFund, the Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDS and Hacey Health Initiative have embarked on a campaign to sensitise Nigerians on how to reduce the burden of HIV/AIDS, as well as the risk of Neglected Tropical Diseases.
According to the Head of Sustainability and Corporate Communications, Access Bank Plc, Ms. Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan, over 3,000 attendees were reached with the awareness of best practices to manage their health and wellbeing during the Lagos City Marathon held recently.
The World Health Organisation, United Nations Children’s Fund and The Lancet, have ranked Nigeria 174th out of 180 nations that are compared to determine their performance on child flourishing and survival. The report, which was released on Wednesday, said Nigeria ranked below Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and South-Sudan.
It added that the ranking was done by a commission that was convened by the three global health agencies. It said, “In a landmark report released today (Wednesday) by a commission convened by the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and The Lancet, Nigeria ranked in the bottom 10 for performance on child flourishing. “The ranking is based on factors including measures of child survival and well-being such as health, education, nutrition, equity and income gaps.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, has said the state has placed 63 persons under surveillance following the confirmation of an index case being isolated at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba. Abayomi made this disclosure at a press briefing on Wednesday, calling on the public not to panic.
Meanwhile, the National Centre for Disease Control on Wednesday confirmed that 103 people had been killed by Lassa fever in the country since the beginning of this year.
The Nigeria Medical Association has debunked claims on social media that chloroquine phosphate is a cure for coronavirus, aka COVID-19, saying the anti-malaria drug is not a proven antidote.
According to the China News Service, in late January, Chinese medical researchers stated that, in exploratory research considering a selection of 30 drug candidates, three of them, remdesivir, chloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir, seemed to have “fairly good inhibitory effects” on coronavirus at the cellular level.
