Frontpage News (3249)
The Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) on Tuesday pledged to support the current effort by Federal Government against CoronaVirus or Covid-19 with a whooping N200million. The ADF’s intervention is considered the largest single donation by a corporate organisation in the country to contain the spread of coronavirus since a foreigner was tested positive last month in Lagos.
It would be recalled that the Aliko Dangote Foundation also committed about N1 billion to the fight against the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Africa. The foundation directly supported the Nigerian government’s Ebola containment efforts through strategic investments
The Osun State Government has restated its commitment to an improved and affordable health care system for residents, as the National Agency for the Control of AIDS said about 7,115 carriers of the disease are currently receiving treatment in the state.
The state’s Deputy Governor, Benedict Alabi stated this in Osogbo on Wednesday while receiving a delegation from the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, led by Cyril Ojeonu, NACA’s Head of Government Resources Division. Alabi said, “We are assuring you that we will stop at nothing to ensure that HIV infection is brought down to a bearest minimum in the state.”
Medical Laboratory Profession is Indispensable in Healthcare, Says Osinbajo
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The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has stated that medical laboratory profession is an important part of healthcare provision.
He urged the West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science and the Nigerian Medical Laboratory Scientists to ensure peaceful laboratory environment in the West Africa region in the line of duty. Osinbajo who declared open the 2020 Congress of the West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science (WAPCMLS) and induction/investiture of its Fellows in Lagos recently, noted the importance of accurate and reliable laboratory diagnosis in the prevention and control of diseases.
Dirty banknotes may be spreading coronavirus, WHO suggests people go cashless
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Banknotes may be spreading the new coronavirus so people should try to use contactless payments instead, the World Health Organization has said. Customers should wash their hands after touching banknotes because infectious Covid-19 may cling to the surface for a number of days, the United Nations agency said on Tuesday.
To prevent the spread of the disease, people should use contactless technology where possible, a WHO spokesperson added. The Bank of England has acknowledged that banknotes "can carry bacteria or viruses" and urged people to wash their hands regularly.
Head of Human Resources at the Federal Ministry of Health, Shakuri Kadiri, has said that the country has one doctor to 2,753 patients. Kadiri disclosed this in Abuja at the launch of the Nigeria Health Work Force Country Profile 2018 and handover of the Nigeria Health Workforce Registry by the ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and other partners.
He read the profile, which put the number of medical doctors registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria at 74,543; implying there are 36.3 medical doctors per 100,000 population.
The Chairman, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan chapter of the Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Dr. Dare Olulana, has raised an alarm that the National Universities Commission (NUC) will collapse the nation’s health sector with its circular on doctorate degree for clinical lecturers in universities.
Olulana who gave the warning while addressing journalists in Ibadan recently, said any attempt to insist on compulsory acquisition of PhD by clinical lecturers in medical schools will sound the death knell of the health care system in Nigeria. Members of the association all over the country last week Wednesday embarked on an indefinite strike action after its ultimatum to the NUC to withdraw the circular on PhD
An anti-inflammation drug, Actemra (tocilizumab), manufactured by the Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche, has been approved by the Chinese government for the treatment of patients who are developing severe complications from coronavirus.
Actemra is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis who have had an inadequate response to one or more Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs. Roche was quoted as saying that a third party has initiated the trial independently to explore the efficacy and safety of the drug in coronavirus patients with cytokine release syndrome (CRS). According to the online portal, Pharmaceutical Technology,
Coronavirus crisis: Nigerian pharmacists lament India’s ban on drug exportation
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Following the ban that Indian government placed on exportation of drugs and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients to Nigeria and other countries last Tuesday, pharmacists have blamed the problem on “the lack of affirmative action on the part of the Federal Government,” even as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control has not directly addressed India’s action.
India, the world’s main supplier of generic drugs according to Reuters, had restricted the export of 26 pharmaceutical ingredients, as well as drugs made from them. The BBC reports that India gets almost 70 per cent of its active pharmaceutical ingredients from China
Coronavirus: Scientist wants FG to conduct research on virus’ adaptability in Nigeria
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A Medical Imaging Scientist, Mr Livinus Abonyi, has urged Federal Government to take proactive step of investigating and conducting research on if Coronavirus was a tropical and endemic disease that could thrive in Nigeria.
Abonyi, also a Lecturer in Medical Radiography Department, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos. He said that the government could achieve this through collaboration with the scientists, researchers, stakeholders and all other relevant authorities. Abonyi said that the research was expected to reveal whether Coronavirus was a tropical infectious disease that could thrive
COVID-19 threat to global fight against HIV,TB,malaria,others,says Global Fund
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AN international financing and partnership organization, Global Fund ,has expressed fear that the outbreak of Coronavirus across the world could impede global fight against HIV/AIDS,tuberculosis,malaria among other disease the world was focusing on eradication.
The organisation which even in the face of its fear,announced new guidance to enable countries strengthen individual response activities to the new coronavirus (COVID-19) by using existing grants in a swift, nimble and pragmatic way,insisted that COVID-19 could derail
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World health professionals urge govts to prioritise support for healthcare workers
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The world’s health professionals have called on governments to support healthcare workers who are on the frontline to combat the novel coronavirus ravaging countries across the world.
The World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA), which represents 31 million healthcare professionals stands in solidarity with all healthcare workers across the globe who are on the front line in the fight to contain the current coronavirus epi. They note that all around the world, nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, dentists,
Osinbajo charges laboratory scientists to deliver quality disease diagnosis
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Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has charged the West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science, and the Nigerian Medical Laboratory scientists to ensure qualitative laboratory environment for effective disease diagnosis.
Osinbajo, who declared open the 2020 Congress of the West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science (WAPCMLS), and induction/investiture of its fellows, in Lagos, noted the importance of accurate and reliable laboratory diagnosis in the prevention and control of diseases.
The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria has suspended its strike to compel the National Universities Commission to reverse its decision to make the acquisition of PhD mandatory for clinical lecturers for career progression in public universities.
The MDCAN on February 25 withdrew its services from Colleges of Medicine in public universities after the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum the doctors issued to the NUC to withdraw its circular. The President of the association, Prof. Kenneth Ozoilo, who announced the suspension of the strike at a press conference in Jos on Tuesday,
The World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday finally declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and urged countries to take urgent and aggressive action to contain the spread. There are now more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries while 4,291 people have lost their lives to the disease.
The Director General of the organisation, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who made the declaration said the number of cases outside China had increased 13-fold over the past two weeks and expressed concern about “alarming levels of inaction” in the fight against the spread of the disease.
