Frontpage News (3249)
The Federal Government has said Nigerians will be part of the early beneficiaries of COVID-19 vaccine when developed in commercial quantity.Minister for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said in Abuja on Tuesday that anytime a potent vaccine is found or developed as a solution to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Nigerians will not be left out.
Ehanire, said this at two-day multi-sectoral conference on the COVID-19, noting that there are arrangements by the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure that Nigerians get the vaccine immediately it comes out.
Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has urged the federal government to expedite action towards giving an enabling environment to the nation’s local drug manufacturing companies in order to reduce the high cost of drugs in the country.
Speaking at the 2020 Press Week organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kwara state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Ilorin last Tuesday, the NMA State Deputy Chairman, Dr. Aderibigbe Ayodele, said there is the need for stakeholders to demand government’s speedy action in this direction.
UNICEF, WHO urge action to avert measles, polio epidemics
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The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have alerted countries, including Nigeria, to the possibility of major measles and polio epidemics, as COVID-19 continues to disrupt immunization services worldwide.
According to the global bodies, millions of vulnerable children worldwide are now at heightened risk of the preventable childhood diseases.WHO and UNICEF estimate that $655 million is required to tackle polio, while $255 million is needed to address measles in non-Gavi eligible countries and target age groups.
This year’s World Pneumonia Day (WPD) is being celebrated today, November 12, 2020, with some gloomy figures from the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), which indicate that the disease kills between 142,000 and 160,000 under-five children in Nigeria every year.
The FMoH, yesterday, blamed high mortality and morbidity rate of pneumonia in Nigeria on low immunisation especially in hard-to-reach areas, urbanisation, malnutrition and pollution from greenhouse gases emanating from burning of woods.
COVID-19: Nigeria records 180 new cases, two more deaths
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Nigeria recorded 180 new cases of COVID-19, on Wednesday, new data by the country’s infectious disease agency, NCDC, showed Wednesday night. Two deaths were also recorded from the virus on Wednesday.
With the latest update, Nigeria’s COVID-19 total case count increased to 64,516, keeping her fifth on the list of African countries hit hardest, behind Ethiopia, Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa.
The first kidney transplant centre for the Southeast, Premium Dialysis Hospital,was launched yesterday in Nnewi, Anambra State. Former Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Dr Okey Chidolue said opening of the facility was informed by rising cases of kidney failures and related diseases.
He explained that kidney problem should not be seen as a death sentence, but said its management was an uphill task that could not be successful without government and community support.
Enugu Begins Mass Vaccination In Communities Against Yellow Fever
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Enugu State government has commenced mass vaccination in Ette and Umuopu communities in Igbo-Eze North Council of the state, following the outbreak of yellow fever in the localities. No fewer than 50 persons were said to have died since last month during which the disease, earlier described as ‘strange’ broke out in the communities.
Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ikechukwu Obi, in a statement, provided an update on what the state government had done since the outbreak of the disease,
The Provost, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Prof Olayinka Omigbodun, has said the government needs to properly equip primary health care centres in the 774 Local Government Areas, employ skilled health professionals and station an ambulance in each of them as one of the steps towards reducing maternal and newborn mortality rate in Nigeria.
Omigbodun said health workers must also change their attitude to patients and pregnant women to avoid driving them to quacks and substandard medical facilities for treatment and deliveries.
The Director-General of World Health Organization, WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said yesterday that a vaccine would not by itself stop the coronavirus pandemic. Ghebreyesus stated this on a day US biotech firm, Moderna, announced that its experimental vaccine against COVID-19 was 94.5 percent effective, marking a second major breakthrough in the vaccine hunt. Pfizer had also last week said it had developed a vaccine that was 90% effective against the virus.
The pandemic is raging months after it broke out, with infections soaring past 54 million and claiming more than 1.3 million lives. “A vaccine will complement the other tools we have, not replace them. A vaccine on its own will not end the pandemic,” Ghebreyesus said.
Nigeria needs N7bn for domestic production of Anti-Snake Venom — Expert
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The Federal Government needs a whopping N7 billion to establish a factory for the production of Anti-Snake Venom for victims of snake bites across the country, according to Dr. Nandul Durfa.
Durfa, who is the Managing Director, Echitab Study Limited, made the disclosure on Monday in an interview in Plateau state. He decried the current cost of the Anti-Snake Venom and the hurdles the government has to scale to get the drugs for snakebite victims.
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Benue State government has said that the strange disease that claimed 20 lives in a part of the state has been verified to be yellow fever. The state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs. Ngunna Adingi, disclosed this, yesterday when she briefed newsmen at the end of the State Executive Council meeting.
According to the commissioner, the result of samples collected and sent to the National Reference Laboratory revealed that the disease was yellow fever.
WHO launches global commitment to eliminate cervical cancer
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The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday launched the global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer globally. Outlining three key steps to achieving this – vaccination, screening and treatment, the WHO noted successful implementation of all three could reduce more than 40 percent of new cases of the disease and 5 million related deaths by 2050.
Tuesday’s development represents a historic milestone because it marks the first time that 194 countries commit to eliminating cancer – following adoption of a resolution at this year’s World Health Assembly.
No fewer than 20 new cases of leprosy have been recorded in Kogi State. According to the Kogi State Program Officer, Leprosy Mission Nigeria (LMN), Mrs. Hannah Fashona the new cases were recorded between January and November 2020.
Briefing journalists in Lokoja on Monday at the Covid-19 response palliatives distribution for communities of persons affected by leprosy and disabilities in Kogi State, Fashona who noted that the organization is determined towards ensuring that Nigeria is free from the disease added that the state referral center located in Ochadamu,
Vaccination ongoing in yellow fever endemic areas – Minister
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The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, on Wednesday said the Federal Government,throughthenigeria Centre for Disease Control, was responding to yellow fever out break in Delta, Enugu and two other states.
He said vaccination was on going in the affected states. Ehanire said this while answering questions from State House correspondents at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
