Frontpage News (3254)
HIV/AIDS - At least $32 billion is needed to eradicate disease by 2030 - UNAIDS
Written by Super User
Noting that there has been remarkable strides with the 1996 advent of antiretroviral drugs, which suppresses HIV, the UN stated that a lot more needs to be done. Global HIV/AIDS body, UNAIDS has said the world needs to dramatically step up investment as well as access to treatment to roll back AIDS.
Noting that there has been remarkable strides with the 1996 advent of antiretroviral drugs, which suppresses HIV, the UN stated that a lot more needs to be done. United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said "the world has delivered on halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic, now we must commit to ending the AIDS epidemic.”
UNAIDS chief Michel Sidibe in a report entitled “How AIDS changed everything” pointed out that "in 2011 world leaders called for reaching 15 million people with life-saving HIV treatment by 2015. And that is exactly what the world did — ahead of schedule,”
PMG-MAN Decries New National Drug Distribution Guidelines
Written by Super User
Pharmaceutical industry chiefs under the aegis of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria have called for the review of the new National Drug Distribution Guidelines, describing it as capable of crippling the industry.A man claiming to be a doctor has been arrested after years of duping staff of establishments keen on personnel health. Sunday Bartholomew was first detained by management of Excel Hotel in Abuja, where he had duped staff into testing for sexually transmitted infections and paying for hepatitis vaccine, before police took custody of him yesterday evening.
Daily Trust learnt the suspect approached the hotel claiming that Centre for Hepatitis and Disease Control recommended hepatitis screening for staff, and injected those who tested negative with vaccine at N1,000 a shot.Bartholomew told police investigators he injected a total 35 workers in days around his anti-hepatitis campaign programme, and offered antiretroviral drug Lamivudine for sale. All women at the establishment tested positive in a “syphilis strip” test he conducted, and he asked them to meet him at a location in Apo for three doses of injections for which he charged N9,000.
Worried by the danger posed by the activities of illegal operators of patent medicine and pharmaceutical stores in Lagos, the state government, through its Taskforce on Fake, Counterfeit and Unwholesome Processed Foods, has sealed no fewer than 29 illegal patent medicine stores.
Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Modele Osunkiyesi, said the 29 shops were sealed off for various offences contrary to the provisions of the law on the operation of pharmacies and patent medicine stores in Lagos State. In a release signed by Director, Press & Public Relations, Salako Adeola, Osunkiyesi noted that the latest closure was coming on the heels of the government’s renewed mandate to rid the state of illicit pharmaceutical stores’ operators.
WHO recommends injectable Artesunate for severe malaria
Written by Super User
Experts have said that in order to prevent death from severe malaria, immediate treatment with injectable Artesunate is required, after confirmation with rapid diagnostic tests or laboratory investigation.
Speaking at a media enlightenment campaign, Consultant Medical Parasitologist/Associate Professor at the WHO Centre, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Dr. Wellington Oyibo, noted that the symptoms of severe malaria were unmistakable and could help in preventing deaths from the disease.
Oyibo said some symptoms of the disease become manifest when a child is unable to walk or sit up without assistance, and when the child is unable to feed.
A former Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Femi Olugbile, has raised the alarm over lapses in the regulatory framework of advanced medical procedures in the country.
Olugbile, a health policy consultant spoke at a seminar organised by Eldorado Medic Jobs Recruitment Limited in Lagos, noting that lack of guidelines and regulation might put the health of Nigerians at risk. He said, “We have realised that there is a need to fill the gap in regulation because we know that many practitioners are performing advanced medical procedures, such as In-vitro Fertilisation and organ transplants in a legal vacuum.
“Some practitioners, in reality, could get away with murder now because of poor regulation. Science cannot jump ahead of the law. However, the law must not hold science back. Everything must go hand in hand.” A Biomedical Engineer, Dr. Aderolu Omokayode, also called on the Federal Government to institute a framework that will protect biomedical practice in the country.
Ebola: Two new trials of vaccines begin in Europe and Africa
Written by Super User
The development of the prime-boost and other vaccines was accelerated in response to vast outbreaks of Ebola in West Africa, where at least 11,200 people have died so far in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Two new Ebola vaccine trials began on Wednesday with volunteers in Britain, France and Senegal getting "prime-boost" immunisations developed by Bavarian Nordic, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson. The mid-stage, or Phase II, trials are designed primarily to test the vaccines' safety, but will also assess whether they provoke an immune response against the deadly virus. The development of the prime-boost and other vaccines was accelerated in response to vast outbreaks of Ebola in West Africa, where at least 11,200 people have died so far in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The Consultant, Intensive Care Unit, Paelon Memorial Clinic, Lagos, Dr. Sylvia Cole, has called for the creation of more intensive care units in the country to cater for patients with life-threatening conditions. Cole made the call during the inauguration of a two-bed ICU unit at the clinic.
Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna state on Thursday solicited the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to strengthen healthcare services in the state. El-Rufa’i, who made the call when he received officials of the World Bank in his office, said healthcare delivery remained a priority of the administration. He disclosed that the government would forward a bill to the state House of Assembly to streamline activities of its Primary Healthcare Development Agency for effective service delivery.
“We want to provide a framework for all those that want to help us; it will be a one-stop-shop on healthcare,’’ he said. The governor pledged that the administration would redeem its counterpart obligation to all donor agencies and intervene decisively in areas where resistance was recorded in polio immunisation. The governor commended medical and health workers in the state for their commitment to duty in spite of the poor working environment.
President Muhammadu Buhari will be among African leaders and heads of state attending the International Conference on Africa’s Fight Against Ebola, holding in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea from 20 to 21 July, 2015. The theme of the conference, which is being organized under the auspices of the African Union Commission, is “Africa Helping Africans in Reconstructionand Recovery from Ebola.”. President Buhari who is scheduled to address the gathering, will be represented by Mr. Linus Awute, PermanentSecretary of the Federal Ministry of Health.
The conference will bring together heads of government, ministers, experts, captains of industry and stakeholders who will share experiences of their Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) containment and support efforts. A major objective of the confab is to seek support for post-Ebola recovery and reconstruction in the region, especially for those countries that have been adversely affected by the disease.
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Health insurance: FG to encourage access through loans
Written by Super UserThe Federal Government is considering the idea of making loans available to Nigerians to enable them access the health insurance scheme under the National Health Insurance Scheme programme. If the arrangement being put in place succeeds, money would no longer be a problem to accessing health care facility in the country.
Acting Executive Secretary of the NHIS, Dr. Abdulrahman Sambo, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja when he received the report on the Hospital Capital Improvement Project committee. The report is expected to be presented at the Federal Executive Council for ratification.
Babatunde Fashola Lagos State Gov. signs compulsorily health insurance bill for every Lagosian
Written by Super User
The bill is pro-poor in nature recognising that the poor and vulnerable will need to have subsidised premiums from the state government.
It's a new dawn for health care in Lagos state as Governor Babatunde Fashola has signed into law the Lagos State Health Management Agency Bill, which will mandate Lagosians to have compulsory health insurance. According to Business Day, the bill is pro-poor in nature recognising that the poor and vulnerable will need to have subsidised premiums from the state government.
Speaking on the bill, Fashola said: “For those who cannot afford the scheme Lagos State is not saying there is no free health anymore, but we know that there are things that are covered under the free health like malaria treatment and antenatal. For those things that are not covered by the health scheme and cannot be afforded by the less privileged, it will be paid for.”
In furtherance of its mandate to deepen the penetration of health insurance in the country, as well and take the prospects of universal health coverage forward for Nigeria, The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is intensifying its resolve to decentralize the operation of health insurance in the country. In furtherance of its mandate,the Scheme has initiated a series of advocacy visits to state governors across the country to secure their understanding and cooperation regarding their roles in the new order. This was contained in a statement made available to LEADERSHIP yesterday in Abuja by the Head, Media & PR Division of NHIS, Ayo Osinlu.
It said the first port of call in this nationwide advocacy was the government house in Kaduna, where a high powered team of the Scheme met the leadership of the state recently. Speaking at the occasion, the Ag. Executive Secretary of the Scheme, Mr Olufemi Akingbade stated that NHIS was inspired to make Kaduna its first target, in view of the pragmatic nature of the governor of the state, Mallam Nasir El Rufai, and the legacy of his impressive efforts to promote health insurance for the people of the Federal Capital Territory during his tenure as minister of the territory.
Recently, the Federal Government launched a five-year National Drug Control Master Plan (NDCMP) to provide an integrated and comprehensive roadmap for multi-sectoral interventions to address a wide array of drug related issues. The NDCMP, which will be implemented between 2015 and 2019, aims to strengthen responses to drugs in order for it to contribute to the enhanced health, security and well-being of Nigerians.
The menace of illicit drug abuse is an age-long challenge in the country. Budgets have increased dramatically over the last two decades and drug-related prosecutions and incarcerations continue to make news, yet drug problems worsen: adolescent drug abuse is increasing, overdose deaths are at record levels, cannabis are grown in neighborhoods like flowers and are more accessible than before. Of particular note is the health problems related to drugs, especially the spread of HIV/AIDS, cancers, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and other drug-induced antisocial behaviours.
