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The Nigeria’s National Health Act, (NH Act), 2014 is without doubt one singular instrument required to unlock economy and the greatest transformation for the Health Sector. The act establishes a Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) to be financed from Federal Government Annual Grant of not less than one per cent of its Consolidated Revenue Fund; grants by international donor partners and funds from any other source.
Out of the fund, the Act states that 50 per cent shall be used for the provision of basic minimum package of health services to citizens, in eligible primary and secondary health care facilities through the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS); 20 per cent shall be used to provide essential drugs, vaccines and consumables for eligible primary health care facilities; 15 per cent shall be used for the provision and maintenance of facilities, equipment and transport for eligible primary healthcare facilities; 10 per cent shall be used for the development of Human Resources for primary health care and 5 per cent of the fund shall be used for emergency medical treatment to be administered by a committee appointed by the National Council on Health.
Reducing Environmental Pollution Will Prevent 70, 000 Annual Deaths In Nigeria – WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has adviced that if Nigeria put measures to reduce climate pollutants, it could prevent 70 000 premature deaths per year from outdoor air pollution, from 2030 onwards. According to WHO estimates, climate change is already causing tens of thousands of deaths every year – from shifting patterns of disease, from extreme weather events, such as heat-waves and floods, and from the degradation of air quality, food and water supplies, and sanitation.
“The upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-21) in Paris offers the world an important opportunity to not only reach a strong international climate agreement, but also to protect the health of current and future generations,” the WHO said in a statement on Wednesday. In 2012, WHO estimated 7 million people died from air pollution-related diseases, making it the world’s largest single environmental health risk. It is predicted that climate change will cause an additional 250 000 deaths per year from malaria, diarrhoea, heat stress and under-nutrition between 2030 and 2050. Children, women and the poor in lower income countries will be the most vulnerable and most affected, widening health gaps.
Some 2.4 billion people around the world don’t have access to decent sanitation and more than a billion are forced to defecate in the open, risking disease and other dangers, according to the United Nations. Launching its World Toilet Day campaign for November 19, the UN said poor sanitation increases the risk of illness and malnutrition, especially for children, and called for women and girls in particular to be offered safe, clean facilities.
“One out of three women around the world lack access to safe toilets,” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement. “As a result they face disease, shame and potential violence when they seek a place to defecate.” Even where there are toilets in some places around the world, some are hardly suitable to be called toilets.
Global CEO Rakesh Kapoor promises to further intensify diarrhea and malaria prevention efforts in Nigeria
The Global Chief Executive Officer of the world’s leading consumer health and hygiene company Reckitt Benckiser(RB), Mr. Rakesh Kapoor said that RB’s vision for Nigeria is where people are healthier and live better and RB will continue on making difference by giving Nigerians innovative solutions for healthier lives and happier homes Mr. Kapoor who is on a working visit to Nigeria said this in Lagos during a visit to the Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode. He said RB has been in Nigeria for over five decades adding that he is very happy with the operations of the company in Nigeria which he described as one of the most important growth markets and the reference point for other African business development growth strategies
“RB's heritage in Nigeria spans over 53 years with health, hygiene and home portfolio led by global brands like Dettol, Nurofen, Strepsils, Gaviscon, Durex, Dettol, Harpic, Mortein, and Air Wick. Nigeria also serves as the West African hub driving business development, opening up new markets and portfolio expansion across the West African Coast” he said. Kapoor went on to disclose to the Governor how RB through its power brands Dettol, Mortein and Harpic have been partnering with the Federal and Lagos State Ministry of Health, Nigerian Medical Association and Save the Children NGO on programs to create awareness on best hygiene practices.
Hospital officials in Adamawa have lauded public response to the call to donate blood to victims of Tuesday night blast in Yola. The Chief Medical Director of Yola Specialist Hospital, Dr Bala Sa’id and the Public Relations Officer of Federal Medical Centre Yola, Malam Adamu Dodo, made the commendation in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola. Said said "the turnout was huge; we received many people who turned out to donate blood for the victims.’’
He dismissed speculations that some patients were made to purchase drugs, adding that "treatment is free". "Apart from the state government, we also got support from the Victim Support Fund to ensure free treatment of victims.’’ He said many out of the 30 people on admission had received treatment and now discharged. "Many have been discharged; I can’t give you the exact number of the people discharged now because I was not the doctor that went round to effect the discharge,’’ he added.
The Nasarawa State House of Assembly (NSHA) has warned health practitioners in the state to desist from quackery and other illegal activities or face the full wrath of the law. Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr.Godiya Akwashiki (PDP-Nasarawa Eggon West), gave the warning after the House discussed extensively, a motion brought under matter of public interest by Mr. Mohammed Okpoku (APC-Udege/Loko). Okpoku drew the attention of the House to the illegal activities of some health workers in the state and called on lawmakers to support the bid to flush out quack medical personnels across the state.
He also called on the lawmakers to support the motion to enable the House to in collaboration with the state ministry of health, embark on inspection tour of health facilities across the state. “The inspection tour will help to ascertain the number of registered and unregistered clinics as well as health personnel in order to tackle quackery in the health sector in the state. “My call has become imperative due to the increasing rate of quackery in the health sector in the state which has affected the health needs of my constituency and the people of the state negatively,” he said.
The Federal Capital Territory Pharmaceutical Inspection Committee (FCT-PIC) has sealed off 13 illegal patent medicine shops in Durumi, Lugbe, Gwarinpa, Kubwa and Gwagwa areas of the FCT. The shops were sealed off by members of the six-member committee along with other pharmaceutical inspectors, during its recent enforcement activity. Director of Pharmaceutical Services Department of the FCTA and chairperson of the committee, Pharm. Hauwa Kulu Ibrahim, who led the team, explained that some of the facilities were sealed because they were not registered with the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN).
Others, according to her, were sealed for selling prescription only medicines and evidence of administering injections, refusal to relocate from market area, poor storage conditions of drugs and poor sanitary conditions of shops and surroundings. Ibrahim said that intending patent medicine vendors are required by regulation to apply for inspection, obtain approval for registration and conclude
‘Emergency Transport Service Helped Save 19,000 Pregnant Northern Women’
An Emergency Transport Scheme piloted in four northern states by Health Partners International has helped to transport 19,000 pregnant women in the north to health facilities in emergency situations since 2009. The project with funding from the MacArthur Foundation is implemented in states of Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe and Zamfara but begs for a nationwide implementation. Findings show that 1,592 communities were reached with a population coverage of 4.3 million.
At a assessment workshop Friday in Abuja, a senior partner of the project, Emmanuel Sokpo said the scheme was designed to help ensure the transportation of women in rural areas and to ensure they have access to health care facilities on time. “This was a pilot study to see the effects of various modes of incentives to drivers in carrying out this service, whether it should be cash or social incentives like recognition of people by the community, giving them shirts or fixing their vehicles when bad,” Sokpo said.
The Jigawa Government on Saturday said it targeted 1,298,198 children for immunisation against measles across the state. The State Immunsation Officer, Alhaji Hassan Kwalamdisclosed this at the launch of the 2015 measles campaign at Kyarama Village in Ringim Local Government Area of the state. Kwalam explained that the total of 1,440 designated vaccination centres would be used for the five-day exercise. According to him, the team of vaccinators in each centre will move from one village to another, to ensure that all children in the state are immunised. He urged parents and caregivers in the state to make best use of the exercise and ensure that their children and wards were vaccinated.
The Immunisation Officer said that after the five-day exercise, the vaccines would be made available in hospitals across the state for the continuous immunisation of children. He said that adequate vaccines were provided to meet the targeted number of children across the state. Kwalam thanked the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), National Primary Health Care Development Agency and other international donors for their support to the exercise. In his remarks, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Abba Zakari, enjoined parents to ensure their children within the age limit were vaccinated.
Global growth of unregulated over-the-counter and Internet sales of precious antibiotic medicines is further fuelling the rise of deadly, drug-resistant "superbug" bacteria, according to a UKgovernment-commissioned review. In recent decades, bacteria resistant to multiple drugs have evolved at the same time as drugmakers have cut back investment in finding new ways to fight them, creating a global health threat as superbug strains of infections like tuberculosis and gonorrhoea have become untreatable. In a report published on Friday amid international alarm about the discovery in China of a gene that makes bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics, former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill said the threat is exacerbated by patients self-medicating with drugs from online pharmacies.
He called on governments, regulators and Internet companies worldwide to clamp down on unlicensed Internet sales of antibiotics and to improve monitoring of drug quality. "Even in those countries where it's next to impossible to buy antibiotics over-the-counter in a shop, it's still often the case that an unscrupulous online pharmacy is just a few clicks away," O'Neill said in a statement with his report. Chinese and British scientists said on Thursday they had found new gene in samples from people and animals that makes bacteria highly resistant to a last-resort class of antibiotics known as polymyxins.
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UBTH NANNM Extends Ultimatum by Seven Days, Threaten Indefinite Strike Action
The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives chapter of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital has once again shown maturity and displayed magnamosity in its bid to fight the injustice against the Nurses by the UBTH Management. You would recall that the UBTH NANNM had earlier issued the management a 14Day Ultimatum to meet their 6 point demands. The ultimatum was set to elapse on the 19th of November 2015 culminating in an indefinite strike action. But the UBTH NANNM Executives arising from a congress meeting held on the 17th of november had deemed it fit and resolved to extend the ultimatum by one week Crisis Looms In Nigeria’s Health Sector As Donor Partners Withdraw Funds
Nigeria’s health sector heavily dependent on international donor funds may witness a reversal of current gains if the country does to tackle this problem as donors withdraw such funds. From the fight against HIV to poliomyelitis, Nigerian government contributes just a little of 20 percent of such disease responses. With Nigeria currently rated as Africa’s biggest economy, the country is no longer qualified to received many of the international donor grants meant for poor world countries still struggling to archive minimum standards of health and education.
The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) Professor John Idoko told LEADERSHIP on Tuesday that Nigerian government funding for HIV activities is worrisome. He said “We signed an agreement with our biggest donor in 2011 that by 15, Nigeria should be able to fund HIV related activities to 50 per cent.” According to Idoko, up till now, government funding for HIV is still below 25 per cent. “Clearly we are not doing well, we are the second most burdened country after South Africa. South Africa has about six million people with HIV and it contributes 90 per cent of funding for its HIV response. Currently, they have over three million people on drugs,” he said at a press conference to commence this year’s world AIDS day in Abuja.
German Pharma Provides Nigeria $5m Worth Of Drugs To Tackle Schistosomiasis
A German pharmaceutical giant, Merck, has donated some praziquantel tablets worth $5million US dollars to Nigeria to fight Schistosomiasis, a new form of tropical disease prevalent in Africa. An estimated 249million people are reported to suffer from the disease, globally with more than 90 percent of those affected living in sub-saharan Africa and 64million patients, predominantly school aged children treated so far from the disease.
Schistosomiasis which is listed as one of the 17 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) prioritized by the World Health Organisation is said have killed more than 200,000 people. The disease which usually showcases symptoms of learning disabilities and anemia in children is caused by flatworms and spread through stagnant water. Over 290million praziquantel tablets have so far been distributed by the German government to countries in sub saharan Africa, including Nigeria.
A failure to send a suspected Ebola patient directly to a specialist treatment unit in a fresh outbreak of the virus inLiberia may reflect fatigue and complacency among health workers, a health expert said on Tuesday. Liberia has placed 153 people under surveillance after three Ebola cases emerged on Friday, more than two months after theWest African country was declared free of the virus. The first of the new patients was 15-year-old Nathan Gbotoefrom Paynesville, a suburb east of the capital Monrovia, and his father and brother have since been confirmed as positive.
The teenager went to several health centres before being referred to an Ebola treatment unit and several health workers who cared for him may have not worn protective equipment, said Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) representative Carissa Guild. "Normally with a surveillance system, if someone has signs and symptoms (of Ebola) they would not be hospitalised but immediately sent to an Ebola treatment centre to be tested." "There were no cases for a while and Liberia was nearing the end of a 90-day period of heightened surveillance... it is quite possible that people were tired and got complacent," Guild said.
