HEALTH

Updated November 19, 2008

WORLD TOILET DAY

As part of measures to discourage people who indulge in the habit of defecating in public, relevant authorities at Federal, State and Local levels have been urged to beef up the construction of more toilets through proper mobilization and advocacy across the Country. This was the view of sanitation experts at an event marking the World toilet day.

November 19th is designated as World Toilet Day and it might sound like a joke but it is a serious issue with statistics showing that about 2.6 billion people Globally and about 70 million Nigerians live without toilet and have to use fields, river banks, beaches and rubbish dumps to defecate.
Can you also imagine life without toilet, no toilets in ones home or at work, and no public toilets anywhere? Imagine the threat to public decency and health hazards? It is the view of experts that unavailability of toilets could have serious health implications and act as a setback to achieving the Millenium Development target on Sanitation.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene specialist with UNICEF Bisi Agberemi and Bankole Ebisemiju of Water Aid Nigeria called on the Nigerian government to intensify efforts in advocacy towards creation of more toilets in the Country.

HIV/AIDS: MULTI-SECTORAL INTERVENTION ADVOCATED AS MEANS TO REDUCE PREVAILANCE

Operators in Nigeria’s Health Sector say the fight against the HIV/AIDS Pandemic requires the collaboration of all and sundry. At a forum in Abuja to mark the end of a seven year HIV/AIDS prevention project, promoting sexual and productive health and HIV risk reduction, participants say there is a reduction in the HIV/AIDS prevalence in Nigeria.

The HIV/AIDS prevention initiative, promoting sexual and reproductive health and HIV risk reduction PSRHH popularly known in local parlance as ‘’Make We Talk’’, through its programme on the mass media designed campaigns that educates about the dangers of sexually transmitted infections and encourage safer sexual behaviors.

For the head of Nigeria’s AIDS agency, the ‘’Make We Talk’’ initiative is contributing to the success recorded by the agency. The programme he says helped in correcting some misconceptions about the scourge and reducing its prevalence rate in the Country.

Apart from contributing to reducing stigma attached to people living with the virus, the programme has engendered behavioral change which participants all agreed remains the best way to prevent the spread of the disease. The ‘’Make We Talk’’ programme, a seven year initiative began in 2002, employing the successes of several best practices and past experiences to disseminate HIV risk information to especially poor and vulnerable populations of Nigeria.

HIV/AIDS CONTROL: NIGERIA GETS 100M POUNDS GRANT FROM BRITAIN

The current situation where sixty percent of Nigerians living with HIV/AIDs don’t have access to anti-retroviral treatment has attracted a grant of one hundred million pounds, approximately twenty billion naira from the British Government.

British Undersecretary of State for international Development, Ivan Lewis who disclosed this in Abuja on Monday tasked the National Agency for the control of AIDs, NACA to ensure that the grant gets to the target population at the grassroots.

Since the establishment of the National Agency for the control of AIDs frist as a committee in 2000, several foreign grants have been enjoined by the country in the fight against the pandemic. Though the prevalence of the disease has reduced from 5.8% in 2001 to the current 3.6%, the level of achievement is still criticized as slow, since only 40% of those living with the virus have access to anti-retroviral treatment.

More so, there is still inadequate awareness of sexual health and HIV in the rural areas and poor health facilities with resultant poor blood screening which accounts for 10% of new HIV infections. The AIDs control Agency blames these failures on weak capacity and poor government funding.

The 100million pounds grant from the British Government is to help tackle the challenges of HIV/AIDs prevention and treatment as well as stigmatization. The British government also reacted to fears that such grants largely end up serving the interest of western consultants. The grant is billed to cover Abuja and eight states of the Federation and will span across 6years beginning from 2009.
17.11.08

DEBT RELIEF FUNDS TO ENHANCE NIGERIANS'STANDARD OF LIVING -- YAR'ADUA

President Umaru Yar'Adua today in Minna reiterated the the Federal Government's determination to utilise the debt relief funds to enhance the standard of living of Nigerians. He spoke at the flagging off of a free medical care for pregnant women and children below five years, handled jointly by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and MDG Office.

Yar'Adua, who was represented by Dr Hassan Lawal, the Spervising Minister of Health,said the maternal and childcare project was being given priority, because it was capable of reversing the country's current health indices.  ``Government is adopting a holistic approach in dealing with the health indices, which show that some 100 women die for every 1,000 child births, while some 197 babies die, out of every 1,000 deliveries,'' he said.

 Yar'Adua said the maternal and childcare project would soon be scaled up to cover the entire country. The project is being implemented in six states, including Oyo, Gombe , Niger , Imo, Sokoto and Bayelsa with a N5 billion grant from the debt relief fund.  The president said the project hoped to avail more than 600,000 pregnant women and children, access to free Medicare within the next one year. He also gave the assurance that government would deploy the debt relief funds to other activities that would help to speed up the attainment of the MDG goals.

Yar'Adua urged the benefiting states to match the N5 billion grant, to enable more pregnant women and children to benefit from the project. Eailer, Dr Dogo Muhammed, Executive Secretary of NHIS, said the project had the potential of transforming the health indices of the country.  ``It represents a major statement of the administration in its determination and commitment toward improving the health and well-being of Nigerians,'' he said. Muhammed said government would, by 2011, scale down its contributions to the project, with the expectation that state governments would scaleup their contributions, to enable more people to benefit from it. 

Hajiya Amina Ibrahim, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, said the project was government’s intervention to the critical problem of physical and financial access to healthcare delivery.  Gov. Babangida Aliyu of Niger State , promised to match the project’s grant with an additional N1.7 billion to enable more pregnant women and children to benefit from it.

NDLEA EXPRESS DISPLEASURE OVER CULTIVATION OF CANNABIS

The National Law Enforcement Agency,NDLEA, says it is displeased with the cultivation of cannabis by Fadama farmers in the north-East zone of the country.

NDLEA Charman, Amadu Giade bared his mind while speaking at the launch of the North-East awareness campaign on the prevention of illicit drug cultivation in Bauchi.

Giade said the campaign was aimed at sustaining the momentum of the ongoing anti-drug education efforts. He explained that addressing the problem of illicit drug is a collective responsibility of government, communities and individuals and called on all Nigeriansto join hands with the government in tackling the problem

The NDLEA boss also warned that any person arrested for culti vating cannabis will be dealt with in accordance with the provision of the law.

MAJOR MULTINATIONAL INITIATIVE LAUNCHED TO PROMOTE TOBACCO CONTROL IN AFRICA

Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI) Seeks to Stem Growing Health Crisis in Tobacco-Related Disease throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

Durban, 16 November -- International leaders in cancer and tobacco control announced the launch of an unprecedented multinational effort to promote more aggressive tobacco control measures across sub-Saharan Africa. Called the Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI), the effort will seek to promote the adoption, implementation and enforcement of effective in-country tobacco control policies, legislation and programmes. ATCRI is being supported by Cancer Research UK and American Cancer Society (ACS) and will be hosted by the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria.

The Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Nnimmo Bassey, said "This is an important and long-overdue initiative. There is significant concern that if current smoking patterns continue, Africa will be faced with the loss of millions of her people to tobacco-related disease within the next few years and also be faced with major infrastructure challenges to manage and treat these chronic diseases."

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), tobacco currently kills about 5.5 million people every year with seventy percent of the deaths occurring in developing countries. Tobacco companies have in the recent past targeted African countries for development, distribution and marketing of tobacco products because of the limited tobacco control legislation to date.

The launch of ATCRI comes as the World Health Organisation hosts the third Conference of the Parties of the WHO-initiated Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in Durban from 17 -22 November. The WHO FCTC is the world's first global public health treaty, ratified by more than 160 nations, and requires parties to adopt a comprehensive range of measures designed to reduce the devastating health and economic impacts of tobacco.

John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer (CEO) of American Cancer Society, is optimistic that ATCRI will go a long way in helping to reduce the burden of diseases, deaths and other costs associated with tobacco use. He noted, "This effort represents the first major coordinated, multinational effort in Africa to specifically address tobacco control. It's a crucial step forward to contain a growing health crisis in Africa and one that promises to have a positive health impact in various countries throughout the continent."

NDLEA DESTROYS OVER 5 METRIC TONS OF NARCOTIC DRUGS IN KANO

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has publicly destroyed 5,154.295 kilogrammes of narcotic drugs in Kano. The drugs were jointly seized by the Kano State, Jigawa State and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) Commands of the Agency. The honourable Chairman/Chief Executive of the Agency, Ahmadu Giade who led other dignitaries to set the drugs ablaze said that the event offers “yet another opportunity to make our society safer and better”.

In his keynote address Giade urged members of the public to condemn illicit drug trafficking and abuse and choose to live a drug free life.  The nature of the drug trade he observed affects even the innocent citizen. “When illicit drug proceeds are injected into the economy of nations, both the guilty and the innocent are affected. When marriages disintegrate due to involvement in narcotic drugs, again both the guilty and the innocent are affected” he said.
 
The NDLEA boss added that when people demonstrably fail to meet work, school and other obligations, it is the entire society that bears the brunt. As a result, governments across the globe are grappling with the control of heinous criminal acts aggravated by illicit drug activities. He lamented that while some precious lives are being lost, several others hooked on drugs have become redundant. In his words “many great destinies have been relegated to regrettable obscurity as a result of narcotic drugs”. He was however optimistic that with the efforts of the Agency in drug demand and supply control, much has been achieved.  
 
A breakdown of the drugs revealed that cannabis often called marijuana had the highest quantity of 4,865.394 kilogrammes. Psychotropic substances are next with 217.748 kilogrammes. Heroin is 63.41 kilogramme and cocaine 7.743 kilogrammes. Kano State command had 4,251.882 kilogrammes of various drugs. Jigawa State command had 132.262 kilogrammes and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport command had 69.473 kilogrammes. There were also 700.588 kilogrammes of abandoned drugs.
 
It will be recalled that in August 2007, a total of 4,806.280 kilogrammes of drugs seized by the three commands of the Agency were publicly destroyed. Since January 2008, the Agency had conducted similar burning events in six States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja where 168,358.812 kilogrammes of narcotic drugs were destroyed. Thursday’s occasion brought the total quantity of drugs destroyed since January 2008 to 173,510.46 kilogrammes. Giade said that they are deeply encouraged by the success level of control efforts in taking out of illicit circulation such large consignment of drugs.
 
The NDLEA boss said that the Agency has the capacity to address the problem of narcotic drugs in the country. He cited the arrest and prosecution of a notorious drug baron, Akindele Ikumoluyi who was recently convicted by the Federal High Court in Lagos, and numerous seizures of drugs including the 80.53 metric tons of cannabis made by the Oyo State command Agency in May 2008 as some of the salient achievements of the anti-drug Agency. He gave assurance that the Agency will remain determined and focussed in its assignment.