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Food additives that cause diseases By: Chioma Umeha Weight management foods like yogurts, soft drinks, and gum can contain some wacky ingredients that many dieters wouldn’t ever consider putting in their body, regardless of how much weight it could help them lose. Health experts have listed of food additives people may be eating that have potential health risks. Of the 10 food additives on the list, nine show possible cancer connections, including tumours, lymphomas, and leukaemia, with some indicating potential links to diabetes and heart disease. Aspartame: Aspartame is a commonly known sugar substitute that has caused controversy since its widespread use began in the early 1970s.  The sweetener is used in place of sugar in gums, soft drinks, and some desserts to help cut calories. Studies have suggested that aspartame may be more harmful than it is beneficial. Aspartame has been linked to brain tumours, lymphomas, and breast cancer, but aspartame isn’t the only chemical c
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Adequate health-care requires synergy among providers – Expert By: Chioma Umeha H ealthcare providers in the country have been urged to sheath their swords and refrain from in-house fighting and embrace collaboration as this will help promote team spirit which will forge the health sector forward. Making the call was Olumide Akintayo, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), during the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria at the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria’s (APBN) board meeting held on Tuesday, at Pharmacy House, Anthony Village in Lagos. Condemning the in-house fighting within various healthcare providers in the country and called for synergy among them, Akintayo insisted that this will promote adequate health-care delivery in the country. Akintayo spoke during the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria and the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria’s board meeting held on Tuesday, at Pharmacy House, Anthony Village, Lagos. His words: “We note that th
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Will new WHO guidelines reduce HIV-related illness burden? By: Chioma Umeha Over a decade ago, World Bank (WB) health specialists some countries, that anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment, the only lifesaver for people living with HIV, should not be its priority because it would exhaust the country’s health budget. One of such countries is India. However, WHO on Sunday, after releasing its new guidelines, at the International AIDS Society meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said immediate treatment of the nine million persons will halt spread of the disease. According to the new guidelines the total global spending on AIDS which will rise by 10 per cent is put at $26.4 billion yearly up from the $24 billion it used to be.  The world health body directed that young children and certain other people with the AIDS virus should be started on medicines as soon as they are diagnosed, in new guidelines that also recommend earlier treatment for adults.  It further noted that the advice
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No HIV after stem-cell transplants – Researchers By: Chioma Umeha T wo HIV -positive patients show no trace of virus after receiving chemotherapy and stem-cell transplants as treatment for lymphoma, according to new research. These patients have become the second and third known cases of a “sterilizing cure,” in which medical treatment removes all traces of HIV — the virus that causes AIDS — from the body. They have remained virus-free even though doctors’ months ago took them off their HIV-targeted medications. “We have been unable to detect virus in either the blood cells or the plasma of these patients,” said lead researcher Dr. Timothy Henrich, of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “We also biopsied gut tissue from one of our patients, and we were unable to detect HIV in the cells of the gut.  Essentially, we do not have any evidence of viral rebound.” The findings are scheduled for presentation on Wednesday at the International AIDS Soc

Africa To Celebrate 1m HIV-Free Babies Soon

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By: Chioma Umeha T he next birth of baby without HIV to a mother, who suffers from the disease, will bring the number of babies born without infection to one million in Sub-Saharan Africa following ten years of US aid programme. According to health experts, this will mark another remarkable step in the long fight against HIV and AIDS, as the United States and its global partners work towards what they call an AIDS-free generation, which just a decade ago would have been unimaginable.  Mother-to-baby transmission has long been a source of concern among governments and organizations working to control the spread of HIV. But more effective anti-retroviral drugs and regimens are now dramatically cutting the chances of an infected mother passing on the disease to her baby during pregnancy or breastfeeding. The millionth baby born HIV-free was Tuesday to be trumpeted as part of celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known by its
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NAFDAC impounds N10.5m materials for packaging fake drugs By: Chioma Umeha The National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said recently, that it had intercepted packaging materials worth N10.5 million intended for fake products manufacturers.  The Director-General of the agency, Dr Paul Orhii, who said this at a news conference, observed that counterfeiters had devised another means by importing packaging materials rather than the finished products. His words: “Two large packages of 20,000 units of fake NGC Codeine bottle caps worth about N5 million imported by Kaba and Kachi cleared by Gojeb Global Resources were intercepted by vigilant PID officers, the packaging material which is an anti-tussive/analgesic product was imported with the intention of faking codeine syrup. He continued: “Three packages containing 15,000 pieces of packaging materials for the manufacture of fake Olay carrot lightening shower cream, 15,000 pieces of packaging material for th
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Nigerian rice farmers lost N22.4b to Guinea-worm By: Chioma Umeha. In a week time, Nigeria will formerly join the league of over 35 other African countries that have wiped out the guinea worm disease after it has received the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) certification if there is no report of new infection.  Rice Plantation Precisely, between June 24 and July 14, the International Commission for the Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication of WHO will be in the country to certify Nigeria free of the disease, also known as dracunculiasis, a debilitating parasitic infection that affects people living in remote, poverty stricken communities. Also called ‘impoverisher’ in communities, guinea worm outbreaks in South East alone cost rice farmers an estimated $140 million annually within a period of seven years, 1988 and 1995. This is an equivalent of N22.4 billion today. Reports from the Carter Centre’s Guinea Worm Eradication Programme stated, “Disease outbreaks in sout
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Obstetrics, gynaecology, largest users of blood yearly – Health Ministry By: Chioma Umeha An estimated 92 million blood donations are recorded yearly, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).  By 2020, WHO’s target is for all countries to obtain 100 per cent of its blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donations. However, voluntary unpaid donations currently account for 100 per cent of national supplies in only 62 countries around the world. Experts have therefore canvassed for increase in voluntary blood transfusion to that the global target is met. They are worried that voluntary blood transfusion is low at a time when many nations of the world, including, Nigeria is struggling to ensure reduction in maternal and infant mortality rates. This is because studies have shown that the largest users of blood each year are the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G). Confirming this was the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who noting that the largest user
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NAFDAC impounds over N39m fake packaging containers … Products capable of causing infertility By: Chioma Umeha National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has arrested three persons suspected to have imported packaging materials worth over N39m intended for the marketing of fake products which are capable of causing infertility and unwanted pregnancies in women. Announcing this was the Director General of the agency, Dr. Paul Orhii, in a media chat on the activities of his organisation, Wednesday, at the Oshodi corporate head office in Lagos. One of those arrested include Mr. Nwachukwu Odinaka of No. 13 Isa Street, Igando, Lagos, who was alleged to have imported counterfeit Postinor-2 tablets through NAHCO shed, Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.  The following were said to have been found with him at the time of arrest: three cartons  of Postinor-2 tablets and three cartons of Postinor-2 packaging materials. The product label indicates
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Nigeria charts new path to end mother-to-child HIV transmission By: Chioma Umeha With Nigeria currently accounting for 30 per cent of new HIV infections among infants in sub-Sahara Africa, President Goodluck Jonathan will today launch a National Action Plan to end Mother to Child Transmission (MTCT) of HIV in the country, a strategic move to ensure the country does not fail in efforts to end HIV/AIDS infection.  The event is coming on the heels of National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) appeal for more funds to stop new cases of mother to child transmission of HIV/Aids by 90 per cent in 2015. During an interaction with journalists in Abuja on Monday, Director General of the Agency, Dr John Idoko lamented decline of international funding for the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa is declining. According to him, Nigeria needs to raise its internal funding mechanism to eliminate mother – to -child transmission of the virus. To increase the momentum in the effort to achieve (