Chioma Umeha

By  Chioma Umeha The goals of the national programme for Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV include elimination of new infections among children and ensuring safe motherhood by 2020. Specifically, Nigeria’s target is for 75 per cent of all pregnant women to receive quality HIV testing and counselling as well as their results before target period. Next, is to ensure that 60 per cent of all HIV positive pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers receives ARVs by 2020. The comprehensive package of PMTCT interventions include, HIV testing services (HTS), ARV and Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis for mother-infant pairs and use of lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) for women. A visit to the Heart to Heart Centre (H2H) of the Badagry General Hospital, Lagos State by the Journalists’ Alliance for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV in Nigeria (JAPIN) underscores why new infant HIV infections and deaths is on the increase. Fir

By Chioma Umeha The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said it is improving monitoring and surveillance activities with a view to ensure that only safe products are in circulation in the country. Stating this during a donation by Dangote Group, led by its Acting Managing Director, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc, Engr. Abdullahi Sule in Lagos, the Acting Director General of NAFDAC, Mrs. Yetunde Oni, noted the hazardous nature of the agency’s mandate and warned importers who engaged in nefarious activities to desist. Oni stressed that NAFDAC would not only continue to seize fake and banned products imported into the country, but destroy and prosecute every person found wanting. “The earlier we arose to do good things the better for us. Apart from giving marketing authorization to products that we regulate. “It behoves us to also carry out surveillance and monitoring activities to ensure that the quality as at the time tha

By Chioma Umeha Pharmacists under the auspices of   Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has pledged to deploy appropriate technologies to tackle high prevalence of fake and counterfeiting drugs in the country. Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, the PSN President said the time is ripe for pharmacists to take advantage of digital evolution and data transformation to monitor medications, create value as well as enhance service-delivery. He spoke in Lagos during a workshop weekend, tagged; “Convergence of technology and the impact on pharmaceutical practice,” organised by the Education committee of the society. Commenting on the theme, he said that PSN would incorporate technology as part of a multidisciplinary and collaborative healthcare team. This, he said, would enhance pharmacy practice and delivery of pharmaceutical services to patients. Yakassi added that the association would deploy the international standard dispensing software for best clinical practice, p

By  Chioma Umeha The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) Tuesday, said there were no ‘killer’ on anti-malarial medicines in Nigeria. Dismissing fears of circulation of purportedly banned 42 antimalarial drugs in the country, at a press conference in Lagos, Acting Director -General, NAFDAC, Dr Yetunde Oni, urged Nigerians to disregard such misinformation. Briefing the media in Lagos, Oni said Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) are the current anti-malaria medicine used in malaria epidemic countries like Nigeria. The Director General, however stated that these antimalarial monotherapies are not recommended for treatment of malaria in Nigeria. “The recommended anti-malaria medicines for treatment of malaria in Nigeria are Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs). “The Nigeria National Anti-Malaria Treatment Policy, February 2005 also supports the use of ACTs,” Oni said. According to her, any anti-malaria drugs that do n

By Chioma Umeha Miss Okpara Uchechi Kristyna, a fashion designer from Imo state, recently told Independent that she used to be overweight, often sick, lazy and unfit, but she is now healthier, fit, and sexier following regular visits to the gym. Excerpts: Do you exercise regularly? Yes I do. I have been con¬sistent since registering in a gym barely three months ago. In fact, I visit the gym for fit¬ness exercise daily. What were your initial complains before you started exercising? I complained of unhealthy weight. I was prone to diseas¬es and was not fit to do many things. Can you say there are positive changes? Yes, obviously. For instance, physical exercise has helped to control my weight. What other changes have you expe¬riences? Physical exercise has also helped to reduce my risk to dis¬eases. It has strengthened my bones and muscles and even improved my mental health and mood. What was your body weight before now? I was 85kg, but now weigh 7

By Chioma Umeha Are you exhausted at home or stressed at work with little or nothing to do during the raining season? You are not alone. This is the plight of many people in this country and across where adverse weather conditions affect one’s movement. Under such adverse weather condition, there is a tendency that you would add up a few pounds or kilograms. Many would end up with a little bulging either at the hip or around the tummy. This is particularly so if you are among those with a genetic make up which allows you retain more calories than you exhaust. Sorry to tell you that, you are out of luck. Unfortunately, the rainy season brings with it other draw backs other than flooded roads and constant power outage. The cold weather may also influence your moods. Research has also shown that what you eat may determine your mood; so your mood can be influenced by your eating habit. Similarly, lack of activity creates a vacuum, which many people opt to use foo

By Chioma Umeha   ania Anita is a Business Administrative Executive with a Human Resource (HR) firm in Lagos. In a chat recently, Anita told Independent that pills and magic teas will not give the same results as physical exercise. Excerpts: Do you visit the gym regularly? Yes, I visit the gym about four to five times in a week. How long have you been doing this? I have been going to the gym for two years. Did you have any complaint physical exercises have resolved? I never had any complaints, but I just wanted to get fit and transform my body. Have there been positive changes in your health, since you started exercising? Yes. There are lots of changes. Do you have other benefits? I learnt to set and achieve goals, and my work performance has improved. My energy level now is balanced. My strength and flexibility has increased. My memory and self-confidence has also improved, among other things. What were you weighing before and now? I was we

By Chioma Umeha Are you tired of putting in the effort at the gym and not seeing results? Many people show the drive, determination, and consistent effort, but don’t reach their goals. If this sounds familiar, the next logical step is usually to find an ed¬ucated personal trainer with proven experience. But, if you would prefer to go it alone, here are insightful tips and strategies specifically designed to help you build strength, gain muscle mass, lose fat, enhance your endurance and maintain healthy eating habits from finest personal trainers. Nutritional basics Ask almost any personal trainer and they will tell you that regardless of your training goals, healthy eating is the backbone. Food is what fuels your body to reach your goals and without proper nutrition through quality foods, you’re likely to stall. As a result, if possible, eat organic foods and, above all else, maintain a balanced diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, complex carbohydrates, comp

By Chioma Umeha Oil your body through exercise The type of exercise depends on your choice, but it must be something that you like to do which would allow you to exhaust energy. A friend once boasted that he exercises regularly. How¬ever, when I probed him on the type of exercise he indulges in? I was surprised to learn that his exercise constitutes less than three minutes interval walk from the ground floor to the first floor of his apartment. Please, don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to condemn him, but it doesn’t commiserate with his daily exercise re¬quirement. Exercise regimens have a way of slowing down the effect of stress, and afford one the opportunity to operate in nor¬malcy. The cost of enrolling in a gym or fitness programme is infinitesimal when compared to the cost of health care or loss in production. Stress and Diet Stress is a brain drain and if it is left uncontrolled, can lead to various illnesses. When you are under stress, the bra

By Independent Newspaper Nigeria Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, at the recently concluded Family Planning Summit in London has pledged, in collaboration with its partners and the private sector, to achieve a modern contraceptive rate of 27% among all women by 2020. The government also pledged to increase the number of health facilities providing family planning. Nigeria committed increasing its annual allocation for contraceptives to $4 million, and to ensure total disbursement of $56 million to the states, through its participating in the Global Financing Facility and via international development assistance loans. Nigeria will expand the implementation of its task-shifting policy to include patent medicine vendors and community volunteers to improve access to family planning services in difficult-to-reach areas and among disadvantaged populations. Nigeria will use its Minimal Initial Service Package for sexual reproductive health to provide fam

By Chioma Umeha Wearing a corset-like contraption to cinch your core, hips, and back. The idea is to wear it for a certain amount of time every day, and eventually, your body “molds” itself into a slimmer figure. Sounds easy enough. Now the big question is should you try it? Probably not. When you wear this 500-year-old de¬vice, you squish your lungs and ribs, which makes it hard to breathe. Some women have actually passed out from wearing one for too long, says Christo¬pher Ochner, Ph.D., weight loss and nu¬trition expert at Mount Sinai Hospital. If you keep wearing it for an ex¬tended period of time? You could get crushed organs, compressed lungs, and fractured ribs. Plus, experts say it doesn’t really work. “Spot reducing doesn’t exist,” says Ochner. You can’t reduce the col¬lection of fat in any one particular area of your body. If you push your stomach in, all the fat will go right back to where it was no matter how long you

By Chioma Umeha The key, experts say, is to use your time more wisely. Think about killing two birds with one stone. Take your kids to the park or ride bikes together, and you’re getting physical activity while enjoying family time, he says. Beyond that, go for a hike, take the kids swimming, or play hide-and-seek, tag, softball, or horseshoes in the backyard. At work, they say, schedule a meet¬ing on the jogging track or on the golf course. Also, forget the idea that you have to trudge to the gym and spend an hour or more doing a formal workout. Instead, you can work short spurts of physical ac¬tivity into your day. Squeezing in two or three bouts of 15 or 20 minutes of activity is just as effective as doing it all at once. Vacuuming the house in the morning, riding bikes in the park with the kids in the afternoon, then taking a brisk walk in the evening can add up to an active day.

Queen Estelle, a Lagosbased jeweller and web developer recently told Independent that she used to be overweight, stiff and hardly engaged in any physical activity, but regular visits to the gym has reversed this. Excerpts: How long have you been engaging in physical exercises? I have been engaging in fitness for about a year and few months. How many times in a week do you engage in exercise? I exercise five times a week. What were your initial complaints before you started exercising? I was overweight and could barely engage in any physical activity. I was very stiff. Can you say there are positive changes? Oh yes, a lot of changes. Can you specifically outline the changes? I feel lighter, more energetic and flexible. Exercising helps me sleep better. Exercise has helped me prevent excess weight gain and maintain weight loss. By engaging in physical activity, I burn calories. The more intense the activity, the more calories I burn. What were you w

By Chioma Umeha Mrs. Bernice Richard, Chief Executive Officer, Skin Glamour, narrates how exercises have helped her gain more vigour in this interview. Excerpts: How often do you exercise in a week? I exercise at least three times a week. How long have you been engaging in exercises? I commenced regular fitness exercise since six years ago. What were your initial complains before you started exercising? I had flaps around my waist¬line, difficulty to withstand anything strenuous and could neither walk nor run a long dis¬tance. In fact, I had no vigour. Can you say there are positive changes? Yes, there are a lot of pos¬itive changes since I started exercising. For instance, I feel a lot better psychologically and physically. My self-confidence has also increased. Before now, I had flaps around my waist¬lines, difficulty to withstand anything strenuous and could neither walk nor run long dis¬tance, but this has resolved. In fact, I had no vigor, then