Chioma Umeha

By CHIOMA UMEHA The Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria (PSN) recently launched the PSN Foundation and inaugurated its Board of Trustees in Abuja, to support research, development and tackle growing challenges in the country’s healthcare delivery system. Speaking at the inauguration, Prof. Isaac Adewole, Minister of Health, said that such new partnership like PSN Foundation will help in achieving optimum health, especially for the vulnerable ones within the society. Adewole,who bemoaned the disease burden in the country, identified maternal and infant mortality, low uptake of contraceptive, Tuberculosis diagnosis, immunisation as some of the challenges in the health sector. The Minister explained that without collaboration with non-governmental organisation (NGOs) among other stakeholders, no government can solely address all existing disease burden. “One of the purposes of setting up this foundation that strike me most is to support and collaborate

By CHIOMA UMEHA The birth of Kehinde Yusuf, an eight-year-old boy with hydrocephalus ailment to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Isiaka Yusuf on September 19, 2009 was celebrated with pomp and pageantry. He was born a normal child like his twin brother, but a sickness that took Kehinde Yusuf to the hospital where he was infused with drips via his head, saw him coming down with a swollen head. Visibly distressed, his father has been moving from one hospital to the other seeking for his son’s full recovery sent a SOS message through INDEPENDENT to Nigerians for financial assistance. He narrates his ordeal: “I am Isiaka Yusuf, 52, a recharge card seller while my wife is an auxiliary nurse. My eight-year-old child, Kehinde Abdul-Raheem Yusuf has been receiving treatment at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan since June 2011 for hydrocephalus ailment. “He and his twin brother, Taiwo, were born normal but six months after being born on September 19, 2009 at Iseyin

By Chioma Umeha “l am blessed with two children, after 19 years of fruitless marriage and   undergoing multiple IVF cycle failures. At that time my wife was close to 50 before we had our first children – a set of twins, comprising a boy and girl. Actually if you see my son, Seun,   he looks like me. We are like identical brothers. By November, he will be eight.” These were the words of visibly elated Adejare Akiolu, a Quantity Surveyor, in Lagos, who told INDEPENDENT that he is now enjoying a new lease of marital life after his travails with infertility ended. Akinolu said; “I got married to my heartthrob, Folake, an Educationist, in 1997. We tried to complete our family for about two years before deciding to seek medical advice. We had no inkling of any challenge in achieving pregnancy like many other newly wedded.   We thought   all was well and believed that conception will normally take place. This was because my wife did not have any history suggestive of pelvic

By CHIOMA UMEHA There’s no test to definitively diagnose PCOS. Your doctor is likely to start with a discussion of your medical history, including your menstrual periods and weight changes. A physical exam will include checking for signs of excess hair growth, insulin resistance and acne. Your doctor might then recommend: •A pelvic exam. The doctor visually and manually inspects your reproductive organs for masses, growths or other abnormalities. • Blood tests. Your blood may be analyzed to measure hormone levels. This testing can exclude possible causes of menstrual abnormalities or androgen excess that mimics PCOS. You might have additional blood testing to measure glucose tolerance and fasting cholesterol and triglyceride levels. • An ultrasound. Your doctor checks the appearance of your ovaries and the thickness of the lining of your uterus. A wandlike device (transducer) is placed in your vagina (transvaginal ultrasound). The transducer emits sound waves that

Ahmed Yakasai, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) is a veteran practitioner with over three decades of experience. Yakasai who is a former Chairman of PSN Kano State Branch, first National Deputy President of PSN and a two-time past Commissioner in Kano State, in this interview with CHIOMA UMEHA , shares perspectives on pharmacy and health management issues. Excerpts: Nigeria has celebrated 57th years anniversary of independence. What are the challenges of the health sector? What is the way forward? Nigeria continues to contend with a plethora of challenges not necessarily caused by this incumbent administration. Among numerous challenges, the following stand out: poor funding, delayed and unlawful appointments in regulatory agencies, poor composition structures in the health sector including, lopsided appointments in Federal Health Institutions (FHIs) as well as poor attitude to research and development. If we restrict ourselves to the highlighted,

By CHIOMA UMEHA The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Thursday adopted a Strategic Framework for Strengthening National Child Protection Systems to prevent and respond to violence, abuse and exploitation against children in West Africa. A statement signed by Geoffrey Njoku, Communication Specialist, United Nations For Children Fund (UNICEF) which was made available to INDEPENDENT said that   the decision   which will have positive implications for millions of children in West Africa was taken at the ECOWAS First Ladies’ Forum in Niamey, from October 2 to 5 2017. Based on the new framework Ministers responsible for the care and protection of children across the 15 Member States of ECOWAS agreed to take concrete measures to protect children from every form of violence, abuse and exploitation on a wide range of issues. In doing so they are committing to concrete measures to protect children from the most damaging forms of abuse, by focusing on five

L-R: Pharm. Elijah Mohammed, Registrar, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN); Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN); Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi President, Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy and Calixthus Okoruwa, Chief Executive Officer, XLR8, at the investiture of new fellows of the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy which held at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Lagos. •Inducts Six New Fellows By CHIOMA UMEHA To tackle inadequate funding, lack of constant power supply and non- availability of reagents which have been identified as Fellows2challenges for Research and Development (R&D) in Nigeria, the Federal Government has been tasked to increase its commitment in the area. Specifically, Professor Isa Marte Hussaini, a world-renowned cancer researcher and professor of pharmacology at the University of Maiduguri has called for greater commitment on the part of the government to the funding of research in the country. Profes

By Independent With Nigeria in the list of ten countries with the largest number of children at risk of poor development, a report of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched in Abuja Tuesday, has said alerted that the Nigerian child is at risk of under-development. The UN agency for children further explained that this is because of critical national policies which are not providing adequate foundation for children’s growth. A statement which was jointly signed by Doune Porter, Chief of Communication and Geoffrey Njoku, Communication Specialist, both from UNICEF Nigeria, said, “Nigeria is putting its children at risk of under-development, both physically and mentally, because critical national policies are not providing adequate foundation for their growth. “During the first years of a child’s life, the brain grows rapidly; providing good nutrition, loving care and appropriate playing opportunities provide solid foundations for a child’s learning – a

By Independent Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, has said the 20-year-old boy diagnosed with Lassa fever has been discharged from the isolation centre at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) at Idi-Aba in Abeokuta, the state capital. Ipaye, who addressing reporters at the centre in Abeokuta, said the boy was brought into the state hospital at Ijaye and was transferred to the isolation centre at FMC at Idi-Aba. The commissioner said the boy was taken to the centre with complications, adding that he had 20 per cent chances of survival because he had serious renal complication, which could have led to his death. He said: “Having being successfully treated and fully recovered from the disease, with results of the last two tests carried out, indicating negative, the boy was free to go home and join his family.” Ipaye stressed the need for continuous monitoring of the 106 persons currently being quarantined for having contacts with suspected

By Chioma Umeha Nigeria can reduce outbreak of diarrhea and other diseases associated with contaminated water by dedicating one per cent of the national budget to rural water supply, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said. The United Nations(UN) agency for children further   tasked governments across the   Niger Delta states to invest consciously in the provision of safe water supply and sanitation for its rural populace. The provision of such basic social amenity, according to UNICEF would encourage handwashing and other hygienic practices among school-age children and rural populace. The international agency stated this at a ‘WASH’ media   meeting by the Federal Ministry of Information in collaboration with UNICEF in Uyo the Akwa Ibom State capital on Tuesday, noting that the chemical contaminations resulting from oil and gas exploration in the Niger Delta region has made it necessary for efforts to be made to ensure safe and constantly chec

By Independent Lagos – Men that take up to 60 per cent alcohol in 48 hours may be at risk of developing abnormal quality of sperm-teratozospermia. Stating this was Dr. Sharon Osaide, a fertility physician and gynecologist with Rose Du Rouge International Initiative while delivering a lecture recently on health, at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Orientation Camp, Ipaja-Lagos. Not only did Osaide warn against too much consumption of alcohol, she also warned against unhealthy lifestyle as well as conditions such as smoking and obesity, which she linked to infertility in men and women. “Men that take up to 60 per cent alcohol in 48 hours would develop teratozospermia otherwise described as abnormal sperm cell. Though they have normal sperm counts, but they would have abnormal quality of sperm. “Obesity in male and female could lead to infertility, when a woman is obese, they would not ovulate regularly. When a man is obese, he will produce the estro