Chioma Umeha

Chioma Umeha A Nutritionist, Miss Patience Chima, on Wednesday said lack of adequate nutrients during pregnancy was responsible for most foetal malformation and deformation in babies. Chima of the Dietetics Department, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, advised pregnant women to ensure that they have enough nutrients in store to aid the formation of their foetus. She gave the advice at the 6th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference organised by the Nigerian Society of Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (NISPGHAN) in Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that theme of the conference is entitled: “The Role of Specialised Paediatric Gastroenterological Care in Improving Child Health.’’ NAN reports that the conference, which started on Wednesday, will end on Friday. Chima said: “Preconception status is the nutritional status of the mother before conception and in our society, lots of mothers d

Chioma Umeha Despite insurgency, Borno is ahead of other states of the federation in the number of birth registrations conducted nationwide in the last five years, the National Population Commission says. Emmanuel Mark, Head of Department, Vital Registration Department, National Population Commission (NPopC) in Borno, disclosed this in an interview with the DAILY INDEPENDENT recently. Mark made the revelation during a Media Dialogue on Birth Registration in Kano, convened by the United Nations Children Education Fund in support of the Child Right Information Bureau, Federal Ministry information, Culture and Tourism. Over 40 participants were in attendance at the meeting which aim was to tackle obstacles against birth registration in the country. With 83 per cent under-one registration, and 20 per cent under-five registration within the period, Borno is ahead of others in the chart of birth registration in Nigeria, the Head of Department, NPopC said. He

Chioma Umeha As part of efforts to promote optimal health condition and improve on emergency preparedness and response time, the Lagos State Government, on Monday commenced the year 2018 Medical Screening Exercise for operatives within Safety Arena, Bolade Oshodi. Performing the flagging off of the medical screening exercise was Oluseye Oladejo, the Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Relations. Oladejo said the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode envisioned the Safety Arena complex to house Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) relevant to security and safety issues to serve as a one stop shop and improve synergy amongst safety agencies and operatives. According to the Commissioner, the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, in order to reduce the prevalence of chronic health diseases has made preventive measures a pivotal factor in ensuring that disabilities and deaths from these diseases are minimised. He added th

Chioma Umeha More than 10 ministers from Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), and African Union (AU) representatives have converged in Abuja to adopt a strategy aimed at regaining areas captured by Boko Haram insurgents and tackling the economic crises around the lake. The aim of the conference is to validate the adoption of regional stabilisation strategy of the areas affected by the insurgency through their representing ministers and supported by the United Nations Development Program. “In November 2017, the African Union Commission, (AUC), Lake Chad Basin Commission, (LCBC) and development partners organised the first conference on the development of a framework for a regional stabilisation strategy. “The framework was aimed at facilitating a transition from active military engagement to addressing the root cause of the crises and rationalising various initiative to stabilise area affected by Boko Haram,” Mamman Nuhu, Executive Secretary, LCBC, said. The

Some participants at the Nigerian Army Medical Corps (NAMC) training week. Inset: From Left to right Brig. Gen. TAY Ibrahim; Prof M.O. Ogunlewe, Prof MO Ogunlewe consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH); Brig. Gen. ETO Adebayo; Brig Gen AJ Enojela and Prof Ibironke Desalu during the panel discussion after a lecture presentation at the NAMC training week by Prof M.O. Ogunlewe recently, in Lagos. Chioma Umeha Of late, policymakers in the Nigerian Army (NA) have bemoaned the shortage of skilled medical staff in the Nigerian Army Medical Corps (NAMC). This has thrown up the need for training of manpower to cover the observed gaps. So it was no surprise that penultimate week, Maj. Gen. Ikechukwu   Okeke, the Corps Commander Medical, NAMC, raised the issue at a welcome address during the Corps training week. Similarly, the Nigerian Army Medical Corps unveiled plans to launch what it terms ‘the NA medical doctrine’. The doct

Chioma Umeha Having a diet that is rich in fruit, vegetable and whole grain and low in added sugar, sodium and processed meat could help promote healthy cellular aging in women, a study of the University of Michigan (UM) showed. UM researchers used telomere length to measure cellular aging in the study. Age is the strongest predictor of telomere length: telomeres shorten in length during each cell cycle. They examined the diets of a nationally representative sample of nearly 5,000 healthy adults and how well they scored on four evidence-based diet quality indices, including the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet and two commonly used measures of diet quality developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. For women, higher scores on each of the indices were significantly associated with longer telomere length. “We were surprised that the findings were consistent regardless of the diet quality index we us

Chioma Umeha The Lagos State Government has sought the support of public servants in the successful implementation of the soon to be launched mandatory Lagos State Health Scheme (LSHS).These are   especially in the areas of propagation of information about the scheme, its benefit packages and roles of stakeholders. The Health Commissioner, Dr. Jide Idris, said the role of public servants just like other stakeholders is important in the successful implementation of the scheme. Dr Idris stated this at the meeting organised by the Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Public Service Office to sensitise public servants on the scheme. “The reason for this sensitisation meeting is to educate and sensitise you on the reasons for the roll out of the scheme, policy decisions and the modalities of the scheme. “Others are the plans, the benefit packages, service provision, premium breakdown and payment mod

Chioma Umeha Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has spread to eastern ‘no-go’ zone surrounded by rebels, UN agencies have warned. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), warned that rebel violence in eastern DRC was escalating inside the vast country’s Ebola-hit North Kivu province, putting millions at risk. “Thousands of civilians have fled their burned-out villages, bringing reports of brutal attacks,’’ Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson for UNHCR, said in Geneva. The latest report followed reports that a case of Ebola infection and one suspected case have been found in one town in the area, Oicha, which is surrounded by armed groups. The disease has killed more than 60 people and infected dozens more in recent weeks. Forced displacement in this part of the country remains massive and it is estimated that more than a million people are displaced in North Kivu. This is the highest concentration of internally d

Chioma Umeha (NAN) The Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria (OSN) says it will conduct free cataract surgeries worth over N20 million on no fewer than 250 less privileged people in the country. Dr Sunday Abu, the Chairman of Eye Camp and Surgery Committee of the society, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja. Abu said that the exercise was part of the society’s corporate social responsibilities. “The average cost of one cataract operation is N80, 000 and the 250 eye surgeries will cost about N20 million if we are to cost them but we are not spending money. “We are not spending money because consumables are donated by Sight-savers, an International NGO while we have experts volunteering their services for the success of the surgeries,” Abu said. Cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye which leads to a decrease in vision. Some of the symptoms include faded colours of the eye, blurry vision, halos ar

Chioma Umeha (NAN) Dr Arikawe Adeolu, a medical practitioner, Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, Abuja, has advised the public to always observe the colour of their stool to determine their health status. Adeolu gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja. According to him, a change in colour, shape, size, consistency and frequency of stool can indicate possible health conditions. Adeolu also said that the normal colour of stool should be brown; adding that professional medical assistance should also be sought if the colour changed and remained consistent more than two days. He said that since the colour, shape, size, consistency and frequency of an individual’s stool gave a lot of background information about underlying health conditions in the body, it should not be ignored. Adeolu said that the pigment present in bile was the reason the stool maintained its brown colour as the pigment mixes with the stool

Chioma Umeha As the date of the 2018 edition of the African Society for Laboratory Medicine Conference (ASLM) draws near, the body has released the list of speakers who will address the attending delegates. The list includes: Senior Director of the Diagnostic Services at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Dr. Trevor Peter; Director of African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. John Nkengasong; Founder and Director of the International Centre for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP), Dr. Waafa El Sadr, and South Africa’s National Health Laboratory Service official, Dr. Wendy Stevens. Other speakers who will be facilitating on-going dialogues at ASLM 2018 include: Prof. Alimuddin Zumla, Dr. Caroline Jehu-Appiah, Dr. Ogobara Doumbo, Dr. Rebecca Martin, Dr. Chewe Luo and Prof. Oyewale Tomori. Also included in the speaker line-up are Dr. Jay Varma, Dr. Philip Onyebujoh, Dr. Merawi Aragaw, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Dr. Abdourahmane Sow, Dr. Djoudalba

•As Benola Donates 15 Wheelchairs Chioma Umeha Children living with cerebral palsy received free medical check-up by different paediatric therapist as Benola initiative marked its sixth National Cerebral Palsy Family Forum with more than 15 children getting free wheelchairs. The forum like the previous year’s edition held at University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idiaraba, also had the support of LUTH as usual. Pediatric therapists such as speech, occupational, nutrition and dietetics as well as other medical social workers from LUTH were present to provide proper attention to families that have children living with cerebral palsy. On the essence of the forum, an occupational therapist of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Mr Ayomide Oni explains children with cerebral palsy can be taught on how to be independent that is, doing things that they are meant to do as children. “We are here to help train disabled children on how to be independent

Chioma Umeha The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has warned residents to desist from open defecation to prevent cholera in the territory. The Director, Public Health, Health and Human Services Secretariat, FCTA, Dr Humphrey Okoroukwu, gave the warning in a statement on Friday in Abuja. Okoroukwu disclosed that seven deaths have so far been recorded from cholera outbreak in four communities of Sauka, Mpape, Kubwa village and Ushafa. He, however, explained that open defecation was one of the causes that predisposes some residents to cholera, which affected some communities in the territory. “People should stop defecating in open places, especially around the river banks to prevent infectious diseases like cholera. ”Residents are advised to have toilets in their homes and those who cannot afford Water Closet should endeavour to have pit latrines to avoid outbreak of cholera,” he said. The director said that cholera outbreak was common dur