Chioma Umeha

Chioma Umeha Prof. Isaac Adewole, the Minister of Health, has commiserated with the family of Hauwa Liman, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) humanitarian worker murdered by Boko Haram. A statement signed By Mrs. Boade Akinola, Director, Media and Public Relations, Tuesday, said; “The Honourable Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has commiserated with the family of Hauwa Liman, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) humanitarian worker murdered by Boko Haram.” Professor Adewole, who described the murder as callous and unfortunate, said the health workers should not be a target in any conflict zone as they are recognised as humanitarian service providers. He prayed for the repose of her soul and called on Boko Haram to follow the rules of International engagement which respect the right of humanitarian workers in conflict zones.

Chioma Umeha  Dr. Jide Idris, the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, has tasked nurses in the State health sector on the need to embrace the core values of the nursing profession in the care of patients. Idris gave this charge today during the 2018 Nurses Assembly, a programme sponsored by the Lagos State Government to update nurses, midwives and educators in Lagos on professional guidelines and policies affecting the profession. He noted that nurses are integral part of the think-tank of the State government who contribute a lot to formulation and implementation of policies in the health sector. Idris who was represented by Dr. Funmilayo Shokunbi, the Director, Medical Administration, Training and Programmes in the Ministry of Health, implored nurses to continue to exude professionalism, discipline, integrity, humility, selflessness and great care in the discharge of noble duties. Earlier in her remarks, Mrs. Dorcas Shonibare, the Director of Nursing Ser

•Commissions Foundation Laying Of Rivers Pharmacy Resource Centre Chioma Umeha Pharm. Ahmed Ibrahim Yakasai, President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN),   weekend, renewed his call for selfless service and   inter-professional collaboration among healthcare professionals, even as he tasked his members to see pharmacy practice as service to mankind.    The PSN President who made the call while commissioning the foundation laying of the Pharmacy Resource Centre (PRC) in River State,   Yakasai,   described it as a legacy project of the Rivers State Branch of PSN. He counselled the state branch to ensure that the centre is accessible to other professions and public for use, describing pharmacy practice as service to mankind. The PSN President also reiterated the need for pharmacists to continuously collaborate with other members of the healthcare profession as no one profession can effectively work alone for the benefit of the served, the pati

Chioma Umeha   Over 5,000 children and their parents across Lagos, Kwara, Abuja and Abeokuta between September 29 and October 1, 2018 received nutrition assessment and support from FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC, one of the Nigeria’s leading dairy company in    partnership with Ask the Paediatricians (ATP) Foundation. According to the Diary Company, the effort was in line with its community service to mark Nigeria’s 58th Independence celebration in conjunction with Ask the Paediatricians (ATP) Foundation. A statement signed by Ore Famurewa, Corporate Affairs Director, WAMCO Nigeria PLC, said that the social responsibility initiative supported by Peak 456 growing-up milk had a team of doctors led by Dr. Gbemisola Boyede of the ATP Foundation did nutrition assessments using growth charts. The social responsibility initiative milk also did sampling and gave health talks which had the participation of   FrieslandCampina WAMCO’s specialised nutrition staff vol

Chioma Umeha Fidson Healthcare PLC has emerged winner of the 2018 Frost & Sullivan – Best Practice Award for Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership. The award ceremony which was held recently in Cape Town, South Africa, recognizes Fidson’s definitive competitive strategy, innovation and strong leadership in the area of Pharmaceutical Production and Distribution in Nigeria. The 2018 Frost & Sullivan Award which is a global award that has been in existence for the past fifteen years brought together top business leaders and innovators to celebrate their success. According to Frost & Sullivan, at the forefront of Fidson’s Innovation and competitive strategy is the N7.5 billion state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Sango Ota, Ogun State, the largest manufacturing facility in West Africa, designed to double the company’s production capacity, enabling it to grow sales volume and meet the rising demand for drugs in Nigeria and broader West Afri

L-R: Emeka C. Duru, National Secretary; Ahmed Yakasai, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) President; Bhushan Akshikar, Managing Director, Glaxosmithkline Nigeria, and Prof Martins Emeje, Chairman, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) at the briefing on the 2018 World Pharmacists Day in Lagos, recently. •Seeks Reconstitution Of PCN, MDCN, Others Chioma Umeha To guarantee better health outcomes for patients in the country, pharmacists have called on the Federal Government to implement the approved Consultancy cadre for practitioners in the country’s hospitals. Making the call was Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, the President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) who frowned at the delay over the implementation noted that that the Head of Service of the Federation has been foot dragging on the issue. Pharm. Yakasai who spoke during the celebration of this year’s World Pharmacists Day further reasoned that executing the appro

Chioma Umeha The United Kingdom through its national public health institute, Public Health England(PHE) and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Tuesday, to strengthen health security in Nigeria. The IHR strengthening programme in Nigeria is part of a £16 million project funded by the UK Department of Health, to support the capacities of national public health institutes in five countries. In Nigeria, this project will focus on the key pillars within the mandate of NCDC, including disease surveillance, emergency preparedness and response, public health laboratory services as well as workforce development. At the signing event in Abuja, the IHR strengthening programme was formally launched by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Paul Arkwright. In his remarks, Ambassador Arkwright emphasised the need for strong collaboration between national public health institutes in ensuring global hea

Chioma Umeha Not a few keen observers of the health sector are worried that Nigeria is home to millions of those who survived female genital mutilation (FGM). More worrisome is the high level of ignorance concerning the practice of FGM. Nigeria is among four countries where two thirds of all women who have undergone FGM/C live; the other three countries are Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Most recent estimates from UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme On FGM/C Abandonment: Accelerating Change Phase II report from 2014 to 2017   show that Nigeria has zero to 28 per cent   prevalence along with Yemen. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that Female genital mutilation include all procedures which involve partial or total removal of the   external female genitalia or injury to the female genital organs, whether for cultural or any other   non-therapeutic reasons. The world health body further classifies FGM into four major types, namely; Type I (Clitoridectomy),

Chioma Umeha The Challenge Initiative (TCI) a global programme with focus on the reproductive health needs of people living in poor urban communities has received $20.5 million supplemental grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The   award will enable TCI to focus more on adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health issues. The grant from the Gates Foundation includes funds from Gates Philanthropy Partners. The Initiative, led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute on Population and Reproductive Health within the Population, Family and Reproductive Health Department at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is now actively implementing its evidence-based urban reproductive health interventions in 52 cities across four regions: East Africa, Francophone West Africa, Nigeria and India. The supplemental award will also allow the Initiative to address the needs of youth, ages 15 to 24 years, with best-practice programming, in additio

Chioma Umeha  The National Agency   for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has designed a set of guidelines aimed at increasing cosmetics production in the country. The guidelines include: Guidelines for Micro or Kitchen scale Cosmetics producers and the Guidelines for Medium and Large scale Cosmetics producers. Prof. Christianah Adeyeye, NAFDAC Director-General, while announcing this, explained that the scaled down policies will drive growth in cosmetics Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sectors in line with ease of doing business. Speaking   at a stakeholders’ meeting with all chemical marketers, distributors and veterinary products tagged: A Date with the DG, which held in Lagos, Prof. Adeyeye said; “The difference in the two documents is that the Micro is an abridged form of the Medium and Large scale cosmetics guidelines. “The number of documents, staff strength and room space was scaled down for the micro and likewise, the number of

Chioma Umeha With a contraceptive prevalence rate for modern methods of 10 per cent, there is big concern among experts that Nigeria is among those with poor contraceptive indices despite the significant investments made over the last decade. Expressing worry, Dr. Farouk Jega, Country Director, Pathfinder International in a statement to mark this year’s World Contraception Day said, Nigeria’s teeming population provides great potential of developing industrious youths that would guarantee the country’s development. However, Dr. Jega stressed that this depends on largely on increasing investment in youths’ education, skill empowerment, health, especially in the area of reproductive health, among others. The Pathfinder International boss said, “With a population nearing 200 million, about a quarter of who are young people, Nigeria has a good opportunity of harnessing the so-called demographic dividend by turning the ‘youth bulge’ into a productive segment con

Chioma Umeha Pharmacists under the auspices of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) have condemned disharmony and rivalry in the Nigerian healthcare sector, linking the development with the demand for the establishment of the office of Chief Medical Adviser “Surgeon General” to the president and creation of a national healthcare commission. Pharm. Ahmed   Yakasai, President, PSN who spoke for the body enumerated other reasons which   causes rivalry, including, Matters arising from Teaching Hospital Act and opposition to appointment of other health professionals as directors in Federal Health Institutions. The rest, he said are, establishment of postgraduate colleges for other health professionals, and the obvious bias against health professionals other than doctors especially in the reflected areas. Pharm. Yakasai, who presented a paper   recently, at the annual scientific conference and exposition of the Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmac