Chioma Umeha

By: CHIOMA UMEHA  The Chief Medical Officer, National Polio Emergency Operations Centre, Andrew Etsano, yesterday,  said Nigeria has witnessed a 50 per cent reduction in wild polio cases as at the third quarter of 2013. Announcing this, Mr. Etsano in an agency report observed that “as at August 16, 2013, Nigeria confirmed 43 wild polio virus in nine states compared to 86 cases in 11 states for the same period in 2012.  “So we can say we have 50 per cent reduction in polio cases and over 80 per cent particularly in states where there are security challenges.” He listed the states as Kano, Yobe, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Benue and FCT. He said that strategies had been put in place to ensure that the country did not witness polio case again; assuring that every child would be reached with vaccine. Mr. Etsano said the agency had deployed additional personnel for its operation to improve team performance and enhance supervision and “concurrent monitoring’’. He also said

By: CHIOMA UMEHA  As part of its humanitarian services to reduce infant mortality rate in Nigeria, the Rotary Club of Omole Golden, District 9110, has donated an incubator machine and two phototherapy machines to the Ifako-Ijaiye General Hospital in Lagos.  The donation was made during the visit of Mr. Oluwagbemiga Olowu, the District Governor, District 9110, to the Rotary Club of Omole Golden. Speaking during the donation ceremony, which took place at the hospital’s premises, Mr.  Oluwagbemiga Olowu said maternal care and safe child birth are the key focus of the club for this Rotary year, adding that Rotary as a humanitarian organization places a great premium on human life, hence the efforts in saving lives.  He said: “Globally, the Rotary Club focuses on impacting the society. In this District, we are running with this vision. As a humanitarian organization, we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that lives are saved. That is the reason we are here this afternoon to f

By: CHIOMA UMEHA  To curtail the growing incidences of disasters, health professionals under the umbrella of the West African College of Nursing, WACN, have advocated for a Federal Emergency Plan that will be adopted at State and Local Government levels. According to the nurses, the Federal Emergency Plan will address the recurring gap between events and efforts to save lives.  Making the call during a 2-week certificate course on Disaster Nursing entitled: “Emergency Preparedness for Nurses” in Lagos, Director, Nursing Services, Lagos State, Ministry of Health, Lagos, Mrs. Jokotade Adebusola Agunbiade, said a Federal emergency plan would specify steps to be taken in certain identified emergencies. “There is need to organise morbid meeting of aftermath of events, embrace universal safety precautions that guarantee proper physical, protection of members of the rescue team as well their equipment in such a way as to prevent access by unauthorised individuals as well as the n

Basic guidelines for good digestion Continued from last week By: Chioma Umeha Eat in a certain order Eat raw fruits or vegetables with live enzymes first and then proteins before the starches. The enzymes in the fruits and or vegetables aid the digestive enzymes in the stomach in digesting the incoming proteins. Remember carbohydrates are not digested in the stomach except momentarily in the upper part of the stomach. If you swallow your starch first and chew your meat till it is liquid as we grew up to do in Nigeria, your protein which is now in liquid form will move to the bottom of the stomach and leave the stomach partly undigested as it flows out with the next batch of chyme. Fruit and vegetables add bulk and force you to chew which prompts peristaltic movement and elimination time is shortened. Eat several small portion meals Know your portion sizes. Find out what a potion of certain foods look like. Eating large meals puts a burden on your digestive system. If y

Wrapping babies can damage their hips – Experts By: Chioma Umeha Experts on Tuesday, warned against swaddling babies, noting that this can break the hips. One of them, Prof Nicholas Clarke, an orthopaedic surgeon, said; “parents are risking their babies’ health because of a surge in the popularity of swaddling.”  The technique involves binding the arms and legs with blankets and is used to help calm a baby and prevent crying. But Prof Clarke, of Southampton University Hospital, said swaddling was damaging developing hips. Also, the Royal College of Midwives and other experts advised parents to avoid tightly swaddling a child. Swaddling has been widely used in many cultures globally. It is thought the blanket wrapping can simulate the feelings of being in the womb and calm the child. But the technique holds the legs out straight and restricts movement, which can alter the development of the hip joint.  Writing in the journal; Archives of Disease in Childhood, Prof Clarke

Pharmacists want implementation of national drug prescription policy By: Chioma Umeha Nigerians who are in the habit of buying drugs and other forms of medications at pharmaceutical shops without doctor’s prescription and the authentication of a qualified pharmacist may no longer be allowed to do so.  This is because life imprisonment now awaits any person found engaging in counterfeit and fake drugs in the country, if the proposed legislation before members of the House of Representatives which sails through. The proposed policy, under proposition, would take prompt implementation in the country whenever the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) is reconstituted, as the plan cannot be implemented without the council. This development formed the thrust of the deliberations of members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) at their 86th annual conference tagged “Harmony 2013” holding in Ilorin, Kwara from Nov 5-8. The PSN National President, Olumide Akintayo, has ther

De-worming: Amosun’s wife counsels school children By: CHIOMA UMEHA  To achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targeted at increasing the rate of children’s survival, the Wife of the Governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun has appealed to children to wash their hands and body regularly to prevent infectious diseases caused by germs.  She advised the students to always maintain a clean environment by avoiding unhygienic places; washing of their hands with soap and clean water after using the toilet, and before preparing food or eating and among others. Speaking during the 2013 De-worming Exercise organised by the wife of the governor in collaboration with Emzor Group for school children in Ogun State held at Obafemi/Owode Town Hall in Obafemi/Owode Local Government area of the state, Mrs. Amosun urged children to always avoid all forms of habits that could affect their health.  Photo: Wife of the Governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, demonstrating to

Full term pregnancy redefined: Premature babies have higher rates of diseases – Study By: Chioma Umeha A new study has redefined full-term pregnancy and moved it to 39 and 41 weeks, just as the researchers noted that babies born in the early term have higher rates of respiratory, blood sugar and infection issues. Doctors used to define 37 to 42 weeks as the time span of a full-term pregnancy. However, an online report Monday, said that a U.S. OB/GYN group has divided that range into different classifications after learning about critical differences in the final weeks of gestation. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the last few weeks of pregnancy have been divided into the following new groups: 37 to 39 weeks – ‘Early term’ ; 39 to 41 weeks – ‘Full term’ ; 41 to 42 weeks – ‘Late term’ and 42 weeks or more – ‘Post term.’ Premature Babies “These new categories make sense because of research supporting the differences in infants at th

Grassroots advocacy, key to end world’s toilet problem – UNICEF BY: CHIOMA UMEHA  Toilets are still out of reach for more than one-third of the global population, with devastating consequences to the health and development of children, UNICEF said on Tuesday, during the World Toilet Day. However, the key to bridging the gap lies within communities themselves, the organization emphasized. Since 1990 almost 1.9 billion people gained access to improved sanitation, but in 2011 the total without access was still 36 per cent of the global population, or approximately 2.5 billion people.  “Access to toilets remains the unmentionable, shameful secret for even some very prosperous countries,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, the global head of UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programmes. “But its invisibility doesn’t make it harmless; in fact it is quite the reverse. Lack of access to toilets is quite literally killing children, making adults sick, and slowing progress – day after

Experts brainstorm on health dangers, management of climate change BY: CHIOMA UMEHA  Researchers who just concluded a brainstorming session weekend, lamented inadequate funding as a major limitation to research findings that will help to manage the effects of climate change to human health The researchers, who met during the 4th edition of annual scientific conference of the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos, noted that climate change effects are obvious today in the environment, but for inadequate researches on them.  Opening the conference, Director General of the Institute, Prof Innocent Ujah observed that the theme of this year’s annual conference: ‘Impact of Climate Change on Health: Identifying the Research Gaps,’ is timely. According to him, the confab could not have come at a better time, given the recent series of calamities resulting from the effect of climate change on man and the environment in particular, and the ominous predictions of suc