Chioma Umeha

By Chioma Umeha The warning, steer clear of deep-fried and oily foods because the extra oil is bad for the heart as well as waistlines is not new. But, a new study, published Wednesday in the journal Nutrition, shows that it may be the temperature we are cooking food at that is the real problem, not the amount of oil we are using. “When food is heated up to a high temperature, new compounds are created, and some of them are known to be harmful to health,” said Raj Bhopal, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, who led the research. “This is not to do with frying. … it is more to do with the cooking process, with the temperature.” When foods are cooked at high temperatures, they release chemicals known as neo-formed contaminants, or NFCs. This group includes trans-fatty acids – or trans fats – that are known to increase the risk of heart disease. Cooking food at extremely high temperatures releases harmful chemicals. Trans fats and other chemi

By Chioma Umeha Idongesit Ashameri Uyo Lawmakers in the House of Representatives have pledged to partner with their counterparts in the Senate to ensure proper budgetary allocation for the health sector in the 2017 budget as deliberate measure to improve quality of lives for Nigerians. The legislators made the commitment recently, in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital at a legislative retreat on immunization, health financing and national health act, where they identified inadequate budgetary allocation and poor funding of the health sector as factors inhibiting quality health care delivery in Nigeria. The retreat which involved committee chairmen and members of the House of Representatives stressed that poor funding and budgetary allocation are barriers to achieving quality health care delivery in the country. To tackle these therefore, the lawmakers in the lower chamber have expressed preparedness to partner with their counterparts in the Senate to ens

By Chioma Umeha That Nigeria is among the countries with the highest burden of Mother to Child transmission (MTCT) of HIV in the world having at least 50,000 HIV positive babies annually is a big issue in the public health domain. More worrisome to health analysts is the country’s failure in meeting the global target of over 90 per cent PMTCT antiretroviral (ARV) coverage last year. Statistics from the National AIDS and STD Control Programme (NASCP) shows that Nigeria was only able to achieve 30 per cent PMTCT ARV coverage. It would be recalled that the HIV testing and counselling (HTC) was integrated into Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) week to help increase the coverage of PMTCT services. According to experts, the integration of HTC and MNCH will contribute to a significant reduction in mother to child transmission of HIV to enable the country to attain the global goal of an HIV free generation. The HCT-MNCH integration was to strengthen provisi

By Chioma Umeha Fresh revelations emerged on Monday, concerning the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) which claimed thousands of lives in West Africa, including Nigeria as researchers identified mutations in the virus that increased its ability to infect human cells from 2013 to 2016. The findings have been reported by two independent teams of researchers according to online news reports. In 2013, the Ebola virus started cutting a deadly swath through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where it eventually infected 28,000 people, killing 11,000 of them. As it passed swiftly from person to person, a gene bearing the program for a key protein mutated in several places, researchers have found. In two articles published weekend, in the journal: Cell, researchers report that several of the mutations they observed made the virus better at infecting the cells of humans and other primates. Compared to a viral sample collected very early in the outbreak, samples that carr

By Chioma Umeha According to researchers, the link between vitamin D and breast cancer may be related to the vitamin role in promoting normal mammary-cell development, and inhibiting the reproduction of and promoting the death of cancer cells. Apart from maintaining healthy bones, higher levels of vitamin D in the blood may also significantly improve survival in one-third of women diagnosed with breast cancer the most common form of cancer in women, a study has found. A deficiency in the vitamin D levels commonly found in sun exposure, fatty fish oils, vitamin supplements, and fortified milks and cereals has been associated with the risk for several cancers, an online news agency reported weekend. “We found that women with the highest levels of vitamin D levels had about a 30 per cent better likelihood of survival than women with the lowest levels,” said Lawrence H. Kushi, Research Scientist with the Kaiser Permanente a not for profit health care company in

By Chioma Umeha The Ogun State Government has said that the inauguration of a nine-man committee to work on the adoption and implementation of the national task-shifting and sharing policy will deliver as expected without any hitches. The policy was formulated by the federal government to address the challenges of shortage of skilled health personnel and inequitable distribution of the appropriate cadre of the health workforce to deliver services where most likely needed. The task -shifting policy dissemination was organised by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and Ogun State Primary Health Care Development Board (OGPHECADEB) with the support of Pathfinder International, Nigeria. The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Nafiu Aigoro, said during the inauguration in Abeokuta, that the development would create room for several health care professionals to deliver essential services at

Dr. Kingsley Akinroye is Executive Director, Nigeria Heart Foundation, NHF, and Vice President, World Heart Federation (WHF). Worried about the possible negative effect of   the astronomical increase in cost of managing hypertension in view of the rising number of Nigerians with the condition, the renowned cardiologist in an interview with Chioma Umeha called for urgent attention from government and public spirited organisations. Excerpts: Describe high blood pressure situation in Nigeria? Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure (HBP) is a lifestyle disease and worldwide, it has been established that cardiovascular diseases are the world’s largest killers, claiming 17.3 million lives a year.    In Nigeria, the number of people suffering from cardiovascular diseases is on the rise and now becoming alarming, with a prevalence of not less than 25 per cent of Nigerian adults    suffering from hypertension. Before now hypertension prevalence in adult population

By Chioma Umeha Impaired Wound Healing, Hair Loss, Others Shows It’s Absence Vitamin D is an extremely important vitamin that has powerful effects on several systems throughout the body. Unlike most vitamins, vitamin D actually functions like a hormone and every single cell in your body has a receptor for it. The body makes it from cholesterol when the skin is exposed to sunlight. It is also found in certain foods such as fatty fish and fortified dairy products, although it is very difficult to get enough from diet alone. The recommended daily intake is usually around 400-800 IU, but many experts say you should get even more than that. Vitamin D deficiency is very common. It is estimated that about one billion people worldwide have low levels of the vitamin in their blood. The common risk factors for vitamin D deficiency are: Having dark skin. Being elderly. Being overweight or obese. Not eating much fish or milk. Living far from the equator

…It’s Now A Health Challenge –WHO By Chioma Umeha The mosquito-borne Zika virus is no longer an international public health emergency, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared. But in lifting the nine-month declaration, the United Nations (UN) agency weekend added that the infection remains a “significant and enduring public health challenge.” The infection has been linked to birth defects in almost 30 countries, including microcephaly, where babies are born with abnormally small heads and restricted brain development. A ‘public health emergency of international concern’ was declared in February this year after outbreaks of the virus in Brazil. Dr David Heymann, chair of the Zika emergency committee, said it “led the world to an urgent and coordinated response”, during a press conference following a meeting of international experts. “The response has provided a clear understanding that Zika virus infection and associated consequences repr

By Chioma Umeha Scientists in Britain have developed a type of HIV test using a USB stick that can give a fast and highly accurate reading of how much virus is in a patient’s blood. The device, created by scientists at Imperial College London and privately-held United States firm DNA Electronics, uses a drop of blood to detect HIV. It then creates an electrical signal that can be read by a computer, laptop or handheld device. The researchers say the technology, although still in the early stages, could allow patients to regularly monitor their virus levels in a similar way to diabetes patients checking their blood sugar levels. It could be particularly useful in remote settings to help HIV patients manage their treatment more effectively. Current tests to detect virus levels take at least three days and involve sending a blood sample to a laboratory. “At the moment, testing often requires costly and complex equipment that can take a couple of days to prod