Chioma Umeha

By Chioma Umeha More than1,594,462 Nigerian children in the States from the North West are presently suffering from malnutrition, even as the region is fighting to free them from the monster. The estimate which is from the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also showed that Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-fives every day, making the country, second largest contributor to the under-five deaths the world. Similarly, UNICEF’s estimate stated that there are 2,539,704 malnourished Nigerian children which the agency categorised as those that have been adversely affected by Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). It was further learnt that seven States in the zone accounts for more than 75 per cent of the total severe malnutrition cases recorded in Nigeria last year. According to reports, the governments of Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto, Katsina and SokotoStates are, however, taking measures to provide medication to affected women and children, and prevent new

Abiodun Adewuya, a Professor of Psychiatrics in Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and a Psychiatrist, recently spoke with CHIOMA UMEHA on issues of mental illnesses during the recent mental health workshop for clinicians in primary health centres (PHC) in Lagos State. Excerpts: Sir, when a case of mental illnesses has been confirmed what are the steps that should be taken to address it? If a case of mental illness is confirmed by health workers, and it is among the common mental disorders – that is mild and moderate mental disorder; our trained health workers are to either offer treatment in form of psychological treatment or medications. If those cases cannot be treated at the Primary Health Care(PHC) Centre, what we are trying to do is to make sure that they are referred to either the General Hospital or the Teaching Hospital or Federal Psychiatric Hospital in Yaba. This is because we discovered from our studies that between 20 per cent a

By Chioma Umeha Women today are choosing to have children later in life than ever before. Egg freezing, technically known as oocyte cryopreservation, can enable a woman to delay pregnancy until a later stage. In 1980, the average American woman had her first baby at the age of 22. By 2000, that age had risen to almost 25, and in 2014, the average woman waited until the age of 26 to have her first child. In the United Kingdom, the number of women having children over the age of 40 years has tripled since 1980. In 2016, more British women over 40 years old gave birth than those younger than 20 years old. In the United States, 2.3 per cent of all births are to women aged 40 to 44 years. Society may be changing, but the biological realities of fertility remain the same. Most women enter menopause in their late 40s or early 50s. In the years before menopause, a woman’s fertility declines. Although the life experience of an older woman may mean she is well equipped t

By Chioma Umeha What is Pelvic Inflammatory Disease? Pelvic inflammatory disease, or PID, is an inflammation of a woman’s upper reproductive tract, including the structures of the uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes. Salpingitis, inflammation of the fallopian tubes, is the most common manifestation of the disease. PID is known to be a long-term consequence of many sexually transmitted diseases as well as of bacterial vaginosis (BV), pelvic surgery, and other gynecologic procedures that cross the cervix. It is fundamentally a preventable condition. Pelvic inflammatory disease is, essentially, caused by the body overreacting to an infection. As the immune system tries to fight off the invading bacteria, it causes local inflammation and scarring. Although this may successfully wall off the infection inside the reproductive tract, it can be damage the organs. PID can cause scarring in the uterus, fallopian tubes, and even in the pelvic cavity. This is one of t

By Chioma Umeha The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on Friday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bank of Industry (BOI), Nigeria, for Collaboration to support Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) in the country. The signing of the MoU is a climax of exchanges between the two organisations on ways to further entrench the policy thrust of the Federal Government on the development of non-oil sector of the national economy, said Mrs. Yetunde Oni, Acting Director-General, NAFDAC. She said that the partnership would boost productivity of SMEs by ensuring granting of marketing authorisation to products that would adopt good manufacturing practice. Oni said that partnership with BOI would enable NAFDAC to reach the grassroots, support more entrepreneurs, especially SMEs, toward aiding business growth. The NAFDAC boss stressed: “The collaboration is a win-win for both parties. It is business support plus [BS+]. W

•Improve Bone Health, Lowers Cancer Risks – Science By Chioma Umeha Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is essential for optimal health. Only a handful of foods contain significant amounts of this vitamin. These include fatty fish, organ meats, certain mushrooms and fortified foods. However, unlike other vitamins that one can only get through diet, vitamin D can also be made by the body when the skin is exposed to the sun. For this reason, vitamin D is technically considered a hormone. The limited availability of vitamin D in the human diet, combined with most people’s insufficient sun exposure, may explain why up to 41.6 per cent of the U.S. population has deficient blood levels. Interestingly, having adequate blood levels of this vitamin can provide many important health benefits. Here are science-based benefits linked to vitamin D. Could improve heart health Vitamin D may help improve heart health and reduce the likelihood of heart attacks. I

•  Roll-out Rota Virus Vaccine For Diarrhoea Prevention   By Chioma Umeha Save the Children, an international non-governmental organisation has announced plans to roll out Rota Virus, a vaccine for children under five years of age. This was made known to the journalists last week at the occasion of signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the non-governmental organisation and Lagos State government at Alausa secretariat, Ikeja, Lagos. According to Mr. Roy Chikwem, an Area Operations Manager, Lagos and Cross River, Save the Children International, the Memorandum of Understanding sets out clear commitments by both parties to achieve the overall goal of reduced mortality rates in children under five years through evidence based interventions. The MOU will also build trust between the two parties and improve the predictability of behaviour of both sides to achieve the overall goal of reduced mortality rates in children under five years thro

By Chioma Umeha Believe it or not, your skin would not necessarily show signs of aging in a linear fashion, as you progress from one birthday to the next. How fast your skin ages depends on intrinsic factors, which include genetic influences and your overall health, and extrinsic factors, such as getting excess sun exposure, smoking and even sipping through a straw frequently. “Approximately 30 per cent of how you age is genetically determined, which means you have a great deal of control over how your skin looks over time,” Dr. Doris J. Day, a clinical associate professor of dermatology at the New York University Medical Center said. “You really don’t have to look your age: Your skin’s health and resiliency can be decades younger than your actual age.” The key is to sidestep or mitigate sneaky factors that can accelerate the skin’s aging process. Here are five surprising culprits that can make your skin age faster than it should, with advice on how to deal

By Chioma Umeha A new study from the University of Illinois in the US has shown that eating broccoli three or four times a week may be associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, asthma and several types of cancer. Researchers identified candidate genes controlling the accumulation of phenolic compounds in broccoli. Consumption of phenolic compounds, including certain flavonoids, is linked with a lower risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, and several types of cancer. “Phenolic compounds have good antioxidant activity, and there is increasing evidence that this antioxidant activity affects biochemical pathways affiliated with inflammation in mammals,” said Jack Juvik. We need inflammation because it is a response to disease or damage, but it is also associated with initiation of a number of degenerative diseases. People whose diets consist of a certain level of these compounds will have a lesser risk of contra

By Chioma Umeha The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the threat by the Federal Ministry of Health to employ temporary doctors to replace resident doctors currently on a warning strike. The association made the demand in a statement jointly signed by its President Prof. Mike Ogirima, and Secretary-General, Dr Yusuf Sununu, and issued in Abuja on Saturday. Members of National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Wednesday, January 18, began a seven-day strike which is expected to end on Wednesday, January 25. NMA noted that the government made the threat in a circular issued on Thursday by the Director of Health Services of the Federal Ministry of Health to Chief Medical Directors and Medical Directors of Tertiary Hospitals. The association emphasised that members of NARD were on strike to enforce their unmet demands which bordered on the poor state of health of Nigerians and the welfare of its members. It ide