Chioma Umeha

By Independent With Nigeria in the list of ten countries with the largest number of children at risk of poor development, a report of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched in Abuja Tuesday, has said alerted that the Nigerian child is at risk of under-development. The UN agency for children further explained that this is because of critical national policies which are not providing adequate foundation for children’s growth. A statement which was jointly signed by Doune Porter, Chief of Communication and Geoffrey Njoku, Communication Specialist, both from UNICEF Nigeria, said, “Nigeria is putting its children at risk of under-development, both physically and mentally, because critical national policies are not providing adequate foundation for their growth. “During the first years of a child’s life, the brain grows rapidly; providing good nutrition, loving care and appropriate playing opportunities provide solid foundations for a child’s learning – a

By Independent Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, has said the 20-year-old boy diagnosed with Lassa fever has been discharged from the isolation centre at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) at Idi-Aba in Abeokuta, the state capital. Ipaye, who addressing reporters at the centre in Abeokuta, said the boy was brought into the state hospital at Ijaye and was transferred to the isolation centre at FMC at Idi-Aba. The commissioner said the boy was taken to the centre with complications, adding that he had 20 per cent chances of survival because he had serious renal complication, which could have led to his death. He said: “Having being successfully treated and fully recovered from the disease, with results of the last two tests carried out, indicating negative, the boy was free to go home and join his family.” Ipaye stressed the need for continuous monitoring of the 106 persons currently being quarantined for having contacts with suspected

By Chioma Umeha Nigeria can reduce outbreak of diarrhea and other diseases associated with contaminated water by dedicating one per cent of the national budget to rural water supply, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said. The United Nations(UN) agency for children further   tasked governments across the   Niger Delta states to invest consciously in the provision of safe water supply and sanitation for its rural populace. The provision of such basic social amenity, according to UNICEF would encourage handwashing and other hygienic practices among school-age children and rural populace. The international agency stated this at a ‘WASH’ media   meeting by the Federal Ministry of Information in collaboration with UNICEF in Uyo the Akwa Ibom State capital on Tuesday, noting that the chemical contaminations resulting from oil and gas exploration in the Niger Delta region has made it necessary for efforts to be made to ensure safe and constantly chec

By Independent Lagos – Men that take up to 60 per cent alcohol in 48 hours may be at risk of developing abnormal quality of sperm-teratozospermia. Stating this was Dr. Sharon Osaide, a fertility physician and gynecologist with Rose Du Rouge International Initiative while delivering a lecture recently on health, at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Orientation Camp, Ipaja-Lagos. Not only did Osaide warn against too much consumption of alcohol, she also warned against unhealthy lifestyle as well as conditions such as smoking and obesity, which she linked to infertility in men and women. “Men that take up to 60 per cent alcohol in 48 hours would develop teratozospermia otherwise described as abnormal sperm cell. Though they have normal sperm counts, but they would have abnormal quality of sperm. “Obesity in male and female could lead to infertility, when a woman is obese, they would not ovulate regularly. When a man is obese, he will produce the estro

By Independent Women of child-bearing age residing at Bariga and Yaba areas of Lagos State recently demonstrated their appreciation of family planning campaign by turning up in their numbers at Primary Healthcare Centres in Oloja and Alli-Daodu areas of the state to enjoy the service. The Oloja PHC in Bariga, Shomolu Local Government Area of Lagos was a beehive of activities as nursing mothers and youths thronged the area for consultations. It was a Herculean task before INDEPENDENT could get a chance to speak to Mrs. Awodeyi Olubukola, Senior Nursing Sister, on the development. Sekinat Abdulazeez, a breastfeeding mother of a three-month-old baby said that she and her husband having realized the advantages of family planning decided to out their children. However, more important to her was that she does not want to lose her husband to other women outside and so she embraced family planning to enable her attend to the needs of her husband at all times. Mrs

By Independent Pre-implantation Genetic Screening (PGS), also sometimes referred to as Comprehensive Chromosome Screening (CCS), is a new and important technology that has revolutionised the world of IVF. Everyone considering IVF should have PGS on their radar screen should know the following facts. •PGS was developed to address what has been one of the greatest challenges in ART, the inability of embryologists to identify chromosomally normal (euploid) embryos for transfer into the woman’s uterus in an IVF cycle. PGS involves analyzing the cells of the embryo to ensure that it has 46 chromosomes rather than a different number. This identification is vitally important to the success of IVF as chromosomal errors in embryos lead to their failure to implant, and cause most miscarriages and all pregnancies involving chromosomal abnormalities. Only chromosomally normal embryos become healthy babies. At least fifty percent of the embryos of women older than 35 may have an

By  Independent The Lagos State Ministry of Health and the Primary Healthcare Board, in collaboration with EpidAlert, has concluded plans to use technology to reorganise communities’ response to disaster prevention. Called AlertClinic, the technology will have its test run at Yaba in Lagos. AlertClinic is a communication and notification system designed with algorithms around information flow and the persuasion of critical behaviours and choices. According to Dr. Lawal Bakare, its initiator, the pilot phase of AlertClinic is targeted to address malaria, Lassa fever, diarrhoeal and polio. The initiator also itemised the four diseases as major threats to disease control systems of the state’s Ministry of Health, the Primary Healthcare Board and Lagos residents. However, the Founder AlertClinic and EpidAlert Initiative noted that the state government agencies would use technology to tackle the challenges. Dr Bakare also explained that AlertClinic will prov