Chioma Umeha

…25% Nigerians Engage In Open Defecation By Chioma Umeha The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that Nigeria needs not less than $8 billion(N2.88 trillion) annual investment in water and sanitation to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, according to World Bank figures. Mr. Zaid Jurji, Chief of UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, (WASH) Nigeria, who disclosed this lamented that less than 10 per cent of Nigerians have access to safe water, while 90 per cent have no access to safe drinking water. Decrying the impact of unsafe water and poor sanitation to every parts of human life, particularly, the development and survival of children, alerted that if Nigeria continues with the slow progress, the country may fail to achieve the SDG Goal 6 by 2030. Speaking on the overview of water, sanitation and Hygiene situation in Nigeria during a two-day ‘Media Dialogue, on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Jos, Plateau State,

By Chioma Umeha Pharmacists have said that the delay by the Federal Government in closing the open drug market places and full implementation of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) is deepening the rate of drug misuse and abuse in the society. The pharmacists who spoke under the platform of Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, (ACPN), Lagos State branch, faulted government policy which promotes unrestricted access to medicines through the open drug and inadequate regulatory enforcement markets. Noting that this has remained the root cause of rampant drug misuse and abuse in the society, the community pharmacists added that the persistent postponement of the closure of open drug market places and full implementation of NDDG is worsening the situation. Pharm. Abiola Paul-Ozieh, Chairman of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Lagos State branch (ACPN) therefore urged the Federal Government to keep to the December 2018

Women waiting to receive care in the hospital. •Rise In Unsafe Abortion, Maternal Deaths Loom Chioma Umeha A little more than a year ago after the Mexico City Policy, also known as the ‘Global Gag Rule,’ (GGR) was reintroduced by President Donald Trump on his first day in office; the fear of its dreaded impact is beginning to be felt. GGR is an executive order by the US government that blocks U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organisations that provide abortion counselling or referrals, advocate to decriminalise abortion or expand abortion services. However, there were huge outcries following the signing of a piece of paper which today is preventing millions of women around the world from deciding what they can and can’t do with their own bodies. The reality of the thought that the powerful white man in the White House has effectively signed the death warrants of thousands of women is staring the world in the face. It is now clear that with

Chioma Umeha African Renaissance and Diaspora Network, Inc. (ARDN) announced Tuesday, that Dr. Djibril Diallo, a United Nations Senior Official, has been appointed to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer. The appointment will become effective March 25, 2018. A statement jointly signed by Arlene Katzive, Secretary of the Board and James Hsui, Legal Counsel, both of ARDN said that Dr. Diallo currently serves as Regional Director for West and Central Africa and Senior Adviser to the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). He has held several management positions with the United Nations (UN) for more than three decades. “We look forward to continued close collaboration between UNAIDS and ARDN with Djibril in the lead,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, in a message to all UNAIDS staff. In his capacity as the chief executive officer of ARDN, Dr. Diallo will lead the organisation’s ‘Pathway to

Chioma Umeha Lagos State Government has dissociated itself from fake advertorials making the rounds on the internet about admission into the State School of Nursing. In a statement signed by Mrs. Adeola Salako, Director, Public Affairs, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Modele Osunkiyesi who made this known today through a signed disclaimer notice to the public stated that the attention of the Ministry of Health has been drawn to the activities of some unscrupulous group of people who place the fake advertisements on the internet. She further revealed that these dubious people invite unsuspecting individuals to pay into their personal accounts. “Some go by spurious names and false identities such as Dr. Bello of Alimosho General Hospital or Professor Adeleke of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) or Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Igando and they invite unsuspecting individuals to pay into their personal accounts”, Osunkiyesi

Chioma Umeha To reduce the growing proportion of new HIV infections among children, Nigerian journalists have been called to increase reports which promote issues bordering on the Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission (eMTCT) of HIV. Journalists Alliance for the Prevention of Mother to Child Transimission of HIV/AIDS (JAPIN) in Calabar, Cross River State, made the call recently during a three-day workshop it organised to assess individual and collective efforts towards eMTCT of HIV with emphasis on communications through the mass media. Lamenting that Nigeria has the second highest global burden of HIV/AIDS and also contributes the largest proportion of new vertically acquired HIV infections among children, JAPIN said stressed media’s role in halting   the trend. The meeting brought together journalists from various media organisations across the country among other stakeholders in HIV industry who expressed worry over the country’s poor indices inf

Chioma Umeha UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) weekend, condemned the killing of three Nigerian aid workers in a Boko Haram attack on a military installation in Borno. Speaking for the UN OCHA, Edward Kallon, the Nigerian   Coordinator, said that apart from those who died and the injured, a female nurse was missing, feared abducted. Kallon in a statement by Samantha Newport, OCHA Head of communications, said that two of the deceased were contractors with the international organisation on migration, while the third victim was a medical doctor employed as a third party consultant with UNICEF. The deceased were working as coordinators in the camp for 55,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) who fled their homes as a result of on-going crisis in the north-east. “Aid workers put their lives on the line every single day to provide emergency assistance to vulnerable women, children and men. “Our deepest condolences go to the famil

Chioma Umeha L-R: Senate Chief Whip, Senator Prof. Olusola Adeyeye; Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye; President, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, Vice President, Sir Ifeanyi Atueyi and Secretary, Prof. Fola Tayo all of the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy at the Special Reception in honour of the two distinguished fellows by the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy which held at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel. Pharmacists have urged the federal government   to retain medicines on the Exclusive List as contained in the Nigerian constitution, noting that its movement to the Concurrent List would worsen the problems of drug distribution and regulatory control across the country. The Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy made the call, weekend at a special reception it held in honour of two distinguished fellows of the Academy. They are Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Dru

•Will Reduce Medical Tourism, Misdiagnosis - DG Centre for Human Virology and Genomics (CHVG) management, staff and World Health Organisation (WHO) after one of their meetings, recently. Chioma Umeha Loss of capital flight from misdiagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), hepatitis B and hepatitis C in the country will now be a thing of the past with the listing of Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) as a WHO Prequalification Evaluating Laboratory. With the World Health Organisation’s (WHO),   accreditation, NIMR would now conduct Independent performance evaluations of In Vitro Diagnostics (IVDs)   which will assist in the diagnosis and/or monitoring of infections with HIV-1, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, the institute announced weekend. Speaking for NIMR, Prof Babatunde Lawal Salako, Director General/CEO of the institute told journalists that the Independent performance evaluations of IVDs which will be done   by the NIMR’s Centre for H

Some management and staff of Benola Cerebral Palsy Initiative with those from Modupe Cole Home for the disabled and physically and mentally challenged children and adults with the inates of the home, during the donation, recently. …Donates Wheelchairs, Crutches To Modupe Cole Chioma Umeha   Help came the way of some inmates of Modupe Cole Home for the disabled and physically and mentally challenged children and adults as Benola Cerebral Palsy Initiative presented them with wheelchairs, crutches, and walking aid at the tune of the N1.8 million. Making the presentation which was to mark the   fifth anniversary of the Benola, AVM Femi Gbadebo, the   Founder, said his organisation had taken up the challenge of visiting homes for the abandoned and disabled children on a regular basis. Mr. Gbadebo called on the government to support its advocacy campaign stressed on the need to tackle stigma against persons living with disabilities. He said; “Without elimin