Chioma Umeha

Chioma Umeha  Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, the wife of the Ondo State Governor and the founder, Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria (BRECAN), has called on citizens-driven support for women living with the breast cancer disease through the BRECAN Crowdfunding Initiative. Mrs. Anyanwu-Akeredolu made the call while attending Ibadan Golf Club Cancer Awareness Tournament. She explained why the association adopted crowdfunding as an alternative option for saving the lives of breast cancer patient, noting that the treatment of 10 women had already been funded through the initiative. The sum of N200 million BRECAN crowd funding launched last year by Mrs. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu was an initiative to fund the treatment of women living with breast cancer through modest contributions of concerned citizens. Addressing the gathering at a Cancer Awareness Golf Tournament, Mrs. Akeredolu observed that since the adoption of crowd fundi

Chioma Umeha  From left: Senator (Pharm) Matthew Uroghide, Chairman, Senate Public Accounts committee; Samuel Adekola Chairman, ACPN; Dr Uzor Uwaga, Chairman, BOT, ACPN and Albert Alkali immediate Past Chairman ACPN at the inauguration ceremony of Adekola as Chairman ACPN at Etherno Hotel GRA Benin city recently. Though the National Health Insurance Scheme is one of the most credible alternatives for funding the country’s healthcare, Community Pharmacists fault its implementation and call for reforms that would usher a new partnership that can work maximally in the interest of the public, CHIOMA UMEHA writes. Community Pharmacists under the aegis of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) have called for a wide range of reforms in health insurance to offer better and robust therapeutic outcomes for consumers of health in Nigeria. The pharmacists said they would collaborate with stakeholders in health to institute a well-defined prescri

Pharm. Anthony Bola Oyawole  is a presidential candidate of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) in the November 2018 election. Oyawole who is a Fellow, West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists; Fellow, PSN and Fellow, Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy has released 15-point agenda to actualise his dream. In this interview with CHIOMA UMEHA he explains why he wants to lead the noble organisation hence forward. Excerpts: Why do you want to take over from Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai as president of PSN?  After rounds of consultations with the rank and file of the PSN membership, I believe I have requisite qualities that can make me consolidate our gains of the last two decades through   an admixture   of positive aggression, confidence, zeal and tactful diplomacy of some of    our   past presidents, which       I    shall    build      on. What gave you the conviction that you are the man for the presidency of the PSN?  The   success   story   of   the   la

Chioma Umeha A Consultant Cardiologist, Prof. Janet Ajuluchukwu, has warned that High Blood Pressure (HBP), high salt diet and increase in blood sugar are major risk factors of heart damage. Ajuluchukwu made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos. She said that HBP wasn’t only a risk factor of heart damage but also a disease on its own. “HBP, also called hypertension is a disease on its own; it’s also a risk factor for heart damage. “When there’s HBP or hypertension, the heart will enlarge and any enlarged organ is telling you that it is easily damaged. “The heart enlarges to do more work. “Meanwhile, by enlarging; it also gets into trouble and can get into heart failure,” she said. The cardiologist explained that the risk factors for hypertension, including smoking, a high salt diet, herbal medications, obesity and increase in weight could also cause heart damage. Ajuluchukwu stressed the need for indi

Chioma Umeha The African Union Commission and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria with support   from African leaders   on Monday launched   the ‘Zero Malaria Starts with Me,’ a continent-wide campaign co-led get more people involved in the fight against the disease that kills over 400,000 Africans every year. Following reports that malaria cases have increased for the first time in more than a decade, Zero Malaria Starts with Me seeks to reignite a society-wide movement to get back on track efforts that contributed to a 60 per cent decline in cases and saved an estimated seven   million lives since 2000, and to help meet the goal of eliminating malaria across Africa by 2030. The campaign, unveiled Sunday during the AIDS Watch Africa Meeting at the 31st   African Union Summit by President Macky Sall of Senegal and King Mswati III of Eswatini and endorsed by 55 (TBC) African Heads of State and Government today, empowers communities to take greater ownership of

Chioma Umeha Improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is critical to child survival and development experts said recently, noting that it reduces neonatal and maternal disease and deaths. The experts, who spoke at a two-day media dialogue on WASH in Awka, Anambra state, stressed that safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene contributes to “key outcomes for children.” One of them, Mainga Moono Banda, UNICEF, WASH Specialist, lamented that about 45 million under-five global children die annually from diseases caused by poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene. Speaking at the event which was organised by the Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB) of the Federal Ministry of Information in collaboration with UNICEF she said, “25 per cent of stunting in children under the age of two could be due to five or more diarrhea episodes. Quoting statistics from a study titled, “Multi-country analysis of the effects of diarrhea on childhood stunting,’ Banda

Chioma Umeha Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF), a non-profit organization established to prevent and intervene on the prevalence of sexual violence/rape, has announced results from the first session of its new initiative called the WARIF Boys Conversation Cafe. This initiative is designed to educate young boys between the ages of 12-16, on the prevalence of sexual violence in Nigeria, to change perception and behavioral pattern that exist amongst these group of boys, on violence against women. The WARIF Boys Conversation Café took informal dialogue sessions with cohort groups of secondary school boys, where vetted male volunteers were recruited from different organizations to serve as mentors /role models at these café sessions. At the end of first session with students of Surulere secondary school, the WARIF Boys Conversation Café, recorded an outstanding outcome with 98% of the beneficiaries strongly agreeing to take a stand in any case of sexu

Chioma Umeha Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Health Care, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga immunizing a child against polio at a Flag-Off Ceremony to signal commencement of second round 2018 National Immunization Plus Days at Agege weekend. The Lagos State Government has said it will immunise 4.8 million children aged zero to 59 months in the second round of 2018 National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs), polio vaccination campaign which commenced on Saturday. Announcing this was Dr. Olufemi Onanuga, Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Health Care, who said the vaccination which would end Tuesday,    is taking place at all designated sites in the State.   Onanuga also assured on the level of preparedness for the campaign at a flag-off ceremony to signal the commencement of the campaign at Agege Local Government Secretariat.   He said, “The NIPDs would involve house-to-house, transit and fixed post teams. In all, Lagos State will mount 752 fixed posts,

… Prevention Strategic In Tackling Menace Chioma Umeha  Lagos – Contrary to widely-held beliefs, the upsurge of drug abuse has moved from being   a simple a reality to becoming major thorny issue of national discourse. The tragic trend now cuts across every strata of the society and has since remained in the front burner   after the ban on codeine in the following a documentary exposing the prevalence of codeine consumption in some parts of the country by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a UK public service broadcaster. Along with other non-state actors, pharmacists have brought the issue to the front burner urging the government to recognise the practice among youths and ‘declare a national state of emergency’ over drug abuse. To stave off the impending plague, the authorities need all hands on deck. The pharmacists spoke under the platform of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), in Lagos and enjoined urged the public, private sector and