Chioma Umeha

Ahmed Yakasai, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) (middle); Prof Christiana Adeyeye, Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) (fourth right), Chiedu Mordi, Chairman, PSN Board of Fellows (BoF) and others during the 2018 yearly meeting and award ceremony of the pharmacists in Lagos, recently. Chioma Umeha Lagos – Amid calls to urgently tackle growing rate of drug abuse, pharmacists under the aegis of Board of Fellows (BoF) of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), recently rolled a five-year campaign against scourge to curtail its adverse effect. The pharmacists who were worried at the increasing incidence of the menace noted that over 90 per cent of drugs circulating in the country are dispensed by non-pharmacists and that there is no legislation that protects the practice in the country. Speaking for PSN, was Chiedu Mordi, Chairman, BoF, who made the announcement during the 2018 yearly me

SARAH SOTONYE About 60 million Nigerian have been denied access to information on how to learn life skills on reproductive health. This was the high point of a training tagged: ‘Sensitisation of Journalists,’ which held in Lagos recently. The one-day programme was organised by the Development Communications Nigeria,(DEVCOMs), in collaboration   with the   Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) . The Programme Adviser, NURHI,(Abuja), Mrs. Macbeth Bolaji said that the training was aimed at sensitising   the journalists on life planning on adolescents and the youths. “When we look at the population of Nigeria, one-third of entire population of Nigeria are the young people who lack access to information on how to plan their reproductive health. “And that has led to ills in the society where teenage pregnancies, abortions and these young girls are eventually forced out of schools. The information of Life Planning on Adolescents and the Youths sh

Chioma Umeha It was pay time for professional, hospitals and other stakeholders in the sector as the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Awards (NHEA 2018) doled out honours to them in 27 different categories at its fifth ceremony in Lagos. The awards were given to them in recognition of their excellence in the provision of quality and affordable health service in the country. Among those honoured was Prof. Fola Tayo who received the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award,’ while Prof. Auwal Mohammed Abubakar, Chief Medical Director (CMD) Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Yola was the recipient of the ‘Special Recognition Award.’ Prof. Abubakar’s award was given in recognition of the Hospital Paupers Fund he established at the FMC, Yola. The Hospital Paupers Fund was established in 2015. This fund is meant to cover the costs of hospital services for indigent citizens who cannot afford to pay for healthcare services. The fund ensures that nobody is denied care in FMC, Yola bas

Chioma Umeha When Mrs. Taiwo Olubunmi, a 42-year- old mother was counselled to adopt family planning two years ago after the delivery of her fourth child, it was like a ‘hard pill to swallow.’ Bunmi as she is fondly called by acquaintances was skeptical following many negative stories that she has heard about the different methods of family planning. In some communities in Africa, Nigeria included, misconceptions and skepticisms about the use of family planning or child spacing are still rife. Some of the fallacies include that use of family planning make women promiscuous, gain excess weight, bleed heavily, causes cancer etc. This also extended to sexual relationship where some couples erroneously believe that family planning would deprive them of sexual pleasure. Some even believe that family planning can make a woman not to get pregnant again, if she desires to. There are women who also believe they cannot use family planning as long as they are brea

Chioma Umeha A cholera outbreak in Cameroon has claimed at least a dozen lives. Hundreds of people have been rushed to several hospitals in the central African state. It is feared some of the cases were imported from Nigeria and may contaminate refugees fleeing the Boko Haram insurgency, according to Voanews.com reports. Arabo Saidou, the highest government official in charge of health in Cameroon’s north region says the first cases of cholera were reported along Cameroon’s border with Nigeria two months ago. He says the disease has continued to spread since four cases of cholera were recorded in the northern Cameroon town of Mayo Oulo that borders Nigeria on May 18. He says many people, especially children, have been dying both in and out of hospitals. In May, the Word Health Organization reported that Nigeria’s Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states had been experiencing recurrent cholera outbreaks since February, with a total of 1,664 suspected cases and 31 de

From left: Mrs. Abiola Adekoya, a family planning expert, provider and facilitator and some women in Agboyi-ketu area of Lagos State who have embraced family planning. Chioma Umeha In many modern African societies where the economy is consistently on the downward trend, raising healthy and happy children poses a great challenge. Research has also shown that unplanned pregnancies in the absence of family planning triggers population growth in many countries of the world. This is worsened by the poor state of healthcare in many African countries like Nigeria, giving rise to increase in child and maternal death rates. In view of this, there have been growing calls for all countries to curb population explosions by adopting family planning methods. This is in line with this year’s World Population Day theme, “Family Planning is a Human Right.” Analysts believe that the entrenchment of Family Planning (FP) as a human right by every country of the world would mak

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