Chioma Umeha

Chioma Umeha To address shortage of infrastructure, health personnel and equipment   at the Nigerian primary health care system (PHC) a not for profit organisation, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre   (CISLAC) has said that revitalisation of primary health facilities should be made priority by state governments in order to achieve universal health coverage. Canvassing for this in Lagos, Mallam Auwal Ibrahim Musa, the Executive Director of CISLAC, said “the situation of primary health care in Nigeria worsens, as financial and political commitment from the government is lacking.” Musa also noted “In cases where there have been financial pronouncements, they have been partially or entirely not implemented.   Inadequate funding and non-commitment of state governors and local government authorities to provide skilled manpower at the primary health care centers impede adequate health intervention. “Thankfully, health is on the concurrent list of the gov

Chioma Umeha Stakeholders have called for collaborations among professional bodies, noting that team spirit among experts is critical to tackling national problems and forms the bedrock of any nation’s development. The call came when Dr. Omede Idris, President, Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN), weekend, led top officials of the association to pay a courtesy visit to the leadership of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) in Anthony, Lagos. Dr. Idris stressed that the development of any nation completely depends on work interactions among professionals, adding that with all the professionals working together most of the problems facing the nation and the health sector could be solved. He stated that the APBN established 26 years ago has done well despite the hard times which Nigeria is going through. However, the APBN boss noted that a lot more can still be done if all professional bodies work together to build the nation. Dr. I

Chioma Umeha UK-based Nigerian, Dr. Abdullahi Shehu, Consultant Neurologist and Deputy Lord Lieutenant, West Midlands has been awarded the membership of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Her Majesty, the Queen of United Kingdom. The award was conferred on him on August 16, 2018. His childhood friend and President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai disclosed this in a congratulatory message. Dr. Abdullah Shehu MBBS (ABU), FRCP, MBE, DL is a Consultant Neurologist, University Hospital NHS Trust and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Midlands. Dr. Shehu is from Yakasai, Kano and elder brother of the former President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Engr. M B Shehu. He left Nigeria for UK in 1986, moved to Coventry in 1993 and became a Consultant Neurologist in 1996. He was a Clinical Director for eight years, then Divisional Medical Director for four years. His commitment in community work has seen him serving in d

Chioma Umeha With little resources to cater for the needs of a fast growing population put at 200 million in a country that boasts of four million unregistered births annually, stakeholders foresee more hard times for Nigeria in the nearest future. Out of over seven million babies born yearly in Nigeria, the equivalence of the population of Sierra Leone, more than four million of these babies lack legal existence as their births are not registered. In view of this, experts say, “they are worried.” There is no gainsaying that knowing the number of children born in a country would allow the government to make right policies for the betterment of all citizens. Similarly, the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) notes, “Children with no birth certificate don’t exist before the law, and are in danger of remaining on the margins of society, or being shut out altogether. “They are more likely to face major challenges in accessing healthcare, education and soci

Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) ; Dominique Jordan, President, International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), Mr. Emeka Duru, Secretary PSN President, and two others after the World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Glasgow, UK, which ended at the weekend. Chioma Umeha  Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and Dominique Jordan, President, International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) have held a strategic meeting to fashion out a roadmap for the development of pharmacy profession in African continent, especially Nigeria. The duo met when Yakasai visited Jordan to congratulate him on his emergence as the President of FIP after the World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in Glasgow, UK, which ended at the weekend. According to the PSN boss, the newly elected FIP President invited him for a consolidation meeting to parley on how the

Chioma Umeha LAGOS – The Federal Government has appointed Dr. Obi Peter Adigwe as the new Director General/CEO for the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja. The appointment which takes immediate effect comes eight months after the expiration of the tenure of the former Director General of NIPRD, Prof. Gamaliel Karniyus. DAILY INDEPENDENT findings revealed that Adigwe’s approval by the Presidency followed his emergence as top scorer in a merit driven rigorous and comprehensive interview processes organised by the federal government few months ago. It was also learnt that the interview had in attendance some of the best brains in Nigerian Pharmaceutical Research and Development sector including, two renowned professors currently working at the NIPRD. Further investigations by DAILY INDEPENDENT showed that Dr. Adigwe scored 80 points and was closely followed by two Professors currently working at the NIPRD who scored 70 and

•Lagos State Ranks First Among States With Highest Burden Chioma Umeha No fewer than 18 Nigerians die of tuberculosis, TB, every hour totalling 432 deaths daily, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) which ranks Nigeria as having the second highest incidence rate in Africa and seventh among the 30 high TB burden countries in the world. In effect, no less than three Nigerians die every second from Tuberculosis, a disease that is preventable and curable, stated the global health body. Every hour, 47 Nigerians develop active TB, seven of who are children, even as Nigeria is ranked among the 14 high burden countries for TB, TB/HIV and Multidrug Resistant TB (MDR-TB), the WHO further said. Revealing these and other statistics on Monday in Lagos, Dr Linda Ozor, the Acting Coordinator, Non Communicable Diseases Cluster, WHO, said Nigeria is also among the 10 countries that accounted for 64 per cent of the global gap in ‘missing TB cases.’ Citing the

Chioma Umeha Nigeria population is estimated to be over 200 million, while the Lagos State figure put at over 21 million as at 2016 by the National Population Commission of Nigeria (NPopC). It is no surprise therefore that there is increasing family planning campaigns in Lagos states to tackle envisaged overpopulation and its consequence. Research shows that the socio-economic infrastructure of any state is often over-stretched if families are not planned, more so in a country struggling with inflation and economic depression. Overpopulation has a definite effect on a country’s economy. Overpopulation also means that more goods and supplies are required to support the population when over population occurs. One of the main economic problems for any country with an overpopulation problem is the shortage of food, minerals, fuel and other resources. As a means of ensuring effective population control, the global community has set a target that by

Chioma Umeha A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) based in Ogun State, Family Health Initiative Ogun (FHIO), has rolled out new plan aimed at creating enabling environment that will strengthen family planning programmes in the state. The NGO’s Chairperson, Mrs. Kemi Balogun, while speaking at its quarterly meeting, held in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, restated that the group is committed to facilitating required resources and logistics for the State, in the provision of qualitative and accessible health care services to families. Balogun explained that the advocacy drive of the organisation targeted at relevant stakeholders for the formulation and actualisation of policies and programmes that would help to improving health of children, reproductive health of adolescents, youths and mothers through effective family planning/childbirth spacing services delivery. According to her, the group is passionate and concerned about adequate provision of qualitative and acces

Chioma Umeha The negative attitude of some medical and healthcare personnel at Gwamna Awan General Hospital, Kakuri, Kaduna, have has been flayed by some enrollees of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the state. In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Kaduna, the enrolees complained of absenteeism and lateness by doctors and healthcare staff, forcing them to wait long frustrating hours before being attended to. A correspondent of NAN monitoring the quality of service delivery at the NHIS unit of the facility reported that he visited the section at three different occasions and found no doctor on seat to attend to patients. According to the report, there was no doctor on seat on Aug. 23, and after long hours of waiting, patients were refereed to another doctor in the main hospital. In another visit on Aug. 31 patients were told no doctor was available to see them until Sept. 4; and the doctor did not show u