Premium Times, 16 May 2016 Nigeria not among African countries promoting health budget transparency – Report
Nigeria is still a huge laggard among top economies in Africa in terms of healthcare budget information to its citizens, the Africa Budget Health Network, ABHN, a group of African civil society organisations working on health budget advocacy, has said. The group said Nigeria was conspicuously not among four countries out of 27 in sub-Saharan Africa covered by a 2015 Open Budget Survey to determine countries in African that provided substantial budget information. The only four countries, which polled scores above 60 per cent in the survey included South Africa, Malawi, Uganda and Ghana, the group said at the end of the Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen, Germany. While 13 others provided minimal, scant or no budget information, the group said seven of those countries could increase budget transparency at almost no cost by publishing documents that government was already producing.
ThisDay, 16 May 2016 FG debunks rumour of outbreak of Steven Johnson’s Syndrome
The Minister for Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has debunked media publications that there was a recent outbreak of the Steven Johnson’s Syndrome (SJS), which was alleged to have killed at least one person in the country recently. The minister, while setting the record straight in a release made available to THISDAY, said the disease was only the subject of discussion when the ministry, in collaboration with a marathon runner, Mr. Fadesola Adedayo, organised a press conference over the weekend to create awareness on SJS which is a rare medical condition that unfortunately took the life of the brother of the marathon runner, Dr. Adeyosola Adedayo in 2012. The marathon runner organised the event in memory of his late brother who died as a result of the rare disease.
Vanguard, 19 May 2016 NMA backs FG on deregulation of oil sector
The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, yesterday lend its weight to the Federal government deregulation of the oil sector. In a press statement signed by its President, Prof Mike Ozovehe Ogirim, the medical doctors however insisted that the deregulation must be on grounds that part of the proposed palliatives would include the immediate release of at least 5 percent of the consolidated revenue fund as the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHPF) which the National Health Act has given to Nigerians and has guaranteed it’s availability. Ozovehe Ogirim, posited that the fund would revamp Primary Health Care (PHC) and reinvigorate the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to cover all Nigerians. According to him, “We also press for the immediate rehabilitation and establishment of functional PHC in all the wards nationwide as a way of cushioning the harsh effects of out-of-pocket expenditure and various inequities in Healthcare delivery
The News, 18 May 2016 Nigeria to provide 111 TB testing machines
The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, on Tuesday in Abuja, said the Federal Government would provide 111 gene expert machines, a new diagnosis tool in some selected primary healthcare centres to enhance treatment of tuberculosis (TB). The minister made this known at the National Conference on Tuberculosis organised by Stop TB Partnership Nigeria in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health with the theme “Hidden Face of Tuberculosis: Challenges in Identification and Management Among Vulnerable Groups in Nigeria.” According to him, government has identified 287 centres and health teams across the country are trying to map out the 111 out of the 287 identified Primary Healthcare Centres. He said “the pilot centres can serve as proof of what we plan to do in the next two years.”
Leadership, 19 May 2016 Canada donates $19.9m for polio eradication in Nigeria
For the total eradication of polio in Nigeria, the government of Canada, through Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, has announced a contribution of $19.9m. The grant, which will be implemented during the period 2016/17 – 2020 by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is expected to sustain the polio eradication gains through strengthened Routine Immunization (RI). The project will help immunize approximately 6.6 million girls and 6.9 million boys against polio in 11 high risk Nigerian states. It will also train approximately 154,000 vaccinators and help protect up to 250,000 children from vaccine preventable diseases. According to a statement from WHO made available to LEADERSHIP, “Minister Bibeau made the announcement on the margins of the Women Deliver’s 4th Global Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
ThisDay, 14 May 2016 Tambuwal orders closure of Murtala Specialist Hospital
Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, Friday ordered the closure of the state owned Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital located at Unguwan Rogo area of Sokoto metropolis. The order was sequel to an unscheduled visit by the Governor to assess the state of facilities in the hospital. Health professionals had voiced concern over the substandard facilities at the hospital, and urged the government to intervene for the benefit of the populace. A visit to the hospital showed that apart from lack of basic health facilities, the integrity of the buildings could not be guaranteed due to cracks on the walls and roofs blown off by wind. THISDAY checks revealed that all patients had been moved to other public hospitals in the state capital, while feasibility study had commenced on how to upgrade the facilities and reopen as soon as possible.
Premium Times, 19 May 2016 Jigawa Govt. to establish 287 primary healthcare centres
The Jigawa State Government said on Thursday that it would establish Primary Health Care Centres (PHCs) in each of the 287 political wards of the state. The Commissioner for Health, Abba Zakari, disclosed this at a workshop organised by the ministry in Dutse. “The state government is strategising to provide at least one functional primary healthcare center in each of the 287 political wards in the state in the next few years.“ The commissioner said the state government had in the last one year invested fairly in the health sector. “In the area of human resource, the state government is sponsoring 60 medical students to China, while nursing students are also being considered. “The state government has also absorbed 119 midwives from the Sure-P and Midwives Service Scheme of the National Health Care Development Agency,” it said.
The Eagle Online, 18 May 2016 FG sets up panel of inquiry for Federal Teaching Hospital Ido-Ekiti
Prof. Isaac Adewole, the Minister of Health, has inaugurated a nine-man Administrative Panel of Inquiry to look into the crisis at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, Ekiti State. The information was contained in a statement issued by Boade Akinola, the Director of Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, and made available in Abuja on Tuesday. Akinola quoted the minister as saying the panel was necessitated by the continuous agitation and disruption of medical services by workers at the hospital for more than two weeks. Adewole recalled that despite several appeals by well-meaning Nigerians, including the Governor of Ekiti, Ayodele Fayose, services at the hospital were disrupted. He said the task of the panel was to determine the immediate and remote causes of the crisis and to engage all relevant stakeholders on how best to resolve the crisis.
All Africa, 16 May 2016 Pharmacists caution Govt over privatization of hospital drugs
The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has called for the adoption of drug revolving fund schemes to meet the medicine needs of government clinics and hospitals. The apex body of professional pharmacists in Nigeria said it is not against public private partnership (PPP) in provision of drugs in government hospitals but such arrangement should be crafted in ways that will benefit Nigerians. National President of the society, Pharmacist Ahmed Yakasai said in a statement that attention of the PSN has been drawn to developments pertaining to Private Sector participation in public hospital pharmacy practice in some State Government owned pharmacy facilities.
Nigeria Health Watch, 16 May 2016 Special Edition: Conference brings attention to Tuberculosis in Nigeria
In the week that a major announcement was made by WHO shortening the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, the scientific community is coming together with health care workers and public health practitioners to share knowledge on one of the major public health challenges of our time: Tuberculosis. Nigeria has more tuberculosis cases than any country in Africa, and the fourth highest annual number of TB cases in the world. Nigeria’s first-ever TB prevalence conducted in November 2012 showed that about 600,000 new cases of TB occur in Nigeria annually. Tragically, the recent prevalence survey in Nigeria showed that most of these cases are never diagnosed, and never treated. TB is one of the oldest diseases known to man and it is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is spread through the air when people who have an active TB infection cough or sneeze, transmitting respiratory fluids through the air.
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