Punch, 29 July 2016 Convoy attack: UN suspends aid to Borno
The United Nations has temporarily suspended aid deliveries in Borno State, after a humanitarian convoy was attacked, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF said on Thursday. Reuters reported that UNICEF said in a statement that unknown assailants attacked the convoy on Thursday as it returned to Maiduguri from delivering aid in Bama, injuring a UNICEF employee and an International Organisation for Migration contractor. “The United Nations has temporarily suspended humanitarian assistance missions pending review of the security situation,” it said. Nearly a quarter of a million children in Borno suffer from life-threatening malnourishment and around one in five will die if they do not receive treatment, UNICEF said earlier this month.
AllAfrica, 24 July 2016 Nigeria marks 2 years without Polio
Today, Nigeria marks two years since it recorded a case of polio. With the development, Nigeria has just one more year to go before it can be certified polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO) In a joint statement by stakeholders, the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, said Nigerians needed to get "out of their comfort zones to further enhance the quality of polio campaigns, reach children in difficult areas and continue to improve routine immunization." The National Primary Health Care Development Agency, which coordinates primary health services nationwide is pushing to close surveillance gaps and increase "environmental surveillance sites and community informants across the country," according to its executive director, Ado Muhammad. The World Health Organisation's acting representative in Nigeria, Rex Mapazanje, said, "we must continue to be on alert for any sign of the virus through heightened surveillance, particularly in the vulnerable populations including insurgency-hit areas of northeast Nigeria and the adjoining areas of Cameroon, Chad and Niger."
ThisDay, 29 July 2016 Buhari appoints heads of health institutions
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of heads of five strategic health institutions in the country, including the Centre for Disease Control, National Agency for the Control of Aids, the Nigerian Institute for Medical Research, National Primary Health Care Development Agency and National Health Insurance Scheme. To head the Centre for Disease Control is Dr Chikwe Andreas Ihekweazu, who until his appointment, was the managing partner at EpiAfric, a public health consultancy firm that focuses on Africa. Dr Sani Aliyu, a consultant in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at Cambridge University, UK is to paddle the affairs of the National Agency for the Control of Aids. The president also approved Prof. Babatunde Salako as the head of the Nigerian Institute for Medical Research. He was the Provost, College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan before his new appointment.
BusinessDay, 28 July 2016 Global donors meet Buhari, express displeasure over management of donor funds
Global donors to the healthcare sector in Nigeria have expressed displeasure at the way donor funds for health care were utilized in the past. This is even as President Muhammadu Buhari while receiving a team led by Seth Berkley, Chief Executive Officer of Gavi and The Global Fund in State House, Abuja, assured that lapses that have characterized Nigeria as a nation would be corrected. A statement signed by Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina after the meeting, said Berkley who noted that the three focal points of the Buhari administration; security, economic development, and anti-corruption were critical to the future of Nigeria, raised issues over the way donor funds for health care were utilized in the past. According to him Gavi and the Global Fund were disappointed when forensic audit revealed systemic weaknesses and corruption in the utilization of funds given in the past, adding that there is now a “breath of fresh air” under President Buhari’s leadership and fight against corruption and they were willing to “close the books of the past, and look into future support.”
Vangaurd, 27 July 2016 FG begins feeding of 5.5 million pupils in September
The Federal Government, Wednesday, said it will commence its National Home Grown School Feeding Programme this September with 5.5 million pupils across the country. The National Programme Manager, Mrs Abimbola Adesanmi, disclosed this in Abeokuta during the opening of a two-day stakeholders’ workshop on the Ogun State Home Grown School Feeding Programme. Adesanmi explained that the government has resolved to start the programme this September, and it would accommodate pupils in Primary 1 to 3 at the outset, and would move to other classes as the nation’s resources improved. She, however, explained that all the states of the federation, depending on their preparedness, would benefit from the social intervention programme.
All Africa, 27 July 2016 HIV/AIDS - Govt procures N80 million laboratory reagents
The Kaduna State Government has procured laboratory reagents worth N80 million for HIV patients' follow-up, the Executive Secretary of the State AIDS Control Agency (KADSACA) Dr. Halliru Musa, has disclosed. Speaking at an end-of-program dissemination meeting of the UNICEF-supported Adolescent on Young People (AYP) HIV program in Jaba and Jema'a LGAs of the state, Musa also mentioned that government had given grants to Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for various interventions at the community levels. Dr. Halliru assured of the state government's commitment towards ensuring improved health care service delivery, including comprehensive HIV/AIDs services. The AYP HIV program in Jaba and Jema'a LGAs, he said, was a pilot aimed at providing comprehensive HIV services to the adolescents and young persons in the two LGAs.
The Nation, 29 July 2016 LUTH, nurses’ executives meet in Abuja over strike
Management of the 48-year-old Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and the executives of the Nigerian Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) are meeting in Abuja to deliberate with the representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health to end the ongoing strike. LUTH’s nurses have been on strike for the past 50 days. As at yesterday, The Nation saw no patients in the general wards. But the Spillover Ward (Private Wing) and other diagnostic units were functional. The Vice Chairman, NANNM, LUTH Chapter, Mr. Olutola Stephen, affirmed that the contentious issues have been tabled for resolution. “We tabled all the issues to the management of LUTH last week. They agreed that we embarked on strike for the right issues that need to be addressed; and not as if our fight is not for a just cause. “They are appealing to us to come back to work, but we expect them to meet most of our demands. There is a meeting ongoing in Abuja. The Chief Medical Director, LUTH, Dr. Christopher Bode and the association’s chairperson, Mrs. Yemisi Adelaja and others are present at the meeting.”
All Africa, 28 July 2016 2,000 trained health workers leave sector
Out of 4,000 health workers trained by the Bauchi State Government, 2,000 have left the services of the state. The state Commissioner of Health, Dr. Halima Mukkadas stated this while answering questions from journalists at a journalist roundtable on Bauchi state 2015 Health Budget scorecard held in Bauchi. "The 4,000 that were sponsored by the government were given automatic employment after the training but unfortunately 2,000 of them absconded without serving their bond with the state government," she said. While also speaking, the secretary of Bauchi State Accountability Mechanism for Maternal and Newborn Health (BASAM), Bulak Afsa, called on the state government to always publish budget information on time and ensure timely release of budgeted funds for capital projects.
The Guardian, 27 July 2016 Lagos government, others hold summit on infectious diseases
The Lagos State government, in collaboration with three organisations, will today begin an African conference on emerging infectious diseases and bio-security in Lagos. The organisations are Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium (GET); West African Task Force for Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Disease Outbreaks (WATER); and African Gong and the Global Partnership Programme (GPP), Canada. Themed: “Strengthening African Health Systems- Building Resilience and Capacity to Tackle Epidemic Threats: Bio-security and Infrastructure in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak,” the summit will be attended by policy makers, scientists, health care professionals, emerging diseases survivors, especially Ebola survivors, development partners and opinion leaders across the continent. According to a statement, the conference, which is now in its second edition, is a brainchild of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) that ravaged the West African sub region in 2014, killing 11,324 out of the infected 28,645 in the process, a figure that represents 39.5% case fatality rate as recorded by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Nigeria Health Watch, 26 July 2016 Ten highlights from the 21st International Conference on AIDS
Over the last week, your Nigeria Health Watch team has been at the 21st International AIDS Conference, the largest conference on any global health or development issue globally. Many of the burning issues on HIV/AIDS discussed at the conference, which was back in Africa after 16 years, have significantly moved on from the dark years of AIDS denialism during the Thabo Mbeki presidency. This conference always provides a unique forum for the intersection of science and advocacy – it was the same this year. Below we bring you our highlights of the conference.
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