By Habibu Harisu

Sokoto State Government has pledged sustained partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in promoting skills acquisition training and other educational pursuits of youths in the state.

Alhaji Usman Arziki-Bodinga, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, stated this at the commemoration of the 2023 International Youths Day, organised by the state government, in collaboration with UNFPA on Saturday in Sokoto.

He described this year’s theme ” Green Skills for Youths Toward Sustainable Development”, as apt, saying it will encourage self reliance and productivity among the youths.

The permanent secretary enjoined youths to explore their potentialities and utilise available opportunities in the state and the nation at large.

He, however, lamented that “unemployment rate is on the increase because everyone depends on educational certificates and all out looking for elusive white collar jobs.”

Arzika-Bodinga said that the aim was to highlight the essential roles teachers, trainers and other educators play in providing skills that will equip the youths for labour markets.

According to him, the efforts will prepare them to become relevant decent entrepreneurs in their communities and societies.

The UNFPA Programme Officer in the state, Mrs Gloria Enueze, urged youths to embrace skills for self reliance to reduce unemployment in the country.

Enueze said: “Skilled youths are not jobless, they cannot be easy preys in the hands of organisers of evils in the society.”

A Youth Advocate and UNFPA Desk Officer, Malam Umar Idris, said the objective of the day was to awaken youths to be entrepreneurially minded and have plausible and indispensable digital skills.

Idris said people with skills and education had good chances to thrive and succeed in life, adding, “a skilled person is always relevant at any point of his or her age because there is no retirement.

” The older you become in your skill, the more experienced and sought after you become by those who need your services.

” Skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development should be given more priority in Nigerian schools,” he said.

He added that no society can progress without skills development, saying,” a technical man or woman can never be unemployed.”

Some participants, A’isha Musa, Sa’adatu Hussaini and Yusuf Abubakar, described the event as profitable and promised to utilise the knowledge gained to start businesses beside schooling.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event witnessed presentations, discussions on potentialities development, available acquisition centers, markets and supports. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

By Philip Yatai

The Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board (SPHCB) has appealed to the state and local government workers to enrol in Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) for health insurance services.

The Executive Secretary of the board, Dr Hamza Abubakar made the appeal in Abuja on Saturday, during a two-day meeting with Chairmen of the 23 local government councils of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was organised by the Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority (KADCHMA), to find sustainable and innovative funding for healthcare services in the state.

The meeting was supported by Save the Children International, Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) and Lifiya programme.

Abubakar explained that the more enrolees a facility has the more money that comes to the facility, which could be used to improve medical supplies and facilities.

This, according to him, will improve the quality of service delivery in PHCs across the state and reposition them to favourably compete with private facilities.

He, however, decried a situation where the majority of civil servants in the state enroled in private facilities for the health scheme, thereby depriving the public facilities of a huge source of funding.

“It is sad that the majority of government workers enroled in private hospitals as against PHCs, thereby depriving the PHCs of the huge opportunity for more funding needed to improve the quality of service delivery.

“I am therefore, appealing to the council chairmen to encourage their workers who are yet to enrol to do so and select PHCs so that our public facilities will have increased access to funding opportunities.

“For workers that have enrolled already, we can have a conversation with them to consider transferring their service to PHCs. This will go a long way in improving the quality of health services in the state,” he said.

The executive secretary further urged the council chairmen to work with the management of KADCHMA to encourage community members to enrol in the health insurance scheme.

He said that the resources going to the facilities from KADCHMA and the National Health Insurance Authority, through the Basic Health Care Provisions Funds, were already transforming health services in PHCs.

Dr Sani Abubakar, Programme Manager, Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), pointed out that 7.8 million of the more than 10 million estimated population of the state were multidimensionality poor.

Abubakar said that when compared with other North-West states, Kaduna performed very poorly in the health dimension and was the second most deprived state.

“Not only that, Kaduna state is also one of the worst states to be a child in Nigeria due to high neonatal, infant and children under five mortality.

“Kaduna State is equally the sixth worst state in skilled birth delivery and the ninth worst state in women receiving postnatal care within two days after birth.

“This is why health insurance schemes, particularly the Vulnerable Group Funds (VGF) are critical to increase access to quality and affordable health care services to improve the health indices in the state,” he said.

He explained that VGFs are tailored health insurance funds targeting high-risk populations, aiming to narrow healthcare gaps through customised coverage. (NAN)

Edited by Isaac Ukpoju

By Philip Yatai

The Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority (KADCHMA) has engaged the Chairmen of the 23 Local Government Areas of the state to find sustainable and innovative ways to finance healthcare in the state.

The Director-General of the authority, Malam Abubakar Hassan, said at the opening of a two-day meeting in Abuja on Friday, that the move was part of strategies to attain Universal Health Coverage.

The News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) reports that the meeting was supported by Save the Children International (SCI), Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) and Lafiya programme.

Hassan said that measure was to leverage on the health financing structure in Kaduna State and look at the journey in the last three years and find ways to address all impediments.

He said that the engagement was part of the sustained agenda of Gov. Uba Sani-led administration, which prioritised health insurance as a strategy to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure on health services.

He said that the council chairmen were engaged to become champions and ambassadors of health insurance, with a view to mobilise resources at the local level to support state government efforts.

He pointed out that a larger percentage of the population were being plunged into poverty because of healthcare expenditure, saying that “most households fall into poverty whenever one of them falls sick.

“We have done well in the coverage of the formal sector into the scheme in the last three years which currently stands at more than 98 per cent.

“We have also done a little bit of coverage of the informal sector, which is abysmally small, standing at less than 3 per cent of the over 80 per cent of the population of the state,” he said.

He blamed the low coverage of the informal sector to lack of awareness, poverty, religion, and culture.

He said that the state government has allocated 1 per cent of its consolidated revenue to provide free health care services to the poor and vulnerable groups.

Earlier, Mr Amanuel Momo, Director, Advocacy, Communications, Campaigns and Media, SCI, said that the organisation was working with stakeholders and duty bearers to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children.

He said that the SCI has supported the government to develop a health care financing strategy and implementation plan towards attaining UHC.

“This will not be achieved without the collective support of partners and stakeholders, particularly the collective support of the 23 local government chairmen.

“One of our expectations from this meeting is a political commitment towards the elimination of the catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure, which is about 84 per cent in the state.

“We also want a commitment to addressing maternal health challenges at primary health care centres, through improved and efficient financing to increase enrolment into the health insurance scheme,” he said.

Also, Mr Adejor Abel, State Lead facilitator, PERL, said that the governance programme has been working with other partners to ensure a citizens’ responsive governance in the state.

Abel added that PERL was achieving this through support in the development of critical policies and strategies and strengthening citizens’ engagement in the government process.

Dr Sani Abubakar, Programme Manager, Clinton Health Access Initiative, described UHC as a global priority, which seeks to increase access to quality health care by all populations, while reducing their financial burden.

He said that CHAI was working closely with the state Ministry of Health and KADCHMA to strengthen the health insurance intervention in the state.

He reiterated the organisation’s continued support to ensure that KADCHMA increases health insurance coverage in the state.

Similarly, Mr Abubakar Yerima, Local Government Facilitator, Lafiya programme, equally assured the state government of the programme continued support to improve the health indices of the state. (NAN)

Edited by Vivian Ihechu

By Sani Idris

The World Bank-supported Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN), Kaduna State Project Implementation Unit, has trained adolescent girls in the state on how to make reusable pads.

The Project Coordinator, Dr Zainab Muhammad-Idris, who stated this at the opening of the training in Kaduna, said that the goal was to enhance good menstrual hygiene practices.

According to her, the training was necessary in view of the current economic situation that makes buying sanitary pads a huge challenge for young girls.

Muhammad-Idris explained that the measure was to provide young girls with the right information to enable them take care of themselves, health wise.

“One of the key challenges bedeviling the girl child is how to maintain good menstrual hygiene.

“The training, therefore, was specifically designed to give the young girls opportunity to learn more about menstrual cycles, its challenges and some of the hindrances to educational goals.

“The training will also ensure that young girls practice good personal hygiene, which in the long run, will translate to having a good reproductive health system.

“This will ensure society’s survival and propagation once they become adults,” she said.

She added that the programme was also aimed at promoting school enrollment and completion rate, up to a higher level, and help young girls to excel in their learning endeavour.

She explained that the ANRiN project was designed to increase utilisation of quality, cost-effective nutrition services for pregnant and lactating mothers, adolescent girls, and children under five years.

She added that through non-state actors, the project was delivering an integrated basic package of nutrition services and adolescent health services to the targeted groups at community level.

“Other beneficiaries were also being reached at health facilities,” she said.

Earlier, Hajiya Aishatu Jakada, Adolescents Health and Nutrition Officer, ANRiN, said that the participants were drawn from six schools in Kaduna Central Senatorial District.

Jakada added that the training covered adolescent girls in public and private schools, including students with special needs, adding that it would be extended to Kaduna North and Kaduna South Senatorial Districts. (NAN)

Edited by Philip Yatai

By Angela Atabo

Some women and girls in Kabusa community Abuja, have commended an NGO, ‘The Messenger of Hope International Foundation’, for supporting them with pads and menstrual hygiene skills to cushion period poverty.

Period poverty is the lack of access to sanitary products and menstrual hygiene among others.

The Ministry of Women Affairs says 37 million girls and women in Nigeria cannot afford menstrual hygiene products due to high cost.

This implies that every month, they are unable to safely manage their periods.

Mrs Deborah Bary, a housewife, said that since sanitary pads became N800 each, its affordability had become a challenge.

“Most times we women here use pieces of clothes for our menstruation; so, with what we have learnt and with these pads that have come to our community today, life will be easier.

“I am very happy for these free pads, and I pray that God Almighty will reward and bless the hand that was provided in Jesus name,” she said.

Another woman, Mrs Maimuna Aliyu, said that it had been a long time since she bought pads since the prices skyrocketed, adding that the free pads and lecture received was a blessing.

“At least the money we would have used to buy pads would be used to buy food items,” she said.

A teenager, Miss Happy James also expressed gratitude for the menstrual hygiene empowerment adding that her mother stopped buying her pad in 2020 because of the high cost.

Another teenager, Omotola Oluronlake, said: “For giving us free pads today, the NGO has helped a lot of people who are not able to get pads.

“I pray they get more sponsors so that they can keep helping people like us.”

Miss Zainab Musa, also a teenager, said she had never used a pad before because she grew up seeing her mother cutting pieces of cloth for her sisters to use during their periods.

“So, since I started my period, it is the cloth I have been using. Thank God, they gave me a pad, I will know how it feels to use one,” she said.

Ms Mary Odu, a nurse. while enlightening the community on menstrual hygiene, said it was important because it helped females to stay safe from infection and stay clean.

She said: “So we spoke today about proper hand washing before and after using the pad and proper disposal of the pad.

“Then we spoke about nutrition, eating well, taking enough fluid exercising and we spoke about a lot of things. So, they were very excited.”

Ms Chinwe Ogbuja, Founder, The Messenger of Hope International Foundation, said the project was part of the “pad my period campaign” a campaign around menstrual health.

According to Ogbuja , the  outreach is aimed at teaching  people in  communities about menstrual health and hygiene and also lend our voice to ending period poverty by giving out sanitary pads to females.

“Period poverty is endemic, and it is in our system, so we decided to come to Kabusa community as one of the outreach points, and on Friday we are going to Durumi one for the same thing, to carry out advocacy and curb period poverty.

“There are two other phases of this project which is to train the girls in digital literacy and the aim of that is to achieve three things.

“First, it is to make them digitally literate, secondly, to help them to have a voice online, so they can also join the conversation around women’s health.

“There is also empowerment, because once they are empowered to buy their own pads, it will end period poverty.”

She said that the last phase of the project would be to seek for some form of legislation on the government’s commitment to ending period poverty and ensuring that girls had safer and healthier periods.

The Chief of Kabusa, Samuel Kpowu, commended the foundation for the kind gesture.

“The way I feel, my mouth cannot say it all, but I am very grateful to the NGO for choosing Kabusa to bring this benefit to us.

“I am really happy; you can also see that my people are happy.

“The advice that I will give to other Nigerians is that whosoever has the   means to help the poor masses, let him do it. This is the right time to do it because things are going way higher.

“NGOs are trying but I want to recommend that if you know that you are capable of doing something for the masses, come and join because something like this is a blessing from God and He will bless you,” he said. (NAN)

Edited by Kadiri Abdulrahman/Bashir Rabe Mani

By Oluwafunke Ishola

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced about 50 grant recipients who are developing global health and development solutions for their communities using artificial intelligence (AI) enabled large language models (LLMs).

The foundation made the announcement in a statement on Wednesday, following an overwhelming response to its most recent Grand Challenges request for proposals.

It said the call for proposals specifically targeted researchers and innovators in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

According to the foundation, responsible and safe use of AI-driven LLM technology has the potential to help solve some of the world’s toughest health and development challenges.

It, however, said for these models to be useful in LMICs, researchers in LMICs must participate in the design, application, and testing of the technology as it rapidly evolves.

The foundation said that a robust evidence base would fill gaps in access and knowledge about the application of such tools to address problems across LMICs in an equitable way.

It said that the Grand Challenges programme, a family of initiatives, was fostering innovation to solve pressing global health and development problems.

The statement said the foundation received over 1,300 proposals, more than 80 per cent of which were from LMICs, within two weeks of posting its request for proposals.

It noted that the selected projects from 17 LMICs aligned with the foundation’s goal of fostering a global innovation ecosystem in places where it will have the most impact.

“Each recipient will receive up to $100,000 to advance its research project, for a total of five million dollars in grants,” it said.

It said that the findings of these projects would be shared at the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting in Dakar, Senegal, in October.

Also, Ms Juliana Rotich, co-founder of iHub, Nairobi, said, “too often, advances in technology deliver uneven benefits in many parts of the world due to existing patterns of discrimination, inequality, and bias.

“AI is no different, with most of the tools being developed in the Global North using data from lower-resourced regions that is often incomplete or inaccurate.

“To realise the full potential of AI, it must be developed responsibly and ethically, with the needs of the end user in mind. Solutions can be transformative when they are locally inspired,” she said.

Rotich would serve on the foundation’s new AI Ethics and Safety Advisory committee.

Zameer Brey, interim Deputy-Director for Technology Diffusion, Gates Foundation, said local innovators are harnessing the seismic power of AI and LLMs in ways that could be paradigm-shifting for their local communities and beyond.

“We believe the most impactful technological advancements include those that begin and end with the people they affect most,” Brey said.

Also, Kedest Tesfagiorgis, Deputy Director, Global Partnerships and Grand Challenges, Gates Foundation, said that for 20 years, the foundation has sought and seeded innovation to solve the world’s hardest problems.

“We believe that accelerating progress in health and development requires collaboration among innovators from as many disciplines and as many countries as possible,” she said.

Tesfagiorgis said the foundation was eager to continue working with and learning from partners around the world to ensure the benefits of AI are relevant, affordable, and accessible to everyone, especially in LMIC communities, in a manner that upholds safety, ethics, and equity.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the projects include how LLMs can help frontline health workers in India, where one woman dies every 20 minutes in childbirth, and improve the management of high-risk pregnancies.

A project in Nigeria seeks to give critical financial advice through a voice-to text interface to rural women farmers and business owners.

Grand Challenges partners have awarded over 3,600 grants to a diverse pool of problem solvers in more than 100 countries, while at the same time fostering a global innovation ecosystem in places where it will have the most impact. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

=============
Edited by Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma

By Folasade Akpan

A life coach, Mr Ndubuisi Onyenma, on Wednesday, has advised youths to have positive mentality toward life, irrespective of any situation to prevent depression.

He gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on the sidelines of an Emotional Wellbeing Workshop organised by Inspire Minds Education Foundation, a Non-Government Organisation (NGO).

The workshop, which was organised for students of Baze University in Abuja was to focus on mental health issues,
managing stress, trauma and relationships among young people.

According to Onyenma, depression is a disease of the mind and what youths feed their minds with constantly will reflect in what they express at the end of the day.

He said “there are lots of negative things happening in the society today and when you look at the economy, people are not smiling.

“When you let all those things come to your mind, what they do is they cloud your mind, and they trigger stress hormones like cortisol that starts getting you off that positivity.

“Once you are off that positivity, you begin to look at the situation from a negative angle and the next thing will be depression.

“So, it is a shift but the major focus is the mind. If youths can guide their minds and feed it with positivity, they will stay away from depression.”

Onyenma also advised parents and guardians to monitor how youths make use of the social media.

According to him, what children and youths are exposed to in their cognitive years will determine what they become later in life.

He said “social media has both positive and negative impacts, but the perception about it is what determines the results.”

He added that a lot of people pick up the negatives from social media and use it against one another, while others use it positively.

“It is a responsibility from the home that is a fundamental part to start watching this thing.

“What are you teaching your children from cognitive development, from motor sensory stage to concrete stage, to operational stage to adulthood?.

“So, in the formative part of their lifestyle from zero to seven years, what have they learned? Whatever they have learnt will determine what they will become in the future.

“There has to be that intentional perspective about parents, putting a close watch on what children are being exposed to.”

According to Onyenma, when children are left to browse the internet unattended, they are left to the vulnerability of being exposed to things that they should not have been exposed to in the first place.

The Founder of the NGO, Mrs Rosemary Uwaleme, said that the rate of depression and suicide ideation was now on the increase due to different factors.

According to her, some people may have the same life experiences and not come down with mental conditions because their brains are wired differently.

“The Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria said that over 60 million Nigerians suffer from mental illnesses.

“Common mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are eating deep among young people today.

“Mental illness is just as important as physical illness but it is not given the much needed attention.

“Also, the present economic situation is making things even worse, and many young people cannot fend for themselves, not to talk about doing other things for themselves or their family, and this can be depressing.”

She added that the most important thing is to seek for help either by opening up to a family member, a counsellor or a trusted person that can help to solve the problem.

Uwaleme said that during counselling sessions, many young people complained about different situations affecting them, ranging from being uncomfortable with the way they look and lack of confidence in themselves.

“Some struggle with drug abuse, academics, loss of a parent or the fact that some parents will not allow them to follow their passion.”

She advised them to always look on the positive side as their stories could take a different turn with the right help and approach.

She added that “as counsellors, we are motivated when we see people who initially had nearly given up begin to enjoy life again, make meaning out of life and even begin to inspire others.

“We believe that our young people are the hope for a brighter future.

“That is why we are here to bring to your alertness that you are strong, you are creative and capable of achieving whatever you put your mind to.” (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

=====================
Edited by Abiemwense Moru/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu

By Fatima Mohammed-Lawal

Dr Olajumoke Koyejo, a Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist at the Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, on Wednesday advised the Federal Government to impose heavy taxes on companies producing or importing cigarettes and alcohol.

Koyejo gave the advice in Ilorin at the ongoing 2023 Annual Scientific Conference and Fellows Congress (ASCAF), of the Postgraduate Medical College Fellows Association.

She disclosed that Lagos state has the highest prevalence of substance use in Nigeria.

The expert who lamented on the adverse effect of using psychoactive substances, lamented that about 65 per cent of patients battling with mental disorder are people who abused psychotropic drugs such as stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, inhalants, cannabis and narcotics.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that psychoactive substances are chemical substance that changes the function of the nervous system and results in alterations of perception, mood, cognition and behaviour.

Koyejo believed that with higher taxation, this will make the psycho-substances to be beyond the reach of the purchasing powers of average Nigerians, saying that prevalence rate of pscho-substance use in Nigeria is at 14 per cent.

She added that the prevalence is twice higher than the world prevalence of 5.6 per cent.

“There is also the need for government to plan the environment better for people to have other means of recreation.

“Sports and others should be encouraged because you cannot take away what they use as a means of recreation (substance) without replacing it with something else.

“The way out 9f the use of substance abuse in Nigeria, for me, is more of prevention. We cannot do prevention without taking the ministry of education into consideration,” she said.

According to her, there are evidence-based ways of handling prevention of substance abuse.

“It has been proven that some of the leading causes of drug abuse in the society are ignorance, curiosity and peer pressure.

“The implications of drug abuse on the society includes rapes, audacious robbery attacks, riots, economic sabotage, bullying, thuggery and a host of other forms of anti-social behaviours exhibited by people under the influence of hard drugs,” she warned.

Also in his paper presentation, Dr Owoidoho Udofia, a Consultant Psychiatrist from the University Teaching Hospital, Calabar, submitted that doctors have responsibility of taking care of their well-being.

The expert spoke on the theme: “Physician Well-being and Burn Out”.

According to him, physicians need to care for their health for the sake of patients and this can be done through reduction in our workloads.

The psychiatrist warned that “a sick doctor is a dangerous patient”, while also advising on the need for doctors to take responsibility of taking care of the people working under them.

“Doctors should deliberately create their own social support system. This is because the work of a doctor comes with a lot of stress,” he said.

Besides, he advised on the need to address the root cause of burnout, while advising healthcare providers to have friends to talk to, and shun excess work load. (NAN)

Edited by Muhammad Tola