By Kemi Akintokun

The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) and Actions for Collaborative Community Engaged Strategies for Human Papilloma Virus (ACCESS-HPV) have launched a programme that will increase awareness on cervical cancer screening.

Prof. Oliver Ezechi, the Country Lead of ACCESS-HPV and Director of Research in NIMR, said during the launch in Lagos on Wednesday that the programme would be funded by the U.S. National Institute of Health and National Cancer Institute.

He added that the project, which is expected to reduce the burden of the health conditions in Nigeria, would support the Nigerian National Cancer Prevention and Control programme in its drive to join other nations to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that cancer of the uterine cervix, commonly known as cervical cancer, is the fourth most common cancer among women globally and the second most common cancer among women.

Ezechi said: “The Human Papiloma Virus (HPV) causes most cervical cancers and the prevalence in Nigeria is 24.8 per cent.

“The high burden of cervical cancer and the resultant number of deaths occurring in woman in Nigeria is attributable to poor access to screening and identification of precancerous lesions.

“It is against this backdrop that our team will develop new HPV vaccination campaign for young girls and self collection campaigns for mothers, using crowdsourcing open calls and participatory learning communities.

“The ACCESS HPV team comprises of experts from Saint Louis University, Missouri, U.S., led by Prof. Juliet Iwelunmor, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, led by Prof. Joe Tucker and Monash University in Australia, led by Dr Jason Ong.

“NIMR is also a leading centre in making cervical cancer screening accessible to the public through community-based screening and HPV testing.

“We will use the same methodology we used to increase access to HIV testing through HIV self-testing (ITEST Project), which is currently running in 30 local government areas across 14 states.”

According to him, the project is also aligned with the World Health Organisation’s global strategy inaugurated in 2020 to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer as a public health challenge.

Ezechi called for a multi-stakeholder approach across the health sector, government, women’s right advocacy organisations and various religious bodies to win the fight against the scourge in the country. (NAN(www.nanews.ng)

Edited by Dianabasi Effiong/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu

By Franca  Ofili

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuberculosis (TB) services has brought the urgency of vaccine development efforts into sharp focus.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of WHO, announced the plans to establish a new TB Vaccine Accelerator Council at a high-level panel on TB at the World Economic Forum.

Ghebreyesus said the council would facilitate the licensing and use of effective novel TB vaccines catalysing high-level alignment between funders, global agencies, governments and end users in identifying and overcoming barriers to TB vaccine development.

“One of the most important lessons from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic is that innovative health interventions can be delivered fast if they are prioritised politically and financed adequately.

“The challenges presented by TB and COVID-19 are different, but the ingredients that accelerate science, research and innovation are the same.

“Urgent, up-front public investment; support from philanthropy; and engagement of the private sector and communities.

“We believe the TB field will benefit from similar high-level coordination,’’ he said.

According to him, despite countries making bold commitments to end TB by 2030, in the Sustainable Development Goals, the WHO End TB Strategy, and the 2018 political declaration on the fight against TB.

The WHO boss said the epidemic showed no sign of slowing down. In 2021, approximately 10.6 million people fell sick with TB, and 1.6 million died.

He said that drug-resistance continued to be a major problem with close to half a million people developing drug-resistant TB every year and  Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is currently the only licensed TB vaccine.

“While it provides moderate efficacy in preventing severe forms of TB in infants and young children, it does not adequately protect adolescents and adults, who account for close to 90% of TB transmissions globally,’’ Ghebreyesus said.

He said that a recent WHO commissioned study, an investment case for new tuberculosis (TB) vaccines, estimates that, over 25 years.

According to him, it is a vaccine that is 50 per cent effective in preventing disease among adolescents and adults could avert up to 76 million new TB cases.

Also, 8.5 million deaths, 42 million courses of antibiotic treatment and 6.5 billion dollars in costs faced by TB affected households, especially for the poorest and most vulnerable.

“A vaccine that is 75 per cent effective could avert up to 110 million new TB cases and 12.3 million deaths,’’ he said.

Ghebreyesus said that the study further suggests that every 1dollar invested in a 50 per cent effective vaccine could generate an economic return of US$ 7 in terms of averted health costs and increased productivity.

He said later in 2023, Heads of States and Governments would meet for a second United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB to review progress against commitments made in the 2018 political declaration.

According to him, this presents an important opportunity to correct setbacks in the TB response, which includes the urgent development and delivery of new TB vaccines. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Abdulfatai Beki/Muhammad Suleiman Tola

By Olasunkanmi Onifade

National Guild of Medical Directors (GMD) on Tuesday appealed to government at all levels to create an enabling environment and provide attractive incentives for doctors and other health workers.

Dr Raymond Kuti, President, GMD said this in a communique issued at the end of the guild’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The theme of the AGM was ‘ Human Resource Management for Healthcare:Challenges, Strategies and Opportunities.’

He said attractive incentives could make doctors and health workers who had left the country come back home.

“Poor working conditions and weak infrastructure with chronic underfunding are compounding the issue with increased workload and overwork for those who remain in service.

“Limited career opportunities for advancement compounded by political interference and the lack of performance-based promotion.

” This leads to low morale and poor attitude amongst the health workforce and the pervasive challenging political climate and insecurity is an important reason for uninhibited brain drain,” Kuti said.

He said the lack of adherence to the Commonwealth Code of Practice for International Recruitment of Health Workers made it easy for other countries to recruit medical professionals with impunity.

Kuti said the guild had however identified strategies that can be adopted by government and private sector organisations to retain doctors in Nigeria and curb brain drain.

Kuti sai’: ”One of such strategies is for the organisations to provide career advancement programmes and opportunities by investing in training, learning and development programs to keep abreast of new innovations.

“Develop and implement enhanced health sector salary and incentives schemes especially in deprived areas to improve quality of life.

“Skills such as effective communications, resilience, leadership, emotional intelligence, empathy, and quality assurance management must be actively taught to health professionals-starting early in schools.

” This will also help to improve communication channels and provide effective, ethical leadership and governance in healthcare institutions,” he said.

Kuti also said the Human Resources (HR) management was imperative to ease burnout and minimize dissatisfaction while improving work-life balance for healthcare professionals.

He said solutions to mitigate or reverse brain drain among healthcare workers in Nigeria must be practical and adopt a systemic approach, adding, ”there are short and long-term strategies.”

Kuti said the large contingent of health workers in the diaspora was a pool of great resources that the nation can still benefit from through skills transfer, mentorship and the use of technology.

He urged that innovative approaches to increasing the pool of health workers available should be explored.

“This includes elimination of roodblocks such as licensing of doctors that discourage middle-level doctors from coming back to Nigeria.

” Rehiring of retired physicians on retainership or contract hosis to fill in the gaps created by doctors who have left the country and to also use their wealth of experience to mentor younger doctors,” Kuti said.

He said the guild would engage with the government and all stakeholders in the implementation of the WHO policy on towns in advanced countries poaching healthcare workers from developing nations.

Kuti also said: ”The guild would promote multilateral negotiations between Nigeria and the key countries doctors and other health workers emigrate to so as to secure controlled emigration on more profitable terms for the country.

“Resuscitation of an abandoned exchange programme that allowed residents and other cadres of health workers to go overseas for a specified period for specialised training and then come back to give back.

“Likewise, Nigerian resident doctors in training in the diaspora should be able to come home for short, specialised training periods that will be counted as part of their training,” he said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

By Franca Ofili

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says sequencing remains vital to detecting and tracking the emergence and spread of new variants of COVID-19, such as XBB.1.5.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said this at an online media conference.

“It’s now three years since the first sequence of SARS-CoV-2 was shared with the world,” he said.

Ghebreyesus said that sequence enabled the development of the first tests, and ultimately, vaccines.

“Throughout the pandemic, testing and sequencing helped us to track the spread and development of new variants.

“But since the peak of the Omicron wave, the number of sequences being shared has dropped by more than 90 per cent and the number of countries sharing sequences has fallen by a third.

“It’s understandable that countries cannot maintain the same levels of testing and sequencing they had during the Omicron peak,’” he said.

Ghebreyesus said the world cannot close its eyes and hope the virus would go away.

He called on all countries now experiencing intense transmission to increase sequencing, and to share those sequences.

According to him, investment in testing at-risk people to ensure they receive adequate care and in tracking the virus remains vital.

“There is no doubt that globally we are in a vastly better position than we were a year ago,” he said.

According to him, the end of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda, four months after the first cases were reported is appreciated.

“I congratulate the government, the people of Uganda and health workers, some of whom lost their lives, for their leadership and dedication in bringing this outbreak to an end.

“And we thank donors and partners for swiftly mobilising resources, and vaccine developers for making candidate vaccines available in record time.

“Even in the absence of approved vaccines or therapeutics for this type of Ebola, Uganda was able to use proven public health tools to contain the outbreak,” he said.

According to him, the outbreak has finished, but WHO’s commitment to Uganda has not.

He said that the organisation remained committed to strengthening Uganda’s health system as part of its journey toward universal health coverage. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

===============
Edited by Chidinma Agu/Chioma Ugboma

World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday advised that countries should consider recommending passengers wear masks on long haul flights.

WHO said this was to counter the latest Omicron sub variant of COVID-19 given its rapid spread in the U.S.

In a news conference in Europe, WHO officials said the XBB.1.5 sub variant is being detected in small but growing numbers.

WHO’s senior emergency officer for Europe, Catherine Smallwood, said passengers should be recommended to wear masks in high-risk settings such as long-haul flights.

“This should be a recommendation issued to passengers arriving from anywhere where there is widespread COVID-19 transmission.’’

U.S. health officials however said that the XBB.1.5 sub-variant, the most transmissible Omicron sub-variant that has been detected so far accounted for 27.6 per cent of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. for the week ending Jan. 7.

However, experts said it remains unclear if XBB.1.5 will cause its own wave of infections around the world.

She said the current vaccines continue to protect against severe symptoms, hospitalisation and death.

Smallwoood noted that “countries need to look at the evidence base for pre-departure testing” saying it was crucial to not be “blindsided” by an exclusive focus on one particular geographic area.

She said if travel measures are considered “our opinion is that travel measures should be implemented in a non-discriminatory manner.”

She added that it did not mean the agency recommends the testing of passengers coming from the United States at this stage.

Measures that can be taken include genomic surveillance, and targeting passengers arriving from other countries as long as it not diverts resources away from the domestic surveillance systems.

Other examples include wastewater monitoring systems that can look at wastewater around points of entry such as airports.

XBB.1.5 is yet another descendant of Omicron, the most contagious variant of the virus causing COVID-19 that is now globally dominant.

It is an offshoot of XBB, first detected in October, which is itself a recombinant of two other Omicron sub-variants. (Reuters/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Hadiza Mohammed/Joseph Edeh

By Justina Auta

Mr Chime Asonye, Founder, Nigerian Mental Health, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the National Mental Health Bill 2021, into law.

He, however, urged incoming administrations to prioritise and implement the National Mental Health Bill 2021, to boost the country’s healthcare system.

Asonye made the call in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.

The Nigerian Mental Health is a network of leaders and organisations on mental health.

According to him, the bill is the first legislative reform adopted in the field since independence and a major milestone to improve support for psychosocial wellbeing.

“The mental health community came together to speak with one voice in support of the Bill.

“We now need Executive implementation, State Governments to domesticate this legislation, and those contesting for elected offices to make mental health a national priority,” he said.

The network also called on the government to enact other critical reforms for those with mental health conditions, such as decriminalising attempted suicide, which is currently a felony subject to a year in prison.

They also urged the National Assembly to ensure gazetted copies of the Bill are available to citizens, so they know their new legal rights.

Asonye quoted Prof. Gboyega Abikoye, the President of the National Association of Clinical Psychologists, whose organization submitted memoranda during legislative drafting as saying “past legislation was outdated and inhumane.”

“The previous regulatory regime was based on the regional Lunacy Act of 1958, a colonial holdover that needed to be replaced,”

Asonye noted that the regulation, assented to on Jan. 5, established human rights protections for those with mental health conditions, such as banning discrimination in housing, employment, medical and other social services.

”It also guarantees that those receiving treatments have the right to participate in formulating their medical plans and cannot have forced treatment, seclusion or other methods of restraint.

“And other common practices in mental health facilities without appropriate safeguards,” he said.

According to him, other provisions of the Bill include establishing a new Mental Health Fund, a Mental Health Department in the Federal Ministry of Health, and a Mental Health Assessment Committee to protect stakeholders.

Asonye further explained that the Bill also expanded community-based coverage and improve the care and management of those with mental health conditions.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

By Abujah Racheal
A photo exhibition to highlight to amplify maternal health interventions in saving women’s lives is scheduled to begin in Abuja on Friday, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The exhibition by a network of journalism professionals would be held outdoors, while the virtual version also comes up the same day.

solution -focused photo exhibition will begin in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT), on Friday, March 26, 2021 at Ventures Park in Abuja.

Mr Chibuike Alagboso, a 2019 fellow of the Solutions Journalism Network, USA, said that the exhibition would showcase solutions that made positive impact on the lives of women.

Alagboso, who work for a health communication and advocacy organisation, said the exhibition would highlight solutions that were improving maternal health interventions which was one of his organisation’s focus areas.

“News about Nigeria’s poor maternal health indices is well known. Various stories have been written about the women that have lost their lives while giving birth.

“This is not acceptable and people with the power to change the status quo must continue to be held accountable to do more in improving maternal outcomes.

“It is also important to tell the stories of people who are working hard to improve the situation,” he said.

Mrs Ruona Meyer, Africa Initiative Manager of the Solutions Journalism Network, said the exhibition had received submissions from photojournalists from Nigeria, Ghana, United States, and Germany.

She said that it was important to be inclusive while covering women issues by media practitioners.

“The most commonly marginalised population, in society and in news reportage is often women. Sometimes, this is not intentional, but it can definitely be unlearned, because it comes at a great socioeconomic and even mortal cost to women.

“The spirit with which the Solutions Journalism Network was set up and operates is to advocate for a more inclusive, wholesome version of the news.

Also speaking, Mrs Vivianne Ihekweazu, Nigeria Health Watch’s Managing Director, believes this was timely because it was a first of its kind photo exhibition in the country aiming to heighten awareness about maternal health.

“It is time we had these discussions beyond the health sector and time we start asking questions, why are women still dying, just because they want to live,” she said.

NAN reports that the organizers said attendance to both the physical and virtual exhibition is free after registration on www.bit.ly/posdeviants and www.bit.ly/virtualpdex.

By Aderogba George

Three joint units of Nigerian health workers have advised Nigerians to imbibe the habit of regular medical checkups to guard against kidney problem.

The advice was given in Abuja on Thursday during à medical screening at the GSM community, Wuse Zone 1 area to commemorate the World Kidney Day, annually celebrated on March 11 to raise awareness on renal health and diseases.

The three units are: the Nigerian Association of Nephrology (NAN),  International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the Medicine and Dialysis Unit, Wuse District Hospital (WDH) Abuja.

Dr Salihu Kwaifa, a Consultant Physician and Nephrology, said the three units were in the community to sensitise and educate the people about the need for regular checkups of their body  against kidney diseases.

Kwaifa, the Head of Department, Medicine Dialysis, Wuse District Hospital (WDH) Abuja, said early detection was necessary to ensure treatment of kidney problem, hence the need for campaign to guard against the disease.

He said “kidney problem is not a death sentence; it can be treated if detected early and that is one of the essence of this outreach to sensitise the community.

“And for those who are suffering from the disease, we are here to tell them the basic things they need to observe; you can live a normal life if you observe all the protocols.

“This medical check-up is to ascertain if you have hypertension or diabetes because these two diseases are the chief causes of kidney diseases.”

Mrs Erdoo Haaga, the Chief Nursing Officer in charge of Dialysis Unit, WDH, took the people through a medical lecture on what to eat and what not to eat.

Haaga advised the people against too much alcohol intake, too much salt and sugar, too much fried foods, high protein foods to avoid kidney damage.

She also advised them to be wary of the kinds of food they ate,  especially when hypertensive and to eat more vegetables and fruits.

Dr Chikaodinaka Ezeokeke, the Senior Medical Officer, WDH, Abuja, advised Nigerians to always stay healthy and to eat the right foods at the right time.

She urged people to always take three litres of water before the close of the day and to always carry out their HIV/AIDS checkups.

“Stay healthy, stay fit, eat right at the right time, take a lot of water, screen yourself for HIV/AIDS, stay safe and cool,’’ she stressed.