HERFON HEALTH BLOG

In consideration of the plight of health-seeking public and to give room for an amicable resolution of its dispute with the Federal Government, the Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, on Wednesday agreed to suspend its 44 days old strike on Friday June 1, 2018. This decision followed the intervention of the National Industrial Court, NIC, which offered to take over the mediation process between the striking health workers and the government. Before now, an NGO, the Incorporated Trustees of the Kingdom Human Rights Foundation, KHRFI, had obtained a court order against JOHESU; mandating the health workers to suspend their industrial action on the 21st of May, 2018. But, in pursuit of its constitutional rights to either comply or challenge the Court order, JOHESU filed an appeal at the Appellate Court. However, the leadership of JOHESU decided to sheath its sword and direct the members of the union to resume duties since the NIC, as a neutral and impartial organ of the Judiciary, has...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has deployed 39 personnel to Mubi North and Mubi South local government areas of Adamawa to control a recent outbreak of cholera in the state, an official said. Charity Warigon, the WHO Communications Officer, said in a statement in Abuja on Monday that as of May 26, about 434 cases of cholera had been reported in the area, leading to 13 deaths. Mrs Warigon said that the personnel deployed would help coordinate partners’ response to the outbreak, support case management, surveillance and contact tracing of suspected cases to guide interventions. She said that WHO was also concluding plans to engage additional 15 ad-hoc personnel who would support efforts at ensuring the outbreak did not spread to other locations. “The outbreak has necessitated the health authority to activate an Emergency Operations Centre for concerted response and rapid decision-making. “The transmission rate of the on-going cholera outbreak in Adamawa...

Children under the  age of five maybe facing a bleak future as the 2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, MICS, show that over 75 percent of Nigeria’s children age 0 to 59 months were not fully immunized despite the fact that vaccine preventable diseases account for 40 percent of all childhood deaths in Nigeria Children undergoing vaccination against meningitis in Nigeria. According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, Vaccines have been one of the biggest success stories of modern medicine and it is no longer news that millions of deaths have been prevented due to vaccinations delivered around the world. Many lives have also been protected from disability associated diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, whooping cough, measles, and polio. Successful immunisation programmes also enable national priorities, like education and economic development to take hold. Sadly, although, the country made great strides in reducing deaths of under 5-year-old children from 158 to 120 pe...

A group of medical doctors has launched a mobile app aimed at reducing patient-waiting time in Nigerian hospitals. Patients in public hospitals in the country spend an average of two hours before they are attended to by a doctor, according to a report. The app, known as KompleteCare, can be accessed at the Google play store using a mobile phone. It is a collaboration between the Society for Family Physicians of Nigeria (SOFPON) and a healthcare company in Nigeria, Sevenz Healthcare. The app was unveiled to the public on May 18 at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, by the Commissioner for Health in the state, Dominic Ukpong, to mark SOFPON’s celebration of the 2018 World Family Doctor’s Day. SOFPON said the app provides a meeting-point online between doctors and patients where consultation, examination, and drug prescription can take place, and thereby help to reduce the crowd of patients at public hospitals. Doctors across different pa...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank Group on Thursday launched the joint Global Preparedness Monitoring Board to observe how ready the world is to tackle outbreaks and pandemics, the WHO said in a statement. "The board will be co-chaired by Dr Gro Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former WHO Director-General, and Mr Elhadj As-Sy, Secretary General of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. "It will include political leaders, heads of UN agencies and world-class health experts, serving in their individual, independent capacities," the statement read. The WHO noted that the board would not only monitor the situation but also prepare annual reports on the developments in this area. "The board will monitor emergency preparedness across national governments, UN agencies, civil society and the private sector. "It will report annually on adequacy of financing, progress on relevant rese...

Health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have begun an immunisation campaign in an attempt to halt the spread of an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. The experimental vaccine proved effective when used in limited trials during the epidemic which struck West Africa in 2014-16. At least 26 people are believed to have died in the current outbreak. Health workers were among the first to receive the vaccine on Monday. What is Ebola? It is an infectious illness that causes internal bleeding and often proves fatal. It can spread rapidly through contact with small amounts of bodily fluid, and its early flu-like symptoms are not always obvious. More than 11,300 people died in the earlier outbreak in 2014-16. Why Ebola keeps coming back Why Ebola is so dangerous How not to catch Ebola How serious is the current outbreak? At least 45 cases of Ebola have been reported, including three health workers, since the outbreak began earlier this month. The virus...

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has opposed the call by the striking health workers under the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) for the removal of Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole. The health workers have been on strike for five weeks, disrupting services in Nigeria's public hospitals. They called for Mr Adewole's sack last week, accusing him of bias and supporting medical doctors who are opposed to their demands. But the NMA on Thursday in a statement by its President, Francis Faduyile, described the call as an act of "rascality and disregard" for the office of the Health Minister. "We observe with dismay the maligning of the Honourable Ministers of Health and that of Labour and Productivity by JOHESU, calling them all sorts of uncomplimentary names. "This is an act of rascality and disregard. This call for the removal of the Minister of Health has finally exposed their motive for disrupting the progress recorded in the Ministry o...

The Ngeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) has commenced a nationwide training of healthcare workers on case management, laboratory diagnosis, prevention and control of Lassa fever. The Chief Executive Officer of the centre, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, made the announcement on Friday during a press briefing on Lassa fever in Abuja. Ihekweazu said that after the training, officers would be held accountable for the response and management of subsequent lassa fever outbreaks in their respective states. ”By the end of the training across the country, we hope to have build the capacity of frontline clinical, laboratory and public health workers on case management, laboratory diagnosis, prevention and control of Lassa fever. ”We are working to improve the knowledge and skills of surveillance officers and healthcare workers for effective response, we will be in the south-east Nigeria by May 22 and subsequently complete all zones in Nigeria,” he said. Acc...

The Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, Thursday night relaxed its four-week old strike in Lagos, Kano and Yobe states to accommodate emergency services. The union said the decision to relax the strike in the three states was to show appreciation to the state governments for meeting the clamour and terms of settlement demanded by the unions. JOHESU has attributed the Federal Government's 'slow pace' towards implementing its demands to the recent threat by doctors. The union also accused the Health Minister, Isaac Adeowle, of posing a 'body language' that militates against resolving the impasse. JOHESU, an association of health workers except doctors, has been on strike for a month. Patients are the worst hit. They are currently passing through hardship as nurses and midwives -- some of the most influential members of JOHESU -- have all downed tools. Nigerian doctors have threatened to withdraw their services across health institutions in t...

The National Assembly on Wednesday passed the 2018 Appropriations Bill after more than six months it was presented by President Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari presented a N8.612 trillion budget proposal for 2018 fiscal year before the joint session of the National Assembly on November 7, 2017. Buhari, who announced the 2018 budget as “Budget of Consolidation” said the projected expenditure is expected to consolidate on the achievements of previous budgets, and deliver on Nigeria’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) for 2018 – 2020. “For the first time, the National Assembly with consultation with the Executive implement the National Health Act which provides at least 1% of the amount in the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) should be devoted to health sevices. “The National Assembly with consultation of the Executive have set aside N57.15 billion for the implementation of this Health Act In his remark, Senator Lane Tejuoso, expressed delight over the considerati...

President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has stated that for Nigeria to provide Universal Healthcare for all its citizens, its current disjointed healthcare set-up must be urgently reviewed. Saraki, according to a statement by his Special Assistant on Print Media, Chuks Okocha, stated this when Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shuaib, briefed the leadership of the Senate on the Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Service providers (CHIPS) – a programme of the agency. “I was a governor in my state for eight years and I have practical experience. If we have these pockets of projects scattered across different programs in the healthcare sector we will not achieve what we are meant to achieve. “We must have something that is sustainable — something that we are sure will always be maintained, always have provisions for human resources and always have adequate funding. This must be a holistic ...

Nigerian government has expressed its readiness to prevent importation of Ebola in to the country. The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole made this known on Thursday 10th May, 2018 while briefing the press on the current status of Lassa Fever in Nigeria and the outbreak of Ebola in Democratic Republic of in Congo. He said Federal Government is fully prepared to stop any attempt to import Ebola to the Country. He said “Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is coordinating a national working group that is assessing and managing the risk to Nigeria. We are in close communication with our partners including the World Health Organization who are in Congo to monitor and respond to the situation.” “The Port Health services unit has been placed on red-alert and will heighten screening measures at port of entry, letters of alert have been sent to all states to enhance surveillance activities and advisory note for the general public” Adewole said. The Min...

About 7,000 people, mostly women and children, are adversely affected due to lead poison associated with mining activities in gold bearing zone of Nigeria. The states are Zamfara, Kebbi, Niger, Kaduna, FCT and Osun states. Six thousand are receiving medicine in these communities, which is sponsored by Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF). With this, Nigeria ranks worse known in history of lead poison cases in the world, considering the incidences that occurred in 2010 and 2015 in the country. Dr. Philip Aruna of MSF, who spoke with The Guardian in Abuja, said that initial outbreak was tackled with urgency, while children were not responding to medicine. Aruna, a Head of Mission in Nigeria, said more than 10 villages are seriously contaminated with lead, which results to dead of over 400 children in these communities. "Lead is a poisonous mineral, and cases of lead poison can be attributed to activities of artisanal miners, which means it cannot successfu...