The Nation Newspaper

Category: Health

  • Five risks of eating competitions

    Five risks of eating competitions

    Eating competitions are events where contestants compete to eat as much food as possible within a set time limit.

    While these competitions can be entertaining to watch, they come with serious risks that participants and organizers should be aware of.

    Here are 5 potential risks of eating competitions:

    Choking: Eating large quantities of food quickly can increase the risk of choking. Contestants may not have enough time to properly chew their food or may swallow too much at once, leading to a blockage in the throat.

    Gastrointestinal problems: Eating large amounts of food quickly can also cause gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. These symptoms can be particularly dangerous for people with pre-existing medical conditions.

    Dehydration: Participants in eating competitions often consume large amounts of food and drink in a short period of time. This can lead to dehydration, which can cause serious health problems such as kidney damage and heat stroke.

    Disordered eating: Eating competitions can encourage unhealthy attitudes towards food and eating. Participants may develop disordered eating habits as they try to prepare for the competition or as a result of the pressure to win.

    Overeating: Eating competitions can encourage people to consume much more food than they would normally eat. This can lead to overeating, which is associated with a range of health problems including heart disease and diabetes.

    While eating competitions may seem like harmless fun, they come with serious risks that should not be ignored.

    Participants and organizers should take steps to minimize these risks, such as setting clear rules and guidelines, providing medical support on-site, and encouraging contestants to eat in moderation.

    It is important to remember that food should be enjoyed in a healthy and responsible way, and that eating competitions are not a safe or sustainable way to do so. Good health is sufficient wealth.

  • University of Medicine, a cure for doctor exodus

    University of Medicine, a cure for doctor exodus

    Ever in the news, Nigerian doctors are again hurling brimstones at their provocators. This time, their provocator is law maker Ganiyu Abiodun Johnson, who represents Oshodi Isolo II Federal Constituency in the ninth House of Representatives. In this Lower House of the National Assembly which should wind up in no fewer than 60 days, Johnson has got a bill through its second of three readings which he hopes would help Nigeria to cut the wings of its doctors. He proposes that the law withhold from fresh doctors their certificates, and perhaps, licences, until they have served Nigeria for five years. Johnson believes this draconian law will reduce the Exodus abroad of Nigerian doctors for better pay and professional fufillment and solve the problem of a serious, growing doctor shortage in hospitals . Nigerian doctor groups have been taking him to the cleaners. So have Nigerian doctor groups abroad. Ironically, the government of the United Kingdom which has been luring Nigerian doctors over, making them the third largest doctor group in Britain, after India  and Pakistan, has suddenly arepentant and sympathetic to Nigeria. Britain says too many doctors have been taken out of Nigeria and it will henceforth stop further recruitments. Ironically, junior doctors and nurses in Britain have begun strikes for better pay. 

    Many Nigerians believe their  nation’s doctors are ungrateful to a country which heavily subsidised their education by fleeing abroad in search of greener pastures. The doctors say they would head for other countries if the British government slams the door against them. In a matter such as this, I am an impartial by-stander with an idea I picked from nature and believe may help Nigeria to produce more doctors it needs at home and a surplus for export.

    The doctor exodus question is a complex one but, nevertheless, a simple one to answer using the techniques of mother nature. Many Nigerians believe Nigerian doctors are an ungrateful lot. They believe the tax payer contributed a lot of money to subsidise their education. What if that subsidy, like that of petroleum products, is removed?  Thus, some tax payers believe the doctor is an ungrateful taker and not a giver. They say this is in the sense that the law of giving and taking upholds our existence, which doctors know about. Even the scriptures teach us that it is better for us to give than to take. On level ground, where belief in the power of money has not smothered whatever is left of noble human behaviour, doctors ought to be the natural and best teachers of THE LAW OF GIVING AND TAKING. This natural law emphasises healthy balance between giving and taking. Who would not be angry if he pays a bread seller for a N100 loaf of bread and the other person gives him a N50 loaf of bread?

    Doctors deals with the human body everyday, and should have understood “giving and taking” through their work. We breathe, don’t we? What is breathing? We take air from the atmosphere to live, and we give it back to the atmosphere when we are done with it. When a new born fails to breathe, don’t doctors force that baby to? When an adult cannot breathe,  don’t doctors conduct artificial respiration to kickstart taking and giving? We took our human bodies from the Earth and to the Earth shall we eventually give it. The human body offers us more lessons in taking and giving.

    The heart is a vital organ which rests only in death. It needs oxygen to drive blood round the body for the health and existence of other organs. It also needs several nutrients to be alive. But it cannot get these things on its own. It takes oxygen from the lungs and nutrients from the digestive system. The rib cage of the skeletal system protects it from harm.

    Since I have been privileged to consciously observe giving and taking in nature, I have never ceased to marvel about how the human body continually reminds us of this natural phenomenon. When we eat or drink water, is that not taking something from the soil? Why do we not fail to give back to the soil what we took from it? Who likes to be constipated or become unable to void urine? Our foreparents said “Givers never lack” and that “the hand of the giver is ever on top of the receiver’s”. The Lord Jesus capped it:” it is better to give than to receive”.

    When a war breaks out between or among nations, and human well-being is turned upside down, isn’t the cause covetousness, an attempt to take more than the due which rebounds in conflict? We can see this easily in the Russian-Ukraine war. Many critics of Russia are probably no students of modern European history. Western nations are too greedy. For centuries, they have tried to subdue Russia. Britain lost more than one million soldiers to cholera and dysentery in the Crimean war (5th October 1853). The Western allies wanted Russia to pattern its government after their own. Russia decided to be not  their caricature. Two times, Napoleon Bonaparte of France made a go for Russia but failed. Europeans  fought the 100 years war for land and markets which ended  in the 1648 treaty of Westphalia. But we saw them in 1884 tidying up their scramble for Africa with the treaty of Vienna only to plunge mankind into world war I (1914-18) and world war II (1939-45). They have not left Asia in peace since then. Russia covered itself with the Soviet republics in the world war II but released them decades ago. The west is again on its borders, seeking to implant military bases in a willing Ukraine. Now, it is Ukraine, not the Western nations, that is being destroyed. After the destruction, Ukraine will award fabulous reconstruction contracts to Euro-American companies. Western nations are selling arms to a stupid Ukraine and smiling, but not from one corner of the mouth to another as the economy of Europe and America,including that of unfortunate Canada, are being damaged with ripple effects on African economies. The world bank and the International monetary Fund (IMF) their agents, are pushing for petroleum subsidy in Nigeria to be axed and dangling an 800 USD loan for palliatives when they know that, given the nation’s profligacy and corruption, the money is unlikely to trickle down. To worsen matters, they want subsidy to go about three days after the swearing in of a new administration. I wonder if they care that a crisis may explode and the nation may be destabilised. All they can seem to care about is to recover humongous loans which are the outcomes of taking, taking, and taking…and not really giving.

    Taking, taking, taking and not really giving is how many Nigerians see Nigerian doctors. I had symptoms of COVID 19 a few years ago. I reported my experiences in www.olufemikusa.com under the heading CORONA VIRUS: LOOK ALIKE SYMPTOMS JOIN THE LEXICON. Doctors made too much noise about it as if they are not the experts in this area. They asked for humongous salaries and allowances which their nation could not afford. I wonder if they realise what pilots go through in flight. I felt so sorry for them some decades ago when I had to sit beside an OKADA AIR pilot on an Abuja Lagos flight.

    On that flight, I prayed none of my children would be a pilot.

    Even now, am I not secretly happy none of my children is a journalist? For about 25 years, I ran an 11am to 3am work schedule on peanut pay but professionally fufilled that I was giving of my being to my nation as John Fitzegerald Kennedy once challenged Americans. The newspapers are too poor to pay the salaries journalists deserve. How many doctors are detained in the course of their work? I was detained by the Buhari-Idiagbon military government simply because The Guardian newspaper on which I was then assistant editor published a report which was true but embarrassed them. Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor went to jail for one year each because of that report. Tunde Thompson knew nothing about it but Buhari and Idi agbon said he did. The three of us protected a cub reporter, NENA UCHE, purveyor of that report, because she may be jailed if we did not, and her uncle in-law, a prominent officer in the government, may be summarily executed. How many doctors did the tyrannical Gen Sanni Abacha harass or kill? He shut down newspapers and sought to “waste” their editors. Fleeing from his security agents, I once jumped to safety from a storey building at 48. I was fighting as a journalist to restore sanity in my country. My life was endangered, like a soldier’s. I disguised as a patient in a hospital while my family was taken to safety by Dr. Ayo Ojo, my school father. I didn’t harass my employers for more pay. I was feeling professionally fufilled. But if I broke some bones during that jump, the doctor will stand over me like the “Merchant of Venice”. The newspapers, like Nigeria, are too poor to pay the journalist his real worth. How many literate Nigerians read newspapers? How many doctors do? The economy is too weak to sustain many Nigerian professionals on Euro-American salaries they always complain their poor nation isn’t paying. To soar above the clouds, Nigerian hospitals charge the moon to treat any disease condition. One of the readers of this column paid N10 million to remove damaged cartilage in her knees  and replace it with a plastic device. Pulling a painful tooth may cost N10,000. Surgery to repair testicular hernia may cost N300,000. Uterine fibroid surgery, prostate gland and ceasarian surgeries are gold mines. Many patients in hospital for serious respiratory problems die because they cannot afford the bills of Intensive Care Units (ICU).

     I doubt if it cost me more than N50,000 at home to cure my Covid symptoms over three weeks, whereas I may have paid quadruples of that in hospital…and probably died, besides. At that time, doctors worldwide were experimenting with hydrochloroquine which American president Donald Trump claimed healed him to promote the American company which was producing it. Many deaths were prevented globally by an Indian medical consultant who warned that Hydrochloroquine was inhibiting Co Q 10 metabolism in the heart and causing deadly heart attacks among Indian doctors who took it as a prophylactic drug. Thankfully, many Nigerians resorted to natural medicines and our people did not “die like flies” as Trump predicted. Many malaria patients avoid doctors because a treatment may cost anything near N25,000. In contrast, a handful of chanka piedra picked in the garden may help.

    Do not get me wrong. I do not despise doctors. They render valuable services, especially in emergencies, in chronic conditions, are overworked in terms of the number of patients they see everyday and need modern equipment to simplify tasks and make their work less brain tasking. Their tendency to believe theirs is the most important profession on earth simply because they help to save lives is what I detest. I cannot also understand why a doctor a patient sees as next to his Creator and expects him to save his life would abandon a dying man because he cannot foot his hospital bill. Is everything now bread and butter existence, I often wonder. Do such doctors know that our jobs are, no matter which, gifts or opportunities for us to “activate” the slumbering love kernel within us, so that, when alight, it would unite with the universal love, a spark from out of whom we are, and a condition alone which admits us back home in Paradise, after all is said and done on earth.

    UNIMED  IDEA

    Doctor exodus is now a reality. Never mind the crocodile tears of the United kingdom  that Nigerian hospitals were now “bleeding” so seriously that his Royal Majesty’s Government would no  longer (may be for some time) poach our doctors. Nigerian doctors are the third largest stock of foreign doctors in the U.K., after those of India and Pakistan. They are better paid over there and work in a better hospital environment. The grass may be greener still if the government gives way to a demand by striking  junior doctors who have declared their €14 an hour salary as unfair wage and demanded a 35% rise that may see some doctors earning €20,000. British doctors exploit the army of foreign doctors  to work fewer hours and reject over time work. Nigerian and other foreign doctors accept overtime work on 40 percent taxation.

    I was thinking of how Nigeria can solve its doctor exodus problem, and the idea of a grand university of medicine came to me. Serious problems deserve serious attacks and solution. My idea is based on some natural phenomena which worked for me as Editor of THE GUARDIAN newspaper.

    One idea is that motion is a law of nature and we cannot stop it. So, doctors will always emigrate.

    The second idea is that all the cells of our bodies are regularly discarded and replaced. Many medical researchers believe the average adult human body comprises about 100 trillion cells. Goggle says 30 billion cells are replaced everyday. This is about one per cent of all our cells, it says, adding that a whole human body may be replaced in 100 days. Thus, the body in which we celebrated 2022 new year’s day may have been changed three times over by the time we celebrate 2023 new year’s day. Proceeding from this, we should expect doctor exodus and constantly replace them.

    At The Guardian newspaper of the 1980s, we realised that we were the star newspaper and our staff would be poached by newspapers which aspired to catch up with us. We did not believe in poaching from other newspapers. So, we ran a programme of testing about 25 university graduates over one month for their suitability for editorial work. Sometimes, we found only three and kept them on a “waiting list”. There were times as many as 45 staff quit. We had little problem replacing them. We called in the “reserves” and trained them over four months without noticeable quality loss.

    How can this principle solve the problem of doctor exodus?

    I propose a UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE devoted exclusively to the teaching of medicine and allied subjects.

     On virgin land, the government should set up a university of medicine to rapidly train orthodox and natural medicine doctors. In order to not create shocks in existing medical structures, it will be inevitable to source teaching staff abroad for both categories of medicine. Good enough, Nigeria is a signatory to the United Nations and African Union’s treaties that participating nations upgrade all paraphernalia of their traditional medicines to the level of orthodox medicine by year 2000. Nigeria has dragged its feet on this agreement. Yet, about 70% of the citizens rely on natural medicines for health care and sick care.  If COVID 19 was easily demolished by Nigeria, natural medicines played a pivotal role in the conquest.

    To fund  the  proposed UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE, we can fight corruption, especially crude oil theft, harder and better and plough some of the savings into this important project.

    STUDENTS

    This may number about 6000, in the first year, comprising 3,000 orthodox medicine students, 1,500 para medicals and 1,500 in the natural medicines.

    SCHOOL FEES

    The University of Medicine should not be fee paying to encourage studentship.

     STUDENT QUALIFICATION

    It should be open only to university graduates in the physical sciences who wish to make career detours to medicine. Before they enrolled for their various undergraduate degrees, many of them wished to study medicine but were turned away either because their scores were below the set points or school facilities were already overstretched. The University of Medicine is a new opportunity for them to attain their ambition. Many of them have had no fufilling job for about 10 years after graduation, if they have had any job at all. They will come from disciplines such as chemistry, biology, physics, nursing, pharmacy, food science, bothany, zoology, forestry, and food technology, agriculture, computer sciences etc. Being mature students who had spent four years on different undergraduate programmes, they should have no difficulty dusting up M.B, B.S or – Bachelor of naturopathy in three and a half or four years. Their education being totally free, they may sign contracts to work in Nigeria for about three years before going abroad, if they wish to. This university will inject no fewer than 2000 orthodox medicine doctors into Nigeria every year,making allowance for failures or drop outs. That is about 70 youth corps member doctors for each of the 36 states every year.Every nation solves difficult problems with special projects. Malaysia solved its oil palm problems with a radical approach to palm oil farming and is today the world’s leading producer. In my view, the UNIVERSITY of MEDICINE, as outlined and as may be modified, is a way to solve the Nigerian doctor exodus challenges to which representative Ganiyu Abiodun Johnson has invited our attention with draconian bill in the National Assembly.

  • A day in the camp of ‘miracle’ healthcare givers

    A day in the camp of ‘miracle’ healthcare givers

    Imagine holding a sensor in your palm while it analyses your full body health  through electromagnetic wave signals in two minutes.

      This device is called Quantum Resonance Magnetic Analyser (QRMA), a device ‘medical scientists’ use to influence unsuspecting public to buy herbal medications or supplements that often come with a promise to cure the illnesses discovered by the QRMA.

     This machine fascinated me when a neighbour, Tony’s wife, as I call her, told me how she was diagnosed with many illnesses by just gripping a kit-like machine with her palm. She also showed me some herbal medications she bought that could cure the illnesses found in her body.

      On Tuesday, I set out to find out at Oshodi, Lagos home to a busy transport interchange and one of the biggest markets in Lagos, to experience this wonderful device. After walking for about 10 minutes under the scorching sun in the ever-busy Oshodi market, I found one of the “medical scientists”.

     A large banner with the bold inscription “free medical test” invited passers-by to a canopy in front of the Commando Mother Care shop at Bolade Bus Stop, Oshodi. I observed for some minutes but the reporter in me asked to be discreet about my mission if I really wanted to get to the root of what’s going on. To achieve my mission, I posed as an innocent passer-by ready to take up the opportunity to patronise them. The noise from a small generator was buzzing and fuming away near where I sat, waiting for my turn. Opposite me, a woman in her mid-60s was being attended to by a light-in-complexion lady wearing a sky blue gown; while on my left, a young man bearing Feranmi, as I would later find out, was interpreting a test result to the woman before me.

    How the ‘medical experts’ operate

    Soon, it was my turn and the lady beckoned me to come over. Before we started, she said: “You will pay N200 for the maintenance fee after the test.’’ I agreed and reached out to my handbag for the money. She asked me to remove my wristwatch and stop pressing my phone before I could place my palm grip on the sensor handle. I complied fully. And in less than three minutes, about 48 comprehensive health analyses of my body organs were ready. The diagnoses include liver function, gynaecology, blood lipids, gastrointestinal function, and eyes, among others. My blood pressure was also checked. She wrote out the result on a branded slip bearing Feeds Circle Healthcare Service, a subsidiary of Feeds Circle Nigeria Limited at Shop 38, Adedeji Bloc, Ile-Epo, Oke-Odo Market, Abule-Egba, Lagos.

    On the result sheet, there were one plus, double plus or triple plus on various segments. I waited for Feranmi to finish attending to the elderly woman before me. Just then, a plump-looking woman who looked older than me came and was asked by the lady to come over.

    Feranmi, during the interpretation of my result, said I have bacterial infections in my pelvic. Unknown to him, I had carried out a swap culture test at MeCure Diagnostic Centre at Oshodi, Lagos some days  earlier and my result was emailed to me. I told him that was not true.

    Defending his claim, Feranmi said the QRMA detects hidden diseases that medical tests carried out in a certified laboratory would not find. According to him, the infection may have not surfaced at the time I ran my test. I kept mum and we proceeded to another results segment where he also said he saw an ulcer.

    He asked if I usually have stomach upset. “I do have menstrual cramps sometimes, but I don’t have an ulcer,” I replied. He said judging from the result, I might not be experiencing the symptoms because it is still at the early stage. He added that the machine detects illness in the body as early as possible and that I would have to take care of it with some medications that he would prescribe. He went on to interpret other segments, including circulation, pains and body organs.

    At the end of his interpretation, he recommended five medications that I would take to be well. “Where can I buy all these medications,” I asked. Feranmi said they have them and that it would cost me N24,000. I told him that I would love to buy the medications, but that I was not ready yet. He later gave me his contact. I promised that I would return to purchase the medicines whenever I was ready.

    When I left, I waited for the last woman that came in after me to see her results. At first, the plump woman was skeptical to show me her result, but I told her that I wanted to make sure that they didn’t make a mistake in a particular segment of her result as they did mine. To my surprise, her results were the same as mine in the test segments. I told her that her results were okay while I pretended to go back to them for a correction.

     Another user of QRMA, Mr Anya, said after he was diagnosed as having all manner of illnesses, he bought many of their herbal supplements, but the main illness that was disturbing him didn’t go away. “After taking all the herbal medication, I still didn’t get better from the illness that I had then,” I said.

    Another user, Mr Sam Anomka, said the machine detected that he was overweight and had issues with his digestive system. “I believed that I was overweight because of the way I used to breathe. They sold some herbal supplements which I used to clean my system and I stopped eating late at night,” he added.

    Anomka also added that he didn’t bother to carry out another test at a certified laboratory clinic because, according to him, he believed the test results to some extent. Meanwhile, since this device was being used to give diagnosis treatment, I decided to do a little research on this device.

    How the QRMA device works

    A selling website described QRMA as a high-tech innovation equipment that collects weak magnetic fields of human cells and then determines the health of a person. It also said that the machine combines the best of medicine – bioinformatics, electrical engineering and other sciences. It works by placing the sensor in user’s palm while the kit-like machine that is connected to a computer reads and presents the findings to the individual. It takes only two minutes to produce the results.

    The machine comes in two forms – the type that looks like a suitcase with a sensor area and the  other that looks like a small box with a probe (like the one I saw at Oshodi).

    The analyser comes with a computer programme, which is loaded onto a regular laptop. It is this computer programme that converts the weak magnetic field into health figures. It was invented in China by a team of medical and computer experts. It was developed based on the study of 100 million clinical cases over many years. To get a health assessment using the device, one must hold the probe firmly, or put the palm on the sensing area, depending on which quantum analyser one uses.

    More findings on the device

    Surprisingly, trying to find a scientific paper that supports the accuracy of tests carried out by QRMA is like looking for a needle in a haystack. While there are numerous scholarly papers to prove the authenticity of test results done via regular diagnostic devices used in accredited medical facilities, I did not find one to support the authority of this device.

    However, the QRMA device has a certification, which allows its sales in the European market. The certification does not show evidence of third-party testing; it’s not a mark from certified European test bodies and it is not a quality assurance declaration. Checks on the Jumia website show that one can purchase a QRMA machine for as low as N53,000 and N98, 000.

     Digging further, I also didn’t find any scientific explanation of how waves released into the body translate into magnetic frequency emissions. An article by Neuroskeptic, which was published in the January 31, 2015 edition of Discover Magazine, concluded that the diagnosis of the machine could not be trusted. In most of the government and private hospitals, clinics and laboratories I checked around Lagos, there was no use of QRMA to diagnose diseases.

    Experiments carried out on the device

    A Danish YouTuber named Jørgen Jacobsen experimented on this device to authenticate claims made by its manufacturers. As demonstrated in the video, Jacobsen wrapped a damp cloth around the sensor seemingly to fool the device into thinking that someone was holding the probe and yet, the machine-generated a “health report.”

    According to the QRMA machine, the cloth had various minor ailments, including “moderately abnormal” cardiovascular health.

    In his conclusion, Jacobsen said: “The results must simply come from the data we put in; age, gender, height, weight. From that, the software can make many things seem like a hit to believers. That animation running when there is contact may look fancy, may look impressive, but I am quite sure that it is just the same animation over and over.”

    Similarly, Alexander Todorov’s in his five-year-old experiment dismantled the machine to reveal a small motherboard attached to the screen of the device and a lot of space. Some comments bashed the findings of these experiments and praised the efficacy of the QRMA machine.

    Expert position on the use of the machine

    Infectious diseases expert/molecular biologist, Dr. Cashmir Ifeanyi, said QRMA is not an empirical methodology for evaluating the state of health of an individual, and neither is it a substitute for a proper medical evaluation.

    He said: “QRMA is not part of or used in orthodox diagnosis but limited to practitioners of alternative medicine, practitioners of homoeopaths and related areas of health care provision.”

    Describing the diagnostic ‘wonder machine,’ Ifeanyi said QRMA is based on geophysical and electromagnetic theory. “The producers of QRMA assume that in health and disease, your body generates a kind of energy, which they can harness using electromagnetic wave and depending on that wave they think that they have been able to develop bioinformatics platform to analyse this electromagnetic wave and therefore correlate them with health and disease. It falls short of normal scientific theory and disease postulate as set out by Koch’s postulate for the disease condition. It is an operating tool for those in alternative medical practice, those who use herbal supplements, homoeopathy products, and allopathic products to care for people.’’

    He added that its use in Nigeria is not regulated to protect the patronising the public. “Individuals acquire them and, most often, individuals that use them are not healthcare professionals by training, certification and licence.

    “Unfortunately, its use in Nigeria is not regulated. It is expected that since it falls within the alternative medical practice, there should be a framework for the regulation of its practices so that the activities can be rightly superintended to protect the condescending members of the public and that hasn’t happened.

    “I will give a caveat that those who patronise them should beware because many have been maimed afterwards. There is an unprecedented increase in renal diseases and liver-related cancer diseases in Nigeria, all this is because we have an unregulated space where all and sundry can bring stuff and make the bogus claim. It is not evaluated and people go for them in the name that they want organic products.

    “More often than not, these have their challenges; they orchestrate other conditions that may, ultimately, lead to depletion and death. Alternative medicine in Nigeria is allowed, but it is poorly regulated. 

    “A medical laboratory scientist is a qualified person because of medical education and he/she is akin to a clinician, not a physician. So, a situation where we refuse to respect professional charter and core competencies is partly why the medical laboratory space in Nigeria has become a comers’affair. If you need testing, approach medical laboratories or diagnostic centres that are operated by a qualified and licensed medical laboratory scientist. Patronise facilities that are registered and under the purview of the medical laboratory science council of Nigeria. Laboratories should conform to the standard as is the case in countries like the United Arab Emirate (UAE), Canada, United States and United Kingdom.”

  • Three main triggers of insomnia

    Three main triggers of insomnia

    Insomnia has become the most common sleep disorder among individuals and caused more harm than good in the society. Insomnia is simply the inability to sleep. 

    Here are three major insomnia triggers: 

    • Work schedule

    Individuals move from one schedule to another just to make ends meet and this has resulted to nothing but a scattered sleep pattern. People move from morning shift to night shift without considering the sleeping order.

    Read Also: Insomnia: Lessons from Michael Jackson’s life

    • Depression 

    Depression can be caused be anything and everything but how well does the depression dwell on you as an individual. The effect results to either loss of appetite, sickness and most especially insomnia because an unhappy mind will never find sleep. 

    • Sleeping patterns

    Every individual has a sleeping pattern that works for them each day. Once it is distorted by anything it leads to insomnia. It is advised to have a sleeping pattern which entails a bedtime, activities before bed time and a good resting space. 

    Insomnia doesn’t ruin just sleep but it drains your energy and also affects your mood, health and everything that entails your life. Sound sleep actives sound mind 

  • Hacey, Access Corporation lift expectant mothers with kits

    Hacey, Access Corporation lift expectant mothers with kits

    A Non-Governmental Organisation, HACEY has collaborated with Access Corporation to initiate Project Agbebi, a safe motherhood program designed to reduce pregnancy-related complications and deaths.

    HACEY noted that with about a month of implementation in Osun, Oyo, and Ogun states, the project aims to provide safe and essential birthing kits, educate and equip pregnant women, and create communal support systems for pregnant women, all in a bid to improve maternal health outcomes in these states.

    The team donated birthing kits to pregnant women across Primary Health Facilities in the three states as part of this project.

    It explained providing the kits is a significant step forward that will improve safe deliveries and potentially reduce complications during childbirth, which, in turn, will positively affect maternal and neonatal outcomes.

    Executive Director of HACEY, Rhoda Robinson, emphasised the importance of addressing the underlying factors contributing to poor maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

    Robinson stated the need for access to quality healthcare services and health education and awareness for pregnant women and communities.

    Head of Sustainability at Access Corporation, Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan echoed this sentiment, emphasising the need to promote skilled birth attendance during childbirth, encouraging pregnant women to seek antenatal care, and strengthening the healthcare system itself.

    According to the team, the goal is to improve the health-seeking behaviours of pregnant women and encourage timely utilisation of healthcare services while empowering women to make informed health and financial decisions.

    It added the comprehensive approach requires the collaboration of stakeholders to make significant progress in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality rates in Nigeria.

    “It is essential to take a comprehensive approach that addresses the underlying factors contributing to high maternal and neonatal mortality rates in Nigeria.

    “This requires collaboration among policymakers, healthcare providers, communities, and other stakeholders to implement evidence-based interventions that improve access to quality healthcare, health education, antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, health system strengthening, community engagement, and addressing social determinants of health.

    “Only through a multi-faceted and sustained approach can we make significant progress toward reducing maternal and neonatal mortality rates in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries,” the team explained.

  • Five set of people who shouldn’t take alcohol

    Five set of people who shouldn’t take alcohol

    By Amodu Nafisatu

    Alcohol consumption has increased in recent decades. Alcohol has become a normal phenomenon and it ranges across various age groups.

    Here are five groups of people who shouldn’t take alcohol:

    · Pregnant women

    The growth and central nervous system problems such as behavioral problems can occur from alcohol use at any point during pregnancy. Hence, the emphasis on the avoidance of alcohol during pregnancy.

    · Younger than age 21

    Research shows that the suitable age for alcohol consumption is age 18, but it should also be known that there is higher chance of misuse of substance among youths which leads to depression, anxiety, death and social absence.

    · Drivers

    Alcohol has a fast reaction on individuals. It causes changes in the parts of the brain that controls motor skills most especially, it relaxes the muscles that controls the eyes which is why it is extremely risky to drive after overdrinking.

    · Medical conditions

    Alcohol and drugs work in different ways entirely. It is always advisable to never mix drugs with alcohol because of the danger involved. The effects affect individuals differently; internal bleeding, fainting, nausea, drowsiness etc

    · Alcohol survivors

    Alcohol addiction is one of the hardest things to overcome. The ability to overcome comes with a lot of dedication so individuals who have successfully overcome alcohol addictions shouldn’t be seen in the alcohol space anymore.

    Alcohol is a very dangerous substance that should be taken with so much caution. Health is wealth and wealth can be gotten through good health.

  • Centre gets certification for lab equipment calibration

    Centre gets certification for lab equipment calibration

    The Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) has got an international certification, in furtherance of its mandate to institutionalize and sustain standardization in the quality of medical laboratory equipment.

    The certification, which was issued by the Kenya Accreditation Services (KENAS), will ensure that the equipment calibrated by the National Laboratory Equipment Calibration Centre (NaLECC), managed by the MLSCN, are accepted all over the world.

    The Minister of State for Health, Barr. Joseph Ekumankama, while noting that the end result of the global accreditation is to avail more citizens quality diagnosis and treatment, thanked the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) for their support in making it a reality.

    Speaking during the unveiling and presentation of the NaLECC’s certificate of accreditation in Abuja, Hon. Ekumankama said: “Today, we can say, without any fear of contradiction, that this Centre is the first of its kind in West Africa. More so, despite its young age, the centre has now joined the prestigious league of accredited facilities in the country.

    “Let me also encourage all Federal Medical Centres and Teaching Hospitals in the country to take advantage of this world-class facility to ensure that their equipment is calibrated for quality assurance and optimum performance. Doing so will help them to achieve the desired outcome for the patients.”

    The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the MLSCN, Dr. Tosan Erhabor, in his remarks, said: “Government hospitals and healthcare facilities do not need any criteria, as long as they have a diagnostic laboratory where samples of patients are being tested; those equipment are expected to be calibrated to be sure of what the laboratory is giving out.

    “Going forward, having attained this feat of International accreditation for the Quality Tripods of MLSCN, we sincerely appeal to the Federal Ministry of Health to make a policy statement requesting all Federal Teaching Hospitals, Federal Medical Centres and Specialist Hospitals to avail themselves of the services existing at these facilities. “

  • ‘When menstrual pain affects your chores, consult your doctor’

    ‘When menstrual pain affects your chores, consult your doctor’

    The co-founder, African Endometriosis Awareness, Dr Ajayi Abayomi, has advised women who are experiencing pain during sex and regular menstruation to consult medical personnel for endometriosis diagnosis, treatment and management.

     Abayomi said this at a session to mark the Annual Endometriosis Awareness Campaign organised by Endometriosis Support Group Nigeria in Lagos.

     The event brought together medical personnel, civil society groups, and women living with endometriosis.

     According to him, one out 10 women and girls of reproductive age all over the world have endometriosis and some of the major symptoms of the ailment is that they experience pain during sex and their lives get hurt during their menses because of the pain that comes with it.

    He said: “Pain during or after sexual intercourse is a common symptom associated with endometriosis – a disorder that affects women in their reproductive years. Some women experience unbearable pains during any form of intercourse, but others experience it only with deep penetration. They feel pain only at certain times of the month, such as around the time of the period, while others feel it throughout the month. These are the challenges women with endometriosis face.

     “Severe abdominal pain and cramping can force most women to make changes in everyday life. As a woman with endometriosis, you need to explain to your partner the nature of your pain, and how it affects you, physically and emotionally.”

     Ajayi, who is the Medical Director of Nordica Fertility Centre, explained that endometriosis is a medical condition where the tissue that usually lines the womb also grows in other parts of the body.

    He lamented that there had been a lot of misconception and misdiagnoses, which lead to delays in treatment, sometimes for several years, adding that it is treatable and preventable.

    “Some have been accused of witchcraft because they are bleeding from their navel and it is just endometriosis. Some endometriosis patients cough out blood when they are menstruating because the deposits are in the chest and that looks like tuberculosis to many doctors. It is not unusual to see patients who have been placed on anti-TB drugs and all they have is endometriosis. Infertility is also an issue for them. This is what attracted me because I am a fertility doctor.

     “You also need to talk about your need to love and be loved and your fear of intercourse and fear of intimacy that may lead to intercourse. Talk about your guilt about not being able to have intercourse and your fear about unwillingness to have sexual intercourse which might be interpreted as a sign of rejection.”

     Stressing on the need for awareness creation, the clinical gynecologist noted that appropriate and prompt diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis would help reduce the negative impact on women’s health.

    Ajayi calls for awareness on the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis which had been identified as a significant factor in the treatment of female infertility. “The best way to diagnose endometriosis is by laparoscopy – an operation performed under general anaesthetic, where a small instrument called a laparoscope (a tube-like telescope with light in it), is inserted into the abdomen through a cut in the belly button. The goals of endometriosis treatment may include pain relief or enhancement of fertility,” he said.

      Ajayi said health workers have to be aware of the condition and its existence, stressing that doctors can only think of diagnosing a condition if they know of its existence and possibility. He said, “One of the issues health experts have is that endometriosis is a condition that presents in more ways that could suggest other conditions.”

  • Nigeria not achieving 15% Abuja Declaration on healthcare improvement, says WHO

    Nigeria not achieving 15% Abuja Declaration on healthcare improvement, says WHO

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said Nigeria is still far from meeting the 2001 15 per cent Abuja Declaration on improving the health sector.

      Dr Walter Mulombo, WHO Country Representative to Nigeria, said this in Abuja in a meeting with reporters.

     In April 2001, heads of state of African Union countries met and pledged to set a target of allocating at least 15 per cent of their yearly budget to improve the health sector, but Nigeria, which hosted the historic gathering, has often breached the pledge.

     “In Nigeria where a proposed target was set that 15 per cent of total government budget should go to health, until today we are still far from achieving the target,’’ he said.

     Mulombo advocated more funding of the health sector to meet the target, saying the sector was not adequately funded, compared to areas such as defence, and army among others.

    According to him, health is a human right and not a luxury or consumable, the more politically wise decisions the country makes will benefit this nation.

    “We need to start talking about human rights violations because it is not acceptable for any child to miss a vaccine,’’ he said.

    He added that some areas where the organisation accessed showed that 80 per cent of the money went into tertiary hospitals.

    According to him, the primary healthcare is where 80 per cent of the population in the communities get their first exposure to healthcare services.

    “The spending itself is distorted. That is the biggest challenge that has generated everything that we have seen. Lack of adequate budget to prepare responses to pandemic for instance, we have to struggle in many places,’’ he said.

     The main challenge, he stressed, is the way health is featured as a political choice and unfortunately many governments did not live by standard. “Many countries continue to consider health as luxury or something that is costing the government money whereas it should have been takeb like an enabling factor for economic and socio-economic development,’’ Mulombo said.

    He said it was worrisome the way countries were dealing with social determinants of health, factors like socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, and social support networks and access to healthcare.

    Addressing social determinants of health, he suggested, is important for improving health and reducing longstanding disparities in health and healthcare.

    Mulombo advocated more facilities with dialysis machines and more expensive equipment to combat the non-communicable diseases as such was part of the organisation’s challenges.

    He said the organisation also had the challenges of demographic transition because the facilities that were used during the colonial period were still the same in Africa, although It may be possible that Nigeria had same situation.”

     “The country is not expending in the space of demographic transition and the way the population is increasing, Nigeria is projected to have more than 400 million population by 2040, 2050,’’ he said.

  • Nigeria ranks high in assisted reproduction worldwide

    Nigeria ranks high in assisted reproduction worldwide

    Assisted reproduction in Nigeria is one of the best in the world as investment in skill sets, ethics and new technology has remained key for the sector in Nigeria, the Medical Director, Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr Abayomi Ajayi, has said.

      Ajayi said this at a press conference on the celebration of the 20th anniverary of Nordica Fertility Centre, saying the centre has birthed over 5,000 babies through In vitro fertilisation (IVF) since inception.

     He said there is no doubt that ther is high regard for assisted reproduction.

      “We tend to underrate ourselves. I have tried to go round the West, East and some part of northern parts of Africa. When it comes to assisted reproduction, Nigeria rates high in any standard in the world,” he said.

    He noted that the achievement attained over the years has assisted fertility-challenged couples from all walks of life and all geographical locations within and outside the shores of Nigeria, resulting in the birth of thousands of babies and still counting.

    He said: “We are very lucky with people who believe in what we are doing. It is not about the financial gain but our commitment to service, good ethic and patients overall interest. For me, this journey which started as the dream of a man who felt that fertility-challenged Nigerian couples needed to avail themselves of the latest technology in the fertility management space at the time. There is a huge demand for IVF in Africa and Nigeria in particular as many people seek assistance at the fertility clinic due to childlessness and threats in their marriages.”

    The medical expert added: “There are lots of emotions that people put into the treatment of fertility because of the premium placed on child-bearing. We have partnered with several organisations to give access to free IVF treatments to deserving Nigerian couples. Some of these organisations include the Fertility Treatment Support Foundation (FTSF ), Fertility Awareness Advocate Initiative (FAAI), Access Bank, Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation and the Ali Baba January 1st Concert to mention a few. This year, we want to do more in this area. We are currently exploring partnerships which will assist us give more free treatments to more couples.”

    On the impact of learning and a technology-driven society, Ajayi said: “We have built a knowledge-based organisation where continuous learning is the key to our success story. It has not just been about running a successful business. It has been about touching lives and creating an impact in our operating environment.

    “The pioneering efforts of a few of us then have led to the evolution of a world class practice in Nigeria comparable to any leading fertility centre in developed cities of the world. We are proud to say that our thrust to bring the latest technology, techniques and skills to bear on the fertility management landscape in Nigeria has seen us chart a course for innovative solutions to the benefit of our esteemed clients over the past 20 years.”