By Adekunle Yusuf

High blood pressure or hypertension is a serious condition that can lead to life-threatening problems like heart attack and stroke, especially if left unmanaged or untreated overtime. But diet and lifestyle modifications are part of treatment regimens that can be used to manage or control hypertension. This was the position of medical experts during a webinar to commemorate the World Hypertension Day (WHD).

As part of activities to mark this year’s World Hypertension Day, Neimeth International Pharmaceutical Plc has championed an awareness aimed to highlight the importance of using lifestyle modifications and drugs in managing hypertension so as to prevent cardiovascular diseases and untimely death.

The campaign brought together over 90 participants in a webinar to commemorate the WHD. The webinar, which held on May 17, focused on new guidelines in the management of hypertension.

The theme of the World Hypertension Day is, “Arresting hypertension, The silent killer.” High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is a condition in which the force of the blood against the artery walls is too high. Usually hypertension is defined as blood pressure above 140/90, and is considered severe if the pressure is above 180/120. More than one billion people around the world live with hypertension, which is a major cause of cardiovascular disease and premature death worldwide.

In his presentation, “Effective hypertension management – Current trends,” Isezuo, a professor of medicine, who is also a consultant physician/cardiologist at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto, said the development of high blood pressure in blacks was multifactorial. Hypertension development involves interactions between obesity, salt sensitivity, among other causes, he said.

The understanding of how these factors influence blood pressure will guide the development of treatment protocols and future therapy, he added, stressing that low salt dietary approach to stop hypertension plus diuretic and calcium channel blockers are effective treatment in the management of hypertension.

In his presentation, “Are diuretics still relevant in managing hypertension,” Charles Ekokotu, Product Manager of Neimeth International Pharmaceutical, said using medications to control hypertension could similarly reduce stroke risk. According to him, anti-hypertensive medications, including Amlover, Mini Plus, Norduet and Numoretic, are some of the medications that could help in the control of hypertension.

In his presentation, “Isolated systolic hypertension refractory hypertension and HBP Management Guidelines: The role of calcium channel blockers in achieving BP goals,” Dr. Kayode Adesola, said it is important for people to pay more attention to their health.

Adesola, an ambassador of Neimeth in Managing the Fight Against Hypertension in the last three years, said a lot of lifestyle modification should be promoted, including the reduction of alcohol intake, using non-pharmacological interventions such as exercise and the consumption healthy diet and stress management, in efforts to control hypertension. BP-lowering medications should be recommended for BP that is 140/90, he insisted.

“A more continuous monitoring of BP is necessary, using the right measurement to ensure diagnosis. It gives the advantage to know when one has sustained an elevated BP,” he said.

The Neimeth ambassador said further that pharmacological intervention is also necessary to control HBP. While urging both health workers and non-health workers to be sensitive to blood pressure measurement, Adesola noted that most people do not access health facilities where the tracking of BP can be done. To remain safe, he called for lifestyle changes.

“Following up on patients is also key. Patients with high BP should be placed on BP control drugs and monitored closely,” he added.

By Femi Kusa

Like many doctors, some nurses hardly look beyond the boundaries of hospital orthodox medicine when they are sick, or to protect themselves against “hospital acquired infections” to which they are exposed everyday at work. Some of them choose nursing as a career from want of something else to do for a living, not from the passion for healing which would open their minds to all sources of healing and not limit them to pharmaceutical drugs. But there are some who are open and who, either before their retirement or after, have added Alternative Medicines to their calling. So, when I had the opportunity to speak to some nurses on May 12, World Nursing Day, I couldn’t think of a subject better than alternative to hospital medicine for nurses because their profession exposes them to disease dangers every day, and they cannot gulp pharmaceutical drugs everyday of their lives. It was also an opportunity for me to ask them and other people about Florence Nightingale, the English woman who died in 1910, whose birthday was May 12, 1820, 101 years ago last month who, arguably was the woman who made nursing celebratable  and whose birthday is now World  Nursing Day. Alas, many nurses, like many hospital users, including her namesakes, have poor, if any, memory of her.

Hands up, any woman named Florence who has heard of Florance Nightingale. Mrs Odunsi, my British born Higher school certificate history teacher at Igbobi College, Yaba Lagos, (sorry, I have forgotten your first name), taught the class about Florence Nightingale during modern European history lessons on the Crimean war(October 1853-February 1856). Russia lost the war to a grand Alliance of Britain, France, Ottoman Empire (The Tuks) and Sardinia. The Ottoman Empire spread from Turkey, the heart of it, to Africa, Asia and Europe. The Alliance sought to protect the rights of a Christian minority in the “Holy land”(today’s Isreal), at that time a part of the largely Islamic, weak and dwindling Ottoman Empire. While the French promoted Roman Catholic interests, the Russians backed the eastern orthodox church, while France and Britain sought to curtail Russian influence in the region. The Ottoman Empire included the “Holy land” and haboured as well Judaism and Christianity. Christian Europe and the muslim east had fought wars of the crusade for the control of this region. Crimea came into the picture when  Russia tried, but failed to cross from Constantinople, the first christian headquater and now a holy Islamic city named Istanbul, in order to create access to the Mediterranean sea for Russian shipping. The Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity which some historians said he employed to politically unify the Empire. He made Constantinople the first Christian headquarters in Europe and built it to rival Rome. With its defeat by the Tusks, Russia opened another war front which challenged the Alliance to militarily engage it in a series of battle in Crimea.

 

Casualities

 

Of the 1,650,000 who began the war, 900,000 died at the end of it, according to one account. But not all of them died of bullet or bomb wounds. Diseases killed many of the soldiers wounded. Wounded British soldiers were taken to Turkish medical facilities which were unhygienic and poorly furnished with medicines and medical staff. The hygienic conditions were awful, hardly able to support life or convalescence, according to British media reports which spurred 38 volunteer nurses from London, one of them Florence Nightingale, to travel to Turkey. As THE TIMES  of London described her impact:

“She is a ministering Angel without any exaggeration in those hospitals, and as her slender form glides quickly along each corridor every poor fellow face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone with a little lamp in her hand making her solitary rounds. Nightingale became known as the “Lady With The Lamp” after those words were published in ‘THE TIMES‘. Disease such as typhoid, Cholera, were rife in army hospitals. Many died from diseases than from wounds. Nightingale work towards improvement in sanitation, nutrition and activity for the patients of the hospitals. Death rates were reduced dramatically with the introduction of such measures. Nightingale kept meticulous records of the number of deaths, and the causes of deaths so that on her return to Great Britain she would justify the need for improving conditions in hospitals. Following Nightingale’s return to Great Britain and her campaign for Better living condition for the Army, the commission on the health of the Army was created. Nightingale prepared an 800-page  report for the commision on the welfare of the Army. She advocated the use of statistics as a tool in decision making. Nightingale created graphs to show that many soldiers died during  the Crimean war from diseases than from wounds…”

Whenever I meet anyone named Florence and I ask about Nightingale, I see a blank look on the face. Many a Florence have not heard about her. Yet, arguably, she is the mother of celebratable nursing from whose “mercy” work nurses derived their nicknames such as “mercy girls” and Nightingale. The birthday of Florence Nightingale was celebrated worldwide on May 12 as World  Nurses Day!  On that day, my heart went to many nurses I have seen work their hearts out to make their patients get well and to live and wondered if we appreciate them well enough. They spend longer time with us than our doctors. They make our beds, move our poop and pee, give us our medicines and, what’s more, they are exposed, as a professional hazard, to all the germs we bring to them at the hospital. We flee from the HIV challenged person or the person whose lungs are damaged by tuberculosis or, these days, COVID-19 patients….but not these nurses. I do not know how they protect themselves against those germs we impact them with. Certainly, it won’t be with antibiotics all the time, for they and doctors know how dangerous too much or frequent intake of these chemical drugs are and, so, touch them with only long spoons as it were. That is why today, I thought of sharing with them some ideas of how to get rid of “hospital infections” or protect themselves with herbs from nature’s pharmacy.

Many nurses are still “mercy girls”, although many of their patients see them “unfeeling”. Better Effiong Happiness, a 14-year -old girl, who has been living with me since her father died in 2016 and her mother 2018, recalls her experiences with nurses in her father’s hospital ward. “They talk to people anyhow. They talked harshly to my father one day, he asked me to call them to help him to the bathroom because he wanted to bathe himself. They did not answer him on time. When they came, they shouted on him to get up by himself and that they had other patients to attend to”.

 

Hospital infections

 

Many people admitted to  return home on discharge with hospital acquired infections of bacterial, viral or fungal origins. The rate of hospital or Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAI), also called nosocomials, is said to be between 10 and 15 percent in Europe in central America and as also 40 percent in Latin America, Asia and Africa. To be classified as a HAI, an infection must satisfy certain time-based conditions.

One, the infection must not be present before hospitalisation. Two, the infection must also not be “germinating” or incubating prior to admission. Three, the infection should strike within 48 hours of admission. Four, the infection should manifest within three days after discharge from hospital. Five, for surgeries, the infection must occur about within 30 days after the operation. Six, the infection must be different from that which took the patient to a hospital and must occur in that hospital.

 

Personal experience

 

I can testify that hospital infections are real. My first child picked up a cord infection from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital(LUTH). He was born with neonatal jaundice and had to be admitted for treatment. About the fifth or sixth day, he and his mother were discharged. By the seventh day, his grandmother brought caterers home to prepare for his christening the day after. I returned early from work at about 11pm that day to find him limp. I told my wife we had to be in hospital immediately. I was not persuaded that we could ride over the next day and see the doctor afterwards. So, I stealthy took the baby from his court, lay him on my shoulder, silently opened the gate, and took the baby to the car, lay him in the back seat, and went back upstairs to invite her to join me for the hospital trip. I still tease her over the next proceedings till this day. When she heard the engine start, she rushed downstairs in only a house wrapper and blouse. We lived in Obanikoro. That was how we arrived at LUTH. The young doctor at the emergency could not locate the blood vessels all night. In the morning, I went to the resident doctors’ quarters. My school son, Dr Femi Okanlawon, was there. So was his wife, Bunmi also a doctor, and one of my wife’s best friends at Ife. Femi discovered a blood vessel in the head through which he fed him a drip and drugs. He prescribed Orbenin. By six in the morning, I began to comb all pharmacies at Ojuelegba and Ikorodu road. Auntie Agbeke Ogunsanwo, my wife’s school mother at Ife and the “Auntie” of Junior Times club, combed all children’s hospital in Lagos, including Mercy Hospital at Gbaja and the Lagos baby factory, Lagos Island Maternity Hospital, but to no avail. My Father-in-law, Mr S.A. Oluyemi, combed Apapa. I headed for Lagos Island to Nigerian medicine stores at Tinubu square. When I sighted four bottles of this drug on the shelf, I lost my voice in disbelief and joy, like the biblical Zachariah. I brought out my reporter’s notebook, tears of joy running from my eyes, and wrote: “Have lost my voice, How much?” Words got stuck in my throat. The shop keeper wrote the price. I then wrote that I could pay for only two and that she should go to my Mother-in-law at Obanikoro address I wrote for the balance. Somehow, she agreed. As I stepped out to rush back to LUTH, I found traffic wardens were trying to tow my vehicle, which I parked right in the water fountain. I had driven against traffic to get there. Again, I showed them my identity…..Deputy Editor of The  Guardian newspaper and wrote that someone was dying in the hospital who needed the drugs. They let me go. Goodness and mercy were following me.

Back in LUTH, I rushed back to the resident doctors’ quarters. Femi and Bunmi were having lunch. I burst in on them, shouting Eureka. I would ever remember their spontaneous responses. They abandoned their meals. But, in the ward, we had another hurdle to cross. LUTH had no Soluset. This was a baby’s drip set, I was told. Something told me to return to the Igbo man’s patient pharmacy store on Brown Street, Jibowu where I had not found Obenin in the morning. The shop keeper told me it was out of stock. I said he should recheck. Lo and behold, he found one hanging down done! And our baby’s life was saved!

 

Transmissions

 

Hospital Acquired Infections spread through direct and indirect vectors….beds, beddings(how many patients sleep in a bed in one year?), person to person (staff, patients, visitors, etc), contact, air, droplets, water, food, blood or medical equipment such as catheters, thermometers, stretchers, ventilators, even vehicles, etc. These are some of the reasons you see doctors and nurses wear hand gloves, aprons, nose guards….and while hospital floors, are always mopped with antiseptic chemicals.

 

Types of infections

 

These are bacterial, viruses and fungal. The most prevalent are Staphylococcus aurues, Salmonella, Escherica coli and multiple drug resistant versions or strains of their species. This is why staphylococcus aurues may be difficult to cure with hospital drugs. They cause common cold, sore throat, flu, urinary tract infections(UTIs), blood stream infections(BSI), pneumonia and other respiratory challenges, surgical site infections(SSI), Gastrointestinal infections(GIS) etc.

 

Herbal medicines

 

Nurses must protect themselves and their families against the world of germs in which they work, but not always or everyday with antibiotics, antiviral and antifungal pharmaceuticals. This would make them become toxic, ill, immune deficient and prematurely age. They can immensely profit from natural counterparts of these chemicals drugs which, at best are necessary in emergencies.

We cannot exhaust the list of Nature’s medicines for one ailment or the prophylatics. From the antibiotics chest we may chose Golden Seal Root, Oregano, Garlic, Ginger, Clove oil, Echinacea, Lemon grass, Thyme, Cinnamon, Tumeric, Rosemary, Mango Seed Extract, Manuka Honey, Tea tree oil, Raw onion. We should not take the common ones for granted. Wakunaga had produced garlic 50 times more powerful than the natural variety by aging it for about 15 months. It is called Kyolic Garlic. (KYO in Japanese means “powerful or strong”). I used super strength Oregano Oil(three drops in one tablespoonful of Black  Seed Oil) several times a day to rid my body of three weeks long look-alike symptoms of Corona virus last year(see COVID-19: Look-alike symptoms join the lexicon in www.olufemikusa.com). Today, I grow the leaves, chew them raw or add them, uncooked, to my meals. Manuka Honey is reputed to be the world’s best honey. Echinacea, anti-cold, anti-flu, anti-bacteria and anti-viral, immune booster etc has been energised by Bell of Canada into Echinacea  Supreme  Immune Booster. Amazon has grouped a number of powerful forest herbs together into Amazon  A-F as a wide range anti-bacterial, Amazon A-V, similarly as an anti-viral and Amazon A-P as an anti-parasite.

UTIs respond to Cranberry. Where a proprietary blend is preferred, there are many on the shelf, including Aloe Berry Nectar. Cranberry acidifies the urine to kill the pathogens. As this is the season of maize, a UTI remedy it offers may be made and kept on a glass jar. The remedy is the CORN SILK, the golden thread jotting out at the top from the maize covers. When it is used as tea in wet form, it acts like a lactative, but as a urinary tract cleanser and defender when it is consumed in dry form as powder, capsule, tea, etc. Tumeric features among the antifungals. So are Olive leaf Extract, Garlic, Walnut, Black Walnut Hull, Walnut leaves, cloves, Golden seal root, marigold(Calendula), Neem. Walnut is good for the brain. The signature tune or secret code of affinity with a part of the body are the two lobes which represent the two hemispheres of the brain and the woody partition between them which has a semblance in the partition of the brains hemisphere. A French Emperor made it a law that club houses serve drink as two walnuts free of costs because the nuts is known to quiten the intoxicated brain. Used as tea, the leaves are good for many forms of brain problems. The tea purifies the blood, treat intestinal infections and worms, bacterial afflictions and cracks kidney stones. I emphasise the Black walnut because this is its season in Nigeria. The black shell of the Walnut is sold in proprietary medicines as an anti-microbial.

This column has the permission of Mr Oye-Igbemo, former General Manager of Nigerian Savings Bank, to state how Pan d’ Acro saved him from surgery for a had case of ulcerative colitis. In the anti-viral group, there are herbs such as Sage, Oregano, Fennel, Basil Ocinum (Efirin, Yoruba or Scent leaf/Nchiawu in Igbo), Peppermint, Rosemary, Echinacea, Licorice DGL, Ginger, Dandelion(one of Nature’s best diuretics). Dandelion is better than pharmaceutical diuretics because it is potassium-rich, asked the kidneys to spear potassium, and, in addition to diuretic action, works as a liver tonic. Basil is also good for diarrhoea. When I was a pig farmer, I fed the raw leaves to any diarrhoearic pigs and piglets.

As we look forward to another World  Nurses  Day next year, we should remember always to tell nurses whenever we see them that we appreciate what they go through for us and our families. My starting points are two retired matrons, Mrs Kehinde Arebi and Mrs Titi Kehinde Shitta, real Nightingale blessings in the community where I live. Shall I add Joy John, one of my support staff, who is aspiring to begin her Nightingale education later this year?

 

By Justina Asishana

In Retrospect

Freezing your sperm before taking a vaccine sounds scary, but do you really have to? The question came up recently in a health engagement in Niger state regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. A lot of questions were asked about how sure the facilitator, a Health Educator, that after taking the COVID-19 vaccine, one would be able to give birth.

This question was echoed by other participants. The Facilitator, Abubakar Kpantu, who is the Niger state Immunization Officer, admitted that he and his staff had been repeatedly queried on this by those who are eligible to take the vaccine. He later stated that the controversy was one of the causes of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the state.

Some pictures have been going around on WhatsApp asking men to freeze their sperm and women to freeze their eggs before embarking on receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. One of the picture received by the Reporter is shown below:

VERIFICATION

Using the Google Reversed Image, it was shown that the picture was a screenshot taken from some articles while further search showed that it may have first be written by local10.com in its article titled ‘Study investigates effects of COVID-19 vaccine on male fertility’ on December 20, 2020, with bylines of Kristi Krueger, Anchor/Health Reporter and Kathleen Corso, Special Projects Producer.

Google Reverse Image Search is a part of Google search that allows one to search the internet using images instead of writing words.  By sharing a specific image with your search engine, it will go on to find others like it.

In the article referred above, it was stated that The University of Miami was investigating the possible effects of the coronavirus vaccine on male fertility and advised participants to have a fertility evaluation before receiving the vaccine.

It concluded with these words, “To protect fertility, some men may want to consider freezing their sperm before vaccination.” It is weird they are talking about ‘the vaccine’ in this article because as at 2020, the vaccine was still in its testing/early stage.

Digging deeper and going online using Tweetdeck and Who Posted What, there were trends of posts that retweeted and shared the articles and some people may have screenshot it to start sharing on WhatsApp.

One of the tweets seen with handle @michellemalkin who is a syndicated writer and vaccine sceptic showed that her tweet was retweeted 8,226 times with quote tweets of 2,001 times. But why the post which was tweeted in 2020 and the article which was written in 2020 and shared recently in 2021 showed that anti-vaxxers may want to dissuade people from taking the vaccine, a situation which is already been seen to be causing vaccine hesitancy

This is because in 2020 ‘the COVID-19 vaccine’ was still in its trial/early phase but now, there is a much larger body of data on the fertility and the vaccine: majority of which points that basically, there is no impact on fertility, and even pregnant women are advised to take the vaccines.

Using Hoaxy to view the network of misinformation about the flow of the information in the last seven days, from 19th to 24th May, it was observed by this Reporter that majority of the posts tweeted and retweeted were by governments and the country’s centre for diseases control explaining that the vaccine does not affect fertility in men and women.

Where did the Infertility Myth/Controversy Start?

In 2020, a former vice president of Pfizer, Michael Yeadon, alongside some other persons wrote a petition to Europe’s medicines regulator demanding that the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials should be stopped. They speculated that the vaccines could cause infertility in women.

Further investigations showed that their speculations were without evidence.   However, because Yeadon was not just anyone but a former vice president of Pfizer which is one of the pharmaceutical companies producing the vaccine, social media were awash with the unverified claims that COVID-19 vaccine causes female infertility and this started the flow of misinformation that the vaccines cause infertility.

Expert’s View

The Medical Director and Chief Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist of Queens Specialist Hospital, Abuja, Dr Martins Oche Ejembi explained that vaccines are supposed to provide immunity against one or several diseases and in the COVID-19 vaccine, the vaccine is supposed to provide immunity against the COVID-19 virus.

According to him, the COVID-19 virus itself can affect the fertility of both male and female explaining that in the male, it affects the testicles, causes sperm problems in terms of movement, morphology, swimming ability and ability to fertilize.

“So also with the women, COVID-19 affects the ovaries where the eggs are produced. In a way, acute infection of COVID-19 can lead to infertility in both men and female because the egg is part of the process that reproduces for the woman and the sperm for the man. And when they come together, they form a zygote which transforms into a baby. So when all these organs involved in reproduction are affected, it affects fertility. ”

For the COVID-19 vaccine, Ejembi said, “The vaccine is supposed to prevent serious infection when taken. It is supposed to help stop the progress of COVID-19 in the body. We know that the virus itself can in a way attack fertility. COVID-19 studies have shown that COVID-19 has been seen in vagina fluids, in semen and it travels fast to the reproductive organs, so we know that at that level, it can affect fertility organs but the  vaccine which is supposed to contra or to fight the virus itself cannot be said to be causing infertility.”

The Obstetrician and Gynecology Specialist further said that studies on the COVID-19 vaccine have reassured that the vaccine in question has no immediate effect on fertility adding that “It is, however, too early for us to be able to say that the vaccine affects fertility. The rumour circulating that the vaccine is meant to reduce our population is far from the truth. For now, we don’t know what the long term effect of the vaccine would be on reproductivity.”

Ejembi further said that studies are being done to see if the vaccines can affect the reproductive organs and cause infertility adding that, “Only when the time comes that we will be able to ascribe that the vaccine is the cause of this problem or that problem. Studies are being done to see how it will affect fertility and reproductive organs. But for what is known scientifically now, the vaccine will not cause infertility but the virus will.”

What Other Authorities Say

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the advice section regarding  COVID-19 and Pregnancy, titled “People who would like to have a baby”, it reads: “If you are trying to become pregnant now or want to get pregnant in the future, you can receive a COVID-19 vaccine. There is currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems—problems trying to get pregnant.

“CDC does not recommend routine pregnancy testing before COVID-19 vaccination. If you are trying to become pregnant, you do not need to avoid pregnancy after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. Like with all vaccines, scientists are studying COVID-19 vaccines carefully for side effects now and will report findings as they become available. – Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Although there is no information regarding the COVID-19 vaccine affecting fertility or infertility in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the website of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) or the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA); however, there was Information regarding pregnant women using the vaccine in the NPHCDA website.

The Agency on its website stated that “Available data on vaccination of pregnant women are insufficient to assess vaccine efficacy or vaccine-associated risks in pregnancy. However, the vaccine is not a live virus vaccine, the mRNA does not enter the nucleus of the cell and is degraded quickly.

“In the interim, WHO does not recommend vaccination in pregnancy, unless the benefit of vaccinating a pregnant woman outweighs the potential vaccine risks, such as in health workers at high risk of exposure and those pregnant women with comorbidities placing them in a high-risk group for severe COVID-19. Pregnant women should consult their doctors.”

Fact Check

Freezing your sperm before taking a vaccine sounds scary, and if this was true, you’d be wary of taking the vaccine if you wanted to have kids, but you don’t need to do this because there is no proof to show that COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility in men and women.

Studies are still underway to show the long term effect of the vaccine on fertility but studies have further shown that COVID-19 can cause infertility but the vaccine which is supposed to mitigate the effect of the virus should be seen to be solutionist to this situation.

Therefore, there is no need to freeze your sperm before taking COVID-19 vaccine as the claim that COVID-19 vaccines infertility is Misleading and tends to contribute to Vaccine Hesitancy.

• This publication was produced as part of IWPR’s Africa Resilience Network (ARN) programme, administered in partnership with the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), and Africa Uncensored. For more information on ARN, please visit the ARN site
  

By Moses Emorinken, Abuja

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has solicited the support of the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the realisation of landed properties of banks in-liquidation within the FCT to enable it to pay depositors of affected closed banks.

The Chairman of the NDIC Board of Directors, Mrs Ronke Sokefun said this during a courtesy visit by the Corporations Board and Management to the Honourable Minister of the FCT, Mal. Mohammed Musa Bello in Abuja.

According to a statement by the Director of Communication and Public Affairs Department of the NDIC, Bashir A. Nuhu, the Chairman explained that the Corporation had faced some bottlenecks in the full payment of trapped depositors funds as a result of difficulty in realising assets of banks in-liquidation due to poor documentation by the banks, revocation of title by authorities and litigations over the assets.

Mrs. Sokefun who noted that some of the assets were located within the FCT, said the support of the Ministry in realising them would assist the Corporation in the effective discharge of its mandate of deposit guarantee which ensures that depositors recover their savings in the event of bank failure.

Speaking further, NDICs Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Bello Hassan elaborated on the roles and relationship between the NDIC and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) in the Management of banks assets.

He explained that the NDIC as a liquidator focuses on the assets of closed banks following revocation of their licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) while AMCON was involved with only Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) of existing banks acquired by AMCON.

Responding, Minister of FCT, Mal. Mohammed Musa Bello observed that problems relating to landed properties in the FCT were usually not by the Ministry but from issues arising from the title of such properties. He however said the Ministry was amenable to assisting the Corporation in resolving issues around its properties and those of banks in-liquidation in the FCT within the ambit of the law.

Mal. Bello noted the continued long standing and cordial relationship that has been sustained over the years between the Corporation and the Ministry.

He commended the Corporation for its active support of the development in the FCT in education through the donation of furniture and books as well as the Corporation’s interventions and financial assistance in support of the fight against the COVID-19 Pandemic.

By Moses Emorinken, Abuja

As part of efforts geared towards the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for all Nigerians, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has partnered the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA).

According to a statement by the Head of Media and Public Relations of the NHIS, Emmanuel Ononokpono, the understanding was reached when the Director-General of NOSDRA, Mr Idris Musa paid a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof Mohammed Sambo, at the Scheme’s Corporate Head Office in Abuja.

Sambo harped on the Scheme’s commitment to ensuring that all Nigerians in the public and private sector have access to affordable and quality healthcare, maintaining that the Scheme had begun the implementation of a ten-year strategic plan that will birth UHC in 2030 in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He said: “Great nations and organisations are built on carefully articulated and designed plans. In the same vein, UHC can be achieved through the vehicle of the ten-year strategic plan.”

On coverage of the public sector, Sambo told his guest that nearly all workers in federal government payroll and their dependents have been enrolled to receive care under the Scheme, adding that its flagship programme-GIFSHIP is a window for other categories of people outside the formal sector to receive health insurance.

On efforts to reposition the Scheme for effectiveness, Sambo emphasized that NHIS was currently being driven by a three-point agenda reforms, listing them as value-reorientation, transparency and accountability and accelerating the drive towards the attainment of universal health coverage, adding that the reforms was consistent with President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s Next level agenda on health.

In an apparent response to HMOs’ indebtedness to healthcare facilities, Sambo said a reconciliation exercise between HMOs and Healthcare facilities conducted under the watchful oversight of the Scheme last year yielded the recovery of funds, adding that the imperatives of strengthening the system to ensure that facilities are never owed by HMOs remain.

Hinting on the outlook of HMOs’ operations, Sambo stated that the present arrangement where organizations selected HMOs on behalf of their staff who are beneficiaries under the Scheme will be replaced before the end of the year with an electronic platform that will allow NHIS beneficiaries to choose their fund managers.

Speaking earlier, the director general of NOSDRA, Mr. Idris Musa, lauded the sundry reforms being carried out by the Prof Sambo’s leadership, and described them as a welcome development.

By Moses Emorinken, Abuja

The Federal Government and the World Health Organization (WHO) have joined their voices to discourage the addictive practice of smoking which is said to have caused 29,472 deaths yearly in the country.

They noted that covert advertisement and other industry tactics like the introduction of electronic smoking devices (falsely claimed to be less harmful than conventional cigarettes) by the tobacco industry does not only frustrate public health objectives but also lures young people to smoke.

The government, therefore, said it has put measures in place to discourage the practice of smoking by introducing increased excise tax on tobacco products, implementation of graphic pictorial health warning messages, creation of helplines, and many other tobacco cessation services.

The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, in his remarks during a briefing in Abuja on Monday, to commemorate this year’s World “No Tobacco” Day with the theme “Commit to Quit,” said: “WHO data shows that there are over 1.3 billion tobacco users in the world and that tobacco is in one way or another responsible for more than 8 million deaths each year, more than 7 million of which are as the result of direct tobacco use while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being indirectly exposed to second-hand smoke.

“In Nigeria, findings from the 2012 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) show that 5.6 percent (4.5 million) Nigerians 15 years and older, currently use tobacco products of which 3.9 percent (3.1 million) are smokers. The GATS result further shows that 45.4 percent of the smokers had attempted to quit in the past 12 months prior to the survey, of which 61.1 percent attempted to do so without any assistance while 15 percent tried counseling and 5.2 percent tried pharmacotherapy.

“The death toll from tobacco is high in Nigeria, as the Tobacco Atlas of 2018 reports estimates of more than 16,100 deaths from tobacco-related diseases every year. Another research finding published in 2021 by the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa showed that 29,472 deaths in Nigeria were attributable to smoking.”

He added: “The Federal Ministry of Health is committed to supporting people to quit tobacco use. In 2019, the Ministry, in collaboration with WHO and the European Respiratory Society, piloted tobacco cessation services in some healthcare facilities in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. We intend to scale this up to other parts of Nigeria, in the near future, so that more tobacco users can have access to cessation services.

“As we work to protect and promote the health of Nigerians, the tobacco industry has different commercial interests, which do not tally with our public health objectives. The tobacco industry prefers more smokers and encourages long-term smoking and has even introduced electronic smoking devices, falsely claimed to be less harmful than conventional cigarettes. Covert advertising also lures young persons to smoking, in ways that can be harmful and highly addictive. According to WHO, a shisha user, for example, inhales the equivalent of about 100 cigarettes during one session of shisha use.”

READ ALSO: Senate not legislating for total ban on tobacco industry

In his address, the Country Representative of WHO, Dr Kazadi Mulombo, added: “Nigeria was selected as one of the 22 countries for support by WHO (HQ/AFRO) to scale-up programmes to help people quit tobacco, especially at the primary health care and community levels.

“This will include the setting up of a toll-free quitline and the pilot of a WHO supported mobile cessation (mCessation) programme for a period of 9 – 12 months through the use of pre-designed WhatsApp toolkit and Facebook Messenger in different languages. At this juncture, Honourable Minister, we kindly request for your team to identify a space within the Ministry to set up a call center office from which the counsellors will respond to caller needs.

“Honorable Minister, it is also important to note that for the last 3 years, Nigeria has received a World No Tobacco Day Award which recognizes individuals or organizations for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control. This year, we have one awardee from Nigeria amongst the six awardees from the African Region.

“As WHO we pledge to continue supporting the country to meet their obligations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Just to also note that there’s a need for all of us to be alert to industry tactics as they attract new users and keep people using tobacco, even when they are trying to quit. Products such as electronic cigarettes and nicotine pouches are highly addictive and not recommended as strategies to reduce tobacco use.”

By Sola Shittu, Gombe

Gombe Governor Inuwa Yahaya on Tuesday promised a quick fulfilment of its counterpart funding for the German government GIZ Back-Up Health support programme.

Yahaya, speaking through Commissioner for Health, Dr. Habu Dahiru, said he has already liaised with the Budget office to ensure the state’s part of the programme is quickly fulfilled for the benefit of his people.

“We know Gombe State is very lucky to be among the two States for this program out of the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, therefore we will not want to filter away this great opportunity for our people to enjoy good health service delivery.

“There is a popular saying that health is wealth and a healthy people is equal to a healthy nation.

“If our people can have access to good health service delivery, definitely, they will be more productive and the economy will also improve and more money will be in the hands of the people and the country. We are aware of this and we are doing our best to achieve it,” he said.

READ ALSO: Police arrest teenage robbery gang in Gombe

The Governor urged the GIZ Back Up Health team to feel free to move round the health facilities in the 114 wards in the state.

The German government on Tuesday commenced appraisal of health facilities as part of efforts to enhance health services delivery in Gombe.

Gombe is one of the two states selected for the GIZ Back Up Health support program funded by the German ministry for Economic Development and also co-financed by the Swiss, United Kingdom and French governments.

The Technical Adviser for GIZ Back Up Health, Fatma Hussaini Zanna told reporters the organisation was working on integrated service delivery and was on ground to conduct appraisal to look at what Gombe government is doing and try to build on the good work.

By Moses Emorinken, Abuja

Stakeholders in the health space have advocated for the integration of  (TB) into the health insurance system at the central and state level.

According to them, this will ramp up domestic resource mobilisation to tackle the menace of TB across the country, which still has a funding gap of 70 percent.

They noted that of the 30 percent funds utilised for TB in 2019, 23 percent of the fund came from international partners, while a meagre 7 percent was domestically sourced.

Speaking during a session sponsored by the Stop TB Partnership, USAID, and the Nigeria Parliamentary TB caucus, at the 4th Annual Legislative Summit on Health on Monday in Abuja, Rt. Hon. Dr Emeka Ogbuabor, a Board Member of Stop TB Partnership, also called for philanthropic financing for TB in health insurance.

He said: “Globally, tuberculosis is the number one killer among the top 10 causes of deaths, and about 1.9 billion people globally are infected with tuberculosis. Every year, about 10 million people develop TB, including one million children, and over 800,000 persons living with HIV/AIDS. Nearly 500,000 people develop the variant of TB called the multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (M-DRTB), and unfortunately, only one in three people receive treatment.

“Nigeria ranks 6th among the 30 high burden countries globally, and first in Africa as far as TB are concerned. We contribute about 11 percent of the global gap in the number of new TB cases, and after 440,000 estimated TB cases in Nigeria, we are only able to notify 27 percent. So where are over 70 percent of TB cases?

“An estimated 18 people die per hour of TB-related diseases, and that means we have 432 persons dying from TB everyday in Nigeria. Yet, we have about a 70 percent funding gap. Of the 30 percent funds we have used in 2019, 23 percent were developmental assistance funds; only 7 percent were domestically mobilisers.

“This is a call to action to prioritise tuberculosis within the context of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), such that we can achieve the health gain which translates to increased treatment success rates for TB, responsive TB treatment facilities and financial protection from hardship as a result of TB treatment.

“From the UHC perspective, that means we need to increase coverage, improve access and use, and then improve quality of TB care. This way we can guarantee improved TB outcomes.”

He added: “One of the key challenges today in TB domestic resources mobilization is how to integrate TB into the health insurance schemes. Many states have not done their actuarial analysis and cannot say how much it would cost additionally on their premium to support this process.

“How can we get the various state legislatures to include this in their agenda, and interface with their various state governments to get the required funds to do an actuarial study to find out how much it will cost, and use it as an advocacy tool to push for the equity funds to be released and fill the funding gap.

“If you look at the local government system, you will realise that very few local government areas have invested in TB. Not many states have put their money to TB. We need not just budgeting for TB, but the actual releases.

READ ALSO: 4.5 million Nigerians at risk of contracting tuberculosis, says FG

“The Anambra model of adoption that was used in mobilising resources for the state health insurance can be adopted even as we integrate TB into the health insurance schemes. I am sure there are philanthropists who would like to explore this altruistic financing to put in money.”

In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of the Osun Health Insurance Scheme (OHIS) Dr. Niyi Ogini, said: “One of the ways to horizontalise vertical programmes in health is the integration of tuberculosis with the states’ social health insurance schemes, and we have started that in our state, collaborating with consultants from the USAID that is working on that. We have conducted the actuarial costing of the integration process and costed what it will be to take care of the multi drug-resistant and non-drug-resistant tuberculosis.

“As I speak, we have started enrollment of the people that are living with tuberculosis on treatment. We have started enrolling them because most of them are vulnerable, and have also started being enrolled on the basic health care provision fund and the equity program of the state.

“This is something I believe we should carry out to the national level so that every state will have support to integrate the people that are living with tuberculosis into their social health insurance program. That way, case-finding will be more effective and we will be able to take care of the over 70 percent of people living with tuberculosis that are yet to be identified and commenced on treatment.”

By Our Reporter

A joint WHO/ILO report reaching PANA on Friday said long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016.

According to the latest estimates by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization, published in Environment International, this represents a 29 per cent increase since 2000.

In a first global analysis of the loss of life and health associated with working long hours, WHO and ILO estimate that, in 2016, 398,000 people died from stroke and 347,000 from heart disease as a result of having worked at least 55 hours a week.

“Between 2000 and 2016, the number of deaths from heart disease due to working long hours increased by 42 per cent, and from stroke by 19 per cent,” the joint report said.

“This work-related disease burden is particularly significant in men (72% of deaths occurred among males), people living in the Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions, and middle-aged or older workers. Most of the deaths recorded were among people aged 60-79 years, who had worked for 55 hours or more per week between the ages of 45 and 74 years.

“With working long hours now known to be responsible for about one-third of the total estimated work-related burden of disease, it is established as the risk factor with the largest occupational disease burden. This shifts thinking towards a relatively new and more psychosocial occupational risk factor to human health,” the report stated.

The study concludes that working 55 or more hours per week is associated with an estimated 35 per cent higher risk of a stroke and a 17 per cent higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working 35-40 hours a week.

“Further, the number of people working long hours is increasing, and currently stands at 9 per cent of the total population globally. This trend puts even more people at risk of work-related disability and early death.

“The new analysis comes as the COVID-19 pandemic shines a spotlight on managing working hours; the pandemic is accelerating developments that could feed the trend towards increased working time.”

“The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the way many people work,“ said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General.

READ ALSO:Poisonous junk!: Fast food exposes more Nigerians to heart disease

“Teleworking has become the norm in many industries, often blurring the boundaries between home and work. In addition, many businesses have been forced to scale back or shut down operations to save money, and people who are still on the payroll end up working longer hours. No job is worth the risk of stroke or heart disease. Governments, employers and workers need to work together to agree on limits to protect the health of workers.”

“Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard,” added Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, at the World Health Organization.

“It’s time that we all, governments, employers, and employees wake up to the fact that long working hours can lead to premature death.”

The report encourages governments, employers and workers to take actions to protect workers’ health, such as introducing, implementing and enforcing laws, regulations and policies that ban mandatory overtime and ensure maximum limits on working time.

Other measures include resort to bipartite or collective bargaining agreements between employers and workers’ associations to arrange working time to be more flexible, while at the same time agreeing on a maximum number of working hours.

“Employees could share working hours to ensure that numbers of hours worked do not climb above 55 or more per week,” the report recommended.