The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wellbeing

  • Group,Lagos APC provide free surgeries

    AS part of its effort to offer free medical care to indigent Lagosians, the Professionals for Humanity (PROFOH), an organsation made up of doctors, nurses, microbiologists and volunteers from Houston, Texas, has partnered with the Lagos All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial aspirants Babajide Sanwo-Olu/ Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat under the BOSKOH medical mission to provide free surgeries to citizens of Lagos State.

    Speaking with the media at the Shomolu General Hospital where the experts are performing free surgeries before moving to another local government area in the state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said that this is not a political mission as the welfare of Lagosians is beyond politics, “we are not asking for their PVCs before they can be attended to, anybody who needs help will be attended to. This is all about service to humanity.”

    Also speaking, the wife of Sanwo- Olu, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, who is also the former Chief Medical Director, Shomolu Primary Health Centre, assured those with medical surgical challenges that their cases will be attended to.

    APC deputy governorship candidate, Lagos State, Dr. Kadri Obafemi  Hamzat,  lauded the medical mission from abroad and her Nigerian counterpart who partnered with BOSKOH, saying that they are giving hope to the hopeless.

    Speaking further, Hamzat said: “A woman came to me in Epe Local Government Area of Lagos State and asked me to thank the BOSKOH medical team for taking care of her 20 years’ ailment.

    Head of PFOFOH, Gbimieotor Daniel Kama, affirmed that the team has been carrying out free medical treatment over the years and that they have had thousands of surgical procedures in Nigeria and outside the country over the years.

    “The surgical operations we are currently embarking on include hernia, tumours, different kinds of surgeries, fibroids, among others. We’ve been taking in as many people as possible until the medical team is tired and could not take in any people any longer. Sometimes we do up to 20 types of surgeries in a day. You never know until you get inside the theatre, there may be a lot of complications you’ll find there.”

    The team, Gbemieotor Daniel Kama added, will ensure they perform as many surgeries as they can handle as there are a lot of people who need this help. “The surgeries we can’t handle are heart- and liver-related, we do more of general surgeries including glaucoma, thyroid, hernia, fibroids, tumour, gall bladder, among others.”

    Head of PROFOH in Nigeria, Cliff Jarrell, observed that there were long list of people with different kinds of surgical operation such as cancers, malignant and non malignant types tumours, orthopaedic cases and classes of plastic surgeries and that the team with the aid of their foreign counterpart they have been able to solve such medical challenges.

    Coordinator of the mission and microbiologist on DNA, Nike Osa, stressed that they wanted to see how they could reduce the number of surgeries available hence they are doing their bit to improve the healthcare system.

    Osa mentioned the hospitals where the surgeries are going on to include Onikan General Hospital where hernias, fibroids glaucoma and plastic surgeries are being handled; the Lagos General Hospital for mostly paediatric cases, while the gynaecology and obstetrics cases are done at Shomolu General Hospital. “Our plastic surgeon, who is available, is about the third best on earth and so we have the capacity to handle these cases,” she said.

    “Our focus is to ensure that people who are not able to afford this expense will get these services for free and it is an immediate intervention for them. In a community like this and with the volume of emergencies you find, if they can’t access healthcare and instead of leaving them in a state where they can’t help themselves, we have brought this to them totally free. We have doctors from the UK, Australia, Spain and USA, we have all the capacity because we have brought in the best. We also welcome volunteers to join the team to bring wellness to Lagosians,” Osa concluded.

  • Bone cancer is not respecter of person or religion

    Research has shown that victims of bone cancer both young and old, rather than presenting their cases early, resort to taking analgesic, until when are down with the disease. Ogheneyoma Omarejede interviews an orthopaedic surgeon and chairman, Musculoskeletal Oncology Support Foundation (MONSUF), Prof. Suleiman Olayiwola Giwa, where he warned that people should desist from visiting chemists, herbalist or religious leaders, but rather visit the oncologist

    HOW will you know that you have bone cancer?

    For anybody with bone cancer, the first thing that manifests is pain, a pain that is intense and not responding to all sorts of analgesic. A patient that has taken panadol, taken paracetamol, taken ibuprofen and all sorts of painkillers and the pain is not going, I would advise you to get to see an oncologist. Some people do not come to us until they have noticed a swell. If it is a cancer of bone and you haven’t already noticed the swell, then it has become a huge problem because at that stage the cancer must have been in existence for a long time and what we see is that once a patient begins to experience pain, and the pain is not responding to treatment, they keep going around from one chemist to the other, tell that patient or the child to see an oncologist.

    Challenges encountered

    The greatest challenge is that our people culturally still continue to remain in the Nile. When they are told that they have cancer, they will tell you ‘it is not my portion, I reject it.’ Something that is already in their body. Prayer is useful when you receive the appropriate treatment and then you add prayers to it. Funding also remains a huge challenge, availability of drugs when we need to give patient cancer drugs.

    Who and what inspired you to set up this foundation?

    I am an Orthopaedic surgeon first of all, and I got interested in the management of the cancer of the bone and muscle. Over the years, I have been involved in the management of patients with cancer of bones and muscles. Then, one of the things that one found out is that a lot of those patients reported late. Those who did not report late when we tell them what the problem is they would disappear and by the time we see them again the cancer is far advanced. It was a network for doctors who treated bone cancer within the Lagos metropolis and from there we started advocacy until we got into the National Nigeria Association Forum. We started the preaching of what MONSUF has achieved over the last three years.

    How can we prevent bone cancer?

    Unfortunately, bone cancer is not preventable. It is not one of the preventable cancers, we have a few cancers that people would be able to talk of prevention; we can prevent cancer of the cervix, we can prevent cancer of the colon.

  • 81,481 persons live with HIV in Ondo — NACA

    Research has shown that no fewer than 81,481 persons are living with human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, in Ondo State. The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, Dr. Sani Aliu, confirmed this yesterday in Ondo, Ondo West Local Government Area of the state.

    Aliu said this when he paid a visit to the Osemawe of Ondo, Oba Victor Kiladejo, to seek the king’s support to mobilise his subjects for NACA survey in the area. The survey is tagged: Nigeria AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey.

    The NACA DG, who was represented by Mrs Josephine Kalu, the Director of Resource Mobilisation of NACA, said that 10,000 persons out of the affected persons were on treatment.

    “Based on spectrum estimate we have, 81,481 persons that are living with HIV in Ondo State as at 2017 and out of the figure 10,000 persons are on treatment including 2,783 pregnant women. Also, the estimate for new HIV infection is 5,439 persons,” he said.

    According to him, the survey is the largest HIV population based survey in Nigeria being supported by the U.S. and Global Funds. He noted that the survey was important for proper planning and development of strategies that would lead to eradication of HIV and hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

    “The focus of the survey is able to gather data that will help to fight current level of HIV and hepatitis B and hepatitis C as we are looking at 2030 for a HIV-free generation. We cannot but have data that can be effectively used to fight these,” he said.

    Aliu enjoined more domestic resources to curb HIV. Oba Kiladejo commended efforts of the agency and urged it to do more on counselling and to focus more on the vulnerable areas. The monarch who expressed worry with the high number of persons living with HIV, asked for more funds to fight it.

     

     

     

  • 25% of Nigerian women are living with uterine fibroid

    The Nigerian Society of Interventional Radiology (NISIR) has revealed that about 25percent of Nigerian women in their reproductive age are living with uterine fibroid unaware.

    President NISIR, Prof. Ahmed Ahidjo, revealed this at the first Annual Scientific Meeting of NISIR in Lagos themed ‘Minimally invasive therapies, benefitting patients, saving lives’.

    He noted that uterine fibroid can be well treated with the inclusive interventional radiology procedures.

    Speaking on the birth of NISIR, Ahidjo said it’s a new organisation first established in 2010 at Akodo, Lagos state to enhance the art and science of interventional radiology and research through educational, scientific, literary, advocacy, regulatory and professional activities.

    “We started this years back and now the society is expanding. I will say the government should intervene in providing this medical service. We are all complaining of medical tourism, most of those seeking for international medical attention also go for these same interventional procedures. We are calling on the government to help assist to establish a national centre of interventional radiology in Nigeria which will serve as a training centre and a service providing centre for the general population.”

    He added that government should initiate an intervention radiology centre in each of the teaching hospital in all geopolitical zones.

    NISIR, he said, is out for the promotion of interventional radiology at appropriate forums especially in the West African Sub-region. In pursuit of its objectives, NISIR aimed not only to address but to also provide suggestions and solutions regarding the important issues which currently face interventional radiology by adopting more of an active role within the radiological industry and the government and it relevant agencies.

    Member Board of Trustee, NISIR, Prof. Abiodun Adeyinka, urged the government to consider a special budgetary for radiology and radiotherapy for sufficient funding.

    “We are very few for the number of the population of Nigeria. First, we should try appeal to the government to fund radiology and radiotherapy. Equipments are very expensive. And such should come from a different budgetary entirely.  We need to draw government attention to proper funding. Another thing is that government must train us. With that we can build on human development,” Adeyinka noted.

  • Group calls for quality, affordable medicine

    The Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy has made a passionate case for safer, affordable medicines and treatment regimens for diseases that afflict mankind, especially those that are endemic in the region.

    Stating this at the annual investiture ceremony of the professional body in Lagos recently, the academy president, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, said this is a vehicle they created to give enduring impact to research and development in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical space.

    He said: “It is for this reason that research is central to our operations and that is one of the major reasons the academy came into being. We want to complement local and international efforts that support scientific research and research activities.

    “Much of the work we have done in this regard has been in the area of advocacy, in engaging government and policy makers on the essence of scientific research and why it is critical to providing better funding and other moral support to scientific research focused institutions as well as individual researchers.”

    The occasion was marked by the presentation of a Lifetime Achievement Award to Chief Oludolapo Ibukun Akinkugbe, for his huge contribution to the growth of the pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria, while General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma bagged an Honorary Fellowship of the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy.

    The academy’s Research and Innovation Centre was also named after Akinkugbe.

    Adelusi-Adeluyi described the award bestowed on Akinkugbe as a token of the body’s appreciation for his enormous strides not only in the Pharmacy profession, but in all other aspects of human endeavour.

    He added that as the recipient turns 90 in December, it was only fitting and proper that his number one constituency, Pharmacy, kicks off the celebration of an illustrious role model whose legacy of love, sacrifice and service would be forever etched in the hearts and minds of pharmacists.

    “It was in the same vein that we inducted General Danjuma as only the second ever Honorary Fellow of the Academy. He remains one of the most passionate supporters of the Pharmacy profession and a most generous benefactor of scientific research,” he added.Professor Ernest Benson Izevbigie, a distinguished scientist and former Vice Chancellor, Benson Idahosa University, in his keynote lecture titled, ‘From Plant to Patient: Driving Research and Innovation for Industry’ called for the translation of research findings into societal values.

    Izevbigie, whose ground-breaking work on the use of bitter leaf- Vernonia Amygdalina  – in cancer and diabetes management, has commanded critical acclaim globally, provided critical research insights into how he has used bitter leaf in the management of breast, prostate and cervical cancer with results better than western drugs.

  • Health Drink: Pharmacists okay WhiteHouse Apple Cider Vinegar

    Health practitioners under the umbrella of Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria have thrown their weight behind the new health drink -WhiteHouse Apple Cider Vinegar- recently unveiled in Nigeria,

    The launch of the health product was an highlight at the 37th annual national conference of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) which was held recently in Benin, Edo state capital.

    According to Chief Operating Officer, Pharmacy Plus Ltd, Chukwuemeka Obi stated that Apple Cider Vinegar is an ancient folk remedy, and has been used for various household, natural health remedies and cooking purposes.

    He further said that the WhiteHouse Apple Cider Vinegar have been in existence since 1908 is very popular among the natural health community  because of its acclaimed benefits, which includes weight loss, reduced cholesterol, skin rashes, lower blood sugar levels and improved symptoms of diabetes, amongst others.

    “WhiteHouse Apple Cider Vinegar is a widely accepted drink in the United States owing to its long standing tradition of serving American homes with their brand of organic, raw and unfiltered apple cider vinegar with “Mother” since 1908.

    “Through this launch, we’re keen on making WhiteHouse Apple Cider Vinegar the choice health drink for health conscious Nigerians considering the numerous benefits to be derived from the product”.

    WhiteHouse Apple Cider Vinegar comes in three sizes of 500ml, 1000ml and 2L, and is available at all leading pharmacies nationwide”.

    The deliberations featured contributions from Community Pharmacists who converged on Benin, the capital of Edo state to harp on abuse of drugs and medications and its attendant harmful effects.

    Participants offered suggestions on dissuading people from engaging in drug abuse, with the young and old not exempted from the pangs of the disturbing trend.

    Leading the discussions, Chairman of ACPN, Dr. Alkali Kelong appealed to stakeholders to support collaborations and stringent measures to curb medicine abuse in Nigeria.

    He said, “As the technical group of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, we’re miffed by growing cases of drug abuse in the country. Youths are the major culprits of this act as they throw caution to the winds just to satisfy their dangerous obsessions as against healthy living”.

    “Thus, we selected this theme to bring to the forefront challenges of addressing drug abuse. Through collaborations among stakeholders and more stringent measures, we can curb drug abuse to the barest minimum in Nigeria”.

  • A vote for life

    Though she was born with a disorder referred to as Treacher Collins Syndrome, the determination by her parents not to give up on her despite all odds now makes Ifeoluwa Ogunlana to stand tall among other children with special needs… Omolara Akintoye writes

    AOLU Daniels is used to her 10-year-old son being stared at “as if he was something else but she will never be reconciled to it. They look at Deola and their mouths fall open and they just stare. And I think: didn’t anyone ever tell them how rude that is?” Each time Mrs. Daniels decide to go out with her 10-year-old child, she always comes back home embarrassed and sad

    Deola’s look is quite different from other children. When she gave birth to her, doctors could not easily diagnose the disorder, and this went on until she was six years that doctors were able to diagnose the disorder she had which is referred to as Treacher Collins Syndrome.

    This, according to Daniels, is what you encounter when you have a child with special needs: other people tend not to be very kind. “This is particularly strange because you’ve already got so much on your plate as it is. People treat your child as though he or she is out of this world. It’s soul-destroying. It’s so bad, so hard to deal with, people with such children are ashamed to even take them out,” she lamented.

    Such is the travail of parents having children with special needs, as a majority of them prefer hiding such children at home in order to avoid unnecessary embarrassment from people. But for the parents of Ifeoluwa, Mr. and Mrs. Femi and Mojisola Ogunlana, who suffers from Treacher Collins Syndrome, they have refused to give up on their daughter. Rather, they are giving her all the necessary assistance needed to realise her goals in life, come what may.

    Speaking about why they decided not to give up on their daughter, Ogunlana said: “What really prompted me to do this was when I had her in the year 2000, we did not really know what was the nature of the disorder. We felt it was a small thing but it was only the ear we could see, until after we got to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) because it all happened three days after her delivery.”

    When they got to LUTH, she got the greatest shock of her life. “The doctor told us what she would not be able to do in life such as: her inability to talk; that I should go and learn sign language; that she might not be able to walk, not be able to suck breast. That the problem is rare and a long term issue,” she said. Speaking further, she said, “after having heard this, and I got home and asked God what He is saying concerning the situation at hand and the word I heard vividly was that with the comfort you receive, comfort another person. It is a word of consolation; that what I was facing was for me to encourage others.”

    Speaking about how she was able to overcome this challenge, as well as helping her daughter, she said, “I joined a club in U.K. I linked up with people in U.S that have that kind of syndrome and they sent some magazines to me. I went through them and I was adequately informed on how to overcome such challenge and the remedy.” Ogunlana said there is need to create this awareness among people: “people out there need this awareness. Let me shock you, some doctors don’t even know the name of the syndrome.” Ifeoluwa has been taken to so many schools where she was rejected, but her mother refused to give up. “As I speak, she just finished her West African School Certificate Examination (WASC). Now I’m running a consultancy job in that area educating those that have such children not to give up on them,” Ogunlana said.

    This word she said has kept her going and 18 years down the line, the life of Ifeoluwa has been transformed. She could recall how they were managing the syndrome “because she didn’t have the cleft palate and the upper palate. Whatever she takes will come out of her nose and she was lactose intolerant (not to take milk), and she was placed on Isomilk.” This, she said, went on for three years “until we were referred to St. Nicholas, Lagos, and fortunately we met a surgeon there who tried to close the cleft but after nine days it collapsed back. Later we got to know about Dupe Ozolua, the BEARS Foundation lady. After many consultation she brought in some consultants, that was 2003. So with the assistance of my state government, she was assisted with a sum of N1.8million.But, somehow, they could not go ahead with the operation when they discovered that the one that they did last was still very fresh, and I agreed that they should use the equipment for another person.  So in 2007, they were able to perform the operation on her and it was successful, they closed the cleft. As I speak, she has done six major operations.”

    The Nation also spoke with a Professor of Orthodontics, College of Medicine, University of Lagos and Honorary Consultant, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos, Dr. Oluwatosin Sanu, who is handling Ifeoluwa’s case. According to her, the syndrome, which is also referred to as mandibulofacial dysostosis, affects bone development and other tissues in the head and face. Signs or symptoms vary greatly from individual to individual, ranging from hardly noticeable to quite severe,” she said. The disorder, she said, occurs in one out of every 50,000 children.

    According to Sanu, the most common symptom of the syndrome is micro gnathism and underdevelopment of the zygomatic bone. This can be accompanied by the  glossoptosis. The small mandible can result in a malocclusion or in more severe cases, trouble breathing or swallowing. Underdevelopment of the zygomatic bone gives the cheeks a sunken appearance. “In the case of Ifeoluwa, what we are concerned about was the dental presentation, the upper and the lower jaw, her cheek were mal-aligned, that is not well arranged, which affected her face. I started handling her case last year and as I speak, her teeth are well arranged. We are now trying to close the opening with the use of braces,” she said.

    Speaking further said, “We have not finished with her yet, as we still need to perform major operations on her face.”

    She concluded.

  • Lagos State celebrates albinos, distributes sun screen

    The Lagos State Government joined the world to mark the International Albinism Awareness Day with a public lecture themed “promoting the well-being of Albino Pupils and Students in Lagos State”.

    Speaking at the event, the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Adebunmi Adekanye, counselled that, the protection of Albino’s skin from the sun is very important because they are more sensitive to sun exposure.

    She noted that the melanin which normally protects the skin from UV (ultraviolet) damage is in short supply and that is responsible for the difference in colour of the eyes, skin and hair.

    To help Albino pupils and students in Lagos State in this direction, the state government gave out free sun screen bathing soap and body lotion to help them in skin management and reduce the risk of skin cancer. She also urged them to wear sun glasses to mitigate the effect of the sun on their eyes and vision.

    While acknowledging that Albinism could be challenging, she emphasised that it does not limit the success of anyone, adding that there was no reason for any albino to feel inferior. She charged the pupils and students to be focused, challenge themselves in any field of their choice and they will excel.

    A guest lecturer, Dr Edi Onyinye Prisca, said in her paper: “Managing low Vision with Albinism”, advised people with Albinism to avoid exposing their eyes to the sun, manage their movement to avoid collision and sit at vantage positions in class to enable them see properly.

    Mrs. Josephine Omolola, in her lecture “Total Care for Albino Child”, counselled parents to show love and care for their albino children and expose them to education. She opined that, like every other children, albinos are undeniably special gifts from God and parents, neighbours, relations and indeed the society should support them to grow and attain the peak of their careers to enable them contribute to the development of the nation.

  • Benefits of tiger nut milk

    Nigerians are obviously abreast of the health benefits of tiger nut milk, the Hausa home-made drink popularly known as KUNU AYA. Many sellers of this drink testify that they get many customers, which means that Nigerians are conscious of their health state and desire an improvement by taking this drink as a better substitute for soft drinks or any other drink with much sugar content. This drink can be found in bars, restaurants, kiosks, local markets and homes. The recipe is also on the internet and books. Ingredients used show that it is rich in various vitamins and fibre.

    Speaking to Vanguard news, a nutritionist at the Wuse General Hospital, Abuja Hajiyat Jummal Abdul, said that tiger nuts help to stimulate the immune system by preventing cardiovascular diseases, stroke and cancer. Tiger nut juice was used as a liver tonic and heart stimulant; it promotes urine production, reduces cholesterol and triglyceride, preventing hardening of the arteries, prostate cancer, hernia rectum deformation. It also aids digestion, preventing constipation and normal menstruation.

    She advised nursing mothers to eat a lot of tiger nuts for sufficient breast milk production for their babies. According to statistics, 80% of men battle manhood problems. Some of the benefits of tiger nut milk are clearly natural solutions to manhood problems a lot of men complain about, which are erectile dysfunction and infertility that has led to ruined marriages and poor relationships.

    A bartender at a popular bar in Lagos said: “When we started selling kunu aya, we had very few customers. These customers were introducing the drink to people, so people were coming to give it a trial and they said they liked it. Now, we have many customers. We sometimes sell all tiger nut drinks supplied to us in one day.” This, invariably, has also increased the sales of tiger nut milk ingredients like coco nuts, tiger nuts and almond nuts.

    Many buyers of this drink say that they buy it “because it is good for the body.”

  • Key ways to avoid the Rat virus also known as Lassa fever

    From the recent outbreak of Lassa Fever again in Nigeria leading to the death of 4 doctors and nurses in Ebonyi State and a total of 139 people under surveillance, it is expedient that we take precautionary measures once again, in order to avoid the virus

    To prevent Lassa fever, avoid rats in your homes, take the following steps:   Keep rats out of the house and food supplies; Ensure all foods are well cooked before eating; Keep your home clean and maintain personal hygiene; Dispose all refuse far away from your home; Avoid bodily fluid and blood contact while caring for a sick person; Ensure all foodstuffs are put in rodent-proof containers.

    On the other hand, health workers, they should always apply standard infection prevention and control precautions when caring for patients;  Use protective gears like gloves, nose masks, laboratory coats, and goggles when attending to patients;   Ensure safe burial practices; Only trained staffs should handle blood samples taken from humans or animals for Lassa fever investigations.

    Educate the public on Lassa fever prevention; Keep infected patients isolated.

    Public places are almost unavoidable, from entering public buses to churches, schools etc. Because you cannot tell who is virus free and who is not, it is necessary you to take safety measures; Avoid body contacts with sweaty people; Avoid roadside foods, unless you are sure the food was properly cooked; Wash and sanitize your hands always.

    Lassa fever is a fever caused by the Lassa virus, a member of the arena virus family of viruses which is predominantly found in West Africa. Rodents (Rats) are the known vectors of the Lassa virus.

    The Lassa virus is transmitted to humans via contact with food or household items contaminated with rodent urine or faeces. It is also transmitted through contact of bodily fluids (including urine and sweat), faeces or blood with an infected person. So far, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Central African Republic are the countries with known cases of Lassa fever.