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Tag: EVD

  • NGOs sensitise traders on hepatitis, Ebola

    To prevent another outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), a non-governmental organisation, Geno Hope Alive Foundation, has sensitised traders on the symptoms, prevention and mode of contracting the virus.  It also distributed hand sanitisers to the traders at Census market, Surulere in Lagos State.

    According to the coordinator of the foundation, Mrs Eno Abasi, the gesture was part of the foundation’s effort to reach out to its community, the market people, and sensitise them on the dangers of the virus; what it is all about and how they can protect themselves and the society from its spread.

    She said personal hygiene and disinfecting one’s environment are essential in preventing the disease.

    “Wash your hands with soap regularly under a running tap, fumigate your house, keep your environment void of smells, dirt, cockroach, insects, rat and avoid handshakes and touching of dead bodies. Ebola can spread fast if precaution is not taken and it can be contracted from anyone, even those that are close to you, your family members, co-workers and most especially those working in the Hospitals “ she said.

    She urged the traders to be more cautious in their business, saying that the market is an open place.

    “Do not allow customers to touch your goods anyhow; they should only touch what they want to buy so that they will not spread Ebola on your goods. “

    In the same vein, the Oshodi Noble Heritage (ONH) in conjunction with Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN), Alimosho branch Lagos, has organised a sensitisation programme for the people of Alimosho community on the need for them to take care of their health, especially managing hepatitis and the Ebola virus disease.

    According to the FOMWAN Amira, Alhaja Sherifat Ajagbe, and the Secretary of the Oshodi Noble Heritage, Mr Rasheed Olawale, the sensitisation is to educate the women to know their health status and carry out regular medical check-ups to keep themselves healthy.

    Alhaja Ajagbe said the health enlightenment was to help the women maintain their health and go for regular checkups.

    “We set out to enlighten our women on how they can live a healthy life that will keep them going in life, it is also to enlighten them on the need for them to always remain hygienic so as to prevent the deadly Ebola virus,” she said.

    The guest speaker on the occasion, Dr Abdul Lateef Akegbeyale, took the women through the dangers of hepatitis B and advised them on how to tackle it.

    “Hepatitis is deadly. As women you need to go for medical checkups to know your status, if you give birth, the hepatitis injection will be given free of charge at general hospitals, so, take your children there for prevention of this disease,” he said.

    Giving reason for the public health enlightenment, Secretary to the Oshodi Noble Heritage Mr Rasheed Olawale said it was meant to guide the women on how to protect themselves against hepatitis which, he said, is deadlier than HIV.

    “We have come to hold a sensitisation for the women of Alimosho on their health in ensuring that they get to know more about the deadly diseases; Ebola and Hepatitis because it was said by the UN that in every eight person one person is infected by hepatitis, but it is unfortunate that people don’t know this disease is deadlier than HIV, so that is why we took it a duty because public health enlightenment is one of our cardinal programmes,” he said.

    Medical checkups were carried out during the programme.

    The Association of Community Pharmacists (ACPN) has also stressed the need for regular hand washing with soap and water.

    Its chairman, Mr Olufemi Adebayo said hand washing is the most effective way of preventing diseases, such as Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)  and diarrhoea.

    He said a good hygiene should include clean hands, adding that this would prevent EVD and other infectious diseases.

    Adebayo said regular hand washing will help Nigeria attain Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5.Also, the Parasitology and Public Health Society of Nigeria has advised the Federal Government on the need to sustain the partnership with World Health Organisation, (WHO), in the containment of Ebola Virus and other diseases in Nigeria and the West African sub-region.

    In a communiqué issued at the end of its 37/38 Annual Conference and General Business Meeting, held at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, the society said there are other infectious diseases that need adequate attention as well.

    The communiqué signed by the society Editor-In-Chief, Sam Wobo, stated: “Nigerians are afflicted by a number of parastic/infectious diseases which do not attract headlines like the dreaded Ebola virus, adding that the diseases are often neglected because they afflict the poor and their signs and symptoms are not as severe as Ebola. The society appeals to you all the participants to educate their communities on safety precautions in particular, the importance of hygiene to contain Ebola and other infectious diseases.”

    It said further: “Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and other development agencies should not be left out in the containment of the diseases, the critical roles of African research and development institutions are important in the control of neglected tropical diseases (NTD), through advocacy, partnership/collaborations, capacity building and adequate funding.

    “The society believes in the sustenance of operational research with community participation as a major tool/strategy in the control/elimination of parasitic and other infectious diseases based on the inspiring example of river blindness control in Africa, the urgent need for qualitative studies on the impacts of human migration on the prevalence and persistence of parasitic and other infectious diseases in Africa.”

     

  • Great feat, dubious claims

    Great feat, dubious claims

    •Nigeria’s triumph over Ebola in record time is a thing to cheer. Not so, the dubious claims that have followed that success

    That the first Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) patient in the United States, Thomas Eric Duncan, died on October 8 again reinforces Nigeria’s stunning triumph over the disease, which has been ravaging Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

    Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian, brought EVD into Nigeria on July 20. By September 27, it had been contained; and the country declared free of the virus. While it lasted, it claimed seven lives, out of 19 confirmed infections. The dead included the heroine, Dr. Stella Adadevoh. But 12 survived, including medics, Dr. Morris Ibeawuchi and Dr. Ada Igonoh, who contracted the virus, in the cause of their care for Ebola patients. By all standards, this is a world class feat, given the not-too-impressive state, across the board, of Nigeria’s health care system.

    But the feat was not happenstance. It came because someone, somewhere showed leadership; and able medical professionals rose to the occasion, even at the risk of their own lives.

    Still, as success has many relations and failure is an orphan, bogus claims have been coming as to who and who were responsible for the swift containment of EVD.  In no time, President Goodluck Jonathan and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have corralled the success, and are freely throwing it about on the hustings as a Jonathan Presidency achievement, with an eye on boosting the president’s election chances in 2015.

    To the extent that President Jonathan is both head of the Nigerian state and government, and the containment has happened under his tenure, the glory is his — but only vicariously. However, to go full blast and claim credit, when the president, his men and his party — and indeed all Nigerians — know that the success did not derive from any presidential initiative, is sheer fraud.

    Indeed, the Jonathan presidency manifests perhaps the vilest problem of contemporary Nigeria: the penchant to rush to claim false glory. Such a ruinous mindset is responsible for Nigeria’s debilitating corruption and its wealth-without-work syndrome.

    That brings the matter to Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola’s Independence Day address intervention on the matter. Mr. Fashola should know. It was his initiative and prompt intervention, when the federal authorities were still literally snoring, that saved the day.

    Were roles to be reversed, and the Jonathan presidency was in charge in Lagos, and the Fashola governorship elsewhere, perhaps Lagos and the rest of Nigeria would perhaps now have become endless EVD graves — at least given the condemnable tardiness with which President Jonathan handled the Chibok girls kidnap saga.

    Governor Fashola did well to have dutifully intervened — and naming names of the real Ebola heroes and heroines, not politicians willfully profiting from it: Dr. Adadevoh who lost her life to save her country and who President Jonathan did not even consider meriting a national honour for her heroism, Drs. Ibeawuchi and Igonoh, who contracted Ebola but survived the ordeal; the quad of Dr. Jide Idris, Dr. Yewande Adesina, Dr. Wale Ahmed and Dr. Kayode Oguntimehin, all Lagos State Government officials, who the governor referred to as “first responders”; Dr. Abdul-Salam Nasidi of the National Disease Control Centre, Abuja, Dr. David Brett-Mayor of the World Health Organisation, Prof. S. A. Omilabu, a virologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Peter Adewuyi, that the governor said led the tracing team for the first two weeks of the EVD breakout; and the dedicated team of nurses: Mrs Funmi Lagbokun, Mrs. Modupe Aiyedun Davies, Mrs. Basirat Adeoye, Ms. F.O. Bamgboye, Mrs. K. O. Oshisanya, Mrs. Kazeem Abioye, Mrs. Abiola Lasaki and Mrs. K. Adesina.

    The governor has done well by giving these names. They are authentic national heroes, in the cause of their routine duties.

    For the political leadership, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, Minister of Health, also deserves his place in the sun, for ensuring Federal-Lagos State cooperation while the battle was hot.

    But the greatest accolade goes to Mr. Fashola himself. He proved that with prompt, efficient and effective leadership, Nigerians are as capable as any other people in the world.

     

  • Varsity confers honorary award on late Adadevoh

    Varsity confers honorary award on late Adadevoh

    For her laudable contributions to containment of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the late Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh of First Consultant Hospital, at the weekend, bagged an honorary doctorate degree of Baze University, Abuja.

    She was conferred with the Degree of Doctor of Letters, Honouris Causa posthumously by the Board of Trustees (BOT) and the Senate of Baze University during the institution’s maiden graduation ceremony at the weekend in Abuja.

    About seven out of the 64 graduating students made first class in their respective studies.

    While reading Adadevoh’s citation, Head of General Studies, Dr. Kevin Sludds, described her as an extremely dedicated, compassionate and God-fearing individual who sacrificed her life to prevent a national catastrophe.

    According to the institute, the late Adadevoh left a permanent mark on the society, stating she was deserving of the honour.

    Former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, tasked government to ensure free and basic education for every child.

     

    Abubakar lamented about 10 million children are out of schools in the north, saying there was need for clear and positive policies that will ensure every child acquires basic education

     

    Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, stated that the nation needs 50 more private universities to meet the demands of tertiary education in the nation.

     

     

  • The religion and science, faith and reason controversy – again (1)

    The religion and science, faith and reason controversy – again (1)

    I was rather pleasantly surprised by most of the emails that I received from the piece that I wrote for this column last week, this being my reflections on Dr. Adah Igonoh’s story about her survival in the battle against the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Many people wrote to tell me that they had also found Dr. Igonoh’s story very moving, very inspiring. I was pleased to read this, but quite frankly this was not what I found pleasantly surprising in the bulk of the emails that I received on last week’s column. What surprised and pleased me in the emails was this: virtually everyone who wrote informed me that, like me and academics of my type, they also think that there is no necessary and inevitable opposition or incompatibility between religion and science. Although it did occur to me that most of those who wrote the emails to me were probably people who generally share my views on many aspects of our country’s current crises and challenges, nonetheless it was pleasing to find that many readers of last week’s column also think that religion and science, faith and reason should not go their separate ways in any modern-day nation in our world. So far, so good, as the saying goes.

    But then I noticed a pattern in these emails that rather disturbed me. This was because in nearly every case, those who wrote those emails to me felt that the need for religion and science to, as it were, “walk together” in any modern state was so obvious that anyone should be able to see and affirm that need. Why I found this disturbing is the subject of this week’s essay, thus making it something of an epilogue to last week’s column. My central argument in this piece is that though the need for religion and science to work together harmoniously in the modern world seems fairly obvious, that obviousness is not to be taken for granted, not to be assumed to be without any tension, any stress. The struggle of science against religion, more specifically against the fanatical dogma of organized, institutionalized religion, is one of the central themes of modern intellectual history. At the height of that struggle, brilliant and gifted scientists were burnt at the stakes. Those who were not burnt were made to recant on their scientific theories and were banned for life from the pursuit of their scientific vocation. We cannot go into the full details of this history, but in the end science prevailed and religion had to make its peace with the decisive, transformative role of science in modern life, in the specifically modern organization of society and its productive relations and activities.

    Since our country and our continent are constituent parts of the modern world, we are heirs to that monumental struggle between religion and science. Nonetheless, that struggle never took place, never shook society to its foundations in our own part of the world. This is both good and bad. In this essay, I wish to reflect upon the good and bad parts of this historic fact that in our society, our own part of modernity, science and scientists never had to struggle against the powerful institutional, doctrinal and ideological authority of organized religion. Let’s deal first with the good part of this crucial fact that science and scientists in Africa never really had to wage fierce battles against the forces of organized religion and its historic opposition to rationality as a cardinal basis of life.

    As reported by Chinua Achebe in his famous collection of essays, The Trouble with Nigeria, in the 1950s, the Minister of Education in the old Western Region, Dr. S.A. Awokoya, wrote a book titled Why Our Children Die. According to Achebe, Awokoya wrote that book as a medical scientist who took up arms against traditional African cultural beliefs and practices that wittingly or unwittingly caused or promoted high levels of infant mortality in our society. As I have not been able to lay my hands on that book by Dr. Awokoya, I am going by what Achebe says about it in his book. And what Achebe says is that Dr. Awokoya in his book took up arms in defence or promotion of science and rationality against beliefs and practices in our traditional cultures that militated against rational explanations and remedies for diseases, together with the practice of private and public hygiene, especially with regard to the great vulnerability of children to diseases and lack of hygiene.

    The allusion to Achebe and Awokoya in this discussion helps us to see, I hope, that the “enemy” of science in Africa was not organized religion. More crucially, Achebe and Awokoya were careful to emphasize the fact that it was not the entirety of the African cultural heritage that was against science and rationality; rather, it was some specific and identifiable beliefs and practices that constituted the composite enemy. As a matter of fact, both Achebe and Awokoya were products of the schools of a rationalized, “modernized” form of Christianity that promoted science and the scientific spirit in our part of the world, even as theological and doctrinal branches of these same forms of Christianity waged holy wars against the entire heritage of culture on our continent. Achebe and Awokoya, as archetypal figures in the story of science, rationality and religion in our continent, showed us that this was and is a complex story in which organized religion, traditional cultures and the scientific spirit could not be divided into a simple pattern of opposites and negatives, illumination and mystification. Some parts of traditional cultures were not in opposition to the scientific enterprise, just as some doctrinal aspects of Christianity opposed all aspects of traditional cultures, not because they were against science but because they were thought to be the antithesis of the one true God of the Christians or Moslems. In other words, faith and rationality in modern Africa never got caught and fixated in the radical and uncompromising opposition that medieval, pre-modern Christianity in Europe mounted between religion and science. This is the good part of the overall narrative. We now move to the bad part.

    For this, it helps to put matters in concrete and perhaps even dramatic terms. No scientists were ever burnt at the stakes on our continent. But this also means that no scientist ever achieved a heroic stature as the defender of the scientific spirit and enterprise against the forces of religious medievalism. For it was precisely because of these factors that science in Europe was able to win commerce, industry and the popular imagination to its side in the struggle against organized religion. There is another way to put this observation in terms that are perhaps even more graphic and it is this: we do not have a single man or woman of science to match the iconic stature of an Achebe or a Soyinka, none at all. Achebe, Soyinka, Clark, Okigbo and the other icons of modern Nigeria literature achieved their stature because they challenged and overcame the racist, colonialist canard that we did not have what it takes to produce works of literature that are equal to the best literary works from other regions of the world. In our celebration of the achievements of these icons of modern Nigerian writing, we often place too much emphasis on their talent, their genius and in the process underestimate the struggles that they had to wage. Thus, though talent and genius are very important, the central factor in this piece is struggle and effort, unceasing and unflagging struggle and effort.

    It is perhaps useful at this point to bring these observations and reflections back to Dr. Adah Igonoh’s story. In doing this, I wish to place as much emphasis as I possibly can on the fact that in last week’s column, I made every effort to highlight and praise the determination and will with which Dr. Igonoh went in search of knowledge and information that could help her prevail over the EVD peril. Repeatedly, I stated that while she spent much time and invested great emotional and spiritual energy in prayers and divine favour, she was also relentless in her search for remedies available from medical science. Please remember that this all took place at a moment in her life when she faced great debilitation from a relentlessly destructive disease. At the risk of offending the sensibilities of many readers who are devout religionists, I wish to point out that at that moment in Dr. Igonoh’s battle with EVD, religion and faith were the easy, assured part of the struggle; far more onerous and demanding was the pursuit and absorption of scientific knowledge and information.

    Knowledge and truth seeking, in all areas of life and experience, is not for the faint-hearted; this is even more so with regard to science. To be a successful and dedicated  woman or man of science takes a lot of hard, grindingly demanding work. With the phenomenal rise and accession to dominance of Pentecostalism in our country and our continent in the last two or three decades, this crucial perspective on what science demands from scientists has been submerged by the belief that you must leave everything, everything, to God. The reason for this is not difficult to find: in many respects, Pentecostalism is medieval in its worldview. It does not exactly have the institutional power and authority that organized religion in medieval Europe had and so it cannot wage a direct assault on science and rationalism as Christianity did in the Middle Ages in Europe. Its assault is more indirect, more subtle in that it comprises the combination of intellectual laziness and fanatical religiosity in which the religiosity provides a cover, a refuge for the intellectual laziness. In next week’s concluding essay in this series, we shall explore how and why it has managed to capture many segments of our national intelligentsia that include men and women of science.

     

    Biodun Jeyifo

    bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

  • ECOWAS ministers meet in Accra

    The Ministerial Coordination Group (MCG) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Health Ministers is to meet in Accra, Ghana tomorrow, in a bid to end the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, spoke at a dinner with media representatives in Abuja.

    He said the meeting would modalities for the deployment of personnel as recommended in the Regional Operational Plan for response to EVD.

    According to the plan, it would define procedures for the recruitment of health personnel and coordinators in partnership with the health ministries of ECOWAS nations, Economic Community of West African States Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) and other development partners.

    The plan was developed by ECOWAS Health ministers at their Extraordinary Assembly on August 28 in Ghana. They detailed activities, tasks, implementation indicators, place of implementation, including cost and institutions in charge, as well as the time frame for project implementation.

    Ouedraogo said besides collective efforts, solidarity from member-nations and prevention remained the best option to address EVD.

     

  • Counting the cost of Ebola Virus Disease

    Counting the cost of Ebola Virus Disease

    •First Consultants Hospital reopened

    The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has caused havoc in Nigeria and indeed West Africa. Its occurrence brought fear, loss of lives and down turn in economic or commercial activities. WALE ADEPOJU writes on the devastation.

     

    After three consecutive decontamination exercises recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, Lagos, has reopened.

    This followed the clean bill of health, the hospital which admitted the late Liberian-American, Mr Patrick Sawyer, the index case of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) between July 16 and 20, received from the Federal Government.

    But the hospital will need to replace many of its equipment, which it lost due to contamination.

    The hospital, however, received a boost with the visit of Lagos State Governor, Mr Babtunde Fashola, who pledged on behalf of the state to assist the hospital replace some of the equipment.

    The state gesture, Fashola said, will mitigate the impact of the losses the hospital recorded while attending to late Mr Sawyer and the attendant crisis that followed.

    He said hospital’s tools would be replaced, adding that the state would support the personnel, because “they are the most important tools.”

    The governor, who led state delegation to the hospital, said eight people contracted Ebola virus at the hospital but four died.

    The hospital, he said, was shut and decontaminated, adding that this was why it discarded some equipment.

    “Some equipment were discarded  in the process of decontamination. So, the state will  provide other forms of support to help the hospital get back on its feet,” he said.

    He praised the hospital for helping the country contain the virus, adding: “The government is proposing a law designed to increase the capacity of health workers and ensure their safety at work places.

    “There is the Public Health Law and you were right to have acted the way you did. We are also considering the amendment to that law. When the executive bill goes to the parliament in a couple of weeks, I have asked them to list it for consideration to see what we can do in the law to strengthen capacity going forward.”

    He advised that people need not live endlessly in fear over problems, rather they should confront them and move on with their lives.

    Governor Fashola praised those who helped in the containment of the EVD in the state, adding that their support helped to avert what could have resulted in a tragedy.

    Fashola said the  hospital was certified ready for operation after the decontamination.

    The governor said his visit was to identify with the staff on the way forward, adding that since the EVD has been dealt with professionally, the way forward was to get on with life.

    The hospital’s Chief Medical Director (CMD), Mr Benjamin Ohaeri, thanked the governor for the gesture, adding that it would help to increase the morale of the personnel.

    The hospital, he said, has been decontaminated three times, according to the WHO’s Guideline for mopping up Ebola.

    Similarly, Lagos State has also been decontaminating public places, such as bus-stops, to certify the environment safe for the people.

    As schools prepare  for resumption, 1007 and 668 trained Lagos State’s Ebola Focal Officers (EFOs) for public primary and secondary schools respectively have been assigned to monitor body temperature of students.

    The state has distributed thermoscans, a scientific instrument used to measure body temperature, to its EFOs.

    Special Adviser to the State Governor on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina said the officers will be responsible for surveillance and health monitoring of the disease in the schools.

    She said they will also interface between schools and primary healthcare centres if the need be for referrals.

    Thermoscans, Adeshina said, were procured to check vital signs of students, especially body temperature, which can signal the commencement of a fever.

    She said public schools which are not connected to water supply will get water soon.

    “Gloves and liquid soaps for hand washing have been procured to aid personal and environmental hygiene,” she said.

    Dr Adeshina advised that they should not entertain any fear because only noticeably sick patients can spread the disease through direct contact with the broken skin, mucous membranes and secretions of an infected person or through direct contact with materials and surfaces that have been contaminated by an infected person.

    Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, said the hospital has been fully decontaminated and hence Ebola-free.

    Idris urged patients and associates to resume patronising the hospital, adding that it remains a top-quality institution, especially after the government has given it a clean bill of health.

    The FCT Administration has begun the distribution of preventive items against the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) as directed by the Federal Government for the resumption of schools on September 22.

    The Rivers State government has announced Monday, October 6, as the resumption date for primary and secondary schools.

    Many people still bear the brunt of the disease imported into Nigeria by a Liberian-American, Mr Patrick Sawyer on July 16 in Lagos.

    The emergence of the  disease has left many homes mourning. Many lost their loved ones to the disease whose fatality rate is put at 90 per cent. Children bemoan the lost of bread winners.

    However, there was relief when the Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu announced two Thursdays ago that the country is now free from the disease.

    Recounting the country’s EVD status, Prof Chukwu said: “There were 19 cases of EVD with seven deaths recorded. One of the seven is an index case.”

    It was cheering news to many, but some people still have their suspicions as Ebola’s fatal accident ratio is very high.

    This is why they are unconvinced. People, somewhat, still regard Ebola virus as a death sentence, “which it is not.” The method of contracting the disease is scary and it sends fear down the people’s spine.

    When the Ebola virus broke out, it affected the economic and social lives of the people. Trade and industrial activities came to a halt. Many activities were postponed.

    The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the period was also affected. The aviation business could not function appropriately as some airlines shun Nigerian routes.

    Similarly, petty trading was troubled as people kept to themselves. Bush meat which was a regular recipe in most affluent homes was the worst hit because it was named among the vectors or agents that are responsible for its spread.

    This is because people were prohibited from gathering in clusters, which is a way to discourage its further spread.

    Many investors were discouraged and so were unwilling to do business.

    Some businesses were shut down temporarily while others run skeletal services, all in a bid to contain EVD.

    The cost of hand sanitisers went up and beyond the reach of ordinary man. Some brands were sold 500 per cent more than its original cost. The price of health care consumables, such as hand gloves and medicated spirits also increased.

    School children, who were before then on holidays were told to remain at home, until it is contained.

    Prof Chukwu said the Federal Government has supported Lagos and Rivers states with N200 million each to enable them contain the disease.

    Besides, the government has committed some resources to the fight against the disease.

    Rivers State governor, Mr Rotimi Amechi said the state in conjunction with Emergency Operations Committee (EOC) on Ebola, budgeted N1billion to combat the disease.

    He released N300 million to begin the containment long before the Federal Government pledge a support of N200 million which was yet to be received.

    Alhaji Aliko Dangote also donated N150 million to the government for the fight against the disease.

    Similarly, there were support from international agencies, such as the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), The Ebola outbreak also affected Nigeria’s participation in world events. A good example was when her athletes were forced to withdraw from the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China recently.

    The organisers were discriminatory against the country’s participant consequently the athletes pulled out of the competition. The Golden Eaglets were refused entry visas to Congo. The team had to travel by road to engage their opponent in a match. The Nigerian team eventually lost the game by two goals to one.

    This made the Nigeria’s Consul General in Shanghai, Ayo Otepola to back the decision of the country to pull out of the competition.

    The athletes were quarantined and barred from training because of the outbreak of EVD.

    This forced the withdrawal of Team Nigeria from the competition.

    Otepola, who received the team in Shanghai, said medical checks on the athletes and officials at the point of entry by the Chinese officials showed that they did not any sign of exposure to Ebola virus. Yet, the team was prevented from training like other competitions.

    He said team, which comprises young athletes was psychologically affected by what happened to them in China. Team Nigeria registered to participate in athletics, wrestling and beach volleyball with 12 athletes in the Youth Olympics which will start on August 16 and last for ten days.

    The WHO has recommended suitable personal protective equipment must be worn by health professionals, especially gloves when treating an infected patient.

    “Wearing two pairs of gloves is recommended when dealing with large volumes of blood, other body fluids, vomit or other excretions. This helps to reduce any residual risk posed by possible micro perforations in the gloves. It essential that all health workers decontaminate their hands after removing the gloves,” it said.

    For potentially contaminated hands that are visibly clean, the WHO recommends in general the use of an alcohol-based hand rub for routine hand disinfection. In its latest publication about the Ebola virus in August, the WHO also describes hand disinfection as the standard of hand decontamination.

    “The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend hand washing with soap and water or use of an alcohol-based hand rub. The German Robert Koch Institute (RKI) recommends the use of an alcohol-based hand rub with a proven efficacy against at least enveloped viruses. Many hand disinfectants are known to be broadly effective against enveloped viruses,” it noted.

    Hand washing alone, it said, is definitely not the most effective decontamination method for clean hands. Besides, the Ebola virus is spread into the surrounding area where it can remain infectious for up to three weeks. This is an avoidable risk of cross contamination. Disinfection alone can ensure that the virus loses its infectivity.

  • Nigeria gets $1m from AfDB to fight Ebola

    Nigeria has received a $1 million (N168 million) grant from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to fight the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

    At the signing ceremony for the grant in Abuja yesterday, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said yesterday’s “event is about the partnership of countries and institutions to support Nigeria’s successful efforts to contain Ebola.”

    Nigeria, she said, “has done well as confirmed so far by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and others. But we cannot afford to be complacent. Lagos and Rivers governments also deserve commendation for their quick response. For the sake of Dr. Stella Adadevoh and other Nigerians, especially  youths, who are our future, we cannot afford to be complacent.”

    The AfDB Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Ousmane Dore, said the bank wants “to strengthen relevant institutions and response mechanisms in the battle against Ebola. It has a $60million fund to support the strengthening of health systems in West African countries to cope with Ebola and other diseases in the spirit of African solidarity.”

    The WHO country representative, Dr. Rui Gama Vaz, said the international health organisation “appreciates the efforts made by Nigeria to tackle Ebola. The results have been impressive and we know the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan has been a decisive factor. Ebola is an international issue, which requires international response. The federal, Lagos and Rivers governments have done quite well in terms of quick response and allocation of resources.”

  • Ebola: Nurses demand better equipment

    Ebola: Nurses demand better equipment

    In the aftermath of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak,nurses in private and public hospitals are wary of patients.Their umbrella bodies are asking the Federal and state governments to provide adequate materials, such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), for them, report OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA and WALE ADEPOJU.

    NurseS, who are  important in the care industry are gradually losing their steam.

    The practitioners are becoming  complacent in giving their best for  fear of contracting Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), a disease brought to Nigeria by a Liberian-American, Mr Patrick Sawyer, on July 20.

    Nurses are breaking the silence by demanding a better health care system- preventing vulnerability in nursing care.

    President, National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Mr Abdulrafiu Adeniji, said the government was slack in providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and insurance coverage for nurses.

    According to him, the government concentrates more on doctors whereas more nurses have died from EVD than other healthcare workers in the sector.

    He decried lack of PPE in most hospitals, adding that nurses need to be protected against the infectious disease.

    “By our ethics, we cannot say we would not attend to patients but we must do so with the right equipment and facilities. The government should enroll all nurses on life insurance coverage because of the hazard of their job, so as to encourage them to perform creditably. Life insurance coverage will motivate nurses to go the extra mile on their job.”

    Adeniji said the fight against Ebola should be collective  and not restricted to health workers alone. He said:“We can only do our best when they bring them to hospitals for treatment. Everybody has a responsibility to discharge in the fight against Ebola.”

    President, Association of General Private Nursing Practitioners (AGPNP), Mr Olusola Oyebode said equipping nurses with PPE in private hospitals is a problem.

    He said the government had not been proactive to ensure PPE are  available in the private sector facilities.

    Oyebode said he spoke with the officials of the Ministry of Health, adding that no positive response has been received from them on the availability of PPEs for the private sector.

    He said prevention is the best way to prevent  contracting the disease,adding that victims of ill equipped facilities are nurses.

    This, he said, was why NANNM urged its members to treat patients with  high index of suspicion with utmost  caution. “We are using barrier nursing to ward off infectious diseases. But getting PPEs is a problem in private sector. To this end, nurses have disposable wears, which is quite expensive and it cannot be compared with standard PPEs. Use of Infrared temperature equipment, which can be used to detect an infected person from a distance, is not available as well,” he said.

    Oyebode charged nurses to take extra precaution to be safe from Ebola.

    Chairman, Lagos State Branch of NANNM, Mrs Olatunde Omisola, thanked the Lagos State government for making PPEs available to nurses and other healthcare professionals managing cases of Ebola at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba.

    She said the equipment were in abundance at the facility, which is designated to treat Ebola cases.

    Mrs Omisola said if a nurse needs to render three procedures, there are PPEs for him or her to use. “Nurses have been attending to patients at IDH, many of the patients have been discharged but not a single nurse has contracted the disease, since the unfortunate incident with Mr Sawyer ,” she said.

    She said the treatment centre at the IDH is well-coordinated, adding: “When a nurse enters through a door, she gets out through another, so as not to leave any room for errors. Nurses on their own, she said, are taking precautionary measures, because they are not ignorant. We have gone beyond the knowledge we have before to acquire new skills to make our job easier.”

    Mrs Omisola said the association had not relented to ensure its members are adequately protected.  “The most important strategy we employ is creating awareness,” she said.

  • Ebola: Nurses demand better equipment

    Ebola: Nurses demand better equipment

    In the aftermath of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak,nurses in private and public hospitals are wary of patients.Their umbrella bodies are asking the Federal and state governments to provide adequate materials, such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), for them, report OYEYEMI GBENGA-MUSTAPHA and WALE ADEPOJU.

    Nurses, who are  important in the care industry are gradually losing their steam.

    The practitioners are becoming  complacent in giving their best for  fear of contracting Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), a disease brought to Nigeria by a Liberian-American, Mr Patrick Sawyer, on July 20.

    Nurses are breaking the silence by demanding a better health care system- preventing vulnerability in nursing care.

    President, National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Mr Abdulrafiu Adeniji, said the government was slack in providing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and insurance coverage for nurses.

    According to him, the government concentrates more on doctors whereas more nurses have died from EVD than other healthcare workers in the sector.

    He decried lack of PPE in most hospitals, adding that nurses need to be protected against the infectious disease.

    “By our ethics, we cannot say we would not attend to patients but we must do so with the right equipment and facilities. The government should enroll all nurses on life insurance coverage because of the hazard of their job, so as to encourage them to perform creditably. Life insurance coverage will motivate nurses to go the extra mile on their job.”

    Adeniji said the fight against Ebola should be collective  and not restricted to health workers alone. He said:“We can only do our best when they bring them to hospitals for treatment. Everybody has a responsibility to discharge in the fight against Ebola.”

    President, Association of General Private Nursing Practitioners (AGPNP), Mr Olusola Oyebode said equipping nurses with PPE in private hospitals is a problem.

    He said the government had not been proactive to ensure PPE are  available in the private sector facilities.

    Oyebode said he spoke with the officials of the Ministry of Health, adding that no positive response has been received from them on the availability of PPEs for the private sector.

    He said prevention is the best way to prevent  contracting the disease,adding that victims of ill equipped facilities are nurses.

    This, he said, was why NANNM urged its members to treat patients with  high index of suspicion with utmost  caution. “We are using barrier nursing to ward off infectious diseases. But getting PPEs is a problem in private sector. To this end, nurses have disposable wears, which is quite expensive and it cannot be compared with standard PPEs. Use of Infrared temperature equipment, which can be used to detect an infected person from a distance, is not available as well,” he said.

    Oyebode charged nurses to take extra precaution to be safe from Ebola.

    Chairman, Lagos State Branch of NANNM, Mrs Olatunde Omisola, thanked the Lagos State government for making PPEs available to nurses and other healthcare professionals managing cases of Ebola at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), Yaba.

    She said the equipment were in abundance at the facility, which is designated to treat Ebola cases.

    Mrs Omisola said if a nurse needs to render three procedures, there are PPEs for him or her to use. “Nurses have been attending to patients at IDH, many of the patients have been discharged but not a single nurse has contracted the disease, since the unfortunate incident with Mr Sawyer ,” she said.

    She said the treatment centre at the IDH is well-coordinated, adding: “When a nurse enters through a door, she gets out through another, so as not to leave any room for errors. Nurses on their own, she said, are taking precautionary measures, because they are not ignorant. We have gone beyond the knowledge we have before to acquire new skills to make our job easier.”

    Mrs Omisola said the association had not relented to ensure its members are adequately protected.  “The most important strategy we employ is creating awareness,” she said.

  • Church partners doctors against disease

    High Life Church has donated 30 Infectious Disease Control (IDC) kits and 30 non-contact thermometers to Etiosa Local Government Area Branch of the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN).

    The church said the donation was done having realised that EVD is an existential threat to society, and in an effort to halt the spread of the disease in the country. The items are for the use in the early detection of the disease in the zone.

    According to Head Pastor of the church, Pastor Babatunde Carlton Williams: “Everything that brings healing to people must be encouraged. This makes doctors ministers of God; as derivable from the fourth verse of the 13th  chapter of Apostle Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome. This sits right at the heart of the Empowering Our Community strategy of High Life.

    ”The church considers the donation to be a civic duty as representatives of Jesus Christ, in support of the commendable commitment of the Federal and Lagos State governments to subdue the EVD.”

    The items were received on behalf of the Etiosa Local Government Area Branch of the AGPMPN by Dr Efosa Aruede,

    Dr Aruede, Proprietor of BAEFEM Specialist Hospital in Victoria Garden City, said the EVD is  another problem that has added to the problems of health care delivery in our society. “The donations would therefore become useful even in the control of some other infectious diseases that bedevil medical practice in our nation. This is the reason that the Association would ensure that the donations would be put to responsible use.”

    A past Zonal Chairman of the association, Dr Babatunde Palomeras, thanked High Life Church for being in the forefront of fight against the EVD, saying that the church is truly “taking the message right from the pulpit to the warfront”.

    Seeing the initiative as  commendable, he said this had motivated him to think that strategically, this could open new vistas of collaboration between government and her health agencies on one hand and institutions such as the Church on the other. “This should lead the church to consider further initiatives in the Community Health Insurance sector, of the overall healthcare delivery system; a gesture that would generate an incredible multiplier effect in improving the quality of life of the people of our nation.”

    Beyond the gesture of halting the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease, High Life has a strategic goal: to make relevant contributions to the marketplace of ideas that will lead to improvement of the systems in all spheres of life in Nigeria.