The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Prof. Isaac Adewole

  • Fed Govt launches 11 policy documents on reproductive health

    The Federal Government has launched 11 policy documents on reproductive health.

    The documents are expected to provide policy direction for all actors and stakeholders in reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health service delivery.

    The documents are also expected to address pertinent issues on gender and rights of persons living with disabilities.

    Launching the documents yesterday, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said because of the role family planning plays in improving health outcomes for women and children, government pledged to work with development partners, including the private sector, to achieve a modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR) of 27 per cent among all women by 2020.

    Though the country has made some remarkable progress in reproductive health, the minister noted that much work should be done to achieve the set target.

    He said: “This launch is very timely when we have just over one year to go, we are in our final push to achieve our FP2020 goals. Last year, the Government of Nigeria updated our country’s FP2020 commitment at the Family Planning Summit in London. Because of the role family planning plays in improving health outcomes for women and children, we pledged to work with our Partners including the private sector, to achieve a modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (mCPR) of 27 per cent among all women by 2020.

    “While we are proud of the progress that we have made over the years, we need to do more work to achieve our set goals and look beyond 2020 to build on our successes and address the bottlenecks that pose the challenge of access to quality family planning choices that our women need to actualisation their reproductive health decisions.

    “The documents we are launching today have been designed to address emerging issues and to adopt evidence-based practices that have been implemented at scale to address the sexual and reproductive health challenges of adolescents and women including persons living with disabilities in Nigeria.

    “While we are delighted that as a country, we have made some progress over the years in the scale up of critical interventions that have significant impact on improving the sexual and reproductive health outcomes of adolescents and women in the country, a lot still needs to be done.

    “According to the estimates of National Population Commission, Nigeria has a population of about 198 million persons (NPOpC, 2018) with adolescents and women contributing a significant amount of this population. Their health and wellbeing is therefore important and a priority for government to ensure that we have a healthy and productive society.

    “I am pleased to reiterate that the Federal Government is committed to providing Comprehensive and Integrated Sexual and Reproductive Health services for all Nigerians.”

    The documents launched are: the National Strategic Framework for the Elimination of Obstetric Fistula in Nigeria 2019 – 2023; An Orientation Package for Health Care Providers “FMOH 2018 ANC Model”; Task Shifting/Task Sharing Policy December, 2018; Task Shifting/Task Sharing Standard of Practice, December 2018; Manual for Training Doctors and Nurses/Midwives on Postpartum Family Planning Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (PP LARC) Methods (PPIUD and Implants) Training Manual; Manual for Training Community Health Extension Workers on Postpartum Family Planning Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (PP LARC) Methods (PPIUD and Implants) Training Manual; Reproductive Health (RH) Wheel; National Guidelines for the Introduction and scale up of DMPA – SC Self Injection, January 2019; DMPA-SC: A Guide for Trainers of Injection- Experienced Providers; DMPA-SC: A Guide for Trainers of Providers with Limited Experience. January 2019 and the National Policy on the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Persons with Disability with emphasis on Women and Girls.

     

    He also commended all international partners who ensured the success of the policy documents.

  • 71 percent of TB patients are affected by catastrophic cost, says FG

    A survey conducted by the federal government in collaboration with her partners in 2017 showed that 71 percent of TB patients and their households are affected negatively by the catastrophic cost due to tuberculosis (TB).

    This was revealed by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, during a press briefing to commemorate the World Tuberculosis Day and the official launch of the report of the catastrophic cost survey yesterday in Abuja.

    The Minister of Health, who was represented by Dr. Felix Ogenyi, Director of General Services of the Federal Ministry of Health, said that: “A worrisome trend is that of funding. The catastrophic cost survey conducted in 2017 showed that 71% of TB patients and their household are affected negatively by the catastrophic cost due to TB.”

    The report defines catastrophic cost as the total costs (indirect and direct combined) exceeding a given threshold (e.g. 20%) of the household’s annual income, and also as ‘dissaving’ (such as loans taken, property or livestock sale) incurred by patients to face health costs associated with the TB disease (Working definition adopted by the WHO Task force, March, 2015).

    “Our National TB treatment coverage for 2018 was 25%. This implies that out at the estimated 418,000 new TB cases, only 106,533 TB cases were notified in 2018 leaving over 300,000 cases undiagnosed.

    “Similarly, the current proportion of health facilities in the country with TB services is barely 26%.

    “Let me add that the access to TB diagnostic services is also a challenge. The current LGA coverage of Gene Xpert (which is the first-line test for diagnosis of TB) is 41%,” he said.

    He further added that: “To address these challenges, our President, His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, participated in the first-ever United Nations high level meeting (UNHLM) on TB that was held in New York, United States in September 2018.

    “The President, along with other leaders, made a firm commitment towards eradicating TB in the world.

    “To further demonstrate government’s determination to END TB, we have developed an action plan for translating the UNHLM commitments on TB into action.

    “The Government of Nigeria is therefore committed to enhancing available services alongside expansion of TB diagnostics and treatment services to improve access in line with our Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda.”

    “Our plan going forward is to: Rapidly expand TB treatment and diagnostic services in both public and private health facilities; ensure capacity development of health care workers on diagnosis and management of TB;

    “Strengthen intra-facility linkage for TB services by ensuring every OPDs attendees are screened for TB in all health facilities; Create an increased demand for TB services through awareness campaigns on TB in health facilities, schools and communities; Ensure improved social protection packages for TB patients and families and ensure a more robust engagement of professional associations and Civil Society Organizations,” he said.

    Dr. Adebola Lawanson, the National Coordinator for the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP), said that: “TB is no more a disease that should be confined to the health care facilities alone. We see that social exclusion is one of the greatest problems we have for those who have TB.

    Read also: 1.6 million people die of Tuberculosis, says Fed Govt

    “Stigmatization against people with TB is one major risk factor that we have found out that is also leading to the spread of the disease.

    “A lot of people with the disease shy away from coming out to access the health care facilities. It is a social disease that must be tackled head-on to make sure that people with it are no more stigmatized.

    “The federal government wants Nigerians to be healthy.

    “With the support of our partners, these drugs and facilities are made available to ensure that people access them, and don’t expend a lot of their resources, in fact, they don’t expend any of their resources in taking care of themselves because service have been provided free of charge.”

    TB is curable; Diagnosis and TB treatment are available free of charge in oil DOTS centres notion-wide; Persistent cough for two or more weeks could be TB; Toll-free help-line for TB is 08002255282.

  • Genital mutilation: Minister expresses shock over involvement of medical personnel 

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has described as shocking the involvement of medical personnel in the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

    Over 200 million women and girls globally are affected by the FGM, with three million  new cases recorded annually.

    Nigeria, it was also learnt accounts for 20million of the global record.

    Speaking yesterday at the Advocacy /Stakeholders meeting on curbing medicalization of the FGM and sanction of erring medical personnel in Nigeria, Adewole said it was shocking to discover the involvement of medical personnel in the act.

    The minister, who was represented by Dr Kayode Afolabi, Director, Head of the Reproductive Health, Ministry of Health, said the involvement of medical personnel in the promotion of the FGM under whatever disguise was unacceptable.

    He said, “The medicalization of the FGM in Nigeria is actually shocking. Nigeria bears at least 10% of the burden of the FGM globally. Out of 200 million woman with the FGM, Nigeria accounts for 20million.  “25% in Nigeria have the FGM that is really very shocking to hear, therefore the FGM is a human right problem,” he said.

    The minister added: “ I was also shocked to realize that 12.718% of the FGM is actually done by health professionals in Nigeria. To me, it is unacceptable that medical personal are enticed to it because it helps their pockets, but that is not a justification.”

    He noted that government has been working with partners to address the issue at all levels by developing clinical protocol on how to manage and sensitize health professionals against medicalization of the FGM.

    He was of the opinion that with the ongoing efforts, the FGM would be eradicated very soon by 2019.

    “The import of why we are here is for you to go back and talk to your workers, to create awareness, talk to the nurses, midwives, doctors and other health professionals to be aware that the medicalization of the FGM is not acceptable in the country”, the minister said

  • High fertility rate a problem for Nigeria – Osinbajo

    With over 180 million population, the country’s fertility rate poses a problem, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has said.

    Osinbajo who spoke in Abuja Tuesday at the opening of the 5th National Family Planning Conference in Abuja, warned that the nation risks having additional 68 million people by 2030.

    The Vice President who was represented by Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said “if Nigeria’s prevailing annual population growth rate 3.2 percent persists, we will have an additional 68 million people by 2030, and will be the third most populous country in the world by 2050.”

    Read Also:Osinbajo challenges lecturers, administrators on state of education

    He explained that apart from Federal Government’s economic policies aimed at making lives comfortable to the nation’s population, the administration is committed to making family planning commodities available to those who need them.

    The nation, he noted failed to plan for its future when it raked in fortunes from oil and other revenue sources in recent past.

    “In the absence of basic social safety nets, and pro-poor policymaking, tens of millions of our people were left stranded, observing the statistics of economic growth from a distance, completely untouched by it…The sad reality is that for most of our history as a country, periods of economic growth have somehow managed to leave out the majority of our population.

    “Between 2011 and 2015 when Nigeria enjoyed some of the highest revenues in history, and overtook South Africa to become the largest economy in Africa, there was no commensurate impact in poverty alleviation and improvement of wellbeing,” the Vice president said.

    Speaking on the theme of the conference: Investment, Innovation and Inclusiveness, he said: “This is how I see the three “I’s”: Investment, innovation and inclusiveness are three very critical keys for unlocking the very beneficial contributions of family planning to Nigeria’s ambition of reaping all of its potential demographic dividend.

    “This demographic dividend is of course the catch-all term for the benefits and potential realizable from attaining the optimal age structure in a population. In the case of Nigeria, this optimal age structure would mean a combination of declining fertility and a simultaneous rise in the working age population.  Our main challenge, evidently, is with our current fertility rates.”

    He said investing in family planning has been proven to be smart, cost-effective, and life-saving; and is especially critical in a country like Nigeria with a very young and rapidly growing population.

    He added that estimated 63 percent of Nigeria’s population is below 25 years; with a significant segment of the population being sexually active and needing education and guidance to wisely navigate the issues of equality, choice and contraception.

    He argued further that achieving the SDGs and Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 depends significantly on how well sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and young people are prioritized.

    He said the nation must clearly insist on including young people at the very heart of its policies and its deployment of resources to achieve these policies.

    While urging participants at the conference to develop evidence-based approaches to population management, Osinbajo noted that time was no longer waiting for the nation. “We must act and move fast, because our challenges themselves are not simply sitting and waiting around to be solved. They are evolving and adapting in increasingly complicated forms, and our responses and solutions must keep up.

    “Family planning and population management generally are not just life-saving interventions but actually critical tools for economic and social development.”

    The three day conference has representatives of local and international organizations working on family planning, experts from medical field, government delegations among others.

     

  • Adewole consoles murdered health worker’s family

    Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has commiserated with the family of Hauwa Liman, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) humanitarian worker murdered by Boko Haram.

    Prof Adewole, who described the murder as callous and unfortunate, said the health workers should not be a target in any conflict zone as they are recognised as humanitarian service providers.

    He prayed for the repose of her soul and called on Boko Haram to follow the rules of International engagement which respect the right of humanitarian workers in conflict zones.

     

     

     

     

  • FG to carry out survey on diabetes, hypertension incident – Minister

    ….Says PHCs will soon commence screening, treatment

     

    The Federal Government has planned to carry out a survey on diabetes and hypertension, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has announced.

    The survey, which Adewole said will be carried out this year, is to help determine the number of people affected with such diseases.

    Read AlsoHypertension killing more people than any other condition – Prof. Omotoso

    Besides, the minister also announced that Primary Health Centres (PHCs) will soon be conducting screening and treatment of patients of such diseases.

    In a statement signed by Boade Akinola (Mrs.) Director, Media and Public Relations the minister noted that it was important to know the number of people with the problems so as to provide healthcare for them.

    He was quoted to have spoken in Abuja, while declaring open, 4th Pan- African Diabetic Foot Study Group Conference and the Advance Course on Diabetic Foot/ Podiatry organized by the Pan-African Diabetic Foot Study Group in collaboration with World Diabetes Foundation and Mark Anumah Medical Mission.

    He said, “We want to know how many people have the problem so that government can provide care for them appropriately.

    “We will go beyond screening of diabetes at the teaching hospitals but we want to mainstream it in our primary healthcare centers”.

    “As we are implementing the basic healthcare provision funds in PHC in this year’s budget, we want to offer care to Nigerians in the Primary healthcare level, where the large number of population received medical care”, Adewole said.

    The Minister said that situation where everyone goes to teaching hospitals would not help the Nigerian health system.

    In his remarks, chairman of the occasion, Prof. Oladipo Ladipo, President, Association of Reproductive Health said that Nigeria had the largest population in Africa and indirectly has the large number of diabetic patients in Sub-Sahara Africa.

    He said Nigerian Doctors, Nurses, Orthopedic Surgeon must work together to ensure the diabetic foot was reduced to the barest minimum.

    Prof. Ladipo said that more than 120 delegates converged from various parts of Africa to discuss way forward on diabetic foot /podiatry. He emphasized that Nigeria must develop another way to manage non- communicable diseases.

    In her presentation, the Chairperson, Local Organizing Committee, Prof. Felicia Anumah of University of Abuja Teaching Hospital said that diabetic had become pandemic and would lead to increase of diabetic foot.

    She said the disease is silent until it sets up complications, is has high economic cost and difficult to manage when the case is presented lately.

    “50 percent of the patients present their cases when the only option is amputation” She said.

    She called on general public to always visit healthcare providers for checkup if there is any pain in the feet.

     

     

  • Nigeria joins global efforts to eradicate Rhesus disease

    Minister of Health Prof Isaac Adewole will deliver a keynote address at a symposium meant for the eradication of Rhesus disease.

    The event, organised by Rhesus Solution Initiative (RSI), will hold on August 15 at the Sickle Cell Foundation Centre, near Lagos University Teaching hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Mushin, Lagos.

    Prof Adewole will be joined by some experts on Rhesus disease from Canada, Italy and Denmark for a day symposium.

    The theme of the symposium is “Fifty years of Rhesus Disease Prophylaxis; Aligning with the Global efforts.”

    RSI Founder/President Mrs Olufunmilayo Banire, in a statement, said the event is supported by Columbia University in United States, Hospital for the sick children, Canada, and Consortium for Universal Rhesus Disease Elimination (CURhE), among others.

    The event, she said, is modeled after other celebrations of 50 years of Rhesus Disease Prophylaxis in USA, Italy, United Arab Emirates and Canada.

    “The Nigerian version is, most importantly, to assess our country’s present level of awareness, prevention and management of Rhesus Incompatibility and its associated conditions with the view to finding the most effective and efficient ways of eliminating Rhesus Disease,” she said.

    Among the guests expected to make presentations are Profs Alvin Zipursky, Angela Okolo, and Isaac Odame from Canada, CURhE’s Dr Lamidi Audu, representatives of the Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine (NISONM), Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of Nigeria (SOGON), Kedrion Biopharma (Italy) and Eldon Biologicals (Denmark).

    According to Mrs Banire, 5.9 million females are estimated to be Rhesus Negative, adding that “from about 49.5million women in reproductive age, approximately three million are Rhesus Negative while 435,449 babies out of an estimated annual birth of about 7.3 million, may be at risk of Rhesus Disease, a situation that leaves mothers with psychological and physiological trauma.

    Whereas, this condition is preventable with awareness and vaccine called Anti D immunoglobulin after every pregnancy which unfortunately is scarce and unaffordable. But with conscientious efforts of all concerned, we can eliminate Rhesus Disease in our country and the world. It is by this that we can contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 to ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well- being for all at all ages’.”

    RSI, established on May 12, 2007 is a foremost charity organisation centered on Rhesus incompatibility and its associated conditions through Awareness, Counselling, Intervention, Training, Advocacy and Research (ACITAR).

    The NGO focuses primarily on women and children.

  • Fed Govt inaugurates committee on diabetes

    Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole has inaugurated the National Steering Committee for the Diabetes Awareness and Care Project (DAC) in Nigeria.

    Speaking at the event in Abuja, Adewole said the Federal Government was committed to safeguarding the health of Nigerians and improving diabetes care in Nigeria.

    He said: “The Non-Communicable Disease Division  of the FMoH, in collaboration with the Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation (HSDF) and with the support of the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF), have embarked on this project, which will first be implemented in two states of the country namely FCT and Imo Sates”.

    Adewole said part of the aim of the project was to increase diabetes awareness, improve access to care and strengthen two-way referral systems for diabeties in Imo and FCT.

    “The finalisation of the National Guideline for prevention and control of diabetes in Nigeria which took place earlier this month is an integral part of this project. It is expected that the guideline will ensure standardised protocol for medical care and patient self–management education to prevent acute complication, and reduce the risk of long term complications among Nigerians living with the disease”.

    The minister said the main objectives of the project, among others, are: to improve information available for institution of an informed interventions for diabetes and to improve access to Diabetes care through training of 220 Health care workers at PHC level and screening of at least 30,000 individuals per state for T2DM in Imo and Federal capital Territory (FCT) to improve case findings for diabetes.

    Adewole said the  project dwould cover three years (2018-2021), adding that part of the terms of implementing the project was for the constitution of the project to provide both oversight and guidelines as well as ensuring the terms of the implementation are adhered to.

    He commended the WDF and HSDF for their support.

    The ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr. Abdallahi Mashi,  represented by Public Health Director, Dr. Evelyn Ngige, said the prevalence of diabetes in Nigeria was increasing with the World Health Organisation (WHO) putting the figures at 3.4 percent, and studies it is between three to 10 percent.

    Responding on behalf of the chairperson of the Committee, a member of the Committee, Prof. Felicia Anumah pledged that the committee was committed to the task ahead and would deliver on its mandate.

     

  • FEC approves bill for establishment of national blood service commission 

    As the country joins the rest of the globe to mark the 2018 World Blood Donor Day, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole Thursday announced that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved an Executive bill for the establishment of a National Blood Service Commission.

    This is as Adewole also announced that the country’s has a short fall of 500,000 units of blood per annum.

    Nigeria’s estimated blood need is about 1.8 million units per annum. Voluntary non-remunerated blood donation accounts for only 10% of the total blood collection. Family replacement donations and commercial donations account for 30 and 60 percent respectively.

    Speaking at a press conference to mark the occasion, the minister said the bill would soon be transmitted to the National Assembly.

    He stressed that when the bill is enacted into law, it will help standardize the practice of blood donation.

    Read Also:FEC okays N1.6b for 68 anti-smuggling vehicles

    He said, “I will also like to announce that an Executive bill for the establishment of a National Blood Service Commission was recently approved by the Federal Executive Council. This bill when enacted into law will serve to consolidate on the gains made in the last 13 years and take the National Blood Service from its current status to the next level, in line with international best practices.”

    Speaking on the country’s blood gap, the minister said the ministry is also in the process of concluding the regularization of appointments of core technical staff that were previously engaged on the programme while it was funded by the donor.

    This, he believed “will ensure that relevant skill sets are available to optimize service delivery.”

    While also warning that blood can only be stored for limited time before use, the minister said “In view of this, regular blood donation by a sufficient number of healthy people, men and women alike, is therefore needed to ensure that safe blood is available whenever and wherever it is needed. We will work hard to broaden established linkages with hospitals in both urban and rural communities in order to increase access to safe blood and blood products.”

    Adewole also revealed that the National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) is “currently building community partnerships through the engagement of Community Based Organizations, and the organized private sector, to deepen awareness, grow a steady stream of regular blood donors, as well as make blood donation an integral part of their Social Responsibility programmes.”

    “We are making steady progress in enlightening secondary school students to embrace the culture of voluntary blood donation from an early age through its Secondary School Blood Safety programme with the aim of getting them to commit to voluntary blood donation on attaining the age of 18 years,” he added.

    Also, representative of Save Blood for Africa (SBFAF), Mr. Hazmat Omotayo said legislation is what the country needs to close the shortfall in blood supply in the country.

     

  • FG set to get vaccine to tackle Lassa fever

    FG set to get vaccine to tackle Lassa fever

    The Federal Government on Monday said it would soon receive vaccine to check the spread of Lassa fever in the country.

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, made this known to newsmen after the signing of a joint approval of the biennium WHO Programme Budget of 2018 to 2019 in Abuja.

    Adewole explained that before the end of the year, the government would receive vaccine to address the outbreak of Lassa fever in the country.

    The minister said that he had summoned the Commissioners for Health in the five states affected by Lassa fever to get an update on the situation in their states.

    According to him, the meeting will take place on Tuesday in Abuja.

    The minister listed the affected states as Ondo, Ebonyi, Edo, Nasarawa and Imo.

    Adewole commended Ondo and Ebonyi State Governments for being outstanding in tackling Lassa fever in their respective states.

    “We are doing everything possible to fight and address the outbreak of Lassa fever on all fronts,” he said. (NAN)