The Nation Newspaper

Tag: research

  • Research, innovation dominate experts’ talks on health

    Research, innovation dominate experts’ talks on health

    Some scholars have stressed the need for lecturers to be skilled in research and innovation in order to move the country’s health care forward.

    They spoke at the inaugural meeting of the Building Research and Innovation in Nigeria’s Science (BRAINS) of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos Akoka Lagos State. The meeting, which held at the school’s Alumni Centre was against the backdrop of the $3.6 million grant BRAINS received from Fogarty International at the National Institute of Health, Bethseda, United States in collaboration with Harvard University, Northwestern University (NU) US and AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN) to mentor researchers in the country.

    Through the grant, selected lecturers at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, are to be trained on how to conduct research in five fields of medicine-HIV and infectious diseases, neuroscience, bioinformatics and genomics, community medicine and biomedical engineering.

    The Vice-Chancellor University of Lagos, Prof. Rahmon Bello said the school was already in the business of nurturing researchers; hence it is taking research and innovation to a whole new height.

    Prof. Bello, who was represented by the Deputy V-C (Academic), Prof. Babajide Alo, said a centre has been created for research in the institution.

    He said the school would nourish and support the initiative to build capacity of its academic staff.

    The management, he said, was happy the programme was coming at this time, adding that lecturers can tap into it.

    The Chief Medical Director (CMD), Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Prof. Chris Bode said the project was a noble one, stressing that it would yield benefits.

    Research, he said, was very important to LUTH, adding that it would extend some resources and goodwill to promote it.

    Bode; represented by the Chairman, Medical Advisory Council of the hospital, Dr Olufemi Fasanmade said LUTH aims at closing the gap between developed and developing countries in the area of research.

    “If we engage in research, we will have home solution to some of the problems affecting Nigeria,” he said.

    The Provost, College of Medicine University of Lagos (CMUL), Prof. Folasade Ogunsola said the grant targets at training of junior faculty, that is, from senior lecturers downwards.

    She continued: “We received the grant in August last year and began work on it in September.”

    The goal of BRAINS programme, she said, was to foster the next generation of African faculty researchers by providing research training and mentored research opportunities for junior faculty in Medical Education Partnership Initiative in Nigeria (MEPIN)-supported institutions, who seek careers in researches that contribute to the improvement of human health.

    “The CMUL, APIN, the Harvard TmH Chan School of Public Health and Northwestern University (NU) will leverage on the research capacity building of Medical Education Partnership Initiative in Nigeria (MEPIN) with the BRAINS programme.

    “Over the next five years, BRAINS intends to train junior faculty as potential leaders in research in the fields of HIV and infectious diseases, neuroscience, bioinformatics and genomics, community medicine and biomedical engineering,” Prof. Ogunsola said.

  • UNIBEN partners foreign varsities on research

    University of Benin (UNIBEN) is partnering some foreign universities to strengthen joint research and exchange programmes for both workers and students, its Vice Chancellor, Prof Faraday Orumwense, has said.

    He spoke at a briefing to mark his first  anniversary as Vice Chancellor of the institution.

    Prof Orumwense said the deal was part of his agenda to improve the institution’s global visibility.

    He said the foreign institutions have indicated interest to support research efforts of the university.

    To make the institution attractive to international partners, Faraday, who is its ninth VC, said he would improve its facilities and to this end, he said the university has signed  Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with some private developers to build students’ hostels and staff quarters using the Public- Private Partnership (PPP) model.

    He said: “My appointment as Vice Chancellor is the climax of several years of experience in University administration and my agenda to achieve a global visibility for the University of Benin can only come into fruition when critical infrastructure that allow for conducive learning and research are put in place.

    “This we have achieved by initiating the construction of more lecture theatres and laboratories.

    “The University of Benin as an institution has its own peculiarities. It’s perhaps the most cosmopolitan of all the universities in Nigeria. Added to this is the fact is that it’s the most sought after by admission seekers in Nigeria.”

    On the relative peace in the institution, the VC said: ‘’I operate an open door policy where all stakeholders are carried along in the decision making process.

    “We also try as much as possible to involve representatives of unions in the administrative process.’’

     

  • Support for workshop on Research Council’s reform

    Support for workshop on Research Council’s reform

    The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Nigeria Strategy Support Programme (NSSP) Office are ready to contribute to the National Workshop for the Reform of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN).

    IFPRI’s Senior Research Fellow and Head of IFPRI Office, Dr George Mavrotas, made this known at the National Workshop for the reform of the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) in Abuja.

    He also stressed that IFPRI is a partner in this exercise in view of its synergy with an IFPRI Office and country programme in Nigeria since 2007.

    The workshop was the final stakeholders national workshop on the ARCN Reform that had participants within the spectrum of top management of various relevant ministries, agencies, research and  allied institutions, parliament, development partners, farmers’ organisations and  other relevant stakeholders.

    This was a culmination of the various earlier zonal retreats and change management workshops that held in Ibadan, Enugu and Kaduna in October and last month.

    The key objective of the ARCN transformation work is to study in depth the organisation of the agricultural research system in Nigeria with a view to developing a strategy for transforming the ARCN (and its component research institutes) into a more efficient and functional body capable of driving agricultural development and change in Nigeria.

    Meanwhile, a consultant to the World Bank, Prof Martins Antekhai, has said the agriculture sector is decisive to the quality of economic growth amid new challenges posed by climate change and other issues.

    Antekhai of the Department of Fisheries, Lagos State University (LASU) urged the government to review outcomes of the sector’s various blueprints for the work.

    Antekhai urged the government to focus on ensuring improving the effectiveness of capital allocation on projects aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in agricultural and food production.

    He said the sector’s low efficiency and lack of investment have undermined its actual potential in the economy. He expects the government to develop an overall strategy to create a longer-term vision for this important industry.

    Within the strategy, he said, attention needs to be paid to facilitating the transition of the agricultural sector from a traditional setting to a more industrial and modern structure.

    The transformation, according to him, will require investments in infrastructure as well as attention to issues such as promoting public-private partnerships to improve the conditions in production, storage and distribution across the country.

    The plan, he added, should  inspire confidence in the economy’s prospects by tackling head on imbalances and pervasive infrastructure deficits, including shortfalls in the power and transportation sectors.

    Promoting the agricultural sector, he maintained, would be a unique opportunity for the government to achieve some important goals.

    To improve the economic resilience on a  longer term, he urged the government to reform the agric research to focus on fostering and deepening production base, increasing local value added and improving the quality of the workforce.

  • Experts seek more grants for research

    Experts seek more grants for research

    Scientists have called for more research grants to enable them collate data to enhance the government’s policies in the health sector.

    They spoke at the Nigeria Research Trust Award organised by AstraZeneca Research Trust in Lagos.

    The experts underscored the need for more research to know the health indices of Nigeria to enhance social and economic development, especially health care planning.

    Besides, data generated from research are often used to formulate government policies.

    Chairman, Scientific Review Committee of the awards, Prof Folasade Ogunsola, said research conducted often culminate in knowledge, and as such, provide necessary information for growth.

    She blamed Nigeria for not investing in data.

    According to her, Nigeria has a lot information on HIV/AIDS because there were data on the disease.

    This, she said, was made possible by various researches that were conducted.

    “Since 2007, the Presdent Emergency Fund for HIV/AIDS Research was given to universities and local governments, among others, and they developed data, which have been passed to the centre,” she said.

    Ogunsola said lack of data to plan health care is one of the country’s great problems.

    “Everybody is guessing what the situation with malaria is because there is no national data on it. This is because we have not committed serious fund to research. The United States through the National Institute on Health (NIH) commits billions of dollars to health research, in terms of what is going on and new medications, and new understanding of disease processes.These are no cheap and if people knew the answer they would not be doing the research. At the end of it people may still not get the answer. But, we have to keep trying,” she said.

    Moreover, the more money that goes into the funding of research, the better for the country.

    She said what the committee was looking for was a standardised data that cut across all regions/geo-political zones. “As at now, what we have are fragmented data and to bring them together is difficult because they were arrived at, using different methodologies. We do not want a single hospital data,” she said.

    “We are looking at communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). But we are not focusing solely on NCDs because we still have major problems with communicable diseases. This is still a major problem with data on communicable diseases. This year’s grant is on communicable and NCDs. Next year, we might face just NCDs,” she said.

    A member of the committee, Dr Funmi Lesi, said one of the major data base in the country is on HIV and AIDS.

    She said this had helped the government to plan and make innovation for health care.

    AstraZeneca Business Unit Lead, William Prinsloo, said the health challenges in Africa were increasing rapidly while the health status of Africans remained far worse than that of some people in developing regions.

    He continued: “Although a lack of access to health care and serious health system deficiencies are important reasons for this phenomenon, other elements aggravate it. One of them being insufficient research and development aimed at addressing Africa’s unmet health needs.”

    The trust fund, he said, supports local academic medical research in  non-communicable diseases (NCDs), focusing particularly on cardiovascular/metabolic, respiratory and oncology conditions.

    He said the company spent $350,000 yearly on researchers in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

    Prinsloo said the company has made a positive impact in stimulating local research.

    “To date, 46 studies have been awarded funding. Twenty seven were on non-communicable disease studies while 19 were on communicable disease studies,” he said.

  • Fed Govt urged to support indigenous sickle cell research

    A natural medicine practitioner, Dr. Solomon Abutoh, has urged the Federal Government to fund indigenous research to address sickle cell disorder (SCD) and leukaemia.

    He said natural medicine practitioners had been conducting researches to ensure that sickle cell, which is predominantly a black man’s condition, is curtailed.

    According to him, bone marrow transplant, which is a medical surgical procedure used in the treatment of many malignant blood diseases, such as sickle cell anaemia and leukemia, involves the use of high doses of chemotheraphy.

    This, he said, may pre-dispose people serious irreversible side effects.

    He continued: “Chemotherapy drugs can completely suppress marrow hematopoiesis (blood forming process) destroying pathological cancerous lesions of healthy areas including, donor material obtained directly from the bone marrow.”

    Other problems associated with bone marrow transplant are rejection of donor cells, arising from genetic incompatibility and lack of donor cells, and need for repeated transplantation.

    Also, there are infectious complications as a result of the complete suppression of blood production process, which reduces the protective abilities of the organism.

    Abutoh described bone marrow transplant procedure as expensive. It ranges from $360,000 (approximate N7,500,000) to $880,000 (approximately N16m) excluding flight tickets of patients and those to accompany them.

    He said not many Nigerians can afford the cost, adding: “medical procedure that has no guarantee against post-surgical relapse or even death”.

    The natural medicine practitioner urged health experts to expedite action on finding the cure. They should, in fact act on a viable, natural solution to the sickle cell and indeed leukemia, he added.

    He said in spite of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Alma Ata declaration of 1978 on primary health care, natural medicine is still relegated.

    He said there were locally made highly effective herbal drugs for the management of sickle cell disease and leukemia. It is also affordable.

  • Experts call for research

    Scientists have called for more research grants to enable them collate data to enhance the government’s policies in the health sector.

    They spoke at the Nigeria Research Trust Award organised by AstraZeneca Research Trust in Lagos.

    The experts underscored the need for more research to know the health indices of Nigeria to enhance social and economic development, especially health care planning.

    Besides, data generated from research are often used to formulate government policies.

    Chairman, Scientific Review Committee of the awards, Prof Folasade Ogunsola, said research conducted often culminate in knowledge, and as such, provide necessary information for growth.

    She blamed Nigeria for not investing in data.

    According to her, Nigeria has a lot information on HIV/AIDS because there were data on the disease.

    This, she said, was made possible by various researches that were conducted.

    “Since 2007, the Presdent Emergency Fund for HIV/AIDS Research was given to universities and local governments, among others, and they developed data, which have been passed to the centre,” she said.

    Ogunsola said lack of data to plan health care is one of the country’s great problems.

    “Everybody is guessing what the situation with malaria is because there is no national data on it. This is because we have not committed serious fund to research. The United States through the National Institute on Health (NIH) commits billions of dollars to health research, in terms of what is going on and new medications, and new understanding of disease processes.These are no cheap and if people knew the answer they would not be doing the research. At the end of it people may still not get the answer. But, we have to keep trying,” she said.

    Moreover, the more money that goes into the funding of research, the better for the country.

    She said what the committee was looking for was a standardised data that cut across all regions/geo-political zones. “As at now, what we have are fragmented data and to bring them together is difficult because they were arrived at, using different methodologies. We do not want a single hospital data,” she said.

    “We are looking at communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). But we are not focusing solely on NCDs because we still have major problems with communicable diseases. This is still a major problem with data on communicable diseases. This year’s grant is on communicable and NCDs. Next year, we might face just NCDs,” she said.

    A member of the committee, Dr Funmi Lesi, said one of the major data base in the country is on HIV and AIDS.

    She said this had helped the government to plan and make innovation for health care.

    AstraZeneca Business Unit Lead, William Prinsloo, said the health challenges in Africa were increasing rapidly while the health status of Africans remained far worse than that of some people in developing regions.

    He continued: “Although a lack of access to health care and serious health system deficiencies are important reasons for this phenomenon, other elements aggravate it. One of them being insufficient research and development aimed at addressing Africa’s unmet health needs.”

    The trust fund, he said, supports local academic medical research in  non-communicable diseases (NCDs), focusing particularly on cardiovascular/metabolic, respiratory and oncology conditions.

    He said the company spent $350,000 yearly on researchers in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

  • DPR undertakes research on refineries

    DPR undertakes research on refineries

    To encourage the growth of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has carried out a research on the refineries to determine their actual production level and what are required for optimal output, its Director, Mordecai Ladan, has said.

    He said the development became necessary to ascertain their capacities vis-à-vis the volume of petroleum products that would adequately cater for the needs of consumers.

    Ladan, who spoke at a panel session during the just-concluded Oil Trading and Logistics (OTL) Expo in Lagos, said effective refineries were crucial to the growth of the downstream segment of the oil and gas industry, adding that DPR was working towards recording success in that regard.

    Represented by the Deputy Director in-charge of Engineering and Standards, Mr. Olumide Adeleke, the DPR chief, said the industry had been battling with problems, such as availability and transportation of petroleum products. He said the problems would be resolved soon.

    He said: “When you talk of availability of petroleum products, you need to talk about transportation of the products vis-à-vis the quantity or volume of the refined products. In DPR, we have done a considerable level of analysis or findings on the refineries required to meet the growing demands of domestic consumers.”

    Ladan said transporting crude oil to the existing refineries was a problem, which the industry was grappling with. He noted that pipelines through which crude oil and petroleum products are transported by stakeholders in the value chain are old.

    He said the obsolete pipelines need to be replaced  as part of efforts to encourage growth of the industry. He explained that the operating environment is not conducive enough for operators in the oil and gas sector, stressing that the development inhibits its growth.

    “The government has to come in, by providing an environment that is conducive for investment. There should be some form of regulations to stimulate growth in the industry. There is the need to develop a policy in the direction of safety of the environment. The environment should be secured with a view to discourage pipeline vandals,” he added.

    Also, the Managing Director, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, Mr. Tunji Oyebanji, said investment in local refineries is key to the growth of the downstream sector, adding that private refineries are yet to come on stream, years after obtaining approval from the Department of Petroleum Resources.

    This, according to him, is due to lack of funds, arguing that banks are not ready to advance credit to them for reasons best known to them. He added that many of the operators have assets they can present as collaterals, but they do not have cash. “The problem of the companies approved by DPR to operate refineries is not collaterals, but cash. That accounts for the reason why local refineries have not taken off in the country,” Oyebanji said.

  • NAFDAC calls for more research into indigenous stimulants

    NAFDAC calls for more research into indigenous stimulants

    The Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, has urged industries in the country to provide funds for researches and development of pharmaceutical activities needed in the production of indigenous stimulants.

    Orhii made the call at the 4th International Conference on Africa’s Indigenous Stimulants, held at the Centre for black Culture and International Understanding in Osogbo, Osun State.

    The NAFDAC boss, who was represented by a director in the agency, Dr.Bukar Ali Usman, noted that researches are now revealing the huge benefit of traditional plants used to produce indigenous stimulants.

    Speaking on the theme ‘Utilization of Africa’s Indigenous Stimulants as a Key to Poverty Eradication’, Orhii urged government at all levels to create jobs through traditional plants, and warned that the agency would not relent in evaluating new products that incorporates indigenous stimulants.

    Speaking during the conference, representative of Kasapreko Nigeria, Mr. Peter Adegor, enumerated the health benefits of indigenous stimulants and also explained that indigenous stimulants are not dangerous for human body.

    He, however, warned against abuses.

    The conference was attended by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, former Ambassador of Nigeria to Brazil, Dr. Patrick Dele-Cole and the Director General of the Centre for Black Arts and African Civilization, Dr. Ferdinand Anikwe.

  • DPR undertakes research on refineries

    To encourage the growth of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has carried out a research on the refineries to determine their actual production level and what are needed for optimal output, its Director, Mordecai Ladan, has said.

    Ladan said the development became necessary to ascertain their capacities vis-à-vis the volume of petroleum products that would adequately cater for the needs of consumers.

    Ladan, who spoke at a panel session at the just-concluded Oil Trading and Logistics (OTL) Expo in Lagos, said effective refineries were crucial to the growth of the downstream segment of the oil and gas industry, adding that DPR was working towards recording success in that regard.

    Represented by the Deputy Director in-charge of Engineering and Standards, Mr. Olumide Adeleke, the DPR chief, said the industry had been battling with problems, such as availability and transportation of petroleum products. He said the problems would be resolved soon.

    He said: “When you talk of availability of petroleum products, you need to talk about transportation of the products vis-à-vis the quantity or volume of the refined products. In DPR, we have done a considerable level of analysis or findings on the refineries required to meet the growing demands of domestic consumers.”

    Ladan said transporting crude oil to the existing refineries was a problem, which the industry was grappling with. He noted that pipelines through which crude oil and petroleum products are transported by stakeholders in the value chain are old.

    He said the obsolete pipelines need to be replaced  as part of efforts to encourage growth of the industry. He explained that the operating environment is not conducive enough for operators in the oil and gas sector, stressing that the development inhibits its growth.

    “The government has to come in, by providing an environment that is conducive for investment. There should be some form of regulations to stimulate growth in the industry. There is the need to develop a policy in the direction of safety of the environment. The environment should be secured with a view to discourage pipeline vandals,” he added.

    Also, the Managing Director, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, Mr. Tunji Oyebanji, said investment in local refineries is key to the growth of the downstream sector, adding that private refineries are yet to come on stream, years after obtaining approval from the Department of Petroleum Resources.

    This, according to him, is due to lack of funds, arguing that banks are not ready to advance credit to them for reasons best known to them. He added that many of the operators have assets they can present as collaterals, but they do not have cash. “The problem of the companies approved by DPR to operate refineries is not collaterals, but cash. That accounts for the reason why local refineries have not taken off in the country,” Oyebanji said.

  • Nigeria can research into cancer

    Nigeria can research into cancer

    As the country marks it 55 Indepedence, it has joined the league of nations that can research into cancer.

    This is made possibe through a parnership between the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos and Sysmex Partec, a cancer research German Laboratory. The synergy has afforded the country a Biomedical training and Cancer Research centre equipped with XN-Series Haematology Analysers.

    According to the Director-General, NIMR, Prof Innocent Ujah at the inauguration, the centre and the equipment will enhance training capacity and mentorship.

    He descibed the centre as a strategic response to the gap, which must be filled to upscale the institute’s research capacity for quality health care.

    Ujah said institutional and human capacity development should take pre-eminence for the country to have quality research outcomes.

    “Besides, we are motivated to establish the centre to enhance training capacity and mentorship.”

    He assured of the institute’s commitment to making the centre functional by initiating programmes and studies on various cancers in collaboration with relevant national and international partners.

    Ujah appealed to the Federal Government, organisations and good spirited individuals to support the institution with sufficient fund.

    The chairman on the occasion, Prof Ibironke Akinsete, said cancer research is basic because it identifies the causes and develops strategies for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure.

    According to her, cancer research ranges from epidemology, molecular bio-sciences to the performance  of clinical trials to evaluate and compare applications of various cancer treatments.

    “These are surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy and combination of treatment modalities, such as chemoradiotherapy.

    “From the 1990, the emphasis in clinical research shift towards therapies derived from bio-medical and biotechnology research, such  as cancer immunotherapy and gene therapy,” she said.

    Quoting the former Health Minister, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, she said no fewer than 250,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer yearly, adding: “Cancer care facilities are depreciating”.

    For her, cancer research in Nigeria and Africa will now have a pivotal role in cancer control in the continent.

    Akinsete continued: “However, environments, such as those in academic or clinical settings with limited research infrastructure, especially laboratories, bio repositories and database, coupled with inadequate funding and other human expertise, have hampered Nigerian and African scientists from carrying out rigorous evidence-based research.”.

    She praised NIMR for its success, adding that the centre will pave the way for building capacity, which would enhance sustainable research programmes in the country for cancer.

    “I hope this project stimulates more interest in cancer research in Nigeria,” Prof Akinsete said.