The Nation Newspaper

Tag: World Health Organization

  • Kano to propose compulsory HIV Testing bill

    Kano to propose compulsory HIV Testing bill

    The Kano State Government said on Friday that it had been working to propose a bill on compulsory HIV/AIDS testing for all new couples in the state.

    The Commissioner for Health, Dr Kabiru Getso, disclosed this at a news conference to commemorate the World HIV/AIDS day in Kano.

    He said that the Ganduje administration had taken health as a priority and was working tirelessly to ensure quality healthcare delivery services in the state.
    Dr Getso explained that the state government, in collaboration with the state Hisbah Board, had proposed the bill, which was awaiting passage at the state house of assembly.

    According to him, “The state government had demonstrated concern about the care and control of HIV/AIDS by giving the scourge all the necessary attention it required’’.

    Read also: Kaduna: Ganduje spends N1billion on PHC delivery

    He stressed that the state government established the State Agency for the Control of AIDS (SACA), in order to record the progress and achievements so far witnessed in the control of AIDS in the state.

    “The state has, however, approved the sum of over N443 million to carry out many interventions and outreach services, as well as to create awareness across the state,’’ Getso said.

    The Commissioner said the government would continue to support people living with HIV/AIDS and would continue to create awareness on the prevention of the disease.

    The World Health Organization has declared every December 1st to be World HIV/AIDS Day, to give succour to people living with HIV/AIDS in the state

    NAN

  • MonkeyPox hits Edo

    MonkeyPox hits Edo

    A suspected case of MonkeyPox disease has been discovered in Edo State.

    The patient is currently receiving treatment at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

    Management of the hospital who disclosed this on Tuesday said samples have been taken for test and result was being awaited from the designated World Health Organization (WHO) accredited test center.

    Public Relations of the hospital, Mr. Uwaila Joshua, in a statement said the patient was responding to treatment and was undergoing further evaluations.

    Mr. Uwaila said the hospital’s Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof.Darlinton Obaseki, in preparation for a possible outbreak of MonkeyPox virus in the state equipped an isolated complex designed to give emergency treatment to patients affected with the disease.

    According to the statement, “The good news is that the patient is recovering very fast and we presently do not have any reason to worry.

    “The UBTH in conjunction with the relevant agencies in the state government and local Government health authorities are working together and monitoring close contacts of this person and so far, no one has come down with the sickness.

    “There is no need or cause for concern or worry and no danger posed to staff or patients of the hospital. The patient is in an isolated complex. The hospital is ready and prepared to contain any situation if there is need to. As at now, there is no cause for alarm”, it stated.

  • World leaders to tackle neglected tropical diseases

    …citing Remarkable Progress Since 2012

     Governments and private donors pledge US$812 millionaround five-day summit in Geneva; World Health Organization releases data showing medicines to prevent NTDs reach nearly a billion people each year

    GENEVA (19 April 2017) – This week, leaders from governments, pharmaceutical companies and charitable organizations convened at a five-day summit in Geneva to pledge new commitments to the collective efforts to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The summit coincided with the launch of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Fourth Report on NTDs, showing transformational progress against these debilitating diseases, and a commitment by the United Kingdom to more than double its funding for NTDs.

    The meeting comes five years after the launch of the London Declaration on NTDs, a commitment by the public and private sectors to achieve the WHO goals for control, elimination and eradication of 10 NTDs. In that time, billions of treatments have been donated by pharmaceutical companies and delivered to impoverished communities in nearly 150 countries, reaching nearly a billion people in 2015.

    NTDs are some of the oldest and most painful diseases, afflicting the world’s poorest communities. One in six people suffer from NTDs worldwide, including more than half a billion children. NTDs disable, debilitate and perpetuate cycles of poverty, keeping children out of school, parents out of work, and dampening hope of any chance of an economic future.

    New Report Shows Dramatic Progress

    A new report titled Integrating Neglected Tropical Diseases in Global Health and Development by the WHO revealed that more people are being reached with needed NTD interventions than ever before. In 2015, nearly a billion people receivedtreatments donated by pharmaceutical companies for at least one NTD, representing a 36 percent increase since 2011, the year before the launch of the London Declaration. As more districts, countries and regions eliminate NTDs,the number of people requiring treatments has decreased from 2 billion in 2010 to 1.6 billion in 2015.

    “WHO has observed record-breaking progress towards bringing ancient scourges like sleeping sickness and elephantiasis to their knees,” says WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan. “Over the past 10 years, millions of people have been rescued from disability and poverty, thanks to one of the most effective global partnerships in modern public health.”

    The report detailed progress against each disease, citing countries and regions that are reaching control and elimination goals for specific NTDs. Highlights include:

     

    • Lymphatic filariasis (LF) racing toward finish line: In the last year, eight countries(Cambodia, Cook Islands, Maldives, Marshall Islands,Niue, Sri Lanka, Togo and Vanuatu) eliminatedLF, and 10 other countries are waiting on surveillance results to verify elimination. Thanks to strong programs, the number of people globally requiring preventative treatment has dropped from 1.4 billion in 2011 to fewer than 950 million in 2015.
    • Fewest-ever cases of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT, or sleeping sickness): In2015, there were fewer reported cases of sleeping sickness than any other year in history, with fewer than 3,000 cases worldwide – an 89 percent reduction since 2000. Innovative vector control and diagnostic technologies, supported by increasing numbers of product development partnerships, are revolutionizing sleeping sickness diagnosis, prevention and treatment.
    • Eighty-two percent decrease in visceral leishmaniasis (VL) cases in India, Nepal and Bangladesh: Since 2008, cases of VLacross India, Nepal and Bangladesh have decreased by 82 percent due to improvements in vector control, social mobilization of village volunteers, collaboration with other NTD programs and drug donations from industry partners.
    • Guinea worm disease nearing eradication: Cases of Guinea worm disease have reduced from an estimated 3.5 million in 1986 to just 25 human cases in 2016 in just three countries – Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

     

    Global Donors Pledge Additional Support

    Governments and other donors announced new commitments at the summit to expand the reach and impact of NTD programs around the world. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed $335 million in grants over the next four years to support a diverse group of NTD programs focused on drug development and delivery, disease surveillance and vector control. The commitment includes $42 million to support The Carter Center’s guinea worm eradication initiative, as well as dedicated funding to accelerate the elimination of African sleeping sickness.

    “NTDs are some of the most painful, debilitating and stigmatizing diseases that affect the world’s poorest communities. That’s why we helped launch the London Declaration, a historic milestone that led to significant progress in treating and reducing the spread of NTDs and demonstrated the impact that the public sector, the private sector, communities and NGOs can have by working together,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

    “Thanks to this partnership, these neglected diseases are now getting the attention they deserve so fewer people have to suffer from these treatable conditions. There have been many successes in the past five years, but the job is not done yet. We have set ambitious targets for 2020 that require the continued commitment of pharmaceutical companies, donor and recipient governments, and frontline health workers to ensure drugs are available and delivered to the hardest to reach people.”

    The Belgian government also pledged an additional $27 million, spread equally over the next nine years, toward the elimination of sleeping sickness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This amount will be matched for the next three years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, establishing a platform for increased collaboration between Belgium, the DRC and the broader NTD partnership.

    As part of its commitment to eliminating HAT, Vestergaard pledged to donate 20 percent of its insecticide-treated “tiny targets” used to control the tsetse flies that carry the disease, scaling over the next three years towards 100 percent as elimination nears.

    These commitments build on the UK Government’s announcement earlier this week, in which it pledgedalmost $450 million over 5 yearsto support NTD control and elimination efforts around the world.

    Industry Contributions Expand Scale and Reach of NTD Program

    Progress against NTDs has been enabled by the large-scale donation of medicines by 10 pharmaceutical companies. In the five years since the London Declaration,companies have donated over 7 billion treatments that, with the support of partners, now reach nearly 1 billion people every year. These donations, worth an estimated $19 billion from 2012 through 2020, greatly multiply the impact of donor investments; USAID estimates that each dollar invested in delivery leverages $26 worth of donated drugs.

    In a statement released today, industry leaders reaffirmed their 2012 pledge to do their part to beat these diseases, and encouraged other sectors to maintain their commitments as well.

    “The London Declaration is a powerful example of the impact of successful partnerships,” said Haruo Naito, CEO of Eisai and an original signatory of the London Declaration. “By leveraging our resources and focusing on a common goal, we are already making unprecedented progress towards eliminating these horrific diseases. The work we are doing today is a long-term investment into a healthier and more prosperous future.”

    In addition to donations, pharmaceutical companies are working together and with research institutes to discover and develop new tools to prevent, diagnose and treat NTDs. A report released today by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations collected the full scope of industry investment in NTD R&D, including:

    • Sanofi and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) are developing a new oral drug candidate for HAT, fexinidazole, which would replace the current mixed oral-intravenous drug regimen. Fexinidazole could represent a therapeutic breakthrough which will support sustainable elimination efforts as per the WHO roadmap for 2020. The drug is expected to be submitted for regulatory approval later in 2017.
    • Several companies are working to develop pediatric formulations of existing NTD medicines, including Bayer (nifurtimox, for Chagas disease), Merck KGaA (praziquantel, for schistosomiasis),and Elea/Mundo Sano (who are working with DNDito develop a second pediatric source of benznidazole, for Chagas disease), while Johnson & Johnson (mebendazole, for soil-transmitted helminths) developed a new chewable form of mebendazole, recently approved by the FDA, for children too young to swallow.
    • AbbVie, Bayer, Eisai, Johnson & Johnson and Merck KGaAare part of the Macrofilaricide Drug Accelerator Program, an initiative aimed at identifying and generating new drug compounds that can kill the adult worms that cause onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis.
    • Bayer is working with DNDi to develop emodepside, an oral treatment for lymphatic filariasis and river blindness
    • Eisai is working with DNDi to develop ravuconazole, a new oral drug currently in clinical trials for Chagas disease, and is partnering with DNDi to develop ravuconazole in a new disease area, mycetoma.
    • GlaxoSmithKline and DNDi have agreed to jointly pursue the pre-clinical development of the two novel candidates for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis; the candidates were developed by a collaboration between GSK and the University of Dundee’s Drug Discovery Unit, and the work was funded by Wellcome. The agreement for pre-clinical development will be conditional on signing an additional agreement.
    • In 2015, Eisai, Shionogi, Takeda, AstraZeneca and DNDi launched the NTD Drug Discovery Booster, a multi-company effort to accelerate the discovery of new drugs for leishmaniasis and Chagas disease.In 2016 they were joined by Celgene Global Health. Merck KGaA announced today that it will join the consortium.
    • Many companies – including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Chemo, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai,Elea, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck KGaA, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, Shionogi, and Takeda– have given DNDi and other non-profits access to their compound libraries and/or contribute scientific and technical expertise to DNDi and conduct pre-clinical and clinical studies to facilitate the development of new drugs to combat various NTDs.
    • Gilead is collaborating with the US Department of Defense, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes of Health as well as multiple academic institutions to discover and develop novel antivirals for highly pathogenic infections and neglected/emerging viral diseases, including dengue fever. GS-5734, Gilead’s most advanced investigational agent, is currently being studied in Ebola survivors.

    Companies are also working with partners to solve supply chain problems, develop program strategies and build in-country capacity to ensure that drugs, tools and other interventions reach those who need them most.

     Addressing the Challenges Ahead

    Though tremendous progress has been made in reducing the burden of NTDs, global control and elimination targets cannot be met without increased financial support, stronger political commitment and better tools to prevent, diagnose and treat the diseases. This week, partners from private philanthropy, affected country governments and cross-sector partnerships recommitted to leveraging their respective resources and expertise to fill critical gaps.

     

    Financial Resources

    Although nearly a billion people received NTD treatments in 2015, more funding is needed to ensure that NTD programs reach all people and communities affected by the diseases. WHO estimates that 340 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa could be covered by new investments of $150 million per year through the year 2020.

    In addition to government commitments, private philanthropy is helping to address these gaps by supporting drug delivery and surveillance programs, as well as research and development into new medicines, diagnostics and other health tools. The END Fund, founded shortly after the London Declaration, has raised over $75 million to target the five most common NTDs, helping to treat over 145 million people around the world.

     

    Political Commitment

    Strong leadership from affected countries is vital to sustaining progress against NTDs, particularly in the face of shifting economic climates and competing health priorities. Despite these challenges, some countries are increasing financing for NTD programs and integrating them into national health systems. Among other countries, Ethiopia has made significant strides in fighting trachoma by including progress against the disease as a target in its national health plan, providing significant domestic funding, participating in the Global Trachoma Mapping Project and training surgeons to conduct eye-lid surgeries to correct the effects of trachoma.

    “Ethiopia is fully committed to realizing ambitious, yet achievable, elimination targets for trachoma and other NTDs with proactive program coordination,” said H.E Professor YifruBerhanMitke, Ethiopian Minister of Health.“An increased direct program financial contribution by the government to NTDs, as high as 3 million USD by 2016, is a big step forward in alleviating the burden and stigma of these diseases.”

     

    New Tools and Innovations

    To meet control and elimination targets, more research and development is needed to provide NTD programs with improved tools to prevent, detect and treat the diseases. Promising new therapies are in the pipeline: A new three-drug regimen for LF known as triple therapy has the potential to dramatically accelerate the pace of elimination in affected countries, and is currently in large-scale safety trials in India.

    R&D organizations such as PATH and partnerships like DNDiand the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund have catalyzed the development of better and more cost-effective tools. These innovations, which include new drugs and rapid diagnostic tests for sleeping sickness and river blindness, are especially critical in the low-resource settings most burdened by NTDs. Several new vector control tools are under development and being piloted to address the growing problem of diseases transmitted by Aedes mosquitos.

    The Global Partners Meeting on Neglected Tropical Diseases will be hosted by the World Health Organization on 19 April 2017. From 20-22 April, Uniting to Combat NTDs and the global NTD community will host the NTD Summit, which will feature technical discussions on the best strategies to reach the NTD control and elimination goals.

    About Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases:Established in 2012, Uniting to Combat NTDs is a group of organizations committed to achieving the WHO’s 2020 goal to control and eliminate 10 NTDs as laid out in in the London Declaration. By working together, Uniting to Combat NTDs aims to chart a new course toward health and sustainability among the world’s poorest communities.

    The 10 diseases covered by the London Declaration include onchocerciasis (river blindness), Guinea worm disease, lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), blinding trachoma, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths, leprosy, Chagas disease, visceral leishmaniasis and human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). To find out more about the work of Uniting to Combat NTDs and to learn more about NTDs, please visit our website.

    About the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases: The London Declaration on NTDs, launched on 30 January 2012, is a joint commitment to control, eliminate or eradicate NTDs, signed by WHO, 13 pharmaceutical companies, donor and endemic country governments, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank.

     

  • Hematologist suggests how govt can reduce malaria infection

    Hematologist suggests how govt can reduce malaria infection

    A Hematologist, Prof.Osaro Erhabor, on Monday urged the three tiers of government to reduce the incidence of malaria infection by embarking on health education campaigns and training on malaria prevention.

    Erhabor of the Department of Hematology and Blood Transfusion Science, Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, said this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos ahead of the World Malaria Day (WMD).

    A hematologist is an expert in the study of the blood and blood-forming tissues.

    It also reports that the World Malaria Day, always celebrated every April 25, is to highlight the need for continued investment and sustained political commitment for malaria prevention and control.

    This year’s global theme for World Malaria Day is “End Malaria for Good.’’

    He said that governments at all levels could particularly educate people on the need to keep their surroundings clean to prevent them from serving as breeding places for mosquitoes.

    “The provision and the distribution of more insecticide treated-nets freely to the populace and embarking on extensive vector control program will also prevent malaria.

    “The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates stated that there were about 214 million cases of malaria in 2015 which led to 438,000 deaths.

    “Due to the incidence, WHO recommends testing before providing anti-malaria treatment because it limits indiscriminate use of anti-malaria drugs?

    “It prevents emerging parasitic resistance to anti- malaria and ensures a declining malaria transmission in previously high transmission areas,” Erhabor said.

    The hematologist said that those suspected to be suffering from malaria should go for Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs).

    He defined RTDs as the first screening test for malaria diagnosis that must be confirmed by microscopy.

    NAN reports that microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye).

    Erhabor said, “RDTs also assist medical doctors in the diagnosis of malaria, which can also help to detect evidence of malaria parasites in the human blood.

    “It helps doctors to make rapid and accurate diagnosis which can be complemented by the use of   microscopy”.

    Erhabor said that pregnant women should be given free malaria diagnosis and treatment to reduce the burden on them and the developing fetus in their wombs.

    “Every pregnant woman must be given malaria chemoprophylaxis at their first visit to the hospital for ante-natal clinics.

    “Increment in creating more awareness of malaria infection and its complications among pregnant women and children is very important,” he said.

    Erhabor advised all health workers, especially, nurses to always inform their patients during treatment or counselling what preventive precautions they would need to control the spread of malaria.

     

  • WHO records progress against tropical diseases

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has achieved “record-breaking” progress in controlling neglected tropical diseases, which blind, maim, disfigure and debilitate millions of people worldwide, especially in poorest countries.

    The Director-General of WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, in a new report on Integrating Neglected Tropical Diseases into Global Health and Development, said an estimated one billion people were reached with treatment for at least one of these diseases in 2015 alone.

    Chan explained that efforts were on by the UN health agency to tackle the diseases, known as Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).

    “We have observed record-breaking progress towards bringing ancient scourges like sleeping sickness and elephantiasis to their knees.

    “Over the past 10 years, millions of people have been rescued from disability and poverty, thanks to one of the most effective global partnerships in modern public health,” Chan said.

    The WHO’s new report shows how political support, improvements in living conditions and supply of medicines have led to sustained expansion of disease control programmes in countries where these diseases are most prevalent.

    “Another major milestone was the endorsement of a NTD roadmap in 2012, in which WHO partners’ committed additional support and resources to eliminating 10 of the most common NTDs.

    “For sustaining this momentum, experts believe that wider progress towards realizing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development would be crucial.

    “Meeting global targets for water and sanitation, such as those under the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be key”.

    WHO estimates that 2.4 billion people still lack basic sanitation facilities such as toilets and latrines, while more than 660 million continue to drink water from “unimproved” sources, such as surface water.

    According to Dr Dirk Engels, Director of WHO’s Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, “further gains will depend on wider progress towards the SDGs”.

    “Once widely prevalent, diseases are now restricted to tropical and sub-tropical regions with unsafe water, inadequate hygiene and sanitation, and poor housing conditions.

    “More than 70 per cent of countries and territories that report the presence of NTDs are low or lower-middle income economies.

    “The class of these illnesses include diseases such as dengue, rabies, trachoma, Buruli ulcer, yaws, leprosy, human African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness), dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease), schistosomiasis (larval worm infection) etc.

    “Poor people living in remote, rural areas, urban slums, or conflict zones are most at risk,” Engels said.

     

  • Two billion people drinking contaminated water – WHO

    Two billion people drinking contaminated water – WHO

     

    The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday warned that two billion people are drinking water contaminated with faeces, which is estimated to cause more than 500,000 diarrheal deaths each year.

    Dr Maria Neira, director of Department of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health in WHO, said in a statement that contaminated water puts people at risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid.

    Neira also said that drinking of contaminated water not only also puts people at risk of and polio, but is a major cause of several neglected tropical diseases, including intestinal worms, schistosomiasis and trachoma as well.

    In a new report, WHO also said that such a situation shows that countries are not increasing spending fast enough to meet the water and sanitation targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    WHO published the report on behalf of UN-Water, the United Nation inter-agency coordination mechanism for all freshwater-related issues, including sanitation.

    SDGs were adopted by UN General Assembly in 2015, setting a series of aspirational targets for eradicating poverty and boosting human well-being, which aim to ensure universal access to safe and affordable water and sanitation by 2030.

    A report published by UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water revealed that countries had on average raised their annual budgets for water, sanitation and hygiene by 4.9 per cent over the past three years.

    Yet, 80 per cent of countries acknowledge that their financing is still not enough to meet their nationally-set targets for water, sanitation and hygiene services.

     

  • 16 die from Cerebrospinal Meningitis outbreak in Niger

    16 people have died from the outbreak of Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) in Niger state. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mustapha Jibril disclosed on Tuesday.

    Confirming the deaths from the outbreak of CSM while briefing newsmen in Minna, the commissioner said that 31 cases have been recorded in four local government areas of the state which include Magama, Rijau, Kontagora and Agwara.

    He said that the deaths were recorded in two villages in Magama local government area as a result of refusal of the affected patients to go to health facilities.

    “We have had 23 CSM cases from Magama local government area, four from Rijau, three from Kontagora and one from Agwara. The 16 deaths were recorded in Magama local government area. The death involved seven male and nine female.”

    He added that 384 suspected CSM cases with 8 laboratory confirmation and 49 deaths have been recorded so far in 21 states in the country.

    Jibril said that the first case of death of CSM in Niger state was discovered on the 6th of March by the District Surveillance and Notification Officer in Magama lamenting that the Ministry have problems in persuading the people in the local government to access healthcare as their belief in orthodox treatment is high.

    He added that contrary to belief of the villagers that the sickness was caused by witchcraft, the disease was actually caused by a ‘Type C’ bacterium.

    The Commissioner said that case tracing is ongoing and antibiotics is being given to people in the four local government areas urging anyone who is sick to go to the nearest hospital for treatment.

    “Actions taken by the state include, outbreak response has been activated as the state is working with the World Health Organization in responding to the outbreak, the state is also prepositioning drugs at Magama local government area and case management is ongoing.”

  • A new lease of life

    A new lease of life

    Twelve remote communities that were ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency are beneficiaries of a strategic and sustainable intervention from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which is providing basic amenities bringing life back to the communities.

    UNDP in collaboration with the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) of the Ministry of Environment have deployed off-grid solar PV for borehole water supply, health care delivery, street lighting and home solar lighting with mobile phone charging to these 12 communities in Hong Local Government Area (LGA) of Adamawa State.

    The extremely rural communities still bear the brunt of Boko Haram insurgency which declared the entire Hong LGA as a caliphate, destroying properties and displacing thousands of people. The affected communities are Fa’a Gaya, Gaya Silkami, Garaha Mijili, Dilwachira, Gashala Mamud, Mutuku, Shashau, Garaha Lari, Garaha Banga, Kubutafa, Pella and Kwakwa.

    Residents of these communities make up some of the two million Internal Displaced People (IDPs) across north eastern Nigeria as a result of the insurgency.  With the liberation of Hong by the Nigerian Army, the ravaged rural communities were inhabitable for the residents who were held up  in the IDP camps in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe State.

    To improve the standard of living in these liberated communities the UNDP|ECN intervention installed a solar-powered water borehole to provide clean portable drinking water in each of the 12 communities, respectively. The communities’ Primary Health Centers  were each supplied with a Solar PV powered Vaccine storage refrigerator and Solar PV for the provision of electricity for lighting and electronic appliances in the health center, while two solar streetlights were installed in each village playground or square.

    The intervention of deploying off-grid solar PV for borehole water supply, health care and others has enabled an overwhelming majority of the displaced to return  to the villages from the IDP camps and the process of reclaiming their lives just beginning.

    Twenty-eight year old Dorcas Christopher is a resident of Gashala Mamud, one of the benefitting communities of the UNDP|ECN intervention. “I have been using this amazing pump for the past four months and I do not know what to say but a big thank you to UNDP for giving us this bore-hole in our community. Nothing I say can quantify  the impact the solar pump has had on my family” said the widow and mother of four children.

    “Before this solar water pump was provided, we normally fetch water from a very small stream with the Fulani people (herdsmen) who also bring their cows to the stream to drink water, the cows always mess up the stream as they walk through it and also defecate inside it.

    “ The situation is worse during the dry season when the stream dries up. But now as the UNDP people have brought us our own clean water and we are fetching very-very clean water at ease, any time and even the Fulani herdsmen now bring their kegs to also fetch water for themselves and their cows from the solar pump,”  Dorcas said.

    Solar-powered bore hole and street light provided by UNDP|ECN Sustainable Energy for all in Gashala Manud Village

    This clearly affirms the subtle but assertive socio-economic impact of this UNDP intervention in the communities as it averts the perennial conflicts between residents and herdsman while the facility is powered in an environmentally sustainable way.

    The Gashala Manud Village Primary Health Center established in 1992 has for over 20 years being the only health center that serves the nearly 2,000 residents of the village and the facility has never had power supply until the UNDP came around with the series of solar powered intervention in 2016.

    Haija Habsatu Shaibu is a Health Official at the Gashala Manud Village Primary Health Care Center , she said the hospital is now able to store drugs for much longer, saving more lives. “We now enjoy many health care services that were always not available here due to the lack of adequate infrastructure. For example, when the World Health Organization brought vaccines for us, we could never store or preserve them in this village, so most of the vaccines got spoilt in few hours. But this solar fridge is helping us a lot now.

    “The vaccines are now supplied every week and they are stored in the solar fridge which enables us to dispense them adequately and regularly unlike before.”

    Senior Health Official of Gashala Manud Primary Health Center with the Solar-powered refrigerator provided by UNDP

    Prior to this intervention, patients from the village trek a distance of over 30km to Mubi Village for basic medical services. When emergencies happen in the night before the UNDP solar intervention, health officials use lantern and torch lights to attend to the patient. Such emergencies include child delivery, and accidents. “Now, the primary health care center has solar bulbs that lite-up the clinic all night long, we work on any emergency whether it is day or night under the bright lights that solar bulbs gives us” Hafsatu said.

    The solar-powered bulbs also enable effective security around the health center and the entire community at night.   Ahmed Abubakar, the security official for the health center affirms that his work has been greatly enabled with the solar-powered bulbs because the bright lights enable him to see the environs clearly unlike before when he will have to use torch lights.

    “Everything that could be done was done” said Ahmed. “We never dreamt of anything like these in our entire lives in this village” he adds.

     

    Urbanized village

    This is the first  bore-hole water or any piped water facility in Gashala Manud community . For every solar-powered bore-hole, a solar-powered street light is installed a few meters away under the UNDP|ECP intervention. This is to enable the villagers fetch water at any time of the day or night as well to ensure that strategic spots in the community are lit-up. Such solar-powered street lights are also provided at the village centers/squares and playing fields for kids and games.

    This is crucial for a community that is just recovering from a devastating insurgency that has led to mistrust and violence among neighbors, family and friends. The solar powered street lights enable the village come alive at night with assuring security and unprecedented lite playground which enables bonding and communal association at all times.

    “We are now urban people as our village is now urbanized village with the solar light which comes on every night” admits Nurse Hafusa. “The street lights have transformed the village life completely. We are no longer villagers. You need to see what this community looks like at night when the solar bulbs come on,” Ahmed adds.

    Ahead of implementing the project, a baseline study conducted by UNDP revealed that over 70 percent of energy consumed for lighting in the village is derived from kerosene and dry cell battery as well as a very few generators powered by very expensive fossil fuel. As the village does not have any have power supply as it is not connected to the national grid, almost 170 households in Gahala Manud are beneficiaries of solar powered lamps under the UNDP|ECN intervention.

    Umaru Kadiru, a 65 year-old grandfather who lost his son to the insurgency, is now saddled with the responsibility of taking care of his daughter in-law (Jemila) and her two children. The family is one of the beneficiaries of solar powered –lamps that the UNDP|ECP intervention has provided residents of Hong.

    Kadiru laments that he buys batteries every three days for torch lights which are used to dimly lit-up their home but that money is now being saved due to steady and sustainable power supplied by the solar-powered lamps provided by UNDP. “We are now able to use the money we regularly waste on batteries on other things in the house and for the up-keep of my grandchildren. They also use the lamps to read at night and it also allows us see any reptile or harmful animal or insect that crawl into our house.” The multifunctional lamps also enable the household charge their mobile phone. “We charge the lamp in the daytime according to instructions and in the night, the house is lite-up without any hassles. Surprisingly, we also use the device to charge our mobile phones.”

    Umaru Kabiru and his granddaughter with the solar powered lamp by UNDP

    PIC 6 INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONSThis amplifies the economic impact of the solar-powered bulbs as resident of this rural community are extremely poor with little income after the insurgency which has ravaged the community for over three years. Therefore the regular purchase of batteries for torch lights and kerosene for lanterns is a major strain on their lean purses.

    Return from IDP camps

    Gashala Mamud is an extremely remote community located at about four hours’ drive away from Hong where the Boko Horam insurgents hoisted their flags after they took control of the entire local government. The village which is devoid of any basic infrastructure was one of the villages ravaged by the insurgency which displaced thousands of its residents. It is bordered by Ubain village in Borno State, the hotbed of Boko Haram uprising. Residents of Gashala Manud were completely displaced and the village was deserted for over a year with the residents moving to the IDP camps across Adamawa and Borno States. The absolute collapse of the community and acute lack of infrastructure necessitated the UNDP|ECP intervention to choose the village as one of the beneficiaries of its projects for communities ravaged by Boko Haram following the restoration of security to the communities by the Federal Government and Nigerian Army.

    According to Dr Epkeyong, a Director with ECN, the main objective of UNDP for the project was to use renewable energy resources (solar) to provide some of the energy needs (lighting and health care delivery)in communities that were directly affected by Boko Haram insurgency which have been liberated and made comfortable for residents return back. The new investments in the rural communities have also enabled residents of Gashala Mamud return home from the IDP camps to pick up their lives again.

    Reacting to this intervention, the Commissioner for Water Resources in Adamawa State; Hon. Julius K. Kadala, highly commended UNDP for its strategic intervention in Hong which has led to a lot of IDPs returning home, “the UNDP has played a major role in getting a whole lot of people out of the IDP camps to return to the normal and now improved livelihoods and the Adamawa State Government is highly grateful for this.” “Some of the IDPs are now returning to their homes in Hong LGA where they will be spending Christmas with their family.”

    Noting that out of the seven local government areas that were ravaged by Boko Haram, in Adamawa State, Hong was the most hit with the insurgent bombings and burning of several government buildings as well as traditional institutions and private homes. The Commissioner therefore appealed for more of such support from other international development agencies, urging them to replicate UNDP’s intervention across the north east region of Nigeria as he also gave the over-whelming commitment of the state government to support such intervention.

  • Air pollution as major cause of lung cancer

    Air pollution as major cause of lung cancer

    Air pollution has long been known to cause heart and lung diseases, but evidence now supports that it’s a leading environmental cause of lung cancer. As a result, the World Health Organization has classified air pollution in the same category as tobacco smoke, UV radiation and plutonium.

    A thorough review of the most recent data suggests that 223, 000 lung cancer deaths were directly caused by air pollution. The data also links pollution to the development of bladder cancer.

    The main sources of environmental air pollution were found to be from industries such as power stations and emissions from agriculture. Fossil fuel emissions from cars and trucks have skyrocketed in recent years with rapid urbanization and the increased reliance on motorized transport of people and goods.

    Environmental air pollution also includes smoke and emissions from burning rubbish, firewood and charcoal. These activities occur in and around the home and are major causes of respiratory disease in both adults and children. Cancer aside, children also experience more generalised illness, such as bronchitis, asthma and earaches when exposed to the chemical onslaught of environmental pollution.

    The exact cause and effect of pollutants on health is often impossible to obtain. This is due to individual differences such as genetics, one’s overall health, history of exposure and a pollutants reaction time. Certain individuals are affected more than the rest of the population such as the elderly, children, pregnant women and the handicapped.

    There are the many types of air pollution that contaminate the air and awareness is growing about the dangers they can pose to one’s health. Environmental pollution is often outside one’s control and the public must focus on what they can change, versus what they can’t.

    “There’s also a lot we can do as individuals to lower our chances of developing the disease such as being more physically active and adopting a healthier diet,” says Dr Rachel Thompson, head of research interpretation at the World Cancer Research Fund International.

    “This latest evidence confirms the need for government, industry and multinational bodies to urgently address environmental causes of cancer.”

     

    Dr Couillard is an international health columnist that works in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s goals of disease prevention and global health care education. Views do not necessarily reflect endorsement. He can be reached via:

     

    Email: drcorycouillard@gmail.com

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