The Deputy Governor, Ogun State, Noimot Salako-Oyedele, has said technologies needs to be upgraded in the health industry and to be made easily accessible across the country.

Speaking in Lagos at the 9th Medic West Africa Exhibition and Conference, organised by Informa Markets, the deputy governor explained that there was a need for Medic West Africa to bridge the technology and knowledge in Nigeria and West Africa.

The theme of the exhibition and conference was, Leveraging disruption in healthcare – Opportunities and challenges in technology.

Medic West Africa’s Exhibition Manager, Mr Amogh Wadwalkar, expressed his satisfaction with its growth, continuity of legacy and impact.

He said, “Ten years ago, Medic West Africa began as a platform to showcase the latest innovations in healthcare technology to industry players for the advancement of regional health infrastructures.

Now, it has grown to not only be a peerless exhibition platform but also a place of discourse concerning topical issues challenging the healthcare industry.’’

Informa Markets Group Director for Healthcare, Solenne Singer, also said its role at Informa Markets was to bring together manufacturers to meet with local buyers to aid in the sourcing of health equipment and solutions for their facilities and the people of Nigeria.

Among the technologies exhibited at the conference were state-of-the-art imaging and diagnostics.

Stakeholders at the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Symposium on Tuesday called for the reform of the protection laws as it related to the survivors.

The symposium, with the theme: ”Tales of Survivors”, was organised to commemorate the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Awareness Month.

Giving his Goodwill message, the Chief Justice of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, said that there was the need to protect the victims/survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, so they could easily seek redress.

Alogba, who was represented by Justice Sherifat Solebo of the High Court, Lagos said that stigmatisation had discouraged a lot of victims from speaking out, making perpetrators to continue in the act.

Alogba said there should be reform of the sentencing guidelines of Lagos State to suit peculiar circumstances.

According to him, sentencing is not just to reflect the practicality of analogical sanctions, but should be reflective of the particular circumstance of each case, as it should not be generalised.

Speaking on ”Expose on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence”, Prof. Olufunmilayo Bammeke, the Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos said it was important to have a multi-sectoral approach in responses to survivors.

Bammeke said that sexual and Gender-Based violence survivor were very reluctant to seek redress for fear of being blamed, of being disbelieved and of being stigmatised.

She commended the courage of survivors who were able to go forward to seek redress and that such survivors must have a lot of support.

Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, the Executive Secretary, Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA), said the agency was ensuring it contributed to the responses of sexual and gender-vased violence, both preventive and remedial.

Vivour-Adeniyi said that in the past one year, DSVA had provided services to over 4,800 adults and children, who were survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

She said that survivors often faced various multi-facetted challenges, which might have long-lasting impact on their physical, mental and psychological state of mind.

She further stated that she hope that the symposium will inform new polices, which are critical to adequately and proactively prevent and where necessary, respond to sexual and gender-based violence in Lagos State.

During the symposium, some survivors shared their stories, how they took a stand against domestic and sexual violence and how they had been able to show resilience in the face of the challenges that followed.

By telling their stories, the survivors served as motivation to others, letting them know that it is possible to overcome both the trauma of domestic and sexual violence, and to demonstrate that indeed, there is life after violence.

The Federal Ministry of Health has warned against diversion of drugs meant for deworming of school children to curtail the spread of schistosomiasis in the FCT.

Dr Obiageli Nebe, Director and Programme Manager, National Deworming Programme, issued the warning during the FCT 2022 Annual School Deworming Exercise on Tuesday in Abuja.

Nebe said the drugs was for the treatment of schistosomiasis, a disease caused by parasitic worms that lives in fresh water.

She added that the disease was endemic in the FCT, with Gwagwalada Area Council having the highest burden.

The Programme Manager, therefore, stressed the need for traditional, religious and School Based Management Committee (SBMC) to encourage children to receive the drugs and monitor the dispensing against diversion.

She also tasked the stakeholders to ensure they monitor the national school feeding projects and ensure the vendors deliver quality and good food for the children.

On his part, Dr Johnson Onyemah, Consultant on School Feeding, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, said over 54,000 schools nationwide were participating in the programme.

Dr Sadiq Abdrahman, Director, Public Health Department, said the meeting was to solicit support, collaboration and active participation of stakeholders to ensure success of the exercise.

Abdrahman, represented by Dr Eunice Ogundipe, Head of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Unit in the department, therefore encouraged participants to ensure the drugs gets to the targeted persons.

Also speaking, Dr Ibrahim Yusuf, Chairman of SBMC in the FCT, stressed the need for collaboration with traditional leaders to ensure success of the exercise.

The Federal Government said that strategies had been put in place for the reduction of severe preventable medication-related harm by 50 per cent in the next five years.

Dr Osagie Ehanire, Minister of Health, said this in Abuja at a news conference to commemorate the 2022 World Patient Safety Day.

Ehanire who was represented by Adebimpe Adebiyi, Director of Hospital Services, Ministry of Health, said the day was marked annually on Sept. 17.

Ehanire said that the reduction would be by making improvements at each stage of the medication process, including prescribing, dispensing, administering, monitoring and use.

According to him, underreporting of medication errors is also an issue.

Ehanire said that the high incidence of major medication errors related to prescription of incorrect antiretroviral therapy (ART), protocols, potential drug-drug interaction in Nigeria’s HIV treatment Programme have been reported in the past.

He said that the incidence of medication errors was somewhat high; and majority of identified errors were related to prescription of incorrect ART regimens and potential drug-drug interactions.

He said the prescriber was contacted and the errors were resolved in majority of cases.

“Active screening for medication errors is feasible in resource-limited settings following adequate capacity building,” he said.

Ehanire said that errors were not limited to medical or surgical services alone, some errors had also been recorded in some laboratories.

He said that Nigeria was already working to develop its National Policy and Strategy on Patient Safety and Quality of care.

The minister says “We are hoping it will be completed and launched this year so that it can be deployed for use in all our health facilities at all levels of care.”

He said the policy focused on improving medication safety, surgical safety, and safety of all medical procedures among others.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), Country Representative to Nigeria, Dr Walter Mulombo said medication errors occurred most commonly due to weaknesses in medication systems, and are aggravated by shortages of well-trained health staff.

Mulombo said that other issues were poor working and environmental conditions for delivery of quality health care.

Represented by WHO Deputy Country Representative, Dr Alex Chimbaru, he said patients’ rights to medication without prejudice could be compromised through inappropriate prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, administration and monitoring practices.

Mulombo said that weak medication systems and human factors were the major contributory factors to unsafe practices, with many countries lacking the capacity to detect, evaluate and prevent medicine safety issues.

He said other contributory factors included fatigue, inadequate knowledge and training, staff shortages, workplace distractions, and high workload and limited resources.

Mulombo said that Nigeria had consistently updated the Essential Medicine Lists and currently work was ongoing on the integration of WHO Aware Classification of antibiotics.

He said the National Drug Policy 2005 was revised in 2021. The policy contained policy direction prescription and dispensing of medicines and pharmacovigilance.