In the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), malaria accounts for 70 percent of outpatient visits, 40 percent of admissions with total 389,957 cases reported, and a malaria prevalence rate of 35.4 percent, according to the Mandate Secretary, Health and Human Service Secretariat (HHSS), Dr. Abubakar Tafida.

Tafida made this disclosure Tuesday, at a stakeholders interactive forum, organised by the Secretariat as part of activities to mark the 2022 World Malaria Day, with the theme: “Harness innovation to reduce malaria disease burden and save lives”, in Abuja.

He noted that this year’s theme was apt, as it is a clarion call by the World Health Organisation (WHO), for new investments and innovation to speed up the pace of efforts to control the malaria menace.

According to him, Nigeria accounts for 32% of malaria related deaths, as the disease is responsible for 60 % of admissions, 11% of maternal mortality, 25% of infant mortality and 30 % of under-5 mortality.

He adds” The situation in the FCT is also critical. Stagnant waters, which are characteristics of the ever-enlarging slums across the FCT, are the breeding ground for the Anopheles mosquitoes, whose bites cause malaria.”

The HHSS Secretary however, revealed that the FCT Administration has strategically and innovatively adopted multi-pronged approach towards reducing/controlling the menace of the disease.

Also speaking, Dr. Olusola Oresanya, of the Malaria Consortium, who delivered a talk on controlling malaria in Nigeria to the hundreds of participants consisting of health workers, supporting partners and students of the FCT school of Nursing, Gwagwalada, disclosed that Nigeria has the highest contributor of malaria burden (55.2 %) W.H.O African region.

She noted that the current recommendation is that controlling malaria should be a multi-pronged approach, hence it is not an isolated approach, if the disease is must be eliminated.

According to her, malaria is a treatable and curable disease, thus it is possible to defeat malaria in the FCT and Nigeria at large, amongst others with sustained net campaign, bringing in mechanisms to build up existing interventions for health issues, as every effort counts in the quest to eliminate health challenges especially malaria.

Nigerian government, international community, major stakeholders and Non Governmental Organisations have committed to ending Female Genital Mutilation in Nigeria.

The commitment was made at the “Launch of the Movement For Good to End Female Genital Mutilation, “ in Abuja.

Nigerian Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Paullen Tallen, says Female Genital Mutilation is evil and must be stopped. She said that following the reassurances and commitment of traditional rulers, it is possible to end FGM in Nigeria. She said that the launch of the movement was a defining moment towards ending the menace.

“FGM is a traditional practice inflicted on girls and women worldwide and it is widely recognised as a violation of human rights, which is deeply rooted in cultural  belief and perceptions over decades and generations. The procedure involves the total or partial removal of the external female genital causing injuries to the female genital organ. In places where it is practiced, it is seen as a right of passage of the girl child to womanhood. And this is encouraged by family members in the fear and belief of social sanctions,” the minister said. She noted that science has proven that FGM has no health benefit to the girl child.

” Statistics has shown that Nigeria has the highest number of cases of FGM in the world accounting for about one hundred and fifteen million out of one hundred and thirty million circumcised women worldwide. That south south zone with 77% amongst adult women has the highest prevalence practice in Nigeria. This is followed by the south east zone with 68% and the south west zone with 65%. The northern part of Nigeria also is not totally free this practice but is very very limited“. She said.

The minister pointed out that eliminating FGM was crucial to realising many of the SDGs. She also called for intensified advocacy to all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

Mrs Tallen stated that the present administration, knowing the dangers associated with FGM to women and girls is committed to ending it.

The French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, said that at least 200 women worldwide have undergone genital mutilation and more might be affected in the coming years. She said that FGM contravenes the rights of women.

The U.S. Ambassador to  Nigeria, Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard said that FGM harms women and girls across the continent and the US is working with its partners around the world to eliminate all forms of gender based violence including FGM.

The Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Juan Ignacio Sell, said that communities and traditional leaders hold the keys to finally change the narrative.

The UN Coordinator to Nigeria, Mathias Schmate, said that all hands must be on deck to end FGM in Nigeria. He said that UN agencies charged with responsibility of providing care and support to children will continue to advocate for end to FGM.

The First Counselor Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Union delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. Alex Gomez, said that women forms more that have of the world’s population and FGM is a painful and shameful subject.

According to the Youths Conditioner of the Global Youths Consortium, Dr. Costly Aderibigbe, Nigeria might not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of FGM is not stopped.

 The launch of the Movement For Good To End FGM is expected to galvanize action towards ending Female Genital Mutilation in Nigeria before 2030.

A former President of Liberia, Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, says African countries must work to build research expertise in diseases affecting Africans and create better diagnostics, drugs, vaccines and medical devices in Africa.

Johnson-Sirleaf said this recently during the CelebrateLAB West Africa Conference in Accra, Ghana, and monitored virtually by the News Agency of Nigeria.

CelebrateLAB Conference is an annual meeting of medical laboratory and research professionals, regulators, policy makers, academia and medical product manufacturers and suppliers.

The conference seeks to proffer solutions to enhance laboratory capacity in the area of human resources, clinical research, vaccines and other medical products manufacturing in West Africa.

The theme of the conference is, “Ensuring Diagnostic Capability and Vaccine Sufficiency as Panacea to Combating Infectious Diseases in West Africa”.

Johnson-Sirleaf noted that enhancing expertise in laboratory science and infrastructure development would assist in building robust health systems.

According to her, West Africa for a while has been battling with one infectious disease after the other, and the region has faced Marburg Virus, Lassa Fever and Dengue Fever.

“We have experienced the devastating effects of the Ebola Virus Disease that destroyed lives and livelihoods in Guinea, Sierra Leone and in my own country, Liberia.

“As President of Liberia, I witnessed at first hand the devastating effects of the infectious disease on the lives of our people and their livelihoods when the Ebola crisis hit our subregion in 2014.

“We saw how the gaps in our healthcare systems are directly linked to our economies. We saw how inadequate medical laboratories and professional expertise dictated our response to the crisis.

“We knew that if we had adequate surveillance mechanisms, the expertise and knowledge in the analysis of emerging infectious disease agents in the subregion and the technology and the capacity to diagnose Ebola cases faster, we could have provided timely treatment and perhaps, saved a lot more lives than we did,” the former president said.

Johnson-Sirleaf said that it took huge determination to beat Ebola in Liberia and other parts of the subregion and to begin to build resilience for the future.

She noted that currently, the  subregion was experiencing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic that had further worsened the plight of economies and brought hardship to the people.

According to her, gaps experienced in the subregion during the Ebola crisis continued to exist when the initial cases of COVID-19 were recorded on the continent.

She listed the gaps faced at the onset of the pandemic to include lack of personal protection equipment, testing kits, medical devices, modern diagnostic infrastructure and limited expertise.

She, however, said that in spite of the challenges, the subregion, and indeed, Africa, through determination and resilience had done well managing the current pandemic.

Johnson-Sirleaf recognised and celebrated the role played by African medical laboratory scientists in diagnosing and surveillance that assisted in combating COVID-19 disease.

The former president called on all managers of healthcare systems and health ministries across West Africa to recognise and respect the important contribution of medical laboratory and research professionals in their quest to ensure a healthier continent.

She stressed the need to improve diagnostic capacity of diseases, especially infectious disease and strengthening laboratory environment by applying the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic and previous outbreaks

Johnson-Sirleaf called for collaboration to enhance the capacity of medical laboratory professionals to meet global standards and be equipped with the necessary logistics and resources to aid them in their work.

She advised strengthening health and collaborative research in the region to  ensure that citizens have equitable access to healthcare, and a health system ready to combat any outbreak.

Also, Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, Minister of Health, Ghana, said Africa and the West Africa subregion must work toward attaining vaccine sufficiency through production.

Agyemang-Manu said that the current system in which securing access to vaccines was based on advance purchase agreements, incentives of intellectual property, production capacity and competition was not sustainable.

He said that in addressing those challenges, the Ghanaian government had established a Vaccine Production Committee and gotten approval of the Cabinet to establish a Vaccine Institute.

The minister said that the country partnered with Senegal and Rwanda in its vaccine sufficiency agenda.

“With 25 million dollars from the Government of Ghana as seed money, funding support of five million euros from the German Development Cooperation and support from other Development Partners has been secured to take the process forward,” he said.

He said that the private sector-led consortium plant was expected to be fully operational by January 2024 to produce the country’s first COVID-19 vaccines.

Agyemang-Manu noted that it was part of a 10-year road map to make Ghana self-sufficient in vaccine production, not only COVID-19 vaccines, and to meet national and regional needs

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says pressure from some parents on their children to make money contributes to the thriving human trafficking in the country.

The agency’s Zonal Commander, Benin Zonal Command, Mr Nduka Nwanwenne, made this known, recently at the School of Health Technology, Benin, during an awareness on human trafficking programme.

News Agency of Nigeria reports that the programme was carried out by NAPTIP in partnership with the Action Against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants in Nigeria (A-TIPSOM) Nigeria.

Nwanwenne said that unwholesome comparison of children with their peers was another factor contributing to human trafficking in the society. According to him, comparison and pressure from parents on their children to imitate their peers and go abroad to make money for the family is a major challenge in the fight against human trafficking.

The zonal commander also said that peer group influence and poverty were other reasons victims allow themselves to be trafficked. He, however, added that poverty was not peculiar to Nigeria, and advised students not to allow peer group to influence them negatively.

He said “do not be deceived by bad friends, some people will say school is a scam, school is not a scam, you can make it here in Nigeria too after your education.”

The NAPTIP official also said that internet and social media were traffickers’ means of recruiting their victims.

He said “If you must travel, travel legitimately. Parents should avoid trafficking their children. There is a law against human trafficking, so any parents caught encouraging the trafficking of their children will be prosecuted and jailed.”

NAN reports that the three-day NAPTIP and the A-TIPSOM Nigeria partnership sensitisation programme on human trafficking, was funded by the European Union (EU).

NAN also reports that it was implemented by the International Ibero-America Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP), a Spanish Government Foundation implementing the EU-funded A-TIPSOM project in Nigeria

Mr Haward Iko, Executive Secretary, Primary Healthcare Development Agency of Lamurde Local Government Area, Adamawa, has appealed to Sen. Binos Yaroe, (PDP-Adamawa South) to assist the council in the supply of anti-snake venom.

Iko made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lamurde, headquarter of Lamurde Local Government Area of Adamawa on Tuesday.

He said that snake bites were one of the challenges faced by the people living in the area as it claimed lives of people annually while the appeal was to include the drug in the zone’s free medical outreach.

“We are appealing to Sen. Binos Yaroe to come to our aid by providing us with anti-snakes venom for the treatment of victims of snake bites, especially those living in the riverine and mountainous areas.”

According to him, such gesture will add value to the ongoing free medical outreach in the zone which was organised by the senator.

He added that without such drugs the council found it difficult to treat the victims of snake bites in the area.

“We have to take the victims to as far as Kaltungo Local Government Area in Gombe state for treatment.

He also said that it would be good for the senator to also provide other drugs to be used in various health facilities to be known as Binos drugs revolving fund.