The President of the Nigerian Medical Association(NMA), Prof Innocent Ujah, says all Medical and Dental Practitioners under the auspices of NMA are deeply saddened by the tragic, horrific and preventable death of Dr. Chinelo Nwando, who was killed in the terror attack on the Abuja- Kaduna train, Monday night.

Dr. Nwando who is reported to have lost her life from injuries sustained from gunshots when the train she travelled in from Abuja to Kaduna was attacked by suspected bandits.

“As an Association, we vehemently decry the worsening insecurity in the country which has made all of us and Nigerians as a whole vulnerable to violent attacks by hoodlums, bandits, kidnappers and terrorists who are currently having a field day causing us deep sorrows and severe pains”. Prof Ujah said.

He also said that the untimely death of the young, promising Dr Chinelo who served at the Kaduna State Dental Centre and worked with St Gerrard’s Hospital, Kakuri, while striving to earn a honest living is one other death too many.

“The Association notes that needless blood letting and senseless loss of lives is fast becoming a recurring decimal in our country, thus worsening the alarming effects of brain drain, which in many instances have been attributable to the worsening security situation in the country“. He said.

The Association hereby calls on the security agencies to urgently reorganise the security architecture in the country with focus on intelligence gathering in order to avoid these carnages across the country.

The Association also recommends that the Federal Government gives a strong consideration to the establishment of state police to further complement the efforts of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF).

“The recruitment of more security personnel and the provision of modern security gadgets and ammunition for them can’t be overemphasised”. He noted.

The Association also prays to God to grant the families of Dr Nwando and all other victims of the very unfortunate incidence, the fortitude to bear the irreparable losses while also praying for the speedy recovery of all those who sustained various forms of injuries from gunshots and while trying to escape the attack.

World Health Organisation (WHO), says it is examining reports of hearing loss and other auditory issues following COVID-19 vaccinations.

The global health body made this known in a newsletter posted on its website on Tuesday.

W.H.O said it was notified about sudden hearing problems, particularly tinnitus or ringing of the ears that may be associated with COVID-19 vaccines.

W.H.O reported 164 cases of hearing loss and 367 cases of tinnitus globally among people who had received a COVID-19 vaccine, usually within a day of the shot.

“Of the 164 cases of hearing loss, four also described the feeling of numbness of the face on the affected side. In two narratives, the patients had consulted an ENT physician and received a potential diagnosis of labyrinthitis and vestibular neuritis,” WHO said.

“In five cases with information on the recovery of hearing following steroid treatment, two reported recovery after three days of steroids, and another experienced hearing loss subsiding spontaneously after the first COVID-19 vaccine dose, but requiring steroid treatment after the second COVID-19 vaccine dose, with partial recovery (report was received 18 days post-vaccination).

“A fourth case described mild improvements with steroid treatment (report received five days post-vaccination) and another had mild improvements five days after steroid treatment (report received 17 days post-vaccination).

“Of the 164 cases, at the time of the report 51 (31 per cent) were recovering or recovered from their symptoms and 50 (30 per cent) had not recovered. In the remaining 63 (38 per cent) cases no outcome information was recorded.”

The newsletter further explained that 268 out of the 367 people who reported tinnitus were females, while 92 males and sex was missing in seven.

Global family planning body, Family Planning 2030 has  launched its West African office in Abuja, Nigeria. The FP2030 Executive Director, Dr. Samukeliso Dube and Harriet Birungi, Population Council’s Vice President of International Programmes, formally launched the new hub in a video announcement on Tuesday in Abuja.

The announcement also outlined the vision for the new hub’s work on family planning in Africa.

Dube said that the newly created Abuja-based hub would be hosted by Population Council Nigeria and would serve as the office for North, West and Central Africa.

He said, “We are accelerating progress that ensures that our efforts are country-led and remain globally connected, while building on the strengths and successes of FP2020. We know that with Population Council Nigeria as our host partner, we are very well placed to succeed.”

He noted that the council had been working with the federal government and health organisations for more than five decades.

Dube said, “Population Council Nigeria is dedicated to meeting the needs of populations at risk, including adolescent girls and young women and promoting access to high-quality sexual and reproductive health, maternal health and family planning services.

The executive director said the North, West and Central African regional hub wound cover 30 countries in the region.

He explained that like the other regional hubs, it would include staff expertise, in-country engagement, youth partnerships, advocacy and accountability, high-impact family planning practices, as well as fundraising and communications.

Dube further said that the connection would be with other FP2030 partners in the region and would create stronger programmes and accountability.

According to him, regional hubs put countries and regional partners in the driver’s seat for agenda setting, monitoring progress and collaboration.

Madame Marie Ba, the executive director, Ouagadougou Partnership Coordinating Unit, applauded the launch of the new FP2030 hub in West Africa.

Ba maintained that having an FP2030 office in Abuja would strengthen collaboration and galvanise coordination among partners across the region.

This, according to her, has been one of the longstanding roles of FP2030, but expects these networks to become stronger with the regional hub office support.

She said that the ultimate aim was to connect these stronger regional networks to a global movement for family planning

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) says it has earmarked 9.5 million dollars to tackle malnutrition in Bauchi, Kebbi and Sokoto states for two years.

This was disclosed by the Director, Health Population and Nutrition Office, USAID-Nigeria, Mr. Paul McDermott at the USAID Advancing Nutrition Project Launch in Abuja.

McDermott said the challenge of malnutrition in Nigeria was evident, and that a multi-sectoral approach was needed to change the situation, especially in children, adolescents and women.

McDermott said that addressing the multifaceted challenges of malnutrition remained one of the agency’s greatest areas of focus and that it would continue to collaborate with the government of Nigeria.

He said the agency would continue to provide support for women, children and adolescents at risk of malnutrition.

McDermott added that USAID had a multi-sectoral institution nutrition strategy for 2020 to 2025, which aligned with its broader USAID strategy across all the development sectors it was working.

He added, “It covers almost everything that we have been talking about today; access to food, service delivery capacity, community leadership, the role of women’s health, water, and sanitation.’’

McDermott said that USAID was also looking at the 1000 day window between the start of a woman’s pregnancy and the child’s second birthday.

The project, he said, had an overall approach and established priorities for investments in policies and programmes to reduce the many burdens of malnutrition.

He added that it would seek to improve coordination, both at the federal and sub-national levels and increase collaboration.

He said, “So we are very pleased to unveil this strategy today, we are already doing some of this work in integrating the nutrition that is happening across the 33 states.”

Minister of State for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mr. Clement Agba, on his part, said that the negative consequences of malnutrition on public health expenditure and economic productivity required a multiple-pronged approach by all stakeholders to address it.

Represented by Dr. Sanjo Faniran, director, Social Development, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the minister commended USAID for its effort in tackling malnutrition, adding that the government was committed to addressing the incidence of malnutrition by implementing strategies.

Ms Tina Lloren, director of Country Initiatives, USAID Advancing Nutrition, said that the launch of the project implementation was aimed at improving nutrition for a healthy, productive and resilient population.

Lloren commended other stakeholders that provided invaluable input to the development of the project, adding that their effort helped to ensure that the work aligned with the government’s priorities in obtaining optimal nutrition for all citizens.

The Bauchi, Kebbi and Sokoto governments thanked USAID for the project and committed to supporting it in order to tackle malnutrition in their states.

The Nigerian Government has declared a State of Emergency on childhood tuberculosis in the country on Tuesday.

This was disclosed in Abuja, by Dr Chukwuma Anyaike, the Coordinator, National Tuberculosis, Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP), at the bi-weekly meeting of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in the country.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious disease that is caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that often affect the lungs.

Bacteria that cause tuberculosis are spread from person to person through tiny droplets released into the air via coughs and sneezes.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) as stating that “Nigeria has recorded a 50 per cent increase in TB notification from 138,591 TB cases in 2020 to 207,785 TB cases in 2021.”

“Also, about six per cent of all forms of notified TB cases in 2021 were children less than 15 years. TB is an important infectious disease of public health concern.”

“The effects of TB on children in terms of morbidity and mortality are more than that of adults and the ugly development may not be unconnected with the differences in characteristics and peculiarities of the disease in children.”

The world body added that “Tuberculosis in children is usually primary, paucibacillary, characterised by difficulties in diagnosis of both drug susceptible and resistant TB.”

“This is associated with poor uptake of preventive therapy for those with latent infection, contacts and people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), in most developing countries like Nigeria.”

The NTBLCP coordinator, therefore, said that the management of TB in children was characterised by difficulties due to both peculiarities of children and the disease.

“With detailed clinical assessment and examination of necessary specimen, in addition to strict adherence to the guidelines of the national TB control programme, more cases of TB in children can be prevented, diagnosed, treated and reported,” he added.

Chukwuma said that these disturbing statistics called for a change in narrative of the country’s child TB scourge, stressing the need for concerted response from stakeholders.

He said “we now have a National Steering Committee for Childhood TB, which will now be the central advisory body of the Programme.”

“It consists of representatives from donor partners in the programme and includes vast expertise in TB research, academia and staff of NTBLCP.”

The national coordinator said that the capacities of pediatricians and medical officers were being built in the country to improve early diagnosis and prompt treatment of childhood TB.

Chukwuma said that the programme was also collaborating with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency to improve on BCG immunisation to primarily protect children from TB, Leprosy and even Buruli ulcer.

The Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Ifedayo Adetifa, said the agency was working to strengthen sub-national disease surveillance systems in the country.

He added that outbreak detection needed a system to successfully identify an epidemic at the earliest possible stage through complete and timely reported data.

Adetifa said that the agency’s priorities remained testing, testing and testing.

He added that “currently, we have increased Rapid Diagnosis Test (RDT ) due to an ongoing surge testing project in Ekiti, Sokoto, Kebbi, Abia, Kwara, Akwa Ibom, Edo and Ondo states.”