Lassa Fever: Edo Govt Reactivates Rapid Response Team, Traces Contacts of Reported Cases

In a proactive measure to curtail the spread of Lassa Fever in the state, the Edo State Government has reactivated its rapid response team and started contact tracing for confirmed cases of the disease.

The state government, also, said it was working closely with the Lassa Fever Institute, Irrua and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for case management and disease surveillance.

In a statement by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. David Osifo, the state government said that the prevention and control of Lassa Fever is multisectoral “involving the Ministries of Health,

ERA/FoEN Petitions Buhari on Right to Water in Nigerian Constitution

Rebecca Ejifoma

President Muhammadu Buhari

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has written the President, Muhammed Buhari, on the need to enshrine water as a human right in the Nigerian Constitution.

ERA/FoEN is asking President Buhari to throw his weight behind demands by civil society and other groups for democratically-controlled water systems that guarantee universal access to all Nigerians irrespective of their status.

Civil Societies Call for Ban of Shisha Smoking, Tobacco Control Enforcement

Rebecca Ejifoma

A group of civil societies in Lagos, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN),  have called on government at all levels and relevant agencies to the urgent need to ban shisha smoking in Nigeria as well as enforce tobacco control law.

The Organisations made this clarion call at a media parley in Lagos yesterday when it stated its dissatisfaction over the rate of Nigerians, especially artistes in the music, movie industries and shisha bars are patronising this health danger across the country.

Thomson Reuters Foundation: 2018 Food Sustainability Media Award Now Open

The Thomson Reuters Foundation and Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition have called on professional journalists, freelancers, bloggers and individuals to submit both published and unpublished work covering issues related to food security, sustainability, agriculture and nutrition for the 2018 Food Sustainability Media Award.

The Award, as stated in a press release issued yesterday, seeks especially to highlight three major paradoxes affecting the global food system, and the solutions being put forward to tackle to the hunger and obesity, food and fuel, waste and starvation.

FCT to Immunise over 900,000 against Polio

NAN

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Primary Health Care Development Board says over 900,000 children will be immunised against polio in the first round of 2018 vaccination across the territory.

The Acting Executive Secretary, Dr Mathew Ashikeni told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Abuja on Saturday that adequate personnel had been engaged to carry out the exercise simultaneously across the six area councils in FCT.

He said that his board had received enough Oral Polio Vaccines (OPVs) to ensure that no child under the age of five is left out in the forthcoming exercise which will kick off  on Jan. 20 and end on Jan. 23.

Merck Partners Africa, Asia to Build Healthcare Capacity with Special Focus on Diabetes, Oncology, Infertility

Rebecca Ejifoma

The Merck Foundation in collaboration with the University of Malaya today will facilitate academic support to post-graduate medical trainees in the fields of diabetes, oncology and infertility.

Merck Foundation (MF), a non-profit company and subsidiary of Merck KGaA Germany and the University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia’s oldest and most established institution of higher learning, signed a Memorandum of Understanding today aimed at providing fellowship training for post-graduate medical trainees from Africa and other developing countries.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by YB Datuk Dr. Mary Yap Kain Ching, Deputy Minister of Higher Education Malaysia.

UN Environment, WHO Agree to Major Collaboration on Environmental Health Risks

The UN Environment and World Health Organisation (WHO) have agreed a new, wide-ranging collaboration to accelerate action to curb environmental health risks that cause an estimated 12.6 million deaths a year.

Today in Nairobi, Head of UN Environment, Mr. Erik Solheim and the Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, signed an agreement to step up joint actions to combat air pollution, climate change and antimicrobial resistance, as well as improve coordination on waste and chemicals management, water quality and food and nutrition issues.

The collaboration, also, includes joint management of the BreatheLife advocacy campaign to reduce air pollution for multiple climate, environment and health benefits.
This represents the most significant formal agreement on joint action across the spectrum of environment and health issues in over 15 years.