Health Plus Launches Healthy Heart Check Service

Lauretta Omosoga

With efforts to lower the risk of developing heart disease, HealthPlus Pharmacy Ltd in partnership with RapidCheck Diagnostic and Wellness Ltd has launched the Healthy Heart Check Service yesterday September 26.

This launching is in line with World Heart Day observed on September 29. The Healthy Heart Check Service entails carrying out series of diagnostic tests that allows anyone to 'Know their Numbers' with regards to Blood Pressure, Blood Glucose, Cholesterol, measuring the LDL, HDL and Total triglycerides, the BMI and the Heart Age.

Supporting their effort is RapidCheck Wellness Diagnostics Ltd, who together with their International partner companies in USA and Taiwan, would be supplying the monitors to be used for the service. The plan is plan to expand the Healthy Heart Check Service to all 46 locations of HealthPlus branches over time as the ultimate aim is to make every Nigerian Healthy Heart Aware and to contribute our quota to making universal healthcare coverage available to all Nigerians.

The Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) HealthPlus Pharmacy Ltd, Pharmacist (Mrs.) Bukky George, in her keynote address, said: "Heart disease is one of the greatest causes of premature death. In Nigeria, 436 males and 476 females out of every 100,000 die as a result of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. These deaths can be prevented.”

UNICEF Canvasses Four Weeks Paid Paternity Leave

Rebecca Ejifoma

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday recommended six months paid maternity leave and four weeks paid paternity leave to ensure healthy development of young children in the country.

The UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mr. Mohammed Fall, disclosed this at the National Early Childhood Development (ECD) conference held in Abuja with the theme, ‘Investing early in Nigerian children'.

Fall, however, recommended two years pre-primary education, adding that the policies would afford parents time and resources needed to support their young children’s healthy development. “Nigeria currently has three months paid maternity leave, only one year free pre-education and no paternity leave.”

Based on the 2016 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, the representative affirmed that the key indicators of child development remain low in ally.

He expressed that only about 40 per cent of children within the ages of 36 and 59 months were attending an organised early childhood education programme, while more than 31 per cent of children under the age of five are moderately and severely underweight.

“Yet research in the Lancet series 2016 shows that early childhood education programme is a foundation for health, productivity, learning and social cohesion.”
Fall said that the conference was aimed at creating awareness on the meaning and importance of the early years of a child from conception to five years in early childhood nutrition, education and development.

Organisations Partner to Give Indigent Nigerian Children Free Healthcare

Rebecca Ejifoma

In furtherance of its charity activities with Topgoodness School, Otodo-Gbame, Linking Hands Foundation (LHF) has partnered Ask the Paediatricians Foundation (ATP) to provide medical outreach to indigent Nigerian children "Otodo-Gbame Children’s Medical Outreach” on Saturday 30th September this year at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Resurrection Parish Grounds, Jakande, Lekki, Lagos at 8am.

The foundations are acting on their shared vision that all Nigerian children must be healthy and alive, and must achieve their full potential.

ATP has held medical outreaches for 1,000 children in Makoko and over 500 children in Ijegun, which LHF supported actively. “Together, we look forward to meeting the health needs of the expected 1,000 Otodo-Gbame (and Jakande) children at this medical outreach,” Founder, Linking Hands Foundation – LHF, Efe Farinre.

She expressed that the children would be provided free vital and nutritional status checks, paediatric consultation, dental care, deworming, testing and treatment of malaria, medication, health talks, balanced diet meal, brand new & old clothes, shoes, books & toys, toiletries and other give-aways.

Merck Foundation brings African and Asian Countries together to Build Healthcare Capacity in the Continent

Rebecca Ejifoma

Merck Foundation – a non-profit company and a subsidiary of Merck KGaA Germany – is set to conduct the Fourth edition of their annual ‘Merck Africa Asia Luminary’ on 24th and 25th of October next year in partnership with Egypt’s Ministry of High Education and Scientific Research, Africa Fertility Society and the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS).

This annual luminary is coming after the success of Merck Africa Luminary in Germany, Kenya and cote D’Ivoire, as disclosed in a press release issued today.

According to the Chairman of the Executive Board and Family Board of E-Merck KG, Prof. Frank Stangenberg-Haverkamp, Merck is a value driven company and that is one of the reasons Merck - through its foundation - is committed to support the social and economic development of Africa, Asia and developing countries by building healthcare capacity and improving access to innovative and equitable healthcare in the continent.

CEO of Merck Foundation, Dr. Rasha Kelej, expressed that Merck Foundation would bring more than 450 healthcare providers, policy makers, academia and researchers from Africa, Asia and CIS countries to  benefit from the valuable educational and social development sessions by top international experts in Diabetes, Fertility, Oncology, Cardiology, Women Health and Research. This is to improve disease management, early detection and prevention, build healthcare and research capacity and improve access to innovative and equitable healthcare solutions in developing countries.

He added: “We are very proud to have very influential women leader to inaugurate the Luminary such as: Vice President of Tanzania, H.E. Dr. Samia Hassan Suluhu, First Lady Republic of Guinea, H.E. Conde Djénè Kaba, First Lady of Gambia, H.E. Fatoumatta Bah-Barrow, First Lady of Niger, H.E. Aissata Issoufou Mahamadou, First Lady of Chad, H.E. Hinda Deby Itno and First Lady of Central African Republic, H.E. Brigitte Touadera."

Kelej further disclosed that they would announce the start of Merck more than a Mother” to empower infertile women through access to information, health and change of mind-set in their respective countries and the rest of Africa.

WHO: Edo Tops Nigeria’s Routine Immunisation Coverage Chart – WHO

Lauretta Omosoga

The Governor of Edo State, Obaseki, vaccinating a child during the flag-iff of routine immunisation

Edo has been adjudged as the best-performing state in routine immunisation coverage in Nigeria with no variation between its administrative data and the outcome of the National Immunisation Coverage Survey conducted in 2016.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Coordinator in Edo State, Mrs. Faith Ireye, disclosed this during the flag-off of routine immunisation intensification project by the Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki at Egor Local Government Area of the state.

The National Immunisation Coverage Survey is a joint review by WHO and UNICEF to find out variations between empirical data and the immunisation performance system or where data might be misleading.

The administrative coverage data is reported by national authorities and based on aggregated administrative reports from health service providers on the number of vaccinations administered during a given period and reported target population data. This was compared with data based on estimated coverage from household surveys among children from ages 12 to 23 months or 24 to 35 months.

According to Ireye, there has been a huge reduction in vaccine-preventable disease rate in the state. “Edo has been able to achieve the measles elimination target of less than one measles case per 1,000,000 population.”

She added that the state’s performance could be attributed to Obaseki’s championing of an incentive-based system to accelerate results in healthcare delivery, with the yearly cash award to the best performing LGAs in routine immunisation.

She, however  commended the governor for the initiative, stressing that it would spur local councils and health workers to be at their best as they carry out routine immunisation programme in the state.

WHO: The World is Running out of Antibiotics

A report – Antibacterial agents in clinical development – an analysis of the antibacterial clinical development pipeline, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis – launched today by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows a serious lack of new antibiotics under development to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Most of the drugs currently in the clinical pipeline are modifications of existing classes of antibiotics and are only short-term solutions. The report found very few potential treatment options for those antibiotic-resistant infections identified by WHO as posing the greatest threat to health, including drug-resistant tuberculosis which kills around 250 000 people each year.

“Antimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency that will seriously jeopardise progress in modern medicine,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “There is an urgent need for more investment in research and development for antibiotic-resistant infections including TB, otherwise we will be forced back to a time when people feared common infections and risked their lives from minor surgery.”

Dangote: Pray that Oil Prices Remain Low

Aliko Dangote

Rebecca Ejifoma
Nigerian business leader, Aliko Dangote assured investors that Africa would become the food basket of the world, and that five of the 12 million jobs needed in Africa soon must be created in Nigeria, as he urged everyone to pray that oil prices remain low”

According to Dangote at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, "Agriculture, agriculture, agriculture. Africa will become the food basket of the world."

In a packed room at the headquarters of global law firm Shearman and Sterling LLC  high level business leaders and international diplomats invited by the Corporate Council for Africa to hear Africa's richest man, Aliko Dangote, and Rwandan president, Paul Kagame openly converse on Africa's opportunities and challenges.

Both leaders underscored the ongoing movement to diversify African economies. In the case of  Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, Dangote added: "We should pray that oil prices remain low. This helps wean us off the dependency on revenues from petroleum. We must take oil to be the icing on the cake. We already have the cake.”

Besides agriculture, Dangote cited Nigeria's vast mineral resources and gas as well and the need to manufacture more goods locally for domestic consumption. Both he and Kagame called on continued need for heavy investments in education and connected the need for young people to be well trained for the jobs of tomorrow.

Dangote predicted that "Five of the 12 million jobs needed in Africa soon must be created in Nigeria”.

Accordingly, Dangote's fortune – which stems from cement, sugar, and other household commodities – has expanded into fertiliser and other processed high-value goods. "Technology of course helps us a lot and our factories are state of the art with the use of robotics but we shouldn't be overly tech oriented to create wealth," he told investors.