HEALTH NEWS OF THE WEEK

NCDC Confirms Lassa Fever Outbreak In Kaduna State.

The Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr Jide Idris, has confirmed the outbreak of the viral hemorrhagic fever (Lassa fever) that claimed the lives of three staff members of 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna. 

Nigeria has recorded over 4,540 Lassa fever cases and more than 875 fatalities as of December 2023.

President Tinubu set to issue executive order over rising cost of drugs
President Bola Tinubu will soon issue an executive order to address the rising cost of drugs and pharmaceutical products in Nigeria, according to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammed Pate.

“The rising cost of pharmaceuticals is a pressing concern, and we are taking decisive action to address this issue,” he said during a ministerial Press conference briefing in Abuja.

A study lists absenteeism, and others as healthcare challenges in Nigeria
The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) reported that research has identified absenteeism, informal payments, procurement and employment corruption as some of the leading sleazes at the grassroots level of Nigeria’s healthcare. 

These findings were from research by lecturers and researchers in the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC), Nsukka and Bayero University, Kano. The research also revealed the negative impacts of corruption on healthcare services, particularly at community levels.

We invested over $600m in health assistance in Nigeria in 2023 – US Govt
The United States government has said it invested over $600 million in health assistance in Nigeria in 2023 as part of the Nigeria-US partnership on Health Assistance.

The health assistance includes the provision of about 83 million insecticide-treated bed nets, 22 million malaria preventive treatments in pregnancy, 164 million fast-acting malaria medicines, and Insecticide to spray 121,000 homes.

It added that over 102 million rapid diagnostic tests for malaria were administered while an estimated 2 million people who live with HIV in Nigeria out of about 39 million people living with HIV globally are receiving this health assistance.

Study reveals over one billion now live with obesity globally
More than one billion people worldwide are now living with obesity, with rates among children increasing fourfold, according to a report published by The Lancet.

According to the study, obesity among adults globally has more than doubled since 1990 and has quadrupled among children and adolescents between five to 19 years of age. The analysis estimates that nearly 880 million adults and 159 million children will live with obesity in 2022.