Health

Medecins Sans Frontieres says the tide may have turned in the global fight against AIDS, but too many people in sub-Saharan Africa are developing and dying of AIDS-related diseases due to limited testing and problems with treatment. UN says more than half of people infected with HIV worldwide are now getting drugs and AIDS-related deaths have almost halved since 2005, putting the world on track to hit the target of 30 million people on treatment by 2020.

Dr Karine Lacombe, an associate professor at Saint-Antrine Hospital, Inserm, France, says the new treatment for Hepatitis C is effective in Africa from results of preliminary clinical trials in the region.

A UN report revealed on Thursday that AIDS claimed a million lives in 2016, almost half the 2005 toll which marked the peak of the deadly epidemic.

On Thursday, the Minister of Health Dr. Isaac Adewole officially added Amoxicillin and Zinc to the list of drugs on the Essential Medicines List (EML). The two drugs are currently used in the treatment of childhood diseases. According to the revised EML made available to Vigil360, the Amoxicillin dispersible tablets will be used for the treatment of Pneumonia while Zinc Lowosmolarity Oral Rehydration will be used for the treatment of diarrhoea.

An Indian court told a 10-year-old girl, who is six months pregnant after she was allegedly raped by her uncle, that she is “too young” to get an abortion.

The Nigerian Senate has raised alarm over the continued sale and consumption of over 42 Anti-malaria drugs that have been banned in Europe and other countries. On Tuesday, Sen. T. Orji who raised a motion on the matter lamented that the delay or outright refusal by the Ministry of Health to enforce similar ban in the country was exposing Nigerians to grave danger.