The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, PCN, has shut down 531 medicine outlets in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for operating without registration, poor documentation, and stocking of ethical products without the supervision of a pharmacist. The Director of Enforcement, Stephen Esumobi, disclosed this to journalists in Abuja on Friday, noted that the council is working towards the use of technology to make drugs easily accessible to patients.
As Nigeria struggles to battle with the wave of cholera threatening many parts of the country, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, has called on state government authorities to end open defecation in their respective jurisdictions if the epidemic has to be managed. The Minister urged the state governments to prepare for a widespread orientation of the general public and push for a behavioural change that will discourage the populace from defecating in open spaces.
President Bola Tinubu has directed the Federal Executive Council, FEC, to set up a committee to oversee the cholera emergency operation centre operated by the National Centre For Disease Control, NCDC. The Minister of Health, Dr Ali Pate, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the council meeting presided over by the President at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja. He also disclosed that the cabinet committee would comprise members from the Federal Ministry of Health, Finance, Water Resources, Environment, Youth, Aviation and Education.
Taking cue from the Lagos state government, the Federal Government has banned the use of single-use plastics across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). Single-use plastic, popularly known as disposable plastic by this law and any other plastic item that is used once, and then thrown in the trash is hereby ban.
Nigeria has vaccinated seven million girls across the country against cervical cancer, a common disease among young women in the country. The two-week vaccination program is a major step toward the protection of girls and women against the life-threatening disease, according to the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, a global health partnership collaborating with Nigeria’s Ministry of Health, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). "It's a major breakthrough in girls’ health in Nigeria. In just two weeks, an impressive 7 million girls have been vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV)," said Sania Nishtar, the chief executive officer of the vaccine alliance.
The House of Representatives and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control have resolved to lift the ban on the sale and consumption of sachet alcoholic beverages in the country. The deputy spokesman for the House, Philip Agbese, who disclosed this, said the lifting of the ban would end when the economy fully recovers from its current strain. NAFDAC had banned the production of beverages in small sachets and bottles for reasons not unconnected with the prevailing cases of drug abuse in the country, especially by some young Nigerians.
