Health

The Federal Government has appealed to the striking members of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) to return to work, as their action has worsened the health condition of many patients in dire need of medical attention at different hospitals across the nation.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige made the appeal in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by Mr Samuel Olowookere, Director of Press in the ministry.

The Russian Central Research Institute of Epidemiology has developed a new gene therapy medicine for people who have the HIV, head of the federal health and epidemic watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said on Wednesday. “The Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Rospotrebnadzor created a fundamentally new drug for gene therapy, gene prophylactic treatment and molecular vaccination against HIV.

The Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Birnin Kebbi, Dr. Abdullahi Ibrahim on Wednesday said the hospital will provide skeletal services to patients, especially emergency cases. Dr. Ibrahim stated this in Birnin Kebbi while speaking to newsmen on the strike embarked upon by the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), which began on Tuesday. He, however, said patients requiring surgery or prolonged medical services would be referred to State and privately owned medical facilities.

The Edo state Chairman of Nigeria Medical Association, Dr Emmanuel Osaigbovo, has lamented that only three hospitals out of the 34 owned by the State Government are functioning. Dr. Osaigbovo stated this on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Benin, the Edo state capital. He listed the functional hospitals as the Central Hospital, Stella Obasanjo Hospital and General Hospital, Auchi.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis AG will contribute research funds to an almost $4 billion global effort to combat malaria as drug-resistant strains of the disease threaten to undo years of progress.

The commitments are part of a wide-ranging initiative, led by a pledge of $1 billion from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to quell the insect-borne disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people around the world each year. Glaxo, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, is investing an additional $250 million, while Switzerland’s Novartis will allocate more than $100 million, the companies said before a meeting Wednesday in London.

Urgency is rising as malaria cases grew significantly in 2016 for the first time in a decade, according to the World Health Organization. Emerging resistance to drugs and insecticides is making efforts to eliminate the disease more difficult, and some regions are experiencing a resurgence.

Dr Auwal Salihu, a neuro-psychiatric consultant has advised Nigerians not to stigmatise people with mental health condition after they had been treated. Salihu, the Coordinator, Mental Health Awareness Programme, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), gave this advice at an enlightenment campaign in Katsina state, northern Nigeria.