Top News

Medical experts have drawn the attention of the public to the escalating incidence of kidney disease, particularly among pregnant Nigerian women.

The Nigeria Association of Nephrology warns of a looming epidemic of kidney diseases in the country and has urged the Federal Government to prioritise treatment of kidney disorders.

Speaking on this year’s World Kidney Day, themed: “Kidney and Women’s Health” they narrated how pregnancy puts women in situations that impinge negatively on their health, noting that kidney disease is one of such disorders.

The kidneys excrete water and other waste products from the body; regulate the internal environment but once they start failing to carry out these functions, symptoms of ailments appear.

Officials of National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Abia State Office, said they have arrested one Samuel Chukwu for allegedly faking a food seasoning product owned by another importer. The Abia State Coordinator of NAFDAC, Olisa Okeke made this known on Monday during an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba.

During the past week eight people have been reportedly killed by a fresh outbreak of cerebro-spinal meningitis in Bugaje ward, Jibia Local Government Area (LGA) of Katsina State.

The Information Officer in the area, Saadu Suleiman, who confirmed the deaths on Saturday to journalists said, five males and three females lost their lives to meningitis between last Monday and Friday.

According to Suleiman several others were hospitalized at the health centre in Bugaje.

“We recorded a fresh case of Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis, CSM, in Bugaje that claimed the lives of eight persons,” he said.

Commissioner of Health, Katsina State, Mrs Mariyatu Bala Usman has on Saturday disclosed plans to carry out reactive vaccination following an outbreak of meningitis that claimed lives of eight persons in Bugaje ward, Jibia local government area of Katsina state.

Mrs Usman confirmed the development to Vanguard’s correspondent and was quick to disclose that the government plan to carry out the vaccination exercise in tall he affected areas. She said of the eight persons that died as a result of the meningitis outbreak, seven of the victims died at home.

African governments have been urged to develop an inclusive approach, including recruitment and training of local citizens on how to curb the prevalence of common diseases.

The governments should focus on the elimination of common transmissible and non-transmissible diseases in the continent.

According to a study published in the Lancet Diabetes, persons who have slightly elevated blood sugar levels that's not high enough for a diabetes diagnosis may still have a higher risk of heart and kidney disease than individuals with normal or low blood sugar.

Diabetes has long been associated with an increased risk of heart disease. Plenty of previous research also ties diabetes to an increased risk of kidney disease.

For the study, researchers examined a nationally representative sample of 27,971 adults surveyed in four waves.

Researchers estimated the number of adults with pre-diabetes increased from 56.2 million at the start of the study period to 78.5 million by the end. By the end of the study, several people with pre-diabetes had risk factors for heart and kidney problems. 37 percent had high blood pressure, 51 percent had high cholesterol, 24 percent smoked, five percent had reduced blood filtration by the kidneys, and eight percent had elevated levels of the protein albumin in the urine that suggested impaired kidney function.