Health
Lagos Group Impacts 70,000 Youths with HIV Programmes
The National Youth Network on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NYNETHA) says it has reached over 70, 000 youths in Lagos State with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) prevention messages and treatment within five years.
Mr Olanrewaju Babamole, Lagos State Coordinator of NYNETHA, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.
NYNETHA is the umbrella body, representing Nigeria Youths, in the planning and implementing of multi-sectoral HIV/AIDS response.
Babamole said that the organisation’s programme aims at combating HIV/AIDS and promote issues of population and sustainable youths with one collective voice.
He said that NYNETHA reached Adolescents and Young People in Lagos with comprehensive information on HIV/AIDS, condoms distribution across the states, HIV Smart Testing Kits and partnered on provision of youths friendly services.
“Increasing youths’ understanding of HIV; what contributes to HIV; prevention and treatment options are crucial to controlling the HIV epidemic.
“We deliver basic and factual information on HIV/AIDS, the benefits of HIV counselling, and testing to know their HIV health status,” he said.
According to him, NYNETHA partnered with MTV Staying Alive Foundation on creating a tour Peer Educator checklist for its
“The MTV Shuga programme bring to the attention of young people the social complexities of negotiating safer sexual and lifestyle decisions,” he said.
Babamole said that in spite of the disruption caused by COVID-19 pandemic, NYNETHA did not relent in its youth-centred programme campaign of training, advocacy and meaningful youth engagement.
He said that it also engaged in youth involvement and participation in the process of policy formulation and implementation.
Babamole said that NYNETHA evolved the strategy of using courier services to deliver drugs to populations that it served toward easing their access to treatment during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“We also used the social media to disseminate information on HIV prevention and advise to practice safe sex.
“We held virtual meetings with key stakeholders to highlight the intervention gaps and necessary approaches for an integrated HIV/AIDS and Sexual and Reproductive Health Response, while responding to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
The coordinator of NYNETHA said that UNFPA has been a great partner in supporting NYNETHA programmes with technical support and funds.
Babamole, however, complained that current funding of government, particularly for youth-led initiatives, was not enough.
He appealed to the government to increase funding for youth-focussed programmes, expand availability of comprehensive youth-friendly information and services, confidential counselling and testing.
Hundreds of millions of children and adolescents around the world face daily violence in their homes, schools, and elsewhere which could have lifelong consequences.The World Health Organisation (WHO) said this on Thursday.The violence includes being hit by family members, being bullied at school, as well as physical, emotional, and sexual violence, WHO said.
In most cases, violence occurs behind closed doors. More than half of those aged two to 17 or more than a billion minors in total experience violence each year according to the WHO. In three out of five children and adolescents, it is physical violence at home, with one in five girls and one in seven boys experiencing sexual violence.Between a quarter and half of minors are affected by bullying according to the information provided.Only half of the children reportedly talk about their experiences of violence and less than 10 per cent receive help.Lifelong consequences could include depression and anxiety disorders, or tobacco and drug use.As a result, many children do not reach their learning potential in school.Against the backdrop of being highly preventable, violence remains a horrific day-to-day reality for millions of children around the world leaving scars that span generations,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general.The UN’s first conference on violence against children opened in Bogota, Columbia on Thursday.At the two-day conference, more than 100 countries pledged to find ways to better support overwhelmed parents and introduce school programmes against bullying and for healthy social behaviour.They also pledged to raise the minimum age for marriage.Some countries wish to generally ban children from being hit at school or home. (dpa/NAN)
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed 17 bacteria, viruses and parasites that regularly cause disease as top priorities for new vaccine development.WHO, in a study published on Tuesday, reconfirmed long-standing priorities for vaccine research and development (R&D), including for HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis – three diseases that collectively take nearly 2.
5 million lives yearly. The study is the first global effort to systematically prioritise endemic pathogens based on their regional and global health impact. Attention is also given to pathogens such as Group A streptococcus, which causes severe infections and contributes to 280,000 deaths from rheumatic heart disease, mainly in lower-income countries.Another new priority is Klebsiella pneumoniae — a bacteria that was associated with 790,000 deaths in 2019 and is responsible for 40 per cent of neonatal deaths due to blood infection (sepsis) in low-income countries.The new study supports the goal of ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can benefit from vaccines that protect against serious diseases.It aims to shift the focus in vaccine development away from commercial returns towards regional and global health needs, WHO’s Dr Mateusz Hasso-Agopsowicz, who works in vaccine research, said in a statement.He explained that in the past, vaccine R&D typically was influenced by profitability.“As a result, diseases that severely affect low-income regions received little attention.“We hope this represents a critical shift where we want to change the focus from commercial perspective profitability of new vaccines towards the actual health burden so that the new vaccine research and development is driven by health burden and not just commercial opportunities,” he said.To carry out the study, WHO asked international and regional experts what they think is important when prioritising pathogens for vaccines R&D.Criteria included deaths, disease and socioeconomic impact, or antimicrobial resistance.“We had asked experts that have expertise in pathogen epidemiology, clinicians, paediatricians, vaccine experts from all of the WHO regions, to ensure that the list and the results that we produce really reflect the needs of diverse populations worldwide,” Hasso-Agopsowicz said.Analysis of those preferences, combined with regional data for each pathogen, resulted in the top 10 priority pathogens for each of WHO’s six regions globally.The regional lists were then consolidated to form the global list, resulting in the 17 priority endemic pathogens for which new vaccines are urgently needed.To advance vaccine R&D, WHO has categorised each pathogen based on the stage of vaccine development and the technical challenges involved in creating effective vaccines.Hasso-Agopsowicz said the study is expected to guide future vaccine R&D investments, including funders, researchers and vaccine developers, and also policymakers as they “can decide whether to introduce these vaccines into immunisation programmes.” (NAN)
The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan,has suspended the strike it embarked on Oct. 25.The workers resumed work on Friday morning.The seven-day nationwide warning industrial action embarked upon by the unions was to press home their demands ofadjustment of Consolidated Health Salary Structure as was done with the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure sinceJan.
2, 2014 and implementation of consultant cadre for pharmacists in federal health institutions. Others are upward review in the retirement age from 60 to 65 years for health workers and 70 years for consultants, andpayment of outstanding salaries of JOHESU members in professional regulatory councils.The UCH JOHESU Chairman, Mr Oladayo Olabampe, said that the strike was suspended as directed by the national body.He explained that “the suspension followed an MoU signed between JOHESU national leadership and Federal Government.“The Federal Government asked for a maximum of six weeks counting from Oct. 31, to meet our demands.“Based on the MoU signed, the JOHESU National Executive Council met and resolved that the strike be suspended on Fridaynationwide.”According to him, JOHESU UCH is obeying the order, and workers have resumed work.Olabampe said that if the demands were not met after the six weeks, they would embark on an indefinite strike. (NAN)
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