Health
COVID-19: Journalists Urge FG to Ban Flights From Britain
The Health Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HEWAN) has urged the Federal Government to ban flights from Britain and other countries currently experiencing the spread of the new COVID-19 variant.
The call is contained in a statement jointly signed by Chioma Obinna and Lucy Osuizigbo-Okechukwu, President and Secretary of the association respectively, on Wednesday in Lagos.
HEWAN is an umbrella body of all health/science reporters and editors (TV, Radio, Print and Online) registered under the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
The journalists’ group appealed to the government not to wait any further before taking necessary steps to keep the variant away from Nigeria.
“HEWAN observes, with great concern, the resurgence of what experts say is the emergence of a new variant of the pandemic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in some countries.
“There is a need for Nigerian health authorities to put measures in place to prevent it from entering the country.
“As at today, the new variant is reportedly spreading rapidly in Britain.
“The World Health Organisation has confirmed nine instances of the same variant in Denmark, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands.
“Several other countries, including South Africa, have also confirmed the emergence of variants similar to the one now ravaging Britain.
“Scientists say the new variant is 70 per cent more transmissible than the previously dominant strain, though there’s no evidence yet that it could be more fatal.
“There’s however, fear that it will spread swiftly to other countries,’’ it stated.
HEWAN noted that expectedly, countries around the world are reacting swiftly to prevent or curtail the spread of the new variant.
It said that presently, over 40 countries had banned flights from Britain, while neighbouring France had temporarily shut its borders.
The association charged health authorities in Nigeria not to be silent about the new development.
“The nation is already experiencing an influx of travellers as expected in this festive period, from different countries including those now being ravaged by the new strain of COVID-19.
“It is, therefore, imperative that the country acts fast as the world confronts another wave of the pandemic.’’
“The increasing daily number of COVID-19 infections detected in the country in the past two weeks revealed that a second wave of the outbreak had begun.
“We appealed to the government to ensure funds are dedicated for research institutes such as the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) and others to develop a home-grown vaccine that could tackle the virus,’’ HEWAN stated.
It expressed the belief that Nigeria has the capacity to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. (NAN)
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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