Meningitis: Governor accused of mishandling outbreak in state with over 200 deaths

Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State has said that the ongoing outbreak of Type C Cerebrospinal Meningitis is God’s way of showing his anger against Nigerians for turning their back on him.

Mr. Yari said this on Tuesday while speaking with journalists at the presidential Villa Abuja shortly after meeting with President Muhammdu Buhari.

Death toll from Nigerian meningitis outbreak rises to 328

The Federal Ministry of Health has issued public advisory warning to Nigerians as the number of deaths associated with cerebrospinal meningitis outbreak has risen to 328 in 90 Local Government Areas in 16 states including Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Nassarawa, Jigawa, FCT, Gombe, Taraba , Yobe, Kano, Osun, Cross Rivers, Lagos and Plateau.

Public Alert! Advisory on Meningitis outbreak in Nigeria: Reduce hand shaking, kissing, avoid overcrowding

Nigeria's Ministry of Health has issued a public advisory following the outbreak of Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) that has spread across the country and mostly affecting States in the upper parts of the country which fall within the African Meningitis Belt.

Other Countries that are facing similar outbreaks at the moment include our West-African Neighbours like Niger, Chad, Cameroun, Togo, and Burkina Faso. The larger African Meningitis Belt consists of 26 Countries that stretch from Senegal, Gambia and Guinea Bissau in the west coast to eastern countries of Eritrea and Ethiopia. 

Nigeria to build 10,000 health facilities in 774 councils

The Nigeria Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has advised health workers to put service delivery above personal interest.

He also said that 10,000 primary health facilities would be built in the 774 local government areas across the country for effective service delivery and to reduce pressure on tertiary institutions.

UNICEF - Malnutrition major cause of children’s death in northern Nigeria

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that malnutrition accounts for Over 50 percent of under-five mortality of children and women in Nigeria especially the Northern part of the country.

Tanzanian President sweeps streets on Independence Day

Tanzanian President John Magufuli surprised onlookers on Wednesday when he walked out of State House to collect rubbish off the streets, after cancelling Independence Day celebrations for a national cleanup.
Magufuli, who took power last month after winning October 25 elections, has introduced a swathe of austerity cuts and crackdowns on public corruption.

Trending: Scientists confirm new sexual disease

Scientists in the +United Kingdom  have confirmed the existence of a new sexually transmitted disease called mycoplasma genitalium.
The confirmation of the bacterial disease, which causes painful urination among other things, as an STD comes more than two decades after it was first discovered.
A team of fourteen researchers arrived at the conclusion after conducting a national survey of the sexual lifestyles and attitudes of British men and women.
The researchers said the study, which involved the testing urine from 4,507 sexually experienced participants aged 16 to 44 years for MG, “strengthens evidence that MG is an STI”.
They added, “MG was identified in over one per cent of the population, including in men with high-risk behaviours in older age groups that are often not included in STI prevention measures.”
The study found that men of black ethnicity were more likely to test positive for MG and showed that the prevalence of the disease was 1.2 per cent in men and 1.3 per cent in women.
It also found that for both men and women, the disease was strongly associated with reporting risk behaviours such as increasing the number of total and new partners and unsafe sex in the past year.
Although it recorded no positive MG tests in men aged 16 to19, prevalence peaked at 2.1 per cent in men aged 25–34 years, while prevalence in was highest in 16 to 19-year-olds at 2.4 per cent and decrease with age.

Nigeria: NAFDAC destroyed banned Substances and unregistered Drugs worth fifteen million Naira

The Nigerian National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control NAFDAC in Kebbi on Monday destroyed banned substances and unregistered drugs worth fifteen million naira. 
The leader of the NAFDAC team, Abdulsalam Osigis,with other officials of the Agency, traditional leaders and stakeholders destroyed the substances at Kola, an outskirt of Birnin Kebbi.
Osigis said 95 per cent of the destroyed substances were expired drugs, substandard and fake drugs and cosmetics. 
He added that the Agency would ensure that the sale and consumption of illegal substances, drugs and cosmetics were prevented through constant monitoring and inspection of goods sold to the public.
NAFDAC Coordinator in Kebbi, Garba Adamu, said that the Agency would continue to confiscate illegal substances, drugs, unregistered products and consumables to safeguard the society. 
He expressed concern about the proliferation of sale and consumption of banned, unregistered and expired drugs in societies, stressing that intensive awareness campaign would be conducted to discourage such acts.
Permanent Secretary in the state’s Ministry of Health, Mohammed Kende, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Babale Yauri, commended NAFDAC and assured it of the state government’s support and cooperation.

Nigeria: NMA to FG, Impose more taxes on breweries, tobacco, GSM firms

The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has called on the Federal Government to ensure the implementation of one percent of taxes accrue-able from breweries, tobacco and telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria to fund the health sector.
The body also said these categories of companies should be made to pay more taxes to provide facilities in public health institutions in the country due to the nature of services they render.
Speaking after a week- long National Executive Council meeting in Ado Ekiti yesterday, NMA president, Dr Kayode Obembe, who read the communiqué, lamented the shortage of medical personnel in the country, which ratio stands at one doctor to 6,000 patients, instead of one to 600 as recommended by the World Health Organisation
The week-long meeting which also featured games, free health mission, lecture series and other activities was tagged Ekiti 2015.
Obembe, who called on the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to accredit more public health facilities for the training of interns, added that the upgrading of some of the state and federal hospitals and their subsequent accreditation by Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria would help in promoting residency training for more experts to be available in the hospitals.

Which are healthier: Egg whites or whole eggs?

There are a lot of misconceptions about eggs out there. Let’s take a couple of minutes to tackle one of the biggies — egg whites versus whole eggs. There is a lot of misinformation out there, so let’s sift through the myths and finally figure out which is healthier — egg whites or whole eggs?

Egg yolks have been demonized for decades as harbingers of weight gain and heart disease, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Whole eggs are a nutritious food, and you’re actually doing your body a disservice by completely ditching the yolks. Here are four reasons whole eggs nutritionally beat out egg whites.

Egg whites alone can deplete nutrients.

Eating just egg whites can lead to biotin deficiency. Egg whites contain avidin, which is a substance which binds to biotin. Without the biotin found in the yolk to bind to, eating excessive amounts of egg whites can cause avidin to bind to the biotin stored in your body. In contrast, eggs are a food pre-packaged for you by nature. Both the white and the yolk work together to make a nutritionally complete food, whereas egg whites alone are really only half the story.