We can stop FGM/C in our time, says Aishat Buhari

WIFE of the Nigerian President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has said that the practice of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) can be ended within a generation. 

Buhari, who spoke in Abuja, at the formal launch the national response to eliminate the practice, in Nigeria urged the wives of Governors of states where the harmful practice is rampant, to be the voice of the campaign to end FGM/C in their various states.

The event was a collaboration between the Federal government and the Joint UNFPA/UNICEF Programme on FGM/C Abandonment, in partnership with several civil society organizations.

“We are mothers and women and have the primary role to use our privileged positions to make lives better for Nigerians, especially women and girls.

“I urge you to be vocal on the need for FGM/C to end in Nigeria and take action that will enable this to happen,” Buhari noted.

FGM/C is an extremely harmful traditional practice, documented in 28 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

 It comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

The practice exposes girls and women to severe and sometimes life-threatening health complications, including hemorrhage, tetanus, sepsis, urine retention, sexual dysfunction and infertility; women who have undergone FGM/C are twice as likely to die during childbirth, and their babies are more likely to during or just after birth. 

UNICEF Nigeria Representative, Jean Gough, stated: “Not one of the myths surrounding this practice has any basis in truth. The only truth is that on every level this is a harmful and brutal practice that has a detrimental impact on the health and the human rights of women and girls.”

Also speaking, UNFPA Nigeria Representative, Mrs. Ratidzai Ndhlovu described FGM as an       extreme form of violence against women and girls.

“It violates her reproductive rights and her bodily integrity. To end this harmful practice, we must understand not only where and how it is practiced, but also the social dynamics that perpetuate it, so we can use that knowledge to persuade practitioners to end the practice,” she argued. 

The national response to accelerate change and eliminate the practice within a generation – estimated at 20 years – will be based on information gathered in a study on the beliefs, knowledge, and practices of FGM/C that was conducted last year by UNICEF, UNFPA and partners in six high-prevalence states: Ebonyi, Ekiti, Imo, Osun, Oyo and Lagos.

The findings of the study highlight the need for sustained communication with communities and collaboration with the media to promoting the social change needed for FGM/C abandonment.

Data from the National Demographic Health Survey 2013, shows 25 percent of women in Nigeria have undergone FGM/C, although the practice is slowly declining. 

Little is known about the origin of FGM/C, which predates contemporary world religions. It is widely practiced in Nigeria, where an estimated 19.9 million Nigerian women have undergone the procedure. 

A new global target and call to action to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by 2030 was launched on February 6, International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM by UNFPA Executive Director, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, and UNICEF Executive Director, Anthony Lake.

Zika virus: Restricting pregnancy is discriminatory

Don't restrict women's access to sexual and reproductive health services in contravention of international standards, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Al Hussien, warned last week in New York.

The UN is averse to the advice to women to delay getting pregnant due to the possible link between the rampaging Zika virus and neurological disorders affecting newborns.

It says upholding women’s human rights was essential if the response to the Zika health emergency would be effective.

Telling women to delay getting pregnant ignores the reality that many women and girls simply cannot exercise control over when they become pregnant, especially in environments where sexual violence is so common.

For instance, in situations where sexual violence is rampant and sexual and reproductive health services are unavailable, efforts to halt Zika crisis will not be enhanced by stopping women from getting pregnant.

The UN says amid the continuing spread of the virus, authorities must ensure that their public health responses were pursued in conformity with human health-related rights obligations.

It wants governments ensure that women, men and adolescents have access to comprehensive and Health services must be delivered in a way that ensures the woman’s informed consent, respect for her dignity and the guarantee of her privacy.

`Laws and policies that restrict her access to these services must be urgently reviewed in line with human rights obligations in order to ensure the right to health for all in practice.

WHO's roadmap for Zika vaccine development

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has begun mapping existing Research & Development efforts for Zika in order to prioritize medical products and approaches that should be fast-tracked into development.

The global health body said such products will be reviewed by expert advisory committees as soon as possible.

At least 12 groups working on Zika vaccines all in the early stages of development, but availability of licensed products could take a few years.

Currently, most research that could be useful for Zika has been carried out on other flaviviruses – such as dengue or yellow fever.

The WHO had earlier invited interested companies to submit potential products to its Emergency Assessment and Listing procedure.

Diagnostics are a top urgency in order to ascertain the presence of the Zika virus as opposed to other similar diseases caused by flaviviruses with mosquito vectors.

This procedure, once a product has been accepted, guarantees acceptable levels of quality and performance and allows UN agencies, NGOs and countries to procure the product with confidence.

Some studies are being carried out on prophylactic therapeutics that would work in the same way as prophylaxis for malaria.

WHO is also working on establishing regulatory support networks to fast-track approval of clinical trials in countries.

Advocacy on timely samples and data sharing among groups undertaking R&D studies on Zika, to ensure the best science is brought to bear on research and development.

The  WHO’s R&D efforts on Zika are part of the overall work on a roadmap – the R&D Blueprint - for better R&D preparedness based on the experience of the R&D work carried out during the West-Africa Ebola outbreak.

The roadmap will enable roll-out of an emergency R&D response as early and as efficiently as possible for emerging diseases for which there are no, or few, countermeasures. In December 2015, WHO held a consultation to identify a short-list of pathogens to be prioritized immediately for R&D preparedness. Zika was identified as a serious risk, needing further action as soon as possible.

Lassa fever: 2nd death in Lagos

Lassa fever reservoir, the Multimammate rat.

A second death from Lassa fever virus infection has been confirmed by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris. He said the deceased, a 27-year-old lady,died few hours after admission at Ijede General Hospital where she presented with fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and body weakness.  

The unnamed lady had earlier travelled to Edo State on 24 December, 2015 and returned to Lagos on 2 January, 2016. 

She took ill on 14 January, 2016 and received care in one private hospital and three churches before she being referred  23 January  The case was confirmed as Lassa Fever on January 26, 2016.

The remains of the patient has been kept in the morgue in leak proof body bag. She is to be buried after due consultation with her family. 

Ninety (90) persons have been line-listed as contacts of the last confirmed case as at January 26, 2016 and contact tracing is on-going.

Meanwhile, Lagos State had recorded 20 suspected cases of Lassa fever as at 26 January since the outbreak of the disease in November, 2015. 

Fourteen  suspected cases tested negative, four cases were confirmed positive of Lassa Fever, while the results of two suspected cases are pending. One case was confirmed on the 15 January 2016, two on 18 January 2016 and one case confirmed on 26 January, 2016.  The Lagos state health ministry has line-listed 537 contacts of the confirmed cases and 534 (99 percent) of the contacts are currently being monitored.

Meningitis kills 22 in Ghana

AT least 22 persons have been confirmed dead from bacterial meningitis in Ghana, following an outbreak that has lasted three months in the former Gold Coast country.The deaths were recorded in the northern Bole district and central Ghana. The pneumococcal (Meningococcal)  form of meningitis  occurs when bacteria invade the bloodstream and infect the membranes protecting the brain and the spinal cord (the meninges).

Although the outbreak has been contained experts warn that it remains highly contagious. Strict surveillance measures are being enforced. In the Bole district of Ghana’s northern region, health authorities are establishing measures to ensure reported cases are contained.

The dry season, with strong dusty winds and cold nights make people more prone to respiratory problems. The disease mainly affects children and young adults aged 1-30.

Transmission is airborne so infected persons can transmit it to others through droplets of respiratory or throat secretions, especially sneezing and coughing and inhalation. Early diagnosis is an important step of ensuring treatment and preventing the disease from spreading.

Symptoms include stiff neck, high fever, headaches, vomiting and sometimes seizures. Even when the disease is diagnosed early and adequate therapy instituted, 5-10 percent of patients die, typically within 24-48 hours of onset of symptoms, according to WHO. Most victims suffer irreversible neurological consequences.

The largest recorded outbreak of epidemic meningitis was recorded in Africa in 1996, with over 250,000 cases and 25,000 deaths registered. 

The current WHO recommendation for outbreak control is to mass vaccinate every district that is in an epidemic phase, as well as those contiguous districts that are in alert phase. It is estimated that a mass immunization campaign, promptly implemented, can avoid 70 per cent of cases. 

Global leaders urge greater local investments in family planning

 
L-R: Dr. Surya Chandra Surapaty, Chairman, National Population and Family Planning Board of Indonesia (BKKBN); Purnima Mane, President/CEO, Pathfinder; Dr. Ariel Pablo-Mendez, Asst Administrator for Global Health, USAID; Dr. Awa Marie Coll Seck, Minister of Health & Social Action, Senegal, and Benoit Kalasa, Director of the Technical Division of UNFPA, during the official ICFP press conference on "Family Planning and the Sustainable Development Goals" at the opening of the ICFP 2016, in Nusa Dua, Indonesia on Monday, 25 January, 2016.

By Sola Ogundipe, reporting from Nusa Dua, Indonesia

Global leaders have called for greater investment and urgent action towards increasing access to family planning services worldwide, even as an estimated US$9.4 billion is required annually to meet all women’s needs for modern contraception in the developing world.

Making the call for more commitment to family planning initiatives, Monday, while addressing more than 2,500 attendees at the opening of the 4th International Family Planning Conference, ICFP, in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, government, health and development leaders from around the world, unanimously agreed that the way to truly ensure sustenance of family planning programmes is to mobilise funds locally.

Speaking at the event, themed “Global Commitments, Local Actions,” co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the National Population and Family Planning Board of Indonesia, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, expressed a heartfelt commitment to the  global advancement of maternal health and family planning practices built on the principle of informed choice:‎

“I wish that at this ICFP, we can discuss the main foundations necessary to build the planet that we want by 2030. A future that ensures all women and girls are empowered to choose whether and when they want to have children and space their births, so that mothers and their babies have a better opportunities for better lives."

To solve the issues of contraceptive discontinuation that can create major challenges for family planning progress, Jokowi emphasized the importance of investing the “village approach,” increasing access to long acting contraceptives and reducing the cost of family planning by providing free services and peer education programmes.

 “I believe that to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we have to take local action. In order to sustain economic growth, investments in family planning are absolutely necessary… I want to invite all global leaders to take real action to bring about healthy mothers, healthy children and healthy and prosperous families – because only by doing this, can we make planet earth a better place to live,” Jokowi said.

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UNFPA, Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, "Family planning is about women's right and their capacity to take decisions about their health and well-being contributing to the objectives of FP2020.

 “It is a most significant investment to promote human capital development, combat poverty and harness a demographic dividend thus contributing to equitable and sustainable economic development within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Also speaking, President of the Global Development Programme at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Christopher Elias, said: “The family planning data and evidence point to concrete steps we can take as a community to get back on track to meet our FP2020 goal.

 “Now we must ask ourselves what more we can do to align our efforts to ensure all women have the information and tools they need to time and space their pregnancies.”

In a telecast, Vice President of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates reiterated the  Foundation’s commitment to increasing funding for family planning by 2 percent over the next three years. 

In a report by the Guttmacher Institute entitled: “Adding It Up: Investing in Sexual and Reproductive Health” meeting all women’s needs for modern contraception in the developing world would cost $9.4 billion annually, an increase of $5.3 billion.

According to the report, if all need for modern contraception were met, the annual cost of pregnancy related care for women and their newborns would be $28.0 billion, an increase of $13.8 billion.

“The total includes $4.2 billion (a $3.0 billion increase) to provide HIV testing and counseling for all pregnant women, testing for their newborns and antiretroviral therapy for those who need it.

Further, the report notes that fully meeting the need for modern contraception, maternal and newborn health care, and antiretroviral care for pregnant women living with HIV and their newborns, and treatment for four major curable STIs would cost $39.2 billion annually, more than a doubling of current spending in 2014.

But, it also argued that fully satisfying women’s modern contraceptive needs would make health care investments more affordable overall.

“For every additional dollar invested in contraception, the cost of pregnancy-related care (including HIV care for women and newborns) is reduced by $1.47,” the report noted.

A recent global progress report of the Family Planning 2020 (FP2020), a global partnership focused on enabling an additional 120 million women to access voluntary contraception by 2020, in the last three years, 24.4 million more women and girls who want to avoid or delay a pregnancy have begun using modern contraceptives in the world’s poorest countries.

This brings the total of women using a modern method of contraception in FP2020’s 69 target countries to 290.6 million. However annual benchmarks to measure family planning progress, revealed that modern contraceptive use is behind 2015 projections by 10 million.

Ebola Survivors' Clinic opens in Liberia

An Ebola Survivors Clinic has opened in Monrovia, Liberia.
The clinic is located at the Redemption Hospital in the capital. Many patients that are seen are survivors of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) and as a result experience what are called "post-Ebola" symptoms, which include dizziness, blurred vision, headaches, joint pain, among other things.
Treatment at the clinic is not limited to the symptoms, they are also informed of best practices in hygiene and other areas to ensure that spread of the disease does not occur, especially if it is in the environment. 
Moses Soka, leading physician at the clinic, said that many who seek treatment due so because of the difficulty of returning to work as a result of post-infection symptoms. The WHO estimates that there are 5,000 EVD survivors in Liberia. There are currently four survivors facilities operating.
It has been shown that remnants of the Ebola virus can remain after the infection is finished within the eyes and in the semen of male survivors. The clinic also offers screenings for sexually active males so that they can avoid transmitting the Ebola virus to their partners.
WHO representative of Liberia, Alex Gasasira said the clinics not only provide support for the patients, but provide valuable research data to help  determine the cause and best course of treatment.