Nestle Nigeria promotes youth education in host communities

Alagbara of Agbara - HRM Oba (Barr.) Lukman Jayeola Agunbiade, Olute III with the recipients of the Nestlé Scholarship Scheme and other dignitaries at the event.

By Sola Charles

The second phase of the community scholarship scheme initiated by Nestle Nigeria Plc has been announced.  

About 109 students drawn from the company’s host communities are currently benefitting from the scheme, which is positioned to enable deserving students to attain their educational and personal aspirations through financial sponsorship.

The scheme, in senior secondary and tertiary categories, was launched in 2020 for the host communities of the company’s factories located at Sagamu Interchange, Ogun State, and Abaji, the Federal Capital Territory, and has been extended to include the host community of the company’s third factory in Agbara, Ogun State.

Designed to grant funds to cover tuition, accommodation, uniform, books, and other expenses for the duration of beneficiaries’ education in the respective categories, the program is aligned to Sustainable Development Goal  4 - ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. 

Essentially, the Nestle Community Scholarship Scheme seeks to help bridge the gap by providing financial support to help youth complete their science and technology studies in the secondary and tertiary categories. 

(L-R) Alagbara of Agbara - HRM Oba (Barr.) Lukman Jayeola Agunbiade, Olute III, A recipient of the Nestlé Scholarship Scheme - Miss. Yetunde Juliet Agunbiekun, Country Human Resources Manager - Nestlé, Shakiru Lawal and Nestlé Agbara Factory manager - Ibukun-Olu Ipinmoye

Speaking at the event to introduce the scheme in Agbara, the Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager of Nestlé Nigeria Plc., Mrs. Victoria Uwadoka stated: “In a nation with a high youth population like ours, it is clear that communities cannot thrive if they fail to offer a future for younger generations. Nestle Community Scholarship Scheme aims to contribute toward creating a future for youth by preparing them to participate in the industry. The focus on science and technology is deliberate to build much-needed local capacity.

“We are therefore pleased to announce the extension of the scheme to deserving youths in Agbara. The scholarship awards cover the cost of tuition, accommodation, uniforms, and books for the duration of beneficiaries’ studies so long as they attain the minimum required academic performance each year.”

The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology in Ogun State, Prof Abayomi Arigbabu, represented by the Zonal Education Officer, Ado-Odo Ota, Mr. Olugbenga Kikisuhu, said: “A modest history is being recorded here today as Nestlé Nigeria PLC has taken a giant step by extending its love and generosity to better the lots of underprivileged and deserving indigenous students of Agbara community. 

“One of the most important scholarship benefits to our society is that it gives us engineers, doctors, academics, lawyers and scientists from backgrounds that ordinarily could not have met up with the financial burdens of education”.

On his part, the Alagbara of Agbara Kingdom, HRM Oba (Barr.) Lukman Jayeola Agunbiade, Olute III avowed: “This scholarship scheme is a laudable initiative by Nestlé Nigeria PLC. I am delighted to be part of this event promoting the education and empowerment of youth in Agbara. The company has positively impacted the community over the years and we have enjoyed a good relationship”.

A beneficiary of the scholarship in the tertiary category, Rereloluwa Obafemi-Moses, a medical student at the University of Lagos, expressed her delight at being selected. She noted that the award means a lot to her as it will further motivate her to be committed to her academics. She also appreciated Nestlé Nigeria for its investment in young Nigerians.

WHO cautions against fluvoxamine, colchicine

By Sola Charles

THE World Health Organization (WHO), has warned patients with mild or moderate cases of  COVID-19, against the use of fluvoxamine, an antidepressant drug, and colchicine, a drug for gout.

The WHO said current indications did not justify using colchicine to treat non-severe illnesses, and that fluvoxamine should not be used without clinical trials

The report by the WHO Guideline Development Group said the advice became necessary due to insufficient evidence of better results from the use of the drugs and their potential harm. a panel of international experts in the British Medical Journal

From the report,  no recommendation was made for either drug in patients with severe or critical illness, given limited or no data.

"Fluvoxamine and colchicine are commonly used, inexpensive drugs that have received considerable interest as potential COVID-19 treatments during the pandemic.

"However, today's recommendations against their use reflect ongoing uncertainty about how the drugs produce an effect on the body

"Also the evidence of little or no effect on survival and other important measures, such as the risk of hospital admission and need for mechanical ventilation.

"There is also a lack of reliable data on covid-19 related serious harms associated with these drugs,'' it said.

It said that the WHO's advice against the use of fluvoxamine except in clinical trials was informed by data from three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving over 2,000 patients.

Their strong advice against colchicine was based on data from seven RCTs involving 16,484 patients.

The WHO said the panel noted that none of the included studies enrolled children, so the applicability of these recommendations to children is uncertain.

It, however, said the panel did not see the reason why children with COVID-19 would respond any differently to treatment with fluvoxamine or colchicine.

The WHO also warned against the use of convalescent plasma, ivermectin, and hydroxychloroquine in patients with COVID-19 regardless of disease severity.

We must stem transmission of monkeypox, WHO warns

...As No of cases hit 9,200 in 63 countries

...Fresh COVID-19 cases increase by 30% in 2 weeks

By Sola Charles

The World Health Organisation has warned against any complacency towards global infectious diseases even as 9,200 monkeypox cases were reported in 63 countries last week.

The  WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who spoke in a media briefing in Geneva, said the  Emergency Committee will reconvene next week and look at trends, how effective the countermeasures are, and make recommendations for what countries and communities should do to tackle the outbreak.

His words: “I again stress that we must work to stop onward transmission and advise governments to implement contact tracing to help track and stem the virus as well as to assist people in isolation.

“First, the WHO is working closely with civil society and the LGBTIQ+ community, especially to tackle the stigma around the virus and spread information so people can stay safe.

“Second, WHO continues to work with countries and vaccine manufacturers to coordinate the sharing of vaccines, which are currently scarce.

“Third, WHO continues to work with countries and experts to drive forward research and development.

Tedros said that on Sunday and Monday, the National Institute for Biomedical Research in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in collaboration with WHO, convened researchers and experts in trials worldwide to develop consensus on a global CORE protocol for the evaluation of treatments for monkeypox.

On COVID-19, Tedros said that the WHO Emergency Committee met and concluded that the outbreak remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, PHIEC.

“New waves of the virus show that the pandemic is not over. We must push back with safe and effective tools to prevent infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.

In a statement at the 12th meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Tedros said that concurs with the advice of the   International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and determines that the event continues to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

The WHO DG considered the advice provided by the Committee regarding the proposed Temporary Recommendations.  

The Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Dr. Michael J. Ryan,  said new cases had increased by 30 percent in the last two weeks, largely driven by Omicron BA.4, BA.5, and other descendent lineages and the lifting of public health and social measures in several WHO regions.

The WHO Secretariat presented a global overview of the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlighted a number of challenges to the ongoing response.

The Committee noted that both the trajectory of viral evolution and the characteristics of emerging variants of the virus remain uncertain and unpredictable, and, in the absence of the adoption of PHSM aiming at reducing transmission, the resulting selective pressure on the virus increases the probability of new, fitter variants emerging, with different degrees of virulence, transmissibility, and immune escape potential.

The Committee highlighted the need to improve surveillance, by broadening and developing an array of approaches and tools aiming at achieving global situational population-based and geographic representativeness. These include, but are not limited to, the integration of self-testing results and sentinel surveillance approaches into national and global surveillance schemes, aggregate sampling strategies with Nucleic Acid Amplification Test-based tools, and detailed deep genome sequence probing.

The Committee highlighted that immediate efforts are warranted to promote access for Low and Middle-Income Countries to therapeutics that reduce disease severity in both ambulant and hospitalized patients. The Committee warned that the lack of equitable access that occurred with vaccines should not be repeated with therapeutics. The Committee also highlighted the continued need for further research and development for COVID-19 in the areas of epidemiology and variants, diagnostics, clinical care including care for Post COVID-19 conditions, and additional COVID-19 vaccines.

The WHO Secretariat presented a global overview of the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlighted a number of challenges to the ongoing response. 

The Committee noted that both the trajectory of viral evolution and the characteristics of emerging variants of the virus remain uncertain and unpredictable, and, in the absence of the adoption of PHSM aiming at reducing transmission, the resulting selective pressure on the virus increases the probability of new, fitter variants emerging, with different degrees of virulence, transmissibility, and immune escape potential.

The Committee highlighted the need to improve surveillance, by broadening and developing an array of approaches and tools aiming at achieving global situational population-based and geographic representativeness. These include, but are not limited to, the integration of self-testing results and sentinel surveillance approaches into national and global surveillance schemes, aggregate sampling strategies with Nucleic Acid Amplification Test-based tools, and detailed deep genome sequence probing. 

The Committee highlighted that immediate efforts are warranted to promote access for Low and Middle-Income Countries to therapeutics that reduce disease severity in both ambulant and hospitalized patients. The Committee warned that the lack of equitable access that occurred with vaccines should not be repeated with therapeutics. The Committee also highlighted the continued need for further research and development for COVID-19 in the areas of epidemiology and variants, diagnostics, clinical care including care for Post COVID-19 conditions, and additional COVID-19 vaccines.

European Union proposes new 2-strain vaccines to boost COVID-19 protection

By Sola Charles

The adapted versions of established WHO warns against the use of 2 drugs for non-severe COVID-19 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines that address two variants in one shot will soon offer people better protection than vaccines that are now available, a European health official stated on Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Moderna and the BioNTech-Pfizer alliance are working on vaccines based on a combination of the original Wuhan virus and an Omicron subvariant.
Referred to as bivalent shots, these are planned for use in the autumn vaccination campaign.
While the existing coronavirus vaccines continue to provide good protection against hospitalization and death, vaccine effectiveness has taken a hit as the virus has evolved.
In recent days, EU officials have sounded the alarm on a new wave of COVID cases in the continent, and an increasing trend in hospitalizations, driven by the Omicron offshoot called BA.5.
"We project that by the end of this month the BA.5 sublineage will be the dominant variant in most of the EU countries," Pierre Delsaux, the director of EU's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, told members of the European Parliament in a hearing.
At this stage, no final decision has been made on which Omicron variant BA.1 or BA.4/BA.5 the autumn vaccine campaign should use since none of the shots has been yet endorsed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), he said.
"Whatever bivalent vaccine is finally available in Europe. It will be a good vaccine, it will be a better vaccine, even against BA.4/BA.5."
The EMA expects new COVID variant-adapted vaccines to be approved by September but signaled
on Friday that it is open to using shots targeting the older BA.1 variant for that campaign, given the shots targeting the newer BA.4 and BA.5 strains have only recently entered clinical development.
The new COVID wave is already happening, and because most people in that age group had their booster more than three to six months ago, the risk is now - and the adapted vaccines will likely only be available from September onwards, said Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

NRHJN charges Sanwo-Olu to commence enlightenment on safe, legal abortion in Lagos

L-R: Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi 

By Sola Charles

IN the wake of the suspension of the Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy for Legal Indications in Lagos State, the Network of Reproductive Health Journalists of Nigeria, NRHJN, has called on Governor BabajideSanwo-Olu to empower the State’s Ministry of Health to commence an immediate enlightenment program on the relevance and importance of the guidelines in the management and care of women and girls of reproductive age in the state.

The  NRHJN, a media advocacy group on sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls, urged the State government through its Ministry of Health, not to allow the guidelines to become moribund or extinct as a result of the suspension.
In an open letter signed by its President, Yinka Shokunbi, and National Secretary, Sekinat Lawal, the Network commended the State Government for coming up with the guidelines, even as it argued that no woman should lose her life or compromise her physical or mental health from preventable conditions while trying to bring another life to being.
“We members of the Network of Reproductive Health Journalists of Nigeria, are urging the Lagos State government through the  State Ministry of Health, not to allow the guidelines to become moribund or extinct from its suspension.
“The Governor should direct the State Commissioner for Health to immediately initiate strategies and plans to re-train and equip the health care providers in the public and private sectors with the relevant skills and resources to carry out their roles as contained in the guidelines.”
The Network opined: “A guideline such as the one launched by Lagos State on safe termination of pregnancy for legal indications is most welcome at this time because it is not for use by everybody but only for medical practitioners in the business of reproductive health of women and girls.
“We also urge the Lagos State Ministry of Health to give adequate reference to the National guidelines on safe termination of pregnancy for legal indications that were similarly released and launched in 2018 during the tenure of former Health Minister, Professor Isaac Folorunsho Adewole.”
Further, the Network admonished stakeholders in the State to be availed with copies of the State Guidelines so as to be informed of the content and be properly guided on its application.
“As media stakeholders and reproductive health writers, we were excited at the launch of the policy document which gives the needed teeth to the safely engage initiative which the state launched in 2018.
It was in 2011 that the State reviewed the Criminal Code and replaced it with the Criminal Law, and has since then, operated with the backing of that Law.
Quoting the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Professor Ayo Atsenuwa,  who is the Senior Legal Consultant in the Policy Documentation,  the Network noted that missing in Lagos State since 2011, had been the policy guidelines to the relevant sections of the Criminal  Law that could guide service providers (medical doctors) in the medical care and treatment of patients.
Atsenuwa said the document is meant to help guide the medical service providers in Lagos State on how to recognize a pregnancy needing medical intervention for termination.

"The goal of the document is to serve as a tool for the provision of safe termination of pregnancy within the legal framework in circumstances whereby the continuation of such pregnancy threatens the life or physical and/or mental health of the woman thereby contributing to the reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality in Lagos State, and by extension, in Nigeria at large".

SCI, GSK upgrade 27 PHCs, 2 General Hospitals in Ikorodu with N50m medical equipment, consumables

Deputy Director, Programme Operations, SCI Nigeria, Ms. Nwamaka Ifionu (2nd from right) officially presenting the donated items to the representative of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Mrs Deborah Afolabi (left) and some officials of the beneficiary health facilities in Ikorodu. Looking on (3rd from left) is the Chief of Party, INSPIRING Project, Dr Isa Adamu.

   

By Sola Charles

 Towards the reduction of deaths from childhood pneumonia and other preventable infectious diseases in Ikorodu Local Government Area, in Lagos State, Save The Children International, SCI, Nigeria, with support from GlaxoSmithKline recently donated hospital equipment, medical consumables, and other essential materials with an estimated value of N50 million to 27 primary health care facilities and two General Hospitals in the LGA.

The items which were donated through the INSPIRING project, a partnership between SCI and GSK, included medical equipment such as incubators, infrared thermometers, pulse oximeters, and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), among others. Infection prevention control supplies, such as hand sanitizers, gloves, and face masks were also donated to the health care facilities.

At the presentation ceremony, the SCI Deputy Director, Programme Operations, Ms. Nwamaka Ifionu, described the presentation of the items as a part of the cardinal intervention of SCI and its partners toward scaling up childhood services at health facilities in Ikorodu and its environs with focus on prevention of pneumonia.

Ifionu who spoke on behalf of the SCI Country Director stated: “When we thought of what we could do in the states that we have been commissioned and Lagos is one of those states, we decided to find out what their needs were and where we would make the most impact with the resources that we have from our esteemed donor, GSK.

Deputy Director, Programme Operations, SCI Nigeria, Ms. Nwamaka Ifionu who represented the Country Director, Mr. Famaro Barro at the presentation 

“Working with the Lagos State Ministry of Health through the Primary Healthcare Board, we decided on Ikorodu LGA which we have decided to really support and saturate with these services. Essentially we are looking into working with the LGA to support the integrated and sustainable reduction of childhood illnesses in the LGA, and we are doing it through a number of efforts that support capacity strengthening at the health capacity level.”

She said SCI and its partners have consistently supported the training of health workers, immunization services, and efforts to improve the number of resources, equipment, and tools that the health workers have at their disposal to do the work that they do and do it well.

“We are donating all these infection prevention and control items as well as medical materials to support that effort as well in continuing the primary focus and the work that we have done includes training as well as providing equipment towards the attainment of the goal. We want to make sure that Ikorodu LGA and its health facilities are equipped with medical products to save lives when needed.  

Further, Ifionu explained that the intervention by SCI and its partners in Ikorodu was essential for curbing incidences of misdiagnosis of childhood pneumonia and ensuring drastic improvement in the ability to diagnose pneumonia by the health workers.

“The intervention is to ensure that community, caregivers, and health workers are well aware of the signs and symptoms of pneumonia. It has also meant that children who come in with symptoms of pneumonia are able to get the required and appropriate treatment in a timely manner, and the facilities have the right equipment including oxygen to administer the treatment and ensure that unlike before they are not dying of preventable illnesses like pneumonia.

Chief of Party, Inspiring Project, SCI, Dr. Isa Adamu during the official presentation of the donated items 

Also speaking, Dr. Isa Adamu, a public health physician, and the Chief of Party, Inspiring Project, said the whole initiative was about improving child health, especially pneumonia in Ikorodu LGA.

He remarked: “This is the 4th time we are making this donation. The fulcrum of the intervention is related to the approach that we take in Ikorodu, which is a pilot out of all the LGAs in Lagos. The overall objective is that we want to give everything that Ikorodu requires to reduce death among children under the age of 5. 

"We want to make a difference to lead to the reduction of death in pneumonia. We want to pilot every scheme that we know and every strategy that works with the 27 primary health centres and another two General hospitals in Ikorodu LGA.

“The original idea was to do a pilot and find that is there is a way that we can improve child health in the LGA, especially pneumonia, we saturate it with all that it needs, and after five years we do an evaluation whether it has reduced the number of deaths among children after these number of years and after this intervention. 

"If the answer is yes, we see improvement; it means the approaches have worked. It means we can go back to I and say if we get an opportunity we can cover the whole of Lagos state,” he asserted.

Adamu said there will be an endline survey in early 2023 after two solid years of intervention in Ikorodu to show to the donor, SCI, and other child health communities to say that as a result of the intervention, the mortality rate of pneumonia has been reduced by a specific margin.

Global hunger, food insecurity worsening - SOFI Report

By Sola Charles

An estimated 828 million people were affected by hunger globally in 2021, which is an increase of about 46 million since 2020, and 150 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the 2022 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report.

The SOFI report was jointly released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The report presents updates on the food security and nutrition situation around the world, including the latest estimates of the cost and affordability of a healthy diet.  It also looks at ways in which governments can repurpose their current support to agriculture to reduce the cost of healthy diets, mindful of the limited public resources available in many parts of the world.

It provides fresh evidence that the world is moving further away from its goal of ending hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.  

According to the report, after remaining relatively unchanged since 2015, the proportion of people affected by hunger jumped in 2020 and continued to rise in 2021, to 9.8 percent of the world population. This compares with 8 percent in 2019 and 9.3 percent in 2020.

Around 2.3 billion people in the world (29.3 percent) were moderately or severely food insecure in 2021 – 350 million more compared to before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 924 million people (11.7 percent of the global population) faced food insecurity at severe levels, an increase of 207 million in two years.

The gender gap in food insecurity continued to rise in 2021 - 31.9 percent of women in the world were moderately or severely food insecure, compared to 27.6 percent of men – a gap of more than 4 percentage points, compared with 3 percentage points in 2020.

Almost 3.1 billion people could not afford a healthy diet in 2020, up 112 million from 2019, reflecting the effects of inflation in consumer food prices stemming from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures put in place to contain it. 

An estimated 45 million children under the age of five were suffering from wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition, which increases children’s risk of death by up to 12 times. Furthermore, 149 million children under the age of five had stunted growth and development due to a chronic lack of essential nutrients in their diets, while 39 million were overweight. 

Progress is being made on exclusive breastfeeding, with nearly 44 percent of infants under six months of age being exclusively breastfed worldwide in 2020. This is still short of the 50 percent target by 2030. Of great concern, two in three children are not fed the minimum diverse diet they need to grow and develop to their full potential.

Looking forward, projections are that nearly 670 million people (8 percent of the world population) will still be facing hunger in 2030 – even if a global economic recovery is taken into consideration. This is a similar number to 2015 when the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition by the end of this decade was launched under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

 the report also points out that governments could do more to reduce trade barriers for nutritious foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and pulses.

It is estimated that between 702 and 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021. The estimate is presented as a range to reflect the added uncertainty in data collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions. The increases are measured with reference to the middle of the projected range (768 million).

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said: “Low-income countries, where agriculture is key to the economy, jobs, and rural livelihoods, have little public resources to repurpose. FAO is committed to continuing working together with these countries to explore opportunities for increasing the provision of public services for all actors across agri-food systems.”

Also speaking, IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo said: “These are depressing figures for humanity. We continue to move away from our goal of ending hunger by 2030. The ripple effects of the global food crisis will most likely worsen the outcome again next year. We need a more intense approach to ending hunger and IFAD stands ready to do its part by scaling up its operations and impact. We look forward to having everyone's support.”

On his part, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said: “The unprecedented scale of the malnutrition crisis demands an unprecedented response. We must double our efforts to ensure that the most vulnerable children have access to nutritious, safe, and affordable diets -- and services for the early prevention, detection, and treatment of malnutrition. With so many children’s lives and futures at stake, this is the time to step up our ambition for child nutrition – and we have no time to waste.”

In his own contribution, WFP Executive Director David Beasley said: “There is a real danger these numbers will climb even higher in the months ahead. The global price spikes in food, fuel, and fertilizers that we are seeing as a result of the crisis in Ukraine threaten to push countries around the world into famine. The result will be global destabilization, starvation, and mass migration on an unprecedented scale. We have to act today to avert this looming catastrophe.”

According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: “Every year, 11 million people die due to unhealthy diets. Rising food prices mean this will only get worse.  WHO supports countries’ efforts to improve food systems through taxing unhealthy foods and subsidizing healthy options, protecting children from harmful marketing, and ensuring clear nutrition labels. We must work together to achieve the 2030 global nutrition targets, to fight hunger and malnutrition, and to ensure that food is a source of health for all.”