Major health stories published last week

Countries across the globe have started rolling out vaccines to protect their population against the deadly COVID-19 virus.

The virus has infected over 110 million people globally with over two million deaths recorded, data from worldometer shows.

Having recorded more than 155,000 COVID-19 cases, Nigeria is set to receive four million doses of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines.

Amidst the second wave of the pandemic, Nigeria is reporting high cases of Lassa fever. About 22 persons have died of the disease since its new season began in January 2021.

Here is a round-up of some of the health stories which made headlines last week.

COVID-19: Nigeria records lowest daily infections, deaths since December

Nigeria on Saturday recorded its lowest daily infection and death toll since the beginning of the second wave of the pandemic last December.

The 341 new cases recorded on Saturday indicated a significant decrease from the 521 new cases reported about a week ago as the lowest daily figure this year.

Amidst COVID-19, Lassa fever death toll rises in Nigeria

Reported cases of Lassa fever are on a steady rise as the nation grapples with the challenges of stemming the spread of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country.

More persons have also died of the disease since its new season began in January.

Ivory Coast receives COVAX COVID-19 vaccines

Ivory Coast has received over 500,000 doses of the Oxford-Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Assess Facility (COVAX) making it the second country to benefit from the facility.

Ghana is the first country to benefit from the programme with the delivery of 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines on Wednesday.

First clinical trials for Lassa fever vaccine begins in West Africa

A biotechnology company focused on bringing to market precisely designed DNA medicines to treat and protect people from infectious diseases and cancer, INOVIO, on Tuesday announced the first participant was given a shot in Phase 1B clinical trial for INO-4500, its DNA vaccine candidate for Lassa fever, in Ghana.

The Phase 1B clinical trial (LSV-002), ongoing at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Accra, Ghana, is the first vaccine clinical trial for Lassa fever to be conducted in West Africa, where the infection is endemic. INO-4500 was also the first vaccine candidate for Lassa fever to enter human trials.

USAID Launches New $19m Fund To Improve Healthcare In Nigeria

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched a new five-year $19 million fund to support activity to improve the quality of health worker training in Nigeria.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by the USAID in Abuja, during an event in which the Health Office Director, Paul McDermott, and key government health sector officials participated in. It noted that the ‘Health Workforce Management’ will train 100,000 by 2025.

HIV transmission, deaths decline in Nigeria – Official

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Gambo Aliyu, on Monday said the rates of HIV transmission and deaths have been on a steady decline since the establishment of the agency.

NACA was established in February 2007 as the agency responsible for the multi-sectoral coordination of Nigeria’s HIV response.

Mr Aliyu said annual AIDS-related deaths declined from 68,600 in 2010 to 52,392 in 2019.

FG to present supplementary budget for COVID-19 vaccines in March

The minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, says the federal government will present a supplementary budget to the national assembly for the acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines.

She was speaking on Thursday at the maiden edition of state house briefing in Abuja.

COVID-19 Infection higher in males than females in Nigeria – Survey

A new survey has shown that COVID-19 infection is higher among males than females in Nigeria.

The household seroprevalence survey conducted by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) was done in Lagos, Enugu, Nasarawa and Gombe states between September and October 2020.

Findings from the survey show infection rates as high as 10 in 100 males, compared with seven in 100 females in Gombe; and 21 in 100 men against 17 in 100 women in Nasarawa.

Children’s health needs more attention – Report

A recent assessment of Nigeria’s performance on Human Capital Development (HCD) shows that 12 per cent of Nigerian children do not survive up to 5 years due to poor investment in health care, education among others.

The assessment which was conducted by the World Bank shows that Nigeria recorded a Human Capital Index (HCI) score of 0.36 point in 2020.

NIPRD: 70% Nigerians Still Patronise Traditional Medicine

The Director-General of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Obi Adigwe, has said that majority of Nigerians still have faith in the efficacy of traditional medicine, despite improvements made in development of modern healthcare system.

Against the background of a major breakthrough made by the institute in the area of Phyto medicine development, Mr Adigwe said that Nigeria is known to have thousands of plants with proven ethnopharmaceutical and medicinal potentials that are not utilised.

NAFDAC to intensify awareness campaign on breast milk substitutes marketing code

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), says it is intensifying an awareness campaign to ensure compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes (BMS) in Kaduna State.

The state’s coordinator of the agency, Dadi Mullah-Natim, disclosed this on Thursday during a sensitisation workshop for Neonatal Doctors on the International Code for Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes and the national regulations.