The Federal Government is committed to secure US$300 million from the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank and African Development Bank to eliminate malaria in the country. A statement issued by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 that just ended in London, said Nigeria would elevate malaria on the national priority list and finance its national malaria elimination strategy. The country also pledged an additional US$18.7 million to leverage US$37 million from the Global Fund to distribute 15 million mosquito nets and to support the local manufacture of essential malaria commodities. It said ALMA…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday expressed delight on efforts by Rotary Clubs in Nigeria in implementing Rotary International strategic plans to eradicate Polio and other child killer diseases. The WHO Nigeria Team Leader for Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Dr Fiona Braka said this during a three kilometer walk to kick-off African Vaccination Week Community Mobilization Drive in Abuja. The theme of the event is titled: “Vaccines Works; Be an Immunization Champion’’. Braka said the progress made in the suppression of polio and other avoidable child killer diseases rested heavily on the commitment of rotary members who participate in…
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that 59 million African children were stunted while another 10 million were overweight. It also warned that Africa’s attempts to achieve health for all by 2030 could be threatened unless the continent address the twin challenges of under-nutrition and obesity, adding that under-nutrition occured when people do not get enough to eat, resulting in conditions such as wasting, which is when a child becomes dangerously thin. On the other hand, people who were obese had body fat levels that might impair their health. The WHO Regional Office for Africa called these two issues…
Jay Levy, who co-discovered the AIDS virus 35 years ago has said that Malawi, which has one of the highest rates of the deadly HIV and AIDS infections, is on course to eradicate the virus. Most of the AIDS cases globally are in poorer countries, where access to testing, prevention and treatment is limited. UN AIDS agency (UNAIDS) said no fewer than one million people in Malawi have the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. However, according to official figures, Malawi’s national HIV and AIDS prevalence dropped to 8.8 per cent in 2016 from 30 per cent in 1985 when the first HIV and…
Tanzanian Minister for Health, Ummy Mwalimu said on Thursday that they had stepped up measures to fight malaria, including distributing 236,420 liters of biological anti-mosquito pesticides across the country. Addressing parliament in the capital Dodoma, she said that while the anti-malaria pesticides were specifically being used to destroy mosquito larvae, measures adopted to fight the disease included the distribution of the anti-malaria pesticides, affeorts that had dropped the malaria prevalence rate by 7.3 per cent in 2017 from 14.8 per cent in 2016. She said the achievements were made following strengthened national health systems, the level of investment in malaria…
The Leader of the Mechanisation task team of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Josef Kienzle has warned that lack of modern farming techniques was threatening Africa’s food security. He said that unless the governments adopt new technologies of farming, the continent would continue to rely on food aid. “There is need for a paradigm shift on intensive crop production since the current methods applied cannot meet the challenges of the new millennium,” Kienzle said during the second conservation agriculture conference in Nairobi. The FAO official said the use of rudimentary hand tools and little access to mechanization and…
Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates on Wednesday backed technologies in the fight to end malaria. Speaking at the Malaria Forum conference in London, Gates said that gene editing raises “legitimate questions”. He said that it should not jeopardise exploration of tools such as CRISPR gene editing and so-called “gene drive” technologies. “I’m very energised about the potential of gene drive. (It’s) the kind of breakthrough we need to support,” Gates said. It may prove critical here,” he stressed. Gene drive technologies alter DNA and drive self-sustaining genetic changes through multiple generations by overriding normal biological processes. CRISPR technology enables scientists to find…
The Director, Global Cassava Partnership (GCP21) of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Mr Claude Fauguet on Tuesday called on policymakers on agriculture in Africa to consider cassava as a cash crop. He made the call in Lagos at a news conference to announce the 4th International Cassava Conference scheduled to hold in June, tagged: “Transforming Cassava in Africa”. Fauguet told newsmen that cassava was a resilient crop that could survive under any climate and therefore needed science and technology to grow and develop it. According to him, “Policy makers in Africa really need to begin to see cassava…
The Director, Global Cassava Partnership (GCP21) of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr Claude Fauguet on Tuesday said Africa needed 30 tonnes per hectare of cassava by 2050 from the current nine tonnes per hectare. Speaking at a news conference in Lagos to announce the 4th International Cassava Conference, the Director said comparatively that Africa currently produced about 10 tonnes per hectare of cassava, while Latin America and Asia currently produced 12 tonnes and 22 tonnes per hectare respectively. According to Fauguet, Africa needed more science in the cultivation of cassava because its population and Nigeria, especially will double…
Kenya is likely to achieve the UN target of total malaria eradication by 2030 as the government and bilateral partners roll out robust interventions to contain the disease, officials said on Wednesday. Sicily Kariuki, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, said Kenya has the potential to achieve the vision of malaria free status subject to robust investments in diagnostic kits, case management and public education. “Kenya has made notable progress in combating malaria as prevalence rate drops due to a combination of policy, funding and biomedical interventions. Our goal to achieve malaria free status is within reach,” said Kariuki, ahead of World Malaria Day to be observed…