The Carter Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease Programme for Plateau and Nasarawa has called for an effective policy of prohibiting open defecation toward eradicating schistosomiasis. The Director of the centre, Dr Abel Eigege said on Wednesday in Jos that schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzias is an infectious disease caused by parasitic worms, adding that the worms could cause acute and chronic infections, with symptoms like fever, blood in urine or stools and abdominal discomfort. According to him, schistosomiasis had been effectively eradicated in Plateau and Nasarawa states, adding that it might easily reemerge if people continued to defecate and urinate in the…
Author: Abdallah el-Kurebe
The Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) is targeting 1,200 indigent Ogonis in its free medical outreach in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers. The Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Dr Marvin Dekil while flagging-off the second phase of the exercise on Monday in Taabaa community, said the exercise was to prevent, detect and treat victims of hydrocarbon pollution in Ogoniland in line with the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report. “The health outreach is the first step toward the implementation of the initial stage of the Health Impact Study as recommended in the UNEP Report on Ogoniland. The…
The Ministry of Health in Adamawa state on Monday in Yola reported the death of one person from Lassa fever outbreak in the state. The Information Officer of the ministry, Mr Abubakar Muhammed disclosed that 81 other people had been quarantined following the development. He said that 45 members of the deceased’s families and other 36 persons including some health workers who had direct contact with the deceased, had also been quarantined. Muhammed explained that the state government, World Health Organisation and other collaborative agencies had established an emergency centre in Yola to receive information and quick response. He said…
Nine people were killed in floods in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam, officials said on Monday. Downpours, common during the East African country’s rainy season, caused the flooding, which badly damaged infrastructure, said Dar es Salaam police official, Lazaro Mambosasa. Major roads were flooded, causing the city’s bus system to suspend services, and at least 20 houses in low-lying areas were also swept away. Residents of the city were urged to remain vigilant as heavy rains were expected to continue over the next few days. (dpa/NAN)
The Director of the Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, Prof. Ibrahim Umar-Abubakar has said that the institute would constitute a committee to build and strengthen research-industry synergy to boost Nigeria’s agricultural production. He disclosed this at the sidelines of Research Extension Farmers Input Linkage System (REFILS), which is part of the 2018 Annual Agricultural Research Review and Planning Meeting organised by IAR, Samaru, Zaria in Kaduna State. Abubakar said the committee became imperative in view of the fact that it would bring the industries closer to researchers for solving societal and national challenges. “I…
The Borno state Commissioner for Health, Dr Haruna Mshelia has said that at least, three persons have died in fresh cholera outbreak in Kukawa local government of of the state. He disclosed this when the Director General of World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Ghebrayesus visited the WHO’s Emergency and Response Centre on Friday in Maiduguri. Mshela said that about 700 cases of cholera were recorded in Baga, Doron Baga and Kukawa in the past weeks, adding that the state government in collaboration with WHO and other partners had scaled up activities to combat the outbreak in the affected communities. Noting…
The University of Liège has awarded the AGRA President, Dr. Agnes Kalibata an Honorary Doctorate – its highest honour – in recognition of her leadership role in driving Africa’s agricultural transformation. Presenting her with the Insignias of the distinction, Prof. Albert Corhay, the University Rector, outlined her outstanding contributions to agriculture across Africa. He spoke particularly of her vision and leadership in contributing to real change across Africa both through her former role as the Minister of Agriculture in Rwanda and now as the AGRA President. On receiving the honour, Dr. Kalibata recognised the input of others in the process, saying: “This is a…
By Catherine Offord A preliminary clinical trial finds that the personalized therapy improves survival rates and has no severe side-effects. Ovarian cancer is a particularly hard-to-treat disease. It’s often diagnosed late, and even after surgery and chemotherapy, around 85 percent of patients relapse and develop chemoresistance. But a preliminary clinical trial, carried out by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, has shown promising results for a new type of vaccine that aims to boost patients’ immune systems to fight the disease. The findings were published yesterday (April 11) in Science Translational Medicine. “This vaccine appears to be safe for patients, and…
Ondo state governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has called for effective action to free waterways of water hyacinth that is impeding the development of water transport as an alternative mode. Making the call in Akure during a courtesy call by a delegation from the Nigerian Maritime and Administration Safety Agency (NIMASA) on Thursday, he said the waterways could serve as a major means of transport in Nigeria. “When water hyacinth is properly harvested, it could be used for something else, even for biogas,” Akeredolu said while urging something be done to harvest the hycinth that that had clogged waterways in Nigeria. Expressing…
Pharmaceutical wastes resulting from human and farm animal consumption are endangering the eco-system of rivers around the world, a new research says. Francesco Bregoli, a researcher at the Delft Institute for Water Education in the Netherlands, told the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2018, on Thursday, when presenting the research findings. A large part of the world’s rivers and lakes are potentially threatened by the high concentration of drug wastes, Bregoli said. Bregoli’s team used diclofenac, an anti-inflammation drug, as a proxy to estimate the concentration of other drugs in global river systems. Diclofenac has been branded as a threat…