Lexy Blog

…key to halting non-communicable diseases  With tobacco use said to be one of the biggest contributors to non-communicable disease epidemic (such as heart disease, stroke, cancers, etc) and estimated to kill eight million people annually by 2030, reports by the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed that more than one billion people in 19 countries are now covered by laws requiring large, graphic health warnings on packages of tobacco. This development, which was part of WHO’s third periodic report on global tobacco epidemic, further revealed that Mexico, Peru and the United States of America (USA) have become the latest countries to require the large, graphic warnings, which is proven to motivate people to stop using tobacco and reduce the appeal for people not yet addicted to it. Even as graphic health warning, that is among the six demand-reduction measures recommended by the global health body to inform people on the dangers of tobacco use, health experts an

…As Bill Gates spends $750 million to tackle polio A child been immunised with polio vaccine  Ever since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988, spearheaded by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the thrust behind the initiative was to interrupt transmission of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) as soon as possible; achieve certification of global polio eradication, contribute to health systems development, strengthen routine immunisation and surveillance for communicable diseases in a systematic way. With the falling cases of polio globally by over 99 percent in 2010, only four countries across the globe remained polio-endemic (Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria). Sadly, the plan to stop the transmission of polio by the end of 2012 has become a major doubt, despite billions of dollars spent over the past decade to eradica

L-R: Stephen Sobhani,Director of Private Sector Engagement at the United Nations Foundation, Bukola Saraki, Former Governor of Kwara State, Toyin Saraki, Founder, The WellBeing Foundation and Tony Elumelu, Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation at the presentation of the "Every Woman, Every Child Nigeria Intitative Stakeholders Engagement" held in Lagos recently When one considers the fact that Nigeria is touted as the giant of Africa, the average national maternal mortality ratio at 1,100 deaths per 100,000 live births, and the lifetime risk of maternal death at 1 in 18 have become damning, if not thought-provoking as revealed by the United Nations (UN). When viewed in global terms, the burden of maternal death is brought into stark reality: approximately 1 in every 9 maternal deaths occurs in Nigeria alone. The women, who survive pregnancy and childbirth, may face compromised health even as studies suggest that between 100,000 to 1 million Nigerian women

Central Bank of Nigeria Headquaters (CBN) at Abuja, Nigeria The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently released the revised guidelines for the operation of non-interest banking in the country. IKECHUKWU EZE and ALEX CHIEJINA write that the development has generated a lot of controversy in line with the growing concern ahead of its introduction  In recent times, Nigeria’s banking system has steadily evolved, following wide reaching reforms embarked upon by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). At the inception of these reforms, the policy thrust was not only targeted at growing the banks and positioning them to play pivotal roles in driving development in other sectors of the economy, it was also directed at inducing improvement in their operational efficiency. The major banking reform which began in 2004 during the reign of Charles Soludo as Governor of the apex bank, saw the strengthening of Nigerian banks through mergers and acquisitions even as the capital base of t

The nation’s status as one of the only four countries globally where the transmission of wild polio virus (WPV) is prevalent, has over the years been a source of concern not only to public health experts in the country, but to stakeholders within the health sector and various international donor community. Considering Nigeria’s influence on the African continent, its population size, and the fact that it is the only African country in the category of other polio endemic countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India; christened PAIN, it isn’t difficult to understand why the polio situation in the country has attracted increased attention. While the World Health Organisation (WHO) has mandated all polio-endemic countries to completely halt the transmission of WPV before 2012, the Federal Government’s deadline to eradicate polio within the next six months may suffer a setback following the discovery of 15 confirmed polio cases in Kebbi, Borno, Sokoto, Kano, and Zamf

… critical for economic development There is no gainsaying that the importance of the pharmaceutical industry is crucial to the economic development of any nation, however, pharmaceutical products, especially drugs, are so priceless that no country can survive without them. With over 75 percent of essential drugs being imported into the country coupled with perceived weak state of production facilities at Nigeria’s pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, lack of meaningful patent legislation/pricing, reimbursement system, widespread corruption and graft has not only made regulation enforcement difficult, it has further led to serious faking and adulteration of original brands of drugs as well as prevented companies from raising their capacity to produce drugs, in line with international standards. In a move targeted at repositioning local pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in the country towards manufacturing drugs in line with international standards, NAFDAC, in

interest group protesting recently at Abuja to protest the non passage of the National Health Bill Over the years, the nation’s healthcare has been plagued with lots of challenges stemming from worrying health indices on infant and maternal mortality to poor infrastructures at the various healthcare levels and lack of confidence to administer quality of healthcare to Nigerians, to name but a few. These issues have in the sector has not only positioned the nation in bad light, it has also impeded the achievement of the MDG goals. Hence in a bid to reform the sector, the National Health Bill was passed by both arms of the National Assembly. The National Health bill, first introduced to the National Assembly in 2005, was designed to provide a framework to regulate health services as well as clarify roles and responsibilities for various stakeholders in the health system in a country certainly in need of helth system strengthening. Aside removing bottlenecks for emergency medical