Unwashed hand is capable of transmitting infectious diseases and constitute threat to public health, a medical laboratory scientist, Mr Solomon Chollom, has said.
Handwashing
Chollom, who works with the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 in Jos, Plateau State, that many people failed to imbibe handwashing culture in their daily life.
He described hand as an instrument of feeding and touching and as such, oral contact with unclean hand could lead to transmission of infectious diseases.
According to him, diseases spread when people involved in food preparation failed to wash their hands, especially after visiting the toilet.
“In the process of food preparation, infectious particles known as pathogens are transmitted to the food and ingest by unsuspecting persons,’’ Chollom said.
He said that dirty hands, most times, were contaminated and thus constitute threat to public health.
“Many times, people exchange handshakes immediately after leaving the restroom without washing their hands.
“In that process, infectious and communicable diseases are transmitted to another person’s hand and if the person fails to wash or sanitise his or her hand, such pathogens are further transmitted.
“Contaminated hands of a public caterer become grave public health challenge to the consumers of such food,’’ he said.
Chollom advised people to inculcate the habit of washing their hands daily, saying that such practice would drastically reduce the spread of infectious diseases.
Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Christopher Thorney, says the Government of Canada has earmarked $3.5 billion to advance the health of women and children in Nigeria.
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
The High Commissioner made the disclosure during the Multi-Country Dissemination of the Rapid Access Expansion (RAcE) Project on Integrated Community Case Management of Childhood Illnesses (iCCM) in Abuja.
According to him, Canada has a long history of working to improve the health of women and children in Nigeria.
He said that other collaborative efforts were in the areas of polio eradication and other Maternal Newborn Child Health (MNCH) through Canada’s G8 initiative.
Thorney said that the initiative on MNCH was followed by the 2015-2020 commitment to invest $3.5 billion in related programmes over five years.
According to him, statistics on maternal and child deaths globally are troubling in spite of tremendous efforts already made.
“In 2016, 5.6 million children under the age of five died worldwide; to make that more understandable, that is about 15,000 child deaths per day.
“We also understand that three quarters of under-five mortality are also from leading causes such as diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia.
“All of these can be prevented or treated with access to simple and affordable interventions when they are available but certainly they are not always available.’’
He said that although most of the effective interventions for these diseases were known, simple and affordable, they were, however, often inaccessible to families who could not reach health facilities on time, especially within the crucial 24 hours.
Thorney noted that progress in reducing child mortality worldwide had been gradual and in some cases stagnant or reversed.
He said, “Unless we tackle the barriers that are preventing access to life saving treatment, we will always be at risk of losing the momentum we have gained.
“This is why Canada is proud of its support which has promoted the scale of Integrated Community Case Management (iCCM) in Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger and Democratic Republic of Congo,’’ Thorney said.
Also, Wondi Alemu, Country Representative, WHO Nigeria, said that that the organisation was very proud of the work executed in Nigeria, Niger, DRC, Mozambique, Malawi on the iCCM.
“As to Nigeria, iCCM is a successful programme; I say a programme because it is a project that will last after this financing from the government of Canada.
“I believe the government and states ministries of health will take it up and replicate the strategy in other states,’’ he said.
According to Alemu, over 700 health workers implementing the iCCM have been trained with the support of WHO, under the direct supervision of states ministry of health.
He said the trained personnel were providing important service to communities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria started the implementation of iCCM in 2012, which is meant to reduce the burden of under-five deaths due to malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia.
The programme targets under-served, hard-to-reach areas using Community Oriented Resource Persons.
The introduction of the intervention coincided with the re-positioning of Nigeria’s Child Health and Nutrition Agenda aimed at redeeming the unacceptable nutrition indices, and under-five mortality rate.
The Executive Secretary, Yobe Primary Healthcare Management Board, Dr Hauwa Goni, said over 1.1 million children under age five have been immunised against polio virus this year.
She disclosed this on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at a press conference in Damaturu to mark the World Polio Day.
Polio immunisation in Nigeria. Photo credit: comminit.com
Goni said that the state recorded its last case of polio virus three years ago, stressing “precisely, since 14th April, 2014, no case was recorded in Yobe state”.
The scribe said the task force on polio immunisation under the leadership of the state Deputy Gov. Abubakar Aliyu, has sustained the campaign to ensure complete eradication of the virus across the state.
“The success recorded in polio eradication in Yobe state is due to sustained efforts and political commitments of Gov. Ibrahim Gaidam by providing the necessary resources for polio eradication at all levels,” she said.
Goni said the task force on polio eradication was collaborating with ministries of education and religious affairs, school authorities and traditional rulers to create more awareness on polio eradication.
She said the task force was also liaising with parents and all stakeholders to clear rumours on alleged strange injection on heads and abdomen of primary school pupils.
“There is no truth in the baseless rumour and not a single case of the strange injection has been established anywhere in the state.
“We have made parents to disregard this, take note of announcements on radio on the vaccination exercise and present their children for vaccination,” Goni said.
She advised residents to seek information and improve their health behaviour to prevent diseases.
An ecologist, Mr Richard Inyamkume, on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 urged relevant stakeholders in the environment sector to implement the nation’s strategic policies and plans of action on climate change.
Ibrahim Usman Jibril, Minister of State for Environment
Inyamkume, who is also the Senior Programme Officer, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Initiative, an NGO, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
“The future of our nation is in our hands. We cannot fold our arms and wait for government to do everything for us.
“We need to act so as to reverse the negative trend of global warming in Nigeria.
“At least, government has demonstrated that it is ready to take the lead; it is now our part to see that climate change policies are implemented by the different tiers of government as they ought to be.
“At the moment, there have been national strategic policies and plans of action on climate change, which if carefully followed, can foster the development of low carbon growth initiatives,’’ he said.
According to him, it will also promote clean development mechanisms and earn carbon credits for the country.
Inyamkume lauded the Federal Government for initiating the “Great Green Wall Project”, saying that the project had made positive contributions toward improving the country’s climate through schemes such as tree planting.
“So far, Nigeria has demonstrated a lot of commitments to tackling climate change issues.
“I am happy with several green initiatives that were launched by the government in relation to climate change.
“I am aware that several eco-friendly projects have been launched at different levels within the country to improve Nigeria’s climate and green environment,’’ he said.
The ecologist, however, said that Nigeria should remain faithful to the Paris Agreement, which President Muhammadu Buhari signed in New York on Sept. 22, 2016.
He recalled that the Paris Agreement came into force on Nov. 4, 2016, with 197 parties, including Nigeria, signing it.
“Besides, President Buhari ratified the Agreement on March 28, 2017, making Nigeria the 146th member of the UN to have ratified the treaty.
“This is a global demonstration by Nigeria that she is faithful to international agreements,’’ he added.
The President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, says Nigeria needs more investment in rural infrastructure to boost agricultural production in the country.
Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group
Adesina made this known on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Des Moines, USA.
He said that the country must continue to operate policies that would assist farmers in accessing seeds and fertilisers easily.
“We must continue to run public policies that get access to seeds and fertilizers for farmer at scale. When I mean scale, I mean at scale of millions and millions of farmers.
“And I think the use of the electronic wallet system, which we started when I was minister of agriculture, provides a very good platform to continue to do that because that same technology today is been used in other parts of the world.
“And I think it’s important to get access to technology to farmers at scale.
“Nigeria needs to invest a lot more in rural infrastructure; rural roads, storage facilities to help farmers. This is very important.
Adesina described the Nigerian Incentive-Base Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) as a game changer.
The CBN incorporated NIRSAL in 2013 as a dynamic, holistic 500 million dollars public-private initiative, to define measure, price and share agribusiness related credit risk with banks.
According to him, NIRSAL has made the banking industry to see the agricultural sector differently, adding that the amount of bank’s lending to farmers had increased since it advent.
“We also have to make sure that we are supporting a lot more of research and development of the sector.
“A lot more work needed to be done to support research institutions in Nigeria.
“But am delighted that Nigerian government is paying attention to agriculture as it should.’’
The Executive Secretary, Kaduna State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA), Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 said the state has not recorded any polio case since 2012.
Polio immunisation in Nigeria. Photo credit: comminit.com
The official said during a rally to mark World Polio Day in Kaduna that, in spite of the feat, the agency has sustained polio immunisation across all communities in the state.
The executive secretary, represented by a deputy director in the agency, Hamza Ikara, stressed that they would not relax in administering the oral polio vaccine to children under-five until the virus was totally eliminated in the country.
She enjoined parents to ensure that their children were not left out in the exercise.
“Tremendous achievements were recorded from December 2012 to date.
“Nigeria recorded only four reported cases of wild Polio Virus in Borno State in 2016 as against zero cases over the same period in 2015.
“Kaduna state in particular did not record any case of wild polio virus since November, 2012.”
The official said the celebration, which involves all development partners working in the state, was due to intensified efforts to ensure total eradication of polio in the state.
She said the event was an opportunity for all stakeholders to rub mind on the successes, challenges and way forward in making the state totally polio free.
NAN reports that participants at the rally included Journalists Initiative on Immunisation Against Polio, Polio Survivors of Nigeria, traders, UNICEF officials and other stakeholders.
Executive Director, Women Environmental Programme (WEP), Dr Priscilla Achakpa, has said that tree planting will address desertification and mitigate the negative effect of climate change in the country.
Dr Priscilla Achakpa, Executive Director of the Women Environmental Programme (WEP). Photo credit: http://i.ytimg.com/
Achakpa said this on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
She said that trees served as erosion control tools and windbreaks, while reducing natural disasters and addressing desertification in the country.
“We need to plant trees because forests play an important role in our plans to alleviate the impact of climate change. The destruction and degradation of forests contribute to problems in our environment.
“Nigerians also need to be sensitised to the importance of planting trees in their neighbourhoods.
“The tree planting campaign will contribute to efforts to address the challenges posed by climate change, which mostly affect the people.
“Planting of trees can help mitigate the negative impact of climate change, while improving the health of the environment and well-being of the people.
“Tree planting is one of the key areas that we must promote in this country, if you cut down two trees, make sure you replace them with at least six trees.
“So, Nigerians should imbibe the culture of tree planting for healthy environment, ’’ she said.
Besides, Achakpa noted that incessant floods and storms across the world had been having devastating effects on the homes and livelihoods of families.
She said that the problems of developing countries like Nigeria were particularly compounded by the impact of climate change, adding that the challenge had also forced many people to remain in poverty/
Achakpa, therefore, urged government at all levels and other stakeholders to initiate pragmatic policies and programmes that would ensure the protection of the environment.
She advised Nigerians to imbibe the culture of tree planting, adding that trees contributed to the good of the environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, conserving water, preserving soil and supporting wildlife.
Robert Mugabe would have rejected the role of World health Organisation (WHO) goodwill envoy had he been formally asked, his spokesman said on Tuesday, October 24, 2017, days after state media cheered the Zimbabwean president’s appointment.
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe
WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, named Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador on Wednesday at a conference in Uruguay that both men were attending.
The appointment was rescinded on Sunday, October 22 following a backlash from Western donors, rights groups and opposition parties.
On Friday, the state-owned Herald celebrated the largely ceremonial appointment as a “New feather in President’s cap”, adding that Mugabe, 93, had accepted the role.
His spokesman told the same newspaper on Tuesday that Zimbabwe’s sole leader since independence from Britain in 1980 had only heard about the appointment via the media.
“Had anything been put to the President … (he) would have found such a request to be an awkward one,” George Charamba was quoted as saying.
“The WHO cannot take back what it never gave in the first place and, as far as he is concerned, all this hullabaloo over a non-appointment is in fact a non-event.”
Charamba did not respond to calls seeking further comment.
Mugabe’s critics were outraged by Tedros’ announcement, saying he was rewarding a man whose government had presided over the collapse of Zimbabwe’s health system.
Charamba said the fact that Zimbabwe was a producer and exporter of tobacco, mostly to China, would have meant Mugabe campaigning against a crop that underpins the economy.
Tobacco is Zimbabwe’s single largest foreign currency earner, bringing in an average $800 million annually in the last four years, according to official data.
“To be seen to be playing goodwill ambassador in respect of an agency which has a well-defined stance on tobacco growing and tobacco selling, that would have been a contradiction,” Charamba said.
Some 264 million school-age children and young people worldwide were not in education in 2015, the United Nations culture and education agency, UNESCO, said on Tuesday, October 24, 2017.
Irina Bokova, Director-General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
The agency, in a progress report on the UN’s development goals for education, said that after a decline in the early 2000s, out-of-school rates have started to stagnate.
“Worldwide, there was a completion rate of 83 per cent for primary education, falling to 45 per cent for upper secondary schooling,’’ the agency said.
The agency meanwhile quoted household survey data from 128 countries for the 2010 to 2015 period.
There were 40 countries where fewer than one in four young people had completed secondary education, but only 14 where no less than 90 per cent had done so.
UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, however, called for more government accountability.
The report noted that while 82 per cent of national constitutions mention a right to education, only 55 per cent of countries make that right enforceable in the courts.
“Governments are the primary duty bearers for the right to education, yet this right is not justifiable or capable of being the basis for a court case in almost half of countries, and the primary course of action for those with a complaint is lost,’’ Bokova wrote.
While calling for accountability at all levels, the report said accountability measures for schools needed to be flexible and carefully designed.
“Schools may adjust to performance-based accountability systems in negative ways, gaming the system and avoiding sanctions to the exclusion of longer-term reforms,’’ the agency warned.
The drought-torn city of Cape Town in South Africa has officially rolled out water rationing as a result of the critical nature of available water supply. This move is part of the city’s Critical Water Shortages Disaster Plan (CWSDP).
Water rationing
In a statement, the Cape Town government announced on Monday, October 23, 2017 that the rationing is the Phase 1 of its administration’s plan on the crisis.
The city also disclosed that dam levels are currently at 38.5% with useable water at 28.5% while current consumption is at 585 million litres of collective usage per day.
Water disruptions are likely to occur during peak water usage times in the mornings (between 5am and 9am) and in the evenings (between 5pm and 9pm) if usage is above the required levels.
However, the duration of the outages would depend on the water usage for the area and whether it is within the water restriction levels.
The city, thereafter, appealled to households in lower-lying areas to reduce usage to assist in terms of outages in the higher-lying areas.
Weighing in, Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services; and Energy, Councillor Xanthea Limberg, urged residents to coperate with the city as reduction in water consumption is non-negotiable.
“It must be noted that reducing consumption is non-negotiable, irrespective of augmentation projects coming online.
“We ask all water users to support us and to help us to get through this unprecedented drought which is affecting large parts of South Africa as well,” Limberg added.
Cape Town Water Rationing Guidelines: List of dos and don’ts
DO:
Keep 5 to 10 litres of water for drinking use only for the household during rationing (average of four persons per household) and keep additional water for pets.
Reconsider water use at peak water usage times.
Flatten out the peak by showering (for no more than a minute) later in the evening or before 6am or do washing after 9pm‚ for example. Rationing does not work like electricity load-shedding.
When you experience a loss of water supply‚ before you contact the City’s call centre‚ please check your neighbour’s supply first. Higher-lying properties will likely experience a higher risk of rationing.
If you reside in or operate from multi-storey buildings‚ ensure that the water supply system (booster pumps and roof-top storage) is in working order in compliance with the Water By-law.
Ensure that taps are closed when not in use to prevent flooding when the supply is restored. The City is not liable for damage to private infrastructure due to rationing.
When supply is restored‚ the water may appear to be cloudy. Store it and use it for flushing.
Wet wipes and sanitary pads must not be flushed down toilets as they cause blockages.
Do not use your toilet as a dustbin‚ switch to one-ply toilet paper to prevent blockages when choosing to “let it mellow”
Store essential water in a cool‚ dark place away from light and dust‚ bottles must be sealed to prevent contamination. Clearly label water storage containers as “drinking water”.
There may be a build-up of air within the water system when supply is restored‚ toilets that use flush-masters will be ineffective due to the low pressures
DON’T:
Store excessive municipal water or waste water.
Where non-drinking water is kept for flushing‚ this should not be stored for longer than a couple of days. Do not use borehole‚ spring or river water for drinking. Greywater can be used to flush toilets but not sea water.
Beware of thieves pretending to install water-efficient gadgets on behalf of the city in private homes in an effort to gain access to your premises.
