Boosting COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Nigeria

Abuja – With the slowing down of COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) is working with countries to optimize their available stocks to provide second doses for those who already received their first shots. In Nigeria’s capital Abuja, WHO is supporting the Federal Capital Territory Primary Health Care Development Board to ensure that all eligible people receive their second doses.

Stakeholders throw weight behind food safety amidst COVID-19 pandemic

Abuja June 7, 2021 - “My stomach started aching, I threw up all day, as if my entire digestive system wants to come out. I felt very weak. I couldn’t understand what was happening around me. I was rushed back to the shores for medical treatment”, narrated 48-year-old Mr. Azok Nsirem, a fisherman in Andoni, Rivers State after eating contaminated moi-moi, a local delicacy made from beans.
Like Mr. Nsirem, millions of other Nigerians share similar experience after eating contaminated food.

In Jigawa State, WHO backs malaria research

Dutse, 9 June, 2021 - The World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting a recent move by the Jigawa State Government to sponsor research on malaria, a preventable but persistent disease in Nigeria.

On a recent weekday, WHO officials toured and certified for use a new Entomological Surveillance Site located at the Federal University Dutse (FUD), a state-funded research institution. The site was completed last year and will be open to research on mosquitoes - the vector responsible for spreading the malaria disease - and similar vectors.

WHO collaborates with Ministry of Health to tackle maternal and perinatal mortality

Kano, 3 June 2021 - “To achieve accelerated reduction in maternal and perinatal mortality, the quality of care provided to pregnant women and newborns in health facilities must meet quality criteria which include health care that must be safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable and people-centred” stated Professor  Jamilu Tukur, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital,.

Nigerian youth commit to quit as WHO commemorates world no tobacco day

Abuja May 31, 2021 - “It is really high time I stopped smoking tobacco. I have been smoking for over fifteen years, since my early teen age, I do not feel good about it. I have been struggling to quit but end up going back to my habit. This year, I have promised myself and my family that I will do all my best to quit to be heathier” says31-year-old Michael Chukwuka who resides in FCT, Abuja and is committed to quit smoking tobacco.

#SmokeFreeNollywood is fighting tobacco use in Nigerian films

Nigeria’s film industry, known as Nollywood, has been the world’s second-largest producer of films, behind India’s Bollywood. Around 2,000 films are made each year, and it employs an estimated one million people. It is the reach of Nigeria’s creativity through its films as well as its power to influence youths that triggered a campaign by the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) calling for the removal of the harmful glamorization of smoking and tobacco use in films.