Nigeria News

Yenagoa, 28 April 2019 -“We had not seen vaccination teams in our community for a very long time. Sometimes we have to stay for months without vaccinating our children, if we don’t take our children to the mainland to get them vaccinated”, says Mr. Atebakuro Oton George, a fisherman and father of five, residing at Itohono-ama settlement of Minibie ward of Bayelsa State.

“Now on weekly basis, health workers brave the Seas and visit our communities to vaccinate our children”, an elated Mr. George continues.

Abuja, 26 April, 2019 - Nigeria has joined the rest of the world to commemorate the 2019 World Malaria Day on 25 April. During a Press briefing in Abuja on 25 April, 2019,  Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole in his message underscores this year’s theme; ‘Zero Malaria Starts with me’; to call for “renewed effort towards ending the scourge of the disease for good”.

Abuja 16 April 2019 – Over the past 18 months, Nigeria has recorded substantial improvement in routine immunization (RI) performance. Prior to the establishment of the National Emergency RI Coordination Centre (NERICC) on 04 July 2017, Nigeria’s immunization coverage was very poor and fluctuated significantly over the last decade.

Maiduguri, 10 April, 2019 - With on-going Measles outbreak in Borno State, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Federal and State authorities, Gavi, the Vaccine alliance and Measles partners are organizing a 2-phase vaccination campaign to protect children aged between 6 and 71 months against the disease. During the first phase, 437,515 children were successfully vaccinated while 838,582 children more will be targeted in the second phase.

Owerri 04 April 2019 –  In Imo, indigenes are hopeful that the recently introduced State Health Insurance Scheme (ISHIS) will fast-track Universal Health Coverage (UHC). 

This year’s commemoration of World Health Day (7 April) with the theme, Universal Health Coverage: everyone, everywhere, every time, shines a spotlight on the advantages UHC can bring to all people and in all places and why it is needed so much.

Abuja 31 March 2019 - Abubakar Salau is only 16 years old but receiving treatment at Karu General Hospital Psychiatry ward for his addiction to ‘snuff.’ 

“I used to mix liquid glue with old tobacco to make my snuff. Whenever I sniffed it, the feeling was surreal,” he says. “Snuff destroyed my life though. I lost so much weight, dropped out of school and hurt members of my family. When I recover fully, I plan to educate teenagers like myself on the dangers of tobacco,” he claims.

Abuja, 25 March 2019- The Nigerian Federal Minister of Health on 25 March 2019 launched a report of a catastrophic cost survey on TB concluded in 2018. 

Abuja, 23 March, 2019 - As Nigeria prepares to commemorate World Tuberculosis (TB) Day on 24 March 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) has engaged over 12,000 community informants to find ‘missing cases’. The 2018 TB report reveals that 4.3 million are missed globally and Nigeria contributes 8% of this.

Abuja 21 March 2019 – In 2018, insecticide treated nets were distributed by well-meaning individuals in Jigawa and Katsina State. However, the nets were poorly distributed and it caused a lot of discontent in the two states. As a result, caregivers such as Aishatu Mani refused to take her four month old for immunizations. “I am not happy I didn’t get a mosquito net, for this reason, I will not take my child for vaccination,” she told the community health workers. 

Vaccine hesitancy is one of the major challenges facing the immunisation programme in Nigeria.

Abuja, 15 March 2019 - “My son had blood in his urine for almost a year and I didn’t know what to do,” says Rahab Haruna, a 45-year-old mother from Adamawa State.