Health
Challenges Before The NPHCDA
The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) was set up in 1992 to extend healthcare delivery services to the rural areas, a role it took over from the Federal Ministry of Health.
The Agency plans to solve more than 70 percent of the nation’s health care problem by collaborating with the rest of the health system. It also draws upon as much resources as it can from within and outside the country.
Since 1999 the NPHCDA has built 200 health centres in wards throughout the 36 states and Abuja. Each of the 200 health centres is equipped with facilities for the implementation of a community-based PHC work plan.
In addition, one million treated insecticide bed nets have been distributed to pregnant/nursing mothers nationwide as part of the move to achieve the goals of Roll Back Malaria in the country.
These activities have consequently advanced the progress of improving the health and quality of lives of the people.
Primary healthcare agency has made some progress in polio reduction as it has also trained traditional birth attendants and midwives, through the Midwifery Service Scheme.
A year ago, the agency carried out a nationwide integrated measles campaign to forestall epidemic in the country.
Dr Mohammed Pate, former Executive Director of the agency describes the exercise as an “injection that needed more qualified health workers to deliver”.
Pate also says: “There is a nationwide integrated measles campaign so that we don’t have measles epidemic in 2011.
“I don’t want to be in a position whereby we are reacting to an epidemic, we should be preventing this epidemic from happening.”
He says that the micro planning will be done with the states, adding that the campaign which will begin soon, will be in two phases.
“January is for the Northern states while February is for the Southern states,” he said.
In 2011, the agency also immunised 50 million children against polio and 13 million against measles.
The integrated vaccination campaign began in late January of 2011, distributing measles vaccines to the northern states and oral polio vaccine nationwide.
The second phase in February of the same year included measles vaccine for children under five years in the 17 southern states and oral polio vaccines nationwide.
In 2010, the country recorded only 11 cases of polio virus compared to 338 cases in 2009 but in 2011, 44 cases were recorded.
Dr Emmanuel Abamida, former Acting Executive Director, explains that the immunisation campaigns organised by the agency were interrupted by numerous political situations and events going on in the country between 2010 and 2011.
He says within the two years, the country witnessed voter registration and elections which he said, largely accounted for the low turnout of children for the immunisation exercises as their parents were also engaged in the electoral processes.
“Many of those responsible for ensuring that children were immunised ran to where the electoral processes were conducted, which made the turnout and quality of the polio campaign to be very low.
“ Unfortunately, we did all our immunisation exercises on Saturdays, which were also the days of elections”.
“It was hard to convince people to take their children for immunisation rather than go for voting or the electoral processes which they were interested in”.
Abanida notes that although some setbacks were observed, the agency is quickly engaging all the governors to buy into the immunisation campaign.
In an effort to address the poor Maternal and Child Health (MCH) outcomes and get Nigeria on the track towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, on maternal and child health, the Federal Government introduced the Midwifery Service Scheme (MSS).
In 2010, the Federal Government trained 2,488 midwives in life-saving skills and integrated management of childhood illness and a year later, the number trained increased to 4,000 qualified midwives.
The MSS was scaled up to cover 1,000 rural Primary Healthcare Centres in 36 States and FCT while 1,000 community health workers were enrolled in the scheme. The rural facilities were organised with 250 general hospitals providing back-up referral support.According to data, the number of babies born nationwide under the MSS rose to 42,000 in 2010 from 27,000 in 2009, indicating that the measure will undoubtedly reduce maternal mortality rate and improve basic services.
Data were collected from 652 facilities across the 36 states and FCT, covering a population of 10.7 million, from July 2009 to December, 2010.
“Women receiving two doses of tetanus toxic during antenatal care in 2009 were 96,000, while in 2010, the figure was 110,000, representing 30 per cent increase.
“For those attending family planning clinics in 2009 were 24,000 women while in 2010, the figure had risen to 55,000.’’
However, it has been observed that lack of resources has hindered further recruitment of midwives by the agency.
Dr Ado Mohammed, the new Executive Director of the agency, promises to evolve strategies to ensure all priority activities are implemented within the limit of funding.
“Under my administration, NPHCDA will continue to build on achievements of its seven goals and vision of making Nigerians healthier by intensifying the fight against wild polio virus as a national priority”.
According to him, NPHCDA will expand and sustain the midwifery service scheme and reinforce the concept of primary health care under one roof to improve access to quality health care delivery.
He reassures both local and international partners of his commitment to continue to work closely with them to achieve the aims and objectives of the agency.
He also promises transparency and accountability for meeting the agency’s national objectives in line with the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Observers say although the agency has recorded a modest achievements, the litmus test is meeting with the set targets of the Millennium Development Goals in maternal and child health as the country inches towards 2015.
Ofili writes for News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Francis Ofili
Two United States scientists who unraveled the human micro RNA have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024.
Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the coveted prize for their work on microRNA as their discoveries help explain how complex life emerged on earth and how the human body is made up of a wide variety of different tissues.
MicroRNAs influence how genes – the instructions for life – are controlled inside organisms, including humans.
Every cell in the human body contains the same raw genetic information, locked in our DNA.
However, despite starting with the identical genetic information, the cells of the human body are wildly different in form and function.
The electrical impulses of nerve cells are distinct from the rhythmic beating of heart cells. The metabolic powerhouse that is a liver cell is distinct to a kidney cell, which filters urea out of the blood.
The light-sensing abilities of cells in the retina are different in skillset to white blood cells that produce antibodies to fight infection.
So much variety can arise from the same starting material because of gene expression.
The US scientists were the first to discover microRNAs and how they exerted control on how genes are expressed differently in different tissues.
The medicine and physiology prize winners are selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute.
They said: “Their groundbreaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans.
“It is now known that the human genome codes for over 1,000 microRNAs.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has begun acting to curb effects of antibiotic pollution.
The new guidance on wastewater and solid waste management for antibiotic manufacturing sheds light on this important but neglected challenge ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) taking place on 26 September 2024.
The emergence and spread of AMR caused by antibiotic pollution could undermine the effectiveness of antibiotics globally, including the medicines produced at the manufacturing sites responsible for the pollution.
Despite high antibiotic pollution levels being widely documented, the issue is largely unregulated and quality assurance criteria typically do not address environmental emissions. In addition, once distributed, there is a lack of information provided to consumers on how to dispose of antibiotics when they are not used, for example, when they expire or when a course is finished but there is still antibiotic left over.
“Pharmaceutical waste from antibiotic manufacturing can facilitate the emergence of new drug-resistant bacteria, which can spread globally and threaten our health. Controlling pollution from antibiotic production contributes to keeping these life-saving medicines effective for everyone,” said Dr Yukiko Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director-General for AMR ad interim.
Globally, there is a lack of accessible information on the environmental damage caused by manufacturing of medicines.
“The guidance provides an independent and impartial scientific basis for regulators, procurers, inspectors, and industry themselves to include robust antibiotic pollution control in their standards,” said Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, WHO. “Critically, the strong focus on transparency will equip buyers, investors and the general public to make decisions that account for manufacturers’ efforts to control antibiotic pollution.”
In a concerted effort to curb brain drain, the Kebbi State Government has harmonised medical doctors’ salaries to be at par with their colleagues in the federal government’s tertiary health facilities.
Kebbi State Commissioner for Health, Musa Inusa-Isma’il, disclosed this at the handing over of ambulances to the state-owned health facilities at the Ministry of Health in Birnin Kebbi yesterday.
Inusa Isma’il, according to a statement by Ahmed Idris, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, said the essence of the harmonisation was to retain the existing medical doctors and attract more to the services of the state.
According to him, the doctors across the state had already started enjoying the new salaries from August 2024.
He said the release of the vehicles was in fulfilment of Governor Nasir Idris’ promise to uplift health care services in the state.
“His Excellency said I should inform you, the beneficiaries of this gesture, that the vehicle should be strictly used for the intended purpose. It should not be used for anything else.
“If there is no referral case, each of the vehicles must be parked at the hospital by 6 pm. The governor said you should warn your drivers against reckless driving as well as violating the instructions.
“We should also do everything possible to reciprocate the gesture by working according to the terms and conditions attached,” he advised.
The benefiting health facilities included Sir Yahaya Memorial Hospital, Birnin Kebbi; State Teaching Hospital, Kalgo; General Hospital, Argungu; General Hospital, Yauri; General Hospital, Zuru; and General Hospital, Bunza.
In his speech, the permanent secretary of the ministry, Dr Shehu Koko, recalled that the ambulances were handed over to the ministry last Friday by the governor for the onward handover to the benefiting hospitals.
He observed that the ambulances would go a long way in improving the referral system in the state, adding that delays in reaching the secondary and tertiary facilities would be eliminated.
The permanent secretary attributed the high rate of maternal mortality in the country to delays in getting to the health facilities for proper medical care.
“We believe with the provision of these ambulances, part of the gaps we have in our referral system will be addressed, whereby patients who require secondary healthcare could be easily transported to secondary and tertiary health centres, where they can get such help,” he said.
In a goodwill message, Commissioner for Information and Culture Alhaji Yakubu Ahmed expressed gratitude to the governor for the support he has given to the ministry to excel.
While advising the beneficiaries to use the vehicles judiciously, the commissioner advised that services and maintenance of the vehicles must be prompt to derive the maximum benefits from the vehicles.
The commissioner also highlighted some achievements recorded by the government in the last year, including beautification of the state capital, completion of a multimillion-naira ultramodern state secretariat, road construction, construction and renovation of classrooms and upgrading of some health facilities, among others.