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Dora Nkem Akunyili: Fearless Reformer And Revolutionary

By
Solomon Ojigbo
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Ghanaian novelist, Ayi Kwei Armah, once titled one of his books, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (sic) – by which he implied that Africa had to still wait for its real saviours after having been failed by those who took over its affairs, following the exit of the colonialists.

However, for those conversant with the history of the healthcare industry in Nigeria and beyond, there can be no doubt that many beautiful, and indeed, dutiful ones have been born. While some of these worthy souls have since departed, their legacies continue to brighten the world that they left behind. One of such was Prof. Dora Nkem Akunyili.

Prof. Akunyili was an internationally renowned pharmacist, pharmacologist, erudite scholar and administrator, who gained recognition and won several awards for her work in pharmacology, public health and, most notably, for her fight against sub-standard and counterfeit medicines in Nigeria.

She was the Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) from April 2001 to 2008, within which time the agency experienced massive transformations that jolted it from its previous slumber and the nation felt its impact in ways that were unprecedented.

Before Akunyili’s emergence as DG of NAFDAC, fake and substandard food and drugs freely flooded the country, leading to constant loss of lives, as well as loss of revenues for legitimate pharmaceutical companies. Having lost a sister to fake drugs herself, Prof. Akunyili established as a top priority the eradication of counterfeit medicines and unsafe food in the country immediately she assumed office. And today, her successes still continue to attest to her conquering spirit.

 

Path to greatness

Born in Makurdi, Benue State, on 14 July 1954, to Chief and Mrs Paul Young Edemobi, Dora Akuyili started her education at St Patrick’s Primary School, Isuofia, Anambra State. She graduated with a distinction in her First School Leaving Certificate in 1966, and the West African School Certificate (WASC) with Grade I Distinction in 1973 from Queen of the Rosary Secondary School, Nsukka, Nigeria. Her exceptional results in First School Leaving Certificate and WASC earned her the Eastern Nigeria Post Primary Scholarship and the Federal Government of Nigeria Undergraduate Scholarship.

Dora Akuyili attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and obtained her first degree in Pharmacology (B.Pharm, Hons) in 1978 and her doctorate (PhD) degree in 1985. She was a post-doctorate fellow of the University of London, and a fellow of the West African College of Pharmacists.

Akunyili started her working career as a hospital pharmacist, from 1978 to 1981, at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu. Thereafter she ventured into the academia as a graduate research fellow in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, UNN from 1982 to 1986. She made steady progress from Lecturer I in 1986 to Senior Lecturer in 1990.

In 1992, Akunyili was transferred to the College of Medicine, UNN, where she was made a Consultant Pharmacologist in 1996, a position she held until 12 April 2001. She was also a part-time lecturer of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists, Lagos, Nigeria from 1992 to 1995.

Akunyili served as member, State Hospital’s Management Board and member, State Advisory Council for Women Commission Anambra State from 1992 to 1994, as well as being a supervisor for agriculture and member of caretaker committee for her local government, Anaocha, Anambra State, from 1994-1996. However, her exceptional leadership qualities and conscientiousness for public service became more apparent when she served as the zonal secretary of the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF) from 1996-2001, coordinating all projects in the five states of the south-eastern zone of Nigeria (Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states).

 

Fitness for greater service

While working with PTF, Akunyili had to go abroad for a crucial medical surgery with a bill of $17,000 which was financed by the government. However, during the pre-surgery check-up in the US, the doctors told her she had been misdiagnosed in Nigeria and that she had no need for the prescribed surgery.

On returning to Nigeria, Akunyili did what was uncommon of public servants in Nigeria – she returned the money meant for the surgery to PTF. General Muhammadu Buhari, who was head of PTF at the time was very impressed and wrote a letter to her commending her honesty. Her diligence and honesty at PTF paid off  in the year 2001, when President Obasanjo needed a scrupulous and trustworthy person to direct the affairs of NAFDAC and asked that a reputable Nigerian pharmacist be recommended. Prof Akunyili’s name promptly came up. And thus began her legendary exploits at NAFDAC.

The circumstance of her beloved sister’s death was perhaps the motivation she needed in her relentless fight against the menace of fake and sub-standards food and medicines. Even though her personal safety was threatened many times, including assassination attempts, she refused to be daunted and went on to become one of the most outstanding public officers in Nigeria’s history.

 

Recognitions and legacies

In recognition of her exceptional feats, Akunyili was honoured with over 600 awards, which include: National Order of the Federal Republic (OFR); Icon of Hope for Nigerians (2002); Time Magazine (Health) Award 2006; Pharmacist of the Year Medal by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (2005); Award of Excellence – Integrated World Services (IWS), December 2005; African Virtuous and Entrepreneurial Women Merit Award (2005); African Biographical Network, December 2005; An Icon of Excellence Award – The African Cultural Institute and Zenith Bank Plc (2005); Integrity Award, 2003 – Transparency International; Elected Honorary Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (2008); Grassroots Human rights Campaigner Award, by the Human rights Defence Organisation in British House of Commons (2005).

Due to her outstanding record at NAFDAC, Prof Akunyili was appointed chairman of West Africa Drug Regulatory Agencies Network (WADRAN) in 2006 and as vice-chairman of the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force (IMPACT) also in November 2006.

On 7 June, 2014 Prof. Akunyili succumbed to ovarian cancer and was laid to rest in Agulu in Anambra State. Her funeral which took place on the 27 and 28 of August, 2014, was attended by many dignitaries within Nigeria and abroad.

Prof. Akunyili was a devout Catholic and was married to Dr J. C. Akunyili, who worked at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu until her death. They had six children together.

Prof. Akunyili will always be remembered for the passion and conviction with which she served the nation. Her doggedness, tenacity and sacrificial pursuit of the well-being of the citizens above personal comfort and gratification continue to stand as towering monuments in the annals of the Nigerian health industry. She dared the impossible and succeeded where many had failed.

To her abiding credit, many lives that would have been lost to the activities of counterfeiters were preserved and NAFDAC that had, until her tenure, been unknown to the majority, has become a household name in Nigeria and beyond.

WHO Gets A New DG – Dr Tedros A. Ghebreyesus

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Admin
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Members states of the World Health Organization (WHO) have elected Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as the new Director-General of WHO. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was nominated by the Government of Ethiopia and will begin his five-year term on 1 July 2017.

Prior to his election as WHO’s next Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia from 2012-2016 and as Minister of Health, Ethiopia from 2005-2012. He has also served as chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; as chair of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership Board, and as co-chair of the Board of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

Image result for Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
As Minister of Health, Ethiopia, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus led a comprehensive reform effort of the country’s health system, including the expansion of the country’s health infrastructure, creating 3,500 health centres and 16,000 health posts; expanded the health workforce by 38,000 health extension workers; and initiated financing mechanisms to expand health insurance coverage.  As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he led the effort to negotiate the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, in which 193 countries committed to the financing necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

As Chair of the Global Fund and of RBM, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus secured record funding for the two organizations and created the Global Malaria Action Plan, which expanded RBM’s reach beyond Africa to Asia and Latin America.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will succeed Dr Margaret Chan, who has been WHO’s Director-General since 1 January 2007.
For more information about Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus see who.int/dg/dg-elect/en

SOURCE
World Health Organization (WHO)

Merck announces 2016 winners, calls for applications for 2017 Hypertension Award

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Admin
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Merck aims to build hypertension experts platform across the globe through call for 2017 Hypertension Award applications to mark World Hypertension Day

Merck (www.MerckGroup.com), a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials, marks today World Hypertension Day with the announcement of the 2016 ‘Merck Hypertension Award’ winners and the call for applications for the 2017 Hypertension Award. The award as part of the Merck Capacity Advancement Program was launched in April 2016 in partnership with African and Asian universities with the aim of building a platform of hypertension experts across the globe.

In Kampala, Uganda, Rasha Kelej, Senior Vice President and Chief Social Officer, Merck Healthcare emphasized: “Merck plays an important role in building diabetes and hypertension care capacity and improving access to quality and sustainable healthcare solutions in developing countries. Today marks an important day in the fight against hypertension as we mark the World Hypertension Day. In this context, we have announced ten Merck Hypertension Award 2016 winners.”

Merck invited medical students to apply for the “Merck Hypertension Award 2016” with the theme of “What the Healthy Heart needs.” Students across African and Asian medical universities were asked to submit a concept paper on how to improve hypertension awareness, early detection and prevention in their countries and how to encourage their society, scientific community, local authorities, media and relevant stakeholders to ‘think and act’ on hypertension every day.

The scientific committee received over 500 concept submission applications from universities in Africa and Asia and 10 winners were selected for the award. Winners from each university have been granted a one year postgraduate Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine diploma with the University of South Wales, United Kingdom.

“Merck Hypertension Award is another step in our long term commitment to support hypertension care strategy through working with local governments, academia and relevant stakeholders in building healthcare capacity with a focus on diabetes, hypertension and other non-communicable diseases in various countries in Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America,” added Rasha Kelej when making the announcement of the winners during an event in Nairobi, Kenya.

Prof. Eligah Ogola, Vice President of Pan African Cardiology Society said: “We are happy to partner with Merck to implement their Capacity Advancement Program focusing on Hypertension in 2016. This combined diabetes and hypertension education program will contribute towards providing guidelines and clinical practice for prevention, diagnosis and management of these diseases and their complications. The objective of this initiative is to increase the level of knowledge for medical students who will work in the near future with patients to help them prevent, understand and control the diseases across the continent”.

Watch videos below as medical students from Africa and Asia share ideas on how to improve awareness on hypertension in their countries:

Watch testimonies of students from the University of Nairobi, Kenya on the benefits of the Merck Capacity Advancement Program: http://youtu.be/JZVJwmtr7ng

Watch testimonies of Medical Students from India on the benefits of Merck Capacity Advancement Program: https://youtu.be/SvIF_JetKO4

Watch medical students from India as they share their ideas on how to improve diabetes and hypertension awareness in India: https://youtu.be/SvIF_JetKO4

Watch medical students from University of Nairobi, Kenya as they share their ideas on how to improve diabetes and hypertension awareness in Kenya: https://youtu.be/tcJBItoxm2Q

Watch medical students from Makerere University, Uganda as they share their ideas on how to improve diabetes and hypertension awareness in Uganda: https://youtu.be/baaoPhXNxu0

Watch medical students from Muhimbili University of Health Sciences, Tanzania as they share their ideas on how to improve diabetes and hypertension awareness in Tanzania: https://youtu.be/-W2hOYe8Qzs

About Clinical Diabetes and Hypertension Management Program

In addition, the Merck Capacity Advancement Program will launch in September its fifth edition of the Clinical Diabetes and Hypertension Management tour across Africa and Asia. The program supports focused training to build hypertension and diabetes healthcare capacity for medical undergraduates, postgraduates and healthcare providers in partnership with universities across the two continents.

By the end of 2017, more than 25,000 medical undergraduates and postgraduates will benefit from the Clinical Diabetes and Hypertension Management training program in partnership with African universities such as University of Nairobi, Kenya, Makerere University, Uganda, Muhimbili University of Allied and Health Sciences, Tanzania, Namibia University, Namibia, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, University of Ghana, Ghana, Universidade Agostinho Neto and Angola Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique.

In addition, Asian universities such as Dubai Medical University, UAE, Maharashtra University, India and University of Indonesia, Indonesia also benefited from the Clinical Diabetes and Hypertension Management training.

Source: Merck.

 

Beware: Too Little Sleep Can Send One To The Grave Untimely

By
Temitope Obayendo
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0

Many motivational speakers at one point or the other have listed less sleeping hours, as one of the disciplinary measures to achieve great success in life, but scientist have found that this negate the principle of healthy living, as a new study has established that sleeping for less than six hours a day could easily lead to stroke and heart diseases.

The research published in Journal of the American Heart Association has linked people with metabolic syndrome (people living with diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity) who barely sleep for six hours with a higher risk of death at a premature age.

According to the study reported on DailyMailOnline , which was the first to measure sleep duration in a laboratory rather than relying on patient reports, and the first to examine the impact of sleep duration on the risk of death in those with a common cluster of heart disease risk factors, it showed that  the effect was particularly strong in those with elevated blood pressure or poor glucose metabolism.

To arrive at their findings, the researchers randomly selected 1,344 adults with an average age of 49 who agreed to spend one night in a sleep laboratory. Based on their test results, 39.2 percent of the participants were found to have at least three of the risk factors, that when clustered together are known as the metabolic syndrome.

The report indicated that the cluster included body mass index (BMI) higher than 30 – the standard definition of being obese, as well as elevated total cholesterol, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar and triglyceride levels.

In the words of the  lead author, Doctor Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, of Penn State College of Medicine in the US, : “If you have several heart disease risk factors, taking care of your sleep and consulting with a clinician if you have insufficient sleep is important if you want to lower your risk of death from heart disease or stroke.

He further stated that sleep lab studies are often used to rule out sleep apnoea, but doctors should also note insufficient sleep in the lab because it may signal a higher risk of death in patients with risk factors for heart disease.”

The take-home from the study for all is that average sleep of six hours a day is very essential for your wellbeing.

NHIS: HCPAN Canvasses Dialogue Among Providers, Stakeholders

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Despite having many axes to grind with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr Umar Sanda, president of Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria (HCPAN) has called for dialogue among aggrieved members and the regulator.

Rising from the association’s mid-year meeting which held at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) on May 16, 2017, Sanda explained that the way forward for both parties to reach an agreement over the numerous challenges facing them is to come to a roundtable and embrace dialogue.

“Of course, we know litigation in Nigeria is slow and doesn’t look like an appealing option. On the other hand, industrial actions will only worsen the plight of enrollees.

“I, therefore, appeal to you to open your door to dialogue with major stakeholders for the benefit of the scheme,” he pleaded.

Themed “Modelling the Nigeria Health Insurance for Nigerians,” the programme was well attended by several health professionals.

Detail Later

PSN, May&Baker Inaugurate Committee For 2017 Professional Service Awards

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The duo of Pharm. (Mrs) Maureen Ebigbeyi, director of Ports Inspection Directorate (PID), National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Pharm. Gbolagade Iyiola, PSN, national secretary, have been retained as 2017 May & Baker Professional Service Award committee’s chairman and secretary respectively.

L-R: Innocent Adulugba, corporate communications manager, May & Baker; Gbolagade Iyiola, PSN national secretary; Nnamdi Okafor, MD/CEO May & Baker; Ahmed Yakasai PSN president; Mrs Maureen Ebigbeyi, May & Baker Awards Committee chairman; Nihimetu Momodu and Eugene Olewuenyi during the inauguration of the 2017 May & Baker May & Baker Professional Service Award committee in Lagos.

Speaking at the inauguration event which took place recently at the May & Baker head office in Lagos, the PSN President, Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai announced a six-man team to pilot the awards programme. Aside the duo, pharmacists Nihimetu Momodu, Godwin Osuji, Mrs Frida Obikili, and Bala Maikudi – were the other officers retained from the 2016 edition. 

Welcoming the team, Pharm. Nnamdi Okafor, managing director of May & Baker said, “The award is a tradition that has come to stay since 2005. May & Baker will continue to support quality practice, ethics and humanitarian services especially in the pharmaceutical sub-sector.”

While commissioning the committee,  pharm. Yakasai charged them to review the award guidelines, establish criteria for selection of the winner, as well as grade the applicants for the award.

 

Detail later

Research Funders and International NGOs To Implement WHO Clinical Trial Reporting Standards

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Admin
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Some of the world’s largest funders of medical research and international non-governmental organizations have agreed on new standards that will require all clinical trials they fund or support to be registered and the results disclosed publicly.

In a joint statement, the Indian Council of Medical Research, the Norwegian Research Council, the UK Medical Research Council, Médecins Sans Frontières and Epicentre (its research arm), PATH, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Institut Pasteur, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust agreed to develop and implement policies within the next 12 months that require all trials they fund, co-fund, sponsor or support to be registered in a publicly-available registry. They also agreed that all results would be disclosed within specified timeframes on the registry and/or by publication in a scientific journal.

Today, about 50% of clinical trials go unreported, according to several studies, often because the results are negative. These unreported trial results leave an incomplete and potentially misleading picture of the risks and benefits of vaccines, drugs and medical devices, and can lead to use of suboptimal or even harmful products.

“Research funders are making a strong statement that there will be no more excuses on why some clinical trials remain unreported long after they have completed,” said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation at WHO.

The signatories to the statement also agreed to monitor compliance with registration requirements and to endorse the development of systems to monitor results reporting.

“We need timely clinical trial results to inform clinical care practices as well as make decisions about allocation of resources for future research,” said Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research. “We welcome the agreement of international standards for reporting timeframes that everyone can work towards.”

In 2015 WHO published its position on public disclosure of results from clinical trials, which defines timeframes within which results should be reported, and calls for older unpublished trials to be reported. That position builds on the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki in 2013. Today’s agreement by some of the world’s major research funders and international NGOs will mean the ethical principles described in both statements will now be enforced in thousands of trials every year.

“Requiring summary results of clinical trials to be made freely available through open access registries within 12 months of study completion is good for both science and society,” said Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust. “Not only will this help ensure that these research findings are more discoverable, but it will also reduce reporting biases, which currently favour publication of trials which have a positive outcome. Today’s statement is in line with Wellcome’s broader ambition to make all research outputs which arise from our funding more findable, accessible, and re-usable.”

Most of these trials and their results will be accessible via WHO’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, a unique global database of clinical trials that compiles data from 17 registries around the world, including the United States of America’s clinicaltrials.gov, the European Union’s Clinical Trials Register, the Chinese and Indian Clinical Trial Registries and many others.

“We fully support this statement and look forward to working towards increasing the availability of results from clinical trials,” said Dr John-Arne Røttingen, Chief Executive of the Research Council of Norway. “The public disclosure of results from clinical trials will improve resource allocation to research in a broad sense, and is also in line with our policies on transparency, and on open access.”

Comments from other signatories:

Dr Micaela Serafini, Medical Director, Médecins Sans Frontières
“Timely reporting of all clinical trial results is of upmost importance to MSF allowing fully informed decisions when it comes to health strategies, treatments and diagnostics. We fully support this move towards increased transparency and accountability in clinical research.”

Dr Trevor Mundel, President, Global Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
“It’s a 21st-century best practice – and an essential part of the social contract that underlies medical research – that clinical trial data should be made publicly available less than one year after a clinical trial’s completion. We strongly support WHO’s effort to establish a global standard for reporting data within this timeframe, which is a practice we require of our grantees as well.”

Dr David C. Kaslow, Vice President of Essential Medicines at PATH
“PATH remains deeply committed to the timely public disclosure of clinical trial results to accelerate development of new interventions and to ensure access to and transparency of safety and efficacy data, no matter if positive or negative. Full and consistent implementation of WHO standards on reporting clinical trial results is an important step towards better understanding the risks and benefits of vaccines, drugs, and medical devices, and the optimal use of new interventions.”

How To Prevent, Treat Dehydration Headaches

By
Temitope Obayendo
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Do you experience headaches frequently, and has the cause been diagnosed? If your answer is in the affirmative for the first question, but you have got a ‘no’, for the second, then it is imperative you read on with all curiosity.

Individuals experience headaches at some points or the other in life, but it is important to know the cause of the headaches in order to treat it accordingly. Experts have noted that there are different kinds of headaches and 9 out of 10 adults will experience one at some point in their life.

A dehydration headache is a secondary headache, caused by not having enough fluid in the body. Dehydration headaches can be relatively mild or severe as a migraine.

In a report on MedicalNewsToday, it was stated that a dehydration headache may occur after sweating when the body loses essential fluids to function properly.

The body requires the proper balance of fluid and electrolytes to function properly. Every day, the body loses water through daily activities, such as sweating and urinating. Thus in order to regularly maintain this delicate balance, it is mandatory to have enough fluid in the human system. It is the shortage of water in the system that brings about a dehydration headache.

It was noted that once rehydrated, the brain plumps up and returns to its normal state, relieving the headache.

Since dehydration headaches only occur when the body is dehydrated, symptoms of dehydration will occur with a headache. These symptoms include the following: extreme thirst, reduced urination, dark coloured urine, confusion, dizziness, fatigue, dry, sticky mouth, loss of skin elasticity, low blood pressure and increased heart rate.

However, there are some factors increase the risk of dehydration and they include the following:

Diarrhoea, vomiting, extreme sweating, either from heavy exercise or heat, fever, excess urination

For the treatment of a dehydration headache, medical practitioners advised they should do the following: increase fluid intake, replace lost electrolytes with a sports drink and temporarily decrease physical activity and avoid heat to reduce sweating.

While the above measures may treat the dehydration, it can take a while for a dehydration headache to be totally relieved. For fast relief; a person may want to take an acetaminophen or ibuprofen for the pain.

 

Breakthrough: Real Reasons For Infertility In Older Women Revealed

By
Temitope Obayendo
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The widespread misconception that women in their forties can no longer conceive due to the onset of menopause, may be losing its ground, as seasoned scientists have identified one of the leading causes of serial miscarriages and disabilities in the eggs of older women.

Although, it is medically believed that female fertility declines rapidly after the age of 37 – with women over 42 having only a five percent chance of having a baby without fertility treatment, but the new study has provided further insight into the matter.

The researchers from Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) and University College London have found that insufficient levels of the protein securin may give answers as to why older women have higher incidences of miscarriage and other complications.

According to the findings, reported on DailyMailonline, Securin is important for cell division, which influences the number of chromosomes present in an egg. In older women, insufficient protein levels appear to particularly influence the later stages of cell division, known as meiosis II.

The experts also opined that the lower level of securin may also play a role in fertilized eggs that fail to properly implant in the womb, thus bringing about deformity in the foetus.

The research, published in the journal of Nature Communications, explains why things go wrong in the second stage of cell division.

Key scientists in the team- Dr Ibtissem Nabti and Professor John Carroll from the Monash BDI said “new approaches to improving egg quality in older women are important as women are waiting increasingly longer to start their families. Professor Carroll said: ‘It is immensely challenging because any treatments need to be safe for the egg and subsequent embryo, and would usually need to be applied while the egg is in the ovary.

‘It may one day be possible to perform treatments in-vitro (in the laboratory) but human in-vitro egg maturation is not yet very successful.

‘Now that we have an idea of at least one of the causes of the increased incidence of chromosomal abnormalities and miscarriages in older women, we can attempt to find ways to prevent this happening.’

Although reasons for the reduction of securin levels in older women are not yet known, but there is hope for awaiting mothers of the age group, as the next study will be to tackle causes of the depletion in securin. So, keep up alive, your bundles of joy are on the way!!!

 

 

 

Schistosomiasis Kills 280,000 Africans Annually

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Admin
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The Global Schistosomiasis Alliance (GSA) brings one of the world’s biggest killers, schistosomiasis, to the attention of the G20 Health Ministers in Berlin

#MakingSchistory: A giant worm in the Humboldthafen, Berlin, represents the parasitic worm of schistosomiasis that causes suffering to millions around the world. Its impact is second only to malaria.

To bring the devastating disease, schistosomiasis, to the attention of Health Ministers worldwide, the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance (GSA) (www.EliminateSchisto.org) has positioned the #MakingSchistory worm at the Humboldthafen in Berlin, Germany. The 25m inflatable structure represents the parasitic worm of schistosomiasis that causes significant suffering and death. The ‘wormzilla’ reveal coincides with the B20 Health Conference which takes place ahead of the G20 Health Ministers meeting and will see health organisation from across the world come together to demand action on global health issues, including neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as schistosomiasis.

 

The GSA has also published a report today, The people #MakingSchistory: The global fight against schistosomiasis, which shares stories from people across the world who are working tirelessly to consign schistosomiasis to history. Included in the report are personal accounts from renowned scientists, such as Professor Alan Fenwick, to on the ground health workers who fight the disease every day.

“Schistosomiasis is the biggest killer you’ve probably never heard of, and that’s the problem. We want to bring the suffering that this disease causes to the attention of the G20 Health Ministers and the B20 Community in the hope that more awareness will lead to greater action. Our newly launched report tells the story of those closely involved in the fight to eliminate schistosomiasis. We hear about the real issues faced by the courageous people – public health officials, doctors, researchers, donors and organisation leaders – who are driving positive change for those vulnerable to the disease,” said Dr Johannes Waltz, Director, Global Schistosomiasis Alliance.

The call for more global action to tackle schistosomiasis has been put into focus this year as the Merck-World Health Organization medicine donation program marks its tenth year. This program provides free praziquantel to children in Africa. To date, more than 100 million children have been treated.

“In order to break the cycle of suffering and misery caused by schistosomiasis we must continue to improve on the incredible progress made over the last 10 years. We can eliminate schistosomiasis if we ensure that young children and adults at risk of the disease are fully protected and avoid the serious consequences of infection. The first step towards elimination is being achieved by free treatment, and the next step will be providing clean water and sanitation to those in vulnerable communities,” said David Rollinson, Director of WHO Collaborating Centre on Schistosomiasis, Natural History Museum, London.

Schistosomiasis kills 280,000 people every year in Africa alone. People can become infected with schistosomiasis when they come into contact with contaminated water while washing, playing or working. Infection is especially high in children and can cause anemia, stomach pain and swelling, diarrhea and bladder cancer, as well as holding back their cognitive development and growth.

Distributed by APO on behalf of Global Schistosomiasis Alliance (GSA).

PRESS RELEASE

 

 

 

FIP Outlines Models For Reporting Medicines Shortages

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Admin
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A new report from the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), released recently, provides an overview of some of the systems used to report medicines shortages around the world. “Reporting medicines shortages: Models and tactical options” points out that shortages have worsened. The document is intended to support the implementation of the World Health Assembly Resolution on “Addressing the global shortage of medicines and vaccines” adopted in May 2016.

“Medicines shortages are putting safety and lives at risk. This report aims to guide the development or improvement of reporting systems through the sharing of best practices,” said Mr Andy Gray, co-editor of the report.

Eight medicines shortages reporting systems from six countries (Australia, Canada, Netherlands, Slovakia, South Africa and the USA) are reviewed, and a range of features, such as the scope of the shortages listed, the criteria applied (such as the predicted duration of a shortage) and the sources of information used, are compared. The report lists different ways in which information on shortages is currently being gathered and organised and describes a variety of approaches and considerations for such reporting systems. In a number of countries, shortage reporting systems are being implemented by national associations of pharmacists.

“Pharmacists are increasingly concerned about the future of medicines supplies worldwide and FIP has long been advocating for this pressing issue to be addressed. Any medicines shortages reporting system should fit into a national strategy on access to medicines information. This new report follows the FIP document ‘Medicines information: Strategic development’, published earlier this year, which calls on countries to incorporate medicines information, including on shortages, into their national medicines policies,” said FIP Chief Executive Officer Mr Luc Besançon.

Notes for editors

The World Health Assembly Resolution 69.25 “Addressing the global shortage of medicines and vaccines” calls on World Health Organization Member States to “advance, gradually, regional and international cooperation in support of national notification systems including, but not limited to, sharing of best practices, training for human capacity building through regional and sub-regional structures where necessary” and on the WHO Secretariat to “support Member States in addressing the global challenges of medicines and vaccines shortages by developing a global medicine shortage notification system that would include information to better detect and understand the causes of medicines shortages”.

“Medicines shortages reporting: Models and tactical options” is available at http://fip.org/publications.

NAPharm/PSN Symposium Press Conference

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Admin
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The Nigerian Academy of Pharmacy and the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria has called for harmonious relations in the health sector to promote good working relation. The bodies disclosed this on Monday during a symposium on harmonious relations in health sector.

Beware! Pneumonia, Common Cold Could Lead To Heart Attack

By
Temitope Obayendo
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0

It may sound strange and incredible to many, but the fact remains that scientists have found a significant link between respiratory infections and heart attack. A team of researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia has found that respiratory infections raise heart attack risk by 17 times.

The new study published in the journal of Internal Medicine and reported on Medical News Today– found that respiratory infections such as pneumonia, common influenza and bronchitis all seem to increase the chances of having a heart attack.

This may give credence to the frequent occurrence of heart failures among Nigerians, to which significant causes cannot be found. It is imperative that more research is conducted on t his subject in our locality, an experience healthcare practitioner opined.

According to the researchers who observed 578 patients who had a heart attack due to a blockage in their coronary arteries, found that the patients reported on their history of respiratory infection, including bronchitis and pneumonia, and they gave information on their most recent infections and how often they tend to get an infection.

Symptoms that the patients were queried about included sore throat, cough, fever, sinus pain, and other flu-like symptoms.

The report indicated that the patients were admitted to the Royal North Shore Hospital in New South Wales, Australia. The diagnosis of a heart attack was confirmed by coronary angiography, a special X-ray test used to detect whether or not coronary arteries are blocked and to what extent.

It was also stated that the second analysis in a group of patients with upper respiratory tract infections, was conducted including colds, pharyngitis, sinusitis, and rhinitis.

Rather, the risk is at its highest during the first 7 days, then decreases slightly, only to remain steadily high for as much as a month.

In the words of Associate professor and study investigator Thomas Buckley, from Sydney Nursing School:  “The incidence of heart attacks is highest during winter in Australia. This winter peak is seen not only in Australia but also in other countries around the world is likely due in part to the increased incidence of respiratory infections. People should take measures to reduce exposure to infection, including flu and pneumonia vaccines where appropriate.”

 

Ahmed Mora Elected CAANU National Chairman

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Following the ouster of Chief Richard Ahonaruogho, former chairman, Conference of Alumni Associations of Nigerian Universities (CAANU), Dr. Ahmed Tijjani Mora, former registrar, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has been elected as the new helmsman of the national body.

It would be recalled that the Ahonaruogho-led executives came into office in 2011 for a two-year term. However, it got embroiled in a crisis that threatened to tear what CAANU has achieved over the years apart. The unpleasant face-off dragged on for so long until a congress was called up.

A resolution was reached at the congress which took place at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, on 24th September 2016. At the end of the proceeding, Mora was unanimously elected as the new national chairman.

According to the pharmacist, “All has been well. We have held the 2017 first quarter meeting of the National Executives Council (NEC) and delegates from various University Alumni Associations at University of Abuja on 9th March 2017.”

“However my institution (Igbinedion University, Okada) will host the second quarter meeting on 19th May 2017,” he noted.

The convention attended by delegates from University of Benin, Benin; Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ijagun; Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria; University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Ilorin; Ebonyi State University (EBSU), Abakaliki; University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Maiduguri; Kaduna State University (KSU); Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka; and Nasarawa State University (NSU), Keffi, also featured election of new executives into various offices.

Mora is to be assisted by Mohammed Sani Wada, CAANU secretary and the group’s public relations officer, Kenneth Ereke.

During the convention, the newly elected executives paid a courtesy visit to Prof. Saminu AbdulRahman Ibrahim, ATBU vice chancellor, who was represented by the acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abdullahi Umar and the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji (Dr.) Rilwanu Suleimanu Adamu.

 

FG Cautions Nigerians on Ebola Resurgence in Congo

By
Temitope Obayendo
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0

Following the World Health Organisation’s announcement on the recent outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Federal Government, through the minister of health, Professor Isaac Adewole has advised citizens on the need to maintain high level of vigilance and personal hygiene, in order to avert the spread of the disease in the country.

The minister, who issued a statement at the weekend on the development, urged every Nigerian, most especially health officials at the ports and those in other facilities, to step up inspection activities and to report any sick person or suspects immediately. Such suspected sick persons are to be referred to the chief epidemiologist in the state where there are present and relevant tests conducted.

 

Adewole who advised the general public not to delay in reporting anyone with the signs of the illness, stressed the importance of regular hand washing with soap and water, saying this is one of the one effective ways of keeping the disease at bay.

Assuring the citizens of their protection, he explained how the Centre for Disease Control has been working assiduously to secure the health of citizens.

“The agency has for a while now, been strengthening states capacities to detect, manage and respond to hemorrhagic fevers including Lassa fever and symptoms to look out for include; fever, fatigue, weakness dizziness and muscle aches.

“Patients with more severe cases show bleeding under the skin, internal organs or even from bodily orifices like mouth, ears, and the ears,” he added.

The WHO had reported the outbreak of the epidemic in Congo DR, with three lives lost already, while the outbreak was confirmed from tests on nine people who came down with a hemorrhagic fever in Bas-Uele province in the northeast of the country on or after April 22.

It would be recalled that Nigeria was declared free of Ebola virus by the WHO in October 2014 and the country praised for its handling of the disease which caused about 4,500 deaths across‎ West Africa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meningitis: Death Toll Worries Community Pharmacists

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… Accuse FG of neglect

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has expressed concern over the high death toll so far recorded this year following the outbreak of Cerebra Spinal Meningitis in some parts of the country, saying the government should be more proactive next time to avoid a similar outbreak.

The national chairman of the association, Dr. Albert Kelong Alkali, made the call at their national secretariat recently during a press briefing to announce the forthcoming national conference of the association holding in Jos City, Plateau State from July 2 to July 7, 2017, stating that Federal Ministry of Health should as a matter of urgency expand the vaccination centres to include community pharmacies and make adequate provisions for vaccines in all health centres across the nation.

Kelong further noted that there is the need for the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to be functional and work with the various states health insurance schemes to guarantee effective service delivery to enrollees by all healthcare providers.

Detail later.

UNICEF Pledges Medical, Psychosocial Support To Released Chibok Girls

By
Admin
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0

“UNICEF welcomes Saturday’s release of over 80 of the girls abducted by Boko Haram insurgents at their school in Chibok over three years ago.

“It is heartening to know that the girls will be returning to their families who have been waiting for this day. They will face a long and difficult process to rebuild their lives after the indescribable horror and trauma they have suffered at the hands of Boko Haram.

“UNICEF is on standby to support the Nigerian authorities to provide the comprehensive psychosocial support and other specialized services needed. We will help reunite the girls with their families and make sure they can continue their education in a safe environment. Already staff at a UNICEF supported health clinic has been supporting immediate efforts to identify the girls and conduct medical check-ups before their onward transport.

“UNICEF calls on Boko Haram to end all grave violations against children, especially the abduction of children and the sexual abuse and forced marriage of girls.

“We commend the government for this important achievement in helping to protect children impacted by the conflict in northeast Nigeria but remain deeply concerned for the thousands of women and children still held in captivity by Boko Haram. Greater efforts must be made to bring them all to safety and home to their families.”

“UNICEF has a comprehensive response to help children who have been affected by the conflict in the Lake Chad Basin and works with national authorities to support hundreds of children and women who have escaped or been released from Boko Haram. Every child is unique and requires different levels of support, so there is no standard formula or defined timeframe for these children to recover. UNICEF is committed to doing whatever it takes, as long as it takes to help these children recover a sense of normalcy with our available resources.”

 

AHAPN Flays NMA, Urges FG on Rotational Headship of FMoH

By
Temitope Obayendo
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1
National Chairman of AHAPN, Pharm. Martins Oyewole

Infuriated by the alleged stand of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) against the implementation of the planned harmonisation of salaries of health workers in the country, the Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists of Nigeria (AHAPN) has berated NMA on her opposing stand to the progress of others, asking her to desist from undermining and denigrating other professionals in the health sector.

According to a statement, jointly signed by the National Chairman of AHAPN, Pharm. Martins Oyewole, and the Secretary, Pharm. Jelili Kilani, the association absolutely condemned the statement credited to NMA that “although health workers faced many hazards in the discharge of their duties, their output could not be compared to doctors who performed the bulk of the medical services”.

AHAPN noted that every profession in the healthcare sector has its scheme of service which clearly stipulates job description and corresponding remuneration as approved by the relevant regulatory agencies. “The NMA cannot continue to undermine and denigrate other professionals in the health sector, by virtue of the privileges her members enjoy as ministers of health and headship of federal governmental agencies in the health sector, including federal tertiary health institutions”.

Citing the examples of practices in other developed climes, with the patient as the centre of attraction, the body maintained that every professional has a role to play to ensure optimum patient care. There is nothing fantastic about Nigeria’s healthcare sector today under the leadership by coercion of NMA.  It is an open secret that our healthcare sector is in shambles today, due largely to undue territoriality that is the hallmark of Nigerian doctors as against the need to strengthen professionalism.

On the alleged pride of NMA over the professional status and relevance of her members, as allegedly stated, “medical doctors are highly skilled and few in the country, the cut- off mark for medical students is 280 and above”, the hospital pharmacists said that virtually every professional in the healthcare sector, especially the pharmacist, is highly skilled. Pharmacists are even fewer than the medical doctors (compare 40,000 doctors to 20,000 pharmacists) because of the extensive and rigorous training they undergo.

“We state emphatically that cut-off mark is only a relative method of assessing level of intelligence or academic brilliance, and that is why it varies from year to year and from school to school. The true yardstick for measuring intelligence remains Intelligent Quotient (IQ) Test, which remains constant. Some pharmacy schools have same, lower or higher cut-off marks than medicine. Cut off mark is not a guide or indicator of who will be a successful professional. It is easier to change course from Pharmacy or any other science to medicine than to change to Pharmacy – only the best and the toughest survive Pharmacy training”, the statement reads.

It was in this regard that AHAPN called on the Federal Government to go ahead with the implementation of the planned harmonization of healthcare workers’ salaries, adding that it should be based on the outcome of a Job Evaluation Committee Report of 2008 by the Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Labour, and National Salaries Income and Wages Commission.

The body also beseeched the Federal Government to review her policy on appointment of the headship of the Federal Ministry of Health and Federal Tertiary Health Institutions to be rotational among all qualified professionals in the health sector, rather than the statutory selection of only medical doctors as it has been for a while now.  “This will engender healthy competition among the healthcare team for the overall good of Nigerian patients. Enough is enough”.

 

 

Unbreakable Laws of Sales: 12th Law- Your Performance Is Your Reality

By
Admin
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0

Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. —    Michael Jordan                

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt stamped his authority as the fastest man by becoming the first athlete to win three Olympic 100m titles in his final Olympics at Rio 2016, to replicate his successes at Beijing 2008 and London 2012. Champions are made. Top performance doesn’t hide. Folks notice the champion because champions don’t hide. Bolt proved to be the best and we all celebrate him.

Similarly, on 28 January 2017, my favourite tennis player, Serena Williams, beat her sister, Venus Williams, to win her seventh Australian Open title. Serena, who ranks No. 1 in Women’s Singles, equals Stefanie Graf’s Grand Slam tally of 22 by winning her seventh Wimbledon title in an outstanding final against Angelique Kerber on 9 July, 2016. This is another excellent performance by Serena.

Champions don’t count the number of times they won; they just want to continue the winning strides because people celebrate excellence.

Serena and Bolt have, no doubt, written their names in gold because of their performances.  People celebrate top performance because your performance is your reality. Your performance stands you out in a crowd.

In sales, performance is recorded on the go

Sales job is one of the jobs in which you can measure performance on the go. High performance is noticed immediately. You are either selling or not. Your results will be evident, either positive or negative. Excuses are not allowed.

Salespeople who give excuses for poor performance are regarded as storytellers. Sales profession does not entertain stories. Storytellers give excuses and they are regarded as average salespeople who may not get to the peak of their career.

You must do the job and make the difference. You just have to reach or exceed your sales target. Your performance speaks for you. You are identified by your performance. You earn more when you perform more. It is your duty to identify how to be successful in your selling because you are appraised by what you bring to the table.

Don’t complain, just fix it!

Average salespeople have a different opinion. They give excuses in everything. They spend a lot of time complaining about what is available and what is not made available for the job. They complain about the weather, the working tools and the environment. They even complain about the job. In short, average salespeople complain about everything and give ‘‘beautiful reasons’’ for poor performance.

Complaints don’t pay bills! You must do your best with the tools available to you. You are the main factor that will make things work. Everything begins with you. Nothing will work when you fail to work. Quit complaining and get things done; fix the challenges and be celebrated!

Excellent performance comes from a positive attitude

Excellent performance is a function of attitude to work. Your results will likely soar when your commitment to the job is high. Your output will be commendable when you are willing to go the extra mile to increase your input.

This sequence follows the Law of Cause and Effect, propounded by Aristotle, which states that ‘‘Every effect has a specific cause, every cause or action, has a corresponding effect.‘’ This law is applied by successful people all over the world. Successful people go all the way to invest efforts in order to achieve the things they want.

What you give is what you get. The things you put in are the things you will get in return. The value you invested is the value you will recoup. When you plant yam, you reap yam. You cannot cultivate cassava and harvest coconut. This is the sequence of the Law of Cause and Effect. High performance precepts also follow this law.

It is predictable that when you invest adequate energy and resources in a project, you attain tbe  expected result. Peak performance in sales sets the salesman apart. A result-oriented salesperson usually earns higher than his colleagues.

The target of every salesman is high performance. No one changes a team that delivers good result. This is one of the laws of success. The more you perform, the more you are needed.

Harsh Truths That Make Extraordinary Leaders Stronger

By
Lere Baale
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1

LEADERSHIP INSPIRATIONS FOR EXCELLENCE (LIFE) SERIES

“It takes more courage to reveal insecurities than to hide them, more strength to relate to people than to dominate them, more ‘manhood’ to abide by thought-out principles rather than blind reflex. Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles and an immature mind.”

– Alex Karras

Life is not easy.

Hard work makes people lucky – it’s the stuff that brings dreams to reality. So, start every morning ready to run farther than you did yesterday; and fight harder than you ever have before.

2 You will fail sometimes.

The faster you accept this, the faster you can get on with being brilliant. You’ll never be 100 per cent sure it will work, but you can always be 100 per cent sure doing nothing won’t work. So get out there and do something! Either you succeed or you learn a vital lesson. It is a win–win fir you

  1. Right now, there’s a lot you don’t know.

The day you stop learning is the day you stop living. Embrace new information, think about it and use it to advance yourself.

  1. There may not be a tomorrow.

Not for everyone. Right now, someone on Earth is planning something for tomorrow without realising they’re going to die today. This is sad but true. So spend your time wisely today and pause long enough to appreciate it.

  1. There’s a lot you can’t control.

You can’t control everything in your life, no matter how many safeguards you put into place. But thankfully, you don’t have to control everything to find peace and happiness. It lives with you always, deep within. More than getting into the nuances of control itself, you should be more interested in encouraging yourself to commit to giving it up, on purpose. See what happens when you loosen your grip, throw your hands into the air, and allow life to just happen and flow as it does, without constant micromanagement.

  1. Information is not true knowledge.

Knowledge comes from experience. You can discuss a task a hundred times, but these discussions will only give you a philosophical understanding. You must experience a task firsthand to truly know it.

  1. You can’t be successful without providing value.

Don’t waste your time trying to be successful; spend your time creating value. When you’re valuable to the world around you, you will be successful.

  1. Someone else will always have more than you.

Whether it’s money, friends or magic beans that you’re collecting, there will always be someone who has more than you. But remember, it’s not how many you have, it’s how passionate you are about collecting them. It’s all about the journey.

  1. You can’t change the past.

As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” You can’t change what happened, but you can change how you react to it.

  1. The only person who can make you happy is you.

The root of your happiness comes from your relationship with yourself. Sure external entities can have fleeting effects on your mood, but in the long run, nothing matters more than how you feel about who you are on the inside.

  1. There will always be people who don’t like you.

You can’t be everything to everyone. No matter what you do, there will always be someone who thinks differently. So concentrate on doing what you know in your heart is right. What others think and say about you isn’t all that important. What is important is how you feel about yourself.

  1. You won’t always get what you want.

As Mick Jagger once said, “You won’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need.” Look around. Appreciate the things you have right now. Many people aren’t so lucky.

  1. In life, you get what you put in.

If you want love, give love. If you want friends, be friendly. If you want money, provide value. It really is this simple.

  1. Good friends will come and go.

Most of your high school friends won’t be a part of your college life. Most of your college friends won’t be a part of your 20-something professional life. Most of your 20-something friends won’t be there when your spouse and you bring your second child into the world. But some friends will stick. And it’s these friends – the ones who transcend time with you – who matter.

  1. Doing the same exact 15 things every day hinders self-growth.

If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Growth happens when you change things – when you try new things – when you stretch beyond your comfort zone

  1. You will never feel 100 percent ready for something new.

Nobody ever feels 100 percent ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means you won’t feel totally comfortable or ready for it.

And remember, trying to be someone else is a waste of the person you are. Strength comes from being comfortable in your own skin.

Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu: A Pioneer Discoverer And Lifesaver

By
Solomon Ojigbo
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0

In contemporary history of American football, Dr Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu is hailed as a hero and lifesaver, though he has never for once participated in the sport. A forensic pathologist and neuropathologist, he was the first to discover and publish findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in professional American football players, while working at the Allegheny County Coroner’s Office in Pittsburgh, USA.

CTE is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is found in people who have had a severe blow or repeated blows to the head. It is commonly found in professional athletes taking part in extreme or contact sports, such as American football, rugby, professional wrestling, boxing, and mixed martial arts. It has also been found in victims of domestic violence and those with repetitive head collisions. In these cases, the victims experienced repeated concussions or other form of brain trauma

Path to discovery

Dr Omalu first discovered the presence of CET in the brain of one of the most celebrated football legends in American history – Mike Webster. Aged 50, Webster had dropped dead suddenly as a result of a heart attack. However, before his death, Webster had been exhibiting a range of disconcerting symptoms, such as cognitive dysfunction, intellectual impairment, mood disorders, drug abuse, depression and multiple suicide attempts. Accordingly, Webster’s physician had suspected that his cognitive dysfunction might have been due to the multiple concussions he received during his career and had listed post-concussion syndrome on his death certificate as a contributory factor to his death.

Due to the manner of his death, Webster’s body was referred to the Coroner’s Office in Pittsburgh for an autopsy. Dr Omalu was on duty at the time. Webster’s brain looked normal at autopsy, but Omalu’s instinct told him something wasn’t right and he pursued the matter further conducting independent and self-financed sophisticated tissue analyses. Omalu eventually identified clumps of tau (killer) proteins, which slowly killed brain cells upon accumulation in Webster’s brain that  led  to the discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). He submitted a paper titled “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player” to the Neurosurgery medical journal and, in July 2005, it was published.

Persistence amidst opposition,

Dr Omale’s paper attracted the attention of the National Football League (NFL) which condemned his research and demanded a retraction. The NFL was outraged by Omalu’s findings because it threatened their multi-billion dollar industry. According to the NFL, Mike Webster’s case was just a random occurrence and didn’t meet the scientific burden of proof.

Nevertheless, Omalu was determined to let the world know what he had discovered so he continued his research to prove his findings. His determination paid off. Over the next six years, he found evidence of CTE in Justin Strzelczyk, Terry Long, Andre Waters and Tom McHale, all of whom were retired NFL players.

His efforts to raise awareness of CTE began to yield fruit in 2009 when he was profiled in the September issue of GQ magazine, which detailed his efforts to raise awareness of football-related brain injuries and the NFL’s attempt to suppress his research with attacks on his credibility, competence and nationality. The story went viral.

Triumph of truth

When the degenerative disease was discovered in more NFL players, including the highly-celebrated Dave Deurson and Junior Seau, even the most passionate supporters of the NFL started to pay attention to what Dr Omalu was saying. With mounting evidence, the NFL eventually admitted publicly the link between concussion sustained in football and CTE.

Dr Omalu’s work is, indeed, one of the most significant discoveries in modern medicine. He has without doubt changed the face of neuropathology and has helped the world gain better understanding into the management of all types of traumatic brain injuries.

All over the world, his findings have influenced the decisions of experts in public health management, sports administration, trauma management and public policy.

Dr Omalu’s work was dramatised in the 2015 film, Concussion, with Will Smith, portraying the Nigerian-born doctor.

Family background

Bennet Omalu was born in September 1968, during the Nigerian Civil War, in the town of Nnokwa, located in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State. He was the sixth of seven children of Oba and Iyom Omalu.

His father worked as a civil engineer and was a respected community leader, while his mother was a seamstress. His father was very supportive of his decision to pursue a career in Medicine and, evidently, Bennet picked his habit of public service from him.

Education and career

Omalu started his education at age three. At age 16, he gained admission to study Medicine at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He received his Medical degree (MBBS) in 1990. After his clinical internship, he spent three years of community service at a rural mountain village. In 1994, Omalu left Nigeria for America where he first settled in Seattle to complete an epidemiology fellowship at the University of Washington. He received fellowships in pathology and neuropathology through the University of Pittsburgh in 2000 and 2002 respectively,

Dr Omalu received his MPH (Masters in Public Health) degree in Epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2004. He also received his MBA (Masters in Business Administration) degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008. Dr Omalu holds four board certifications in Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology, Forensic Pathology and Neuropathology. He is also board certified in Medical Management and is a Certified Physician Executive (CPE).

Dr Omalu has testified twice before the United States Congress and has provided hundreds of testimonies as an expert witness in federal courts and state courts across the United States. He is a member of many professional organisations, including but not limited to the College of American Pathologists, American Society of Clinical Pathology, American College of Physician Executives, American College of Epidemiologists, American Association of Neuropathologists, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, National Association of Medical Examiners, International Academy of Pathology and American Medical Association.

During the heat of his struggle with the NFL, Dr Omalu resigned from his position at Allegheny County Coroner’s Office in Pittsburgh and moved to California in 2007, where he took the position as chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County. That year, he published his first book, Play Hard, Die Young: Football Dementia, Depression, and Death. He later became a professor at the University of California, Davis, Department of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He is also the president and medical director of Bennet Omalu Pathology.

Dr Bennett Omalu became a U.S. citizen in February 2015. He lives with his wife Prema Mutiso, a native of Kenya, and their two children, Ashly and Mark, in Lodi, California.In contemporary history of American football, Dr Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu is hailed as a hero and lifesaver, though he has never for once participated in the sport. A forensic pathologist and neuropathologist, he was the first to discover and publish findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in professional American football players, while working at the Allegheny County Coroner’s Office in Pittsburgh, USA.

CTE is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is found in people who have had a severe blow or repeated blows to the head. It is commonly found in professional athletes taking part in extreme or contact sports, such as American football, rugby, professional wrestling, boxing, and mixed martial arts. It has also been found in victims of domestic violence and those with repetitive head collisions. In these cases, the victims experienced repeated concussions or other form of brain trauma.

Path to discovery

Dr Omalu first discovered the presence of CET in the brain of one of the most celebrated football legends in American history – Mike Webster. Aged 50, Webster had dropped dead suddenly as a result of a heart attack. However, before his death, Webster had been exhibiting a range of disconcerting symptoms, such as cognitive dysfunction, intellectual impairment, mood disorders, drug abuse, depression and multiple suicide attempts. Accordingly, Webster’s physician had suspected that his cognitive dysfunction might have been due to the multiple concussions he received during his career and had listed post-concussion syndrome on his death certificate as a contributory factor to his death.

Due to the manner of his death, Webster’s body was referred to the Coroner’s Office in Pittsburgh for an autopsy. Dr Omalu was on duty at the time. Webster’s brain looked normal at autopsy, but Omalu’s instinct told him something wasn’t right and he pursued the matter further conducting independent and self-financed sophisticated tissue analyses. Omalu eventually identified clumps of tau (killer) proteins, which slowly killed brain cells upon accumulation in Webster’s brain that led to the discovery of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). He submitted a paper titled “Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player” to the Neurosurgery medical journal and, in July 2005, it was published.

Persistence amidst opposition,

Dr Omale’s paper attracted the attention of the National Football League (NFL) which condemned his research and demanded a retraction. The NFL was outraged by Omalu’s findings because it threatened their multi-billion dollar industry. According to the NFL, Mike Webster’s case was just a random occurrence and didn’t meet the scientific burden of proof.

Nevertheless, Omalu was determined to let the world know what he had discovered so he continued his research to prove his findings. His determination paid off. Over the next six years, he found evidence of CTE in Justin Strzelczyk, Terry Long, Andre Waters and Tom McHale, all of whom were retired NFL players.

His efforts to raise awareness of CTE began to yield fruit in 2009 when he was profiled in the September issue of GQ magazine, which detailed his efforts to raise awareness of football-related brain injuries and the NFL’s attempt to suppress his research with attacks on his credibility, competence and nationality. The story went viral.

Triumph of truth

When the degenerative disease was discovered in more NFL players, including the highly-celebrated Dave Deurson and Junior Seau, even the most passionate supporters of the NFL started to pay attention to what Dr Omalu was saying. With mounting evidence, the NFL eventually admitted publicly the link between concussion sustained in football and CTE.

Dr Omalu’s work is, indeed, one of the most significant discoveries in modern medicine.He has without doubt changed the face of neuropathology and has helped the world gain better understanding into the management of all types of traumatic brain injuries.

All over the world, his findings have influenced the decisions of experts in public health management, sports administration, trauma management and public policy.

Dr Omalu’s work was dramatised in the 2015 film, Concussion, with Will Smith, portraying the Nigerian-born doctor.

Family background

Bennet Omalu was born in September 1968, during the Nigerian Civil War, in the town of Nnokwa, located in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State. He was the sixth of seven children of Oba and Iyom Omalu.

His father worked as a civil engineer and was a respected community leader, while his mother was a seamstress. His father was very supportive of his decision to pursue a career in Medicine and, evidently, Bennet picked his habit of public service from him.

Education and career

Omalu started his education at age three. At age 16, he gained admission to study Medicine at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He received his Medical degree (MBBS) in 1990. After his clinical internship, he spent three years of community service at a rural mountain village. In 1994, Omalu left Nigeria for America where he first settled in Seattle to complete an epidemiology fellowship at the University of Washington. He received fellowships in pathology and neuropathology through the University of Pittsburgh in 2000 and 2002 respectively,

Dr Omalu received his MPH (Masters in Public Health) degree in Epidemiology from University of Pittsburgh in 2004. He also received his MBA (Masters in Business Administration) degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008. Dr Omalu holds four board certifications in Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology, Forensic Pathology and Neuropathology. He is also board certified in Medical Management and is a Certified Physician Executive (CPE).

Dr Omalu has testified twice before the United States Congress and has provided hundreds of testimonies as an expert witness in federal courts and state courts across the United States. He is a member of many professional organisations, including but not limited to the College of American Pathologists, American Society of Clinical Pathology, American College of Physician Executives, American College of Epidemiologists, American Association of Neuropathologists, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, National Association of Medical Examiners, International Academy of Pathology and American Medical Association.

During the heat of his struggle with the NFL, Dr Omalu resigned from his position at Allegheny County Coroner’s Office in Pittsburgh and moved to California in 2007, where he took the position as chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County. That year, he published his first book, Play Hard, Die Young: Football Dementia, Depression, and Death. He later became a professor at the University of California, Davis, Department of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. He is also the president and medical director of Bennet Omalu Pathology.

Dr Bennett Omalu became a U.S. citizen in February 2015. He lives with his wife Prema Mutiso, a native of Kenya, and their two children, Ashly and Mark, in Lodi, California.

YPG Executives Visit Pharmanews

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The leadership of the Young Pharmacists Group of Nigeria (YPG), led by the President, Pharm. (Dr) Peter Benjamin Onimisi, recently paid a courtesy visit to Pharmanews corporate head office in Mende, Maryland, Lagos.

The YPG executives, during the visit,  briefed Pharmanews Publisher, Pharm. (Sir) Ifeanyi Atueyi about the activities of the group and solicited for the support of Sir Atueyi for the group.

L-R :Pharm. Seyi Michael; Mr. Solomon Ojigbo, IT Officer, Pharmanews; Pharm. Kehinde Phillips Adepoju, coordinator, YPG, South-West; Pharm. Rashidat Folashade Elesho, national public relation officer; Sir. Ifeanyi Atueyi, publisher, Pharmanews; Pharm. (Dr.) Peter Benjamin Onimisi, president, YPG; Mr. Joel Omikunle, business manager, Pharmanews; Mr. Yusuff Moshood, editor, Pharmanews and Pharm. (Dr.) Ekanem Nseabasi, during the courtesy of the Young Pharmacists Group (YPG) executive members to Pharmanews Office, Lagos recently.

In his response, Sir Atueyi commended the YPG leadership for their dedication to the group and assured them of Pharmanews support.

In attendance at the meeting were, Pharm. Seyi Michael; Pharm. Kehinde Phillips Adepoju, coordinator, YPG, South-West; Pharm. Rashidat Folashade Elesho, national public relations officer; Pharm. (Dr.) Ekanem Nseabasi; Pharm. (Dr.) Peter Benjamin Onimisi, president, YPG; Pharm. (Sir) Ifeanyi Atueyi, managing director, Pharmanews Limited; Mr. Joel Omikunle, business manager, Pharmanews; Mr. Yusuff Moshood, editor, Pharmanews and Mr. Solomon Ojigbo, IT officer, Pharmanews.

 

NAPharm, PSN, NMA Seek To Revive ‘Spirit of Las Vegas’

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On Thursday, May 11, 2017, the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy (NAPharm) in partnership with Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) is planning a joint symposium that seeks to further harmonise the collaborative spirit among health professionals.

It would be recalled that physicians under the aegis of Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA) in collaboration with Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas (NAPPSA) and Nigerian Nurses Association in the Americas met at a joint conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States from June 23 to 26, 2016 to fashion out ways to improve interprofessional relationship.

Following the historic meeting, an interprofessional relations committee was inaugurated this year by the top hierarchy of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria to devise further means to improve relationship among healthcare professionals.

L-R: Prof Fola Tayo, general secretary, Nigeria Academy of Pharmacists (NAPharm); Sir Ifeanyi Atueyi, vice president, NAPharm and Pharm. Iyiola Gbolagade, PSN secretary general at the press briefing today
L-R: Prof Fola Tayo, general secretary, Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy (NAPharm); Sir Ifeanyi Atueyi, vice president, NAPharm and Pharm. Iyiola Gbolagade, PSN secretary general at the press briefing today

Addressing a news conference held today at Business School Netherlands, GRA Ikeja, Lagos, Sir Ifeanyi Atueyi, vice president, Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy (NAPharm), said the need to revive the ‘Spirit of Las Vegas’ became necessary after a team comprising ANPA and NAPPSA visited last month on a medical mission to some states of the federation and equally had audience with the minister of health.

“NAPharm has the same objective hence it is the basis for this joint symposium which has been warmly welcome by NMA and other professional health groups. Just in case you are also wondering how we came about the name – Spirit of Las Vegas – it was my coinage.

“The aim of Thursday symposium as earlier highlighted is to bring health care professionals with ultimate focus on patient wellbeing. Since the theme is – Health of the Nation – The Imperative of Interprofessional Collaboration – we have lined up experts from different professional groups to do justice to the theme,” he announced.

While Prof Eyitayo Lambo, former minister of health, is expected to deliver the keynote address, other speakers include Dr Ebun Sonaiya, a consultant physician; Mrs Jokotola Shode, an accomplished nurse; Prof. Dennis Agbonlahor, medical laboratory scientist; Mr Chukwuma Muanya, a health journalist (expected to speak from public perspective) and Pharm Jimi Agbaje, a well-known pharmacist and astute politician.

In Atueyi’s view, the nation’s apparent poor healthcare services are partly the resultant effects of lack of collaboration among healthcare practitioners.

“When services are not properly harmonised, the patient suffers the most while healthcare professionals also experience the side-effects of such suffering,” he warned.

Pharm. Iyiola Gbolagade, PSN national secretary general seemed to be in agreement with the vice president when he recalled that Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, president of the society, during his inauguration also reiterated that the only way to give proper attention to the patient is for all health workers to come together.

He added that the president even went a step further to invite the immediate past NMA president, Dr. Kayode Obembe to further show how serious he was about such collaboration.

Gbolagade also warned members of the public to desist from asking ‘Who is the leader?’ in the health sector, stating that for as long as they keep fanning such ember of disharmony, the crisis in the health sector will rage on.

The general secretary of NAPharm, Prof Fola Tayo, further buttressed this view when he cautioned that there is nothing like a particular arm of the health sector holding leadership position.

“Rather, what we have is a pool of resources where the patient is the ultimate beneficiary. There should be a radical approach to put an end to such disharmony.

“For instance, a surgery cannot be said to be successful without the collaboration or intervention of surgeon, nurses, pharmacists and other health care workers. This is part of what we will be discussing next Thursday,” he admonished.

On his part, Pharm. Remi Adeseun, a fellow of the academy, equally has this to say about the danger of arrogating a pole position to a single arm in health.

“Until now, surgeons were believed to be inferior to physicians in the health sector. It took quite a while before their importance came to the fore and parity was restored. As a community, we should push for competency-based leadership and not qualification-based as some people think,” he stressed.

The Quantum Shift in Pharmacy and The Resulting Benefit: The Place of The Media

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Admin
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(Being the keynote address delivered by Dr Lolu Ojo FPSN at the Pharmacoposium organised by the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria Students (PANS) at Oduduwa Hall, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife on Tuesday, 11 April, 2017).

The theme of this symposium is apt and contemporary. The whole world has moved and Nigeria, in particular, has moved in many directions at the same time. It is true that we can have a quantum shift as experienced in the value of the naira against the dollar in the past two years.

It can also be a shift of ideas or ideology or tactics or rhetoric, or all of the above, as in the ascendancy of Donald Trump as American President. For the pharmacy profession, the shift has been substantial in terms of contents and practice. You may be able to assign numbers to the magnitude of change if you consider where we were about three decades ago and where we are now.

Perhaps, it will be safer to incline our mind to being proactive in anticipating and adapting to changes, which must come, as of necessity; now or in the future. There is no doubt that business models are already adapting to changes in government policies and economic dictates in the environment in order to remain competitive and for survival.

There is, therefore, a need for the pharmacy profession to be creative enough and take proactive steps necessary to make it responsive to the changing needs of the society and especially to get the younger generation of pharmacists attuned to this reality. We can discuss some of the recent changes under the following headings:

 

Public health

It is no longer appropriate to look at medicines as the only sphere of influence of the pharmacists. A public health role for pharmacist is now a reality that must be vigorously discharged in order to remain relevant and add value to the society.  The desire to improve the health status of the population requires a multidisciplinary and multiagency approach and pharmacists must be involved.  The profession’s current strategy is based on management of prescribed medicines, management of chronic conditions and common ailments; promotion of a healthy lifestyle and provision of health advice. We now have to find a space in the overall health package that involves other health professionals, NGOs and volunteers.

There should be more emphasis on defining, addressing and monitoring the real health needs of the population. Some public health roles for pharmacists include provision of health advice on self-care; management of health emergencies; counselling on maternal and childcare; parental counselling; health promotion campaign; sexual health and drugs; creating, updating and maintaining medication records, disposal of waste medicines; complimentary medicine advice; drug use awareness, etc.

 

Drug distribution (Logistics and supply chain)

The safe movement of drugs, vaccines, medical devices and equipment from the point of production to the patient, without compromising the efficacy, requires a very efficient process that will optimise space, quality, price and profit. The network of distribution, warehousing and record tracking, especially at complex levels, require the skill of logistics and supply chain management. This training involves computerisations, use of software, transportation models, when to re-order, trade management, pricing, import and export documents, among other things. Pharmacists must position themselves for these roles, including third party representations of multinational pharmaceutical industries, in other to be ahead in competition with non-pharmacists.

We have also heard of the likelihood of closing down the open markets in Nigeria this year, to ensure a more efficient, safe and controlled distribution of drugs in Nigeria. This will pose a challenge to pharmacists to evolve logistics and supply chain skills in other to fill this gap.

Clinical pharmacy

Pharmaceutical care is the responsible provision of drug therapy for achieving definite outcomes that improves the patient’s quality of life. These outcomes include cure of a disease, elimination or reduction of patient’s symptomatology, arresting or slowing of disease process and the prevention of disease.

The whole emphasis of the pharmaceutical care concept is on the patient and not on the drugs anymore. The training curriculum certainly recognises this new emphasis without compromising the science of Pharmacy.  The fundamental relationship in pharmaceutical care is a mutually beneficial exchange, in which the patient grants authority to the provider, and the provider gives competence and commitment (accepts responsibility) to the patient. This concept is the panacea for increased relevance of the pharmacist in public eyes and public health care institutions.

It is critical for pharmacists to be abreast of the use of the drugs they are dispensing and be able to offer primary health needs of the public. This is only possible when he is a true expert of drugs. Patients find it easier to access a pharmacist for consultation on drug information. If this task or duty is handled with utmost care, expertise and professionalism; then our connection with the public will be stronger and better.

 

The pharmaceutical industry

The world pharmaceutical industry is an oligopoly, controlled by 10-15 pharmaceutical giants. Regrettably, Nigeria does not exist on the world pharmaceutical map, despite our huge potential demand base. We are, basically, consumers of what others have done. As at today, about 80 per cent of medicines consumed in Nigeria are imported, and a paltry 20 per cent produced locally.

The irony of this disturbing statistics is that the capacity utilisation of the local industry is a meagre 42 per cent. The federal government has a policy of purchasing 70 per cent of its needs from the local manufacturers; but the operators of this policy always find a way to circumvent it. Thus, today, we have an unattractive local pharmaceutical manufacturing sector struggling for relevance in the country.

The importers have not fared better. The market is largely unorganised and competition unfair. You have a small group of ethical and focused players competing with a larger group of corner-cutting and substandard products purveyors.

The real question is: how can we get a vibrant pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria? We must start from the value-creation basis of relevance, which is basic research. We need to discover and manufacture novel molecules that will be used in the treatment or management of old or emerging diseases. We cannot afford to be a follower forever and expect our industry to catch up with the rest of the world. The emphasis must extend to local manufacturing with an effective public-private sector partnership. The establishment of cottage industries must be encouraged in all the states of the federation. These cottage industries can produce the needs of their immediate environment. We must gradually acquire the capacity and the technology to produce other sensitive products.

Today, Nigeria has no comparative advantage in pharmaceutical manufacturing and no one is going to help us to move away from where we are now. It is to the advantage of India and other countries in Asia that the bulk of our raw materials and finished products are imported.

While we continue to mount pressure and do the best we can, it is the prerogative of the government to determine what kind of development is required in all the sectors of the economy, including the pharmaceutical sector. Governments, at all levels, must listen to us and implement her own policy towards self-sufficiency in drug production in Nigeria.

 

Role of the media

We are now on information super highway. Nothing is sacred or hidden anymore. You can get virtually everything now with the press of a button. Just ask google!  A drug information centre that cannot be accessed from a remote location has lost its relevance in the new world. How do we utilise the media in advancing the cause of the new shift?

The traditional media strategies can no longer work.  We must get involved with new offerings, particularly on social media. These considerations (negative or positive) and general articles about the expanding role of pharmacists are a great opportunity to engage patients and continue the conversation.

We must take the lead in helping the society to filter the information about their medications and prevent them from falling victims of false claims on performance-enhancing drugs. The pharmacists’ roles in public health can be facilitated through dedicated blogs, websites or platforms that are easily accessible to all categories of medicine users. If we are going to win the war against quackery and fake drug peddlers, the media is a necessity.

The development in social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) has completely altered the way society communicates. These new applications promote openness, user-generated content, social networking, and collaboration. The technologies, along with patient behaviors and desires, are stimulating a move toward more open and transparent access to health information.

The social media is a very good target for pharmacist to participate in well-targeted awareness programmes. Patients now post online their experience of medicines. They also go online to search for information on medicines, even before they approach the health professional. They are now more informed about their conditions and the applicable therapy. They will demand more from the pharmacist whenever they make contact.

The pharmacy profession needs to re-invent itself for the digital world in which medical information is no longer an exclusive privilege of the health professional. New access models such as remote consulting of the health professional will emerge; geographic boundaries of the neighbourhood pharmacy may become irrelevant, if an Abuja patient can leverage the power of the internet to remotely access their pharmacist based in Lagos. There will be disruption in distribution channels and service models of health and pharmaceutical services. It will create new opportunities for some, while it will leave others behind.

The future area of focus is digital marketing. A future of virtual audience for your presentations. A future where we may not have to leave our current location to educate an audience about our ideas, products or services. No particular group will be able to escape the new way of life. It is, therefore, in everyone’s interest to key into the new way of doing things.

As I conclude this address, I will ask the young pharmacists and the aspiring ones never to underestimate the value of an idea. Men of ideas build the world we have today. You have in you the potential to change or shape the world that you live in. My favourite quote is: Success in life is measured not by fortune nor acclaim. A venture tried, a challenge met, a future that you embrace is successful if ONLY if it makes the world a better place to live.

 

 

 

Managing Adverse Effects of Hormonal Contraceptives

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Admin
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By Pharm. Timeyin Ogungbe

Hormonal contraception refers to birth control methods that act on the endocrine system. Many contraceptives rely on the use of steroid hormones.

There are two main classes of hormonal contraceptives:

  1. Combined contraceptives – contain both oestrogen (usually ethinyl estradiol) and progestin.
  2. Progestogen-only contraceptives contain only progesterone or a synthetic analogue (progestin).

 

Mechanisms of action

Combination oral contraceptive pills

Most combination OCPs contain ethinyl estradiol (20 to 50 mcg) and a synthetic progestin (e.g,

norgestrel, norethindrone, levonorgestrel, desogestrel). These pills inhibit ovulation in most women.

They also induce thickening of the cervical mucus, which impedes transport of sperm to the uterus. With perfect use, only 0.1 per cent of women become pregnant within the first year of using a combination OCP.

Progestin-only contraceptive methods

Low dose progestogen-only contraceptives include traditional progestogen-only pills and the subdermal implant Jadelle. These contraceptives inconsistently inhibit ovulation in approximately 50 per cent of cycles and rely mainly on their progestogenic effect of thickening the cervical mucus and thereby reducing sperm viability and penetration.

 

Intermediate dose progestogen-only contraceptives, such as the progestogen-only pill Cerazette (or the subdermal implant Implanon), allow some follicular development but much more consistently inhibit ovulation in 97–99 per cent of cycles. The same cervical mucus changes occur as with low dose progestogens.

 

High dose progestogen-only contraceptives, such as the injectables Depo-Provera and Noristerat, completely inhibit follicular development and ovulation. The same cervical mucus changes occur as with very low dose and intermediate dose progestogens.

 

Because of the high dose of progestin, ovulation is inhibited in most women. With perfect use, only 0.3 per cent of women become pregnant within the first year of using medroxyprogesterone injections.

 

Managing adverse effects of hormonal contraceptives

Weight gain

 

Long-acting injectable depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (Depo-Provera) is the only hormonal contraceptive that is consistently associated with weight gain. A prospective study found that women who used Depo-Provera gained an average of 11.2 lb (5.1 kg) over 36 months, whereas women who used combined oral contraceptives did not gain any weight.  There are no significant differences among combined oral contraceptives in terms of weight gain. A systematic review of randomised controlled trials did not find a causal connection between combined hormonal contraceptives and weight gain, whereas a Cochrane review found the evidence to be insufficient. Extended-cycle combined oral contraceptives do not cause more weight gain than standard regimens.

 

Headache

Combined oral contraceptives increase the risk of stroke in women who have migraines with aura, and should not be used in these patients. A systematic review found that 10 per cent of women have new-onset headache with the use of combined oral contraceptives. The type and dose of progestin do not affect headache, nor does the particular formulation.

 

Headaches are more common during the first cycle of combined oral contraceptives and in women who are older than 35 years. If headache occurs in a woman who is older than 40 years during the placebo week of a 28-day regimen, the addition of 10 mcg of ethinyl estradiol for five of the seven placebo days may help. It is not known if this regimen is effective in younger women.

 

Continuous use of combined oral contraceptives also can be attempted. A Cochrane review comparing extended-cycle with standard 28-day regimens found slightly reduced rates of menses-associated headache in the extended-cycle group. A prospective, open-label, industry-sponsored trial found that switching from a 28-day to a 168-day regimen reduced headache and increased quality-of-life measures in patients with severe headaches, but not in those with mild headaches. Switching to a different combined oral contraceptive or taking diuretics or multivitamin supplements is not effective in treating headaches.

 

 

Breast tenderness

The use of combined oral contraceptives decreases breast tenderness after 18 months, but there are no significant differences among formulations.

 

Breakthrough bleeding

Breakthrough bleeding is common in the first months of combined oral contraceptive use, and patients should be reassured during this time. Variations in the oestrogen dose above 20 mcg do not alter bleeding rates, nor does changing the type of progestin. Bleeding patterns are similar among monophasic and biphasic regimens, but the evidence is insufficient to determine whether monophasic and triphasic regimens result in different bleeding patterns.

 

A randomised controlled trial comparing continuous use with a standard 28-day cycle found that spotting increased initially with continuous use, but was less than with the standard regimen by nine months. Increasing the oestrogen dosage from 20 to 30 mcg per day does not reduce breakthrough bleeding in extended-cycle regimens. Women on regimens containing norethindrone had significantly more days of amenorrhoea than those on levonorgestrel-containing regimens. If breakthrough bleeding occurs with extended-cycle regimens, the pills should be stopped for three or four days, then restarted.

 

Other bleeding irregularities

Patients often discontinue hormonal contraceptives because of menstrual cycle disorders. Progestin-only pills and low-dose combined oral contraceptives (less than 20 mcg per day) are associated with a higher incidence of bleeding disturbances. Compared with non-hormonal contraceptive methods, Depo-Provera is strongly associated with missed menstrual periods and bleeding for longer than 20 days.

 

A Cochrane review found that no interventions to regulate menstrual bleeding in women using Depo-Provera were useful in the long term. In women using progestin-only injectable contraceptives, short-term treatment with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may be helpful for spotting. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or ethinyl estradiol can also be used for heavy or prolonged bleeding until another contraceptive method is chosen.

 

Women who use the single-rod etonogestrel implantable device (Implanon) should expect changes in their menstrual cycle. Before insertion, clients should be informed that only about 11 per cent of women have a normal bleeding pattern. A combination of mifepristone (Mifeprex) and ethinyl estradiol reduces the duration of a single bleeding episode in women who use Implanon, but does not alter the overall bleeding pattern.

 

One study showed that doxycycline shortens a single episode of bleeding in women who use Implanon, but a subsequent larger study did not confirm this finding. If abnormal bleeding persists beyond three months, an alternative contraceptive method may be considered, and the patient may need to be evaluated for other causes.

 

Mood

No significant differences in effect on mood have been found among various combined oral contraceptives. A prospective population-based study found that Depo-Provera was associated with a slightly increased rate of depression, which can persist after discontinuation of therapy. A prospective cohort study, however, found that neither combined oral contraceptives nor Depo-Provera was associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms.

 

Sexual effects

Findings from studies of the sexual effects of hormonal contraceptives have been inconsistent, and the pharmacologic basis for these effects is unclear. Bioavailable testosterone is lower in women who use combined oral contraceptives than in nonusers; however, one review found that women who use these contraceptives show more interest in erotic images.

 

A prospective analysis of women using Depo-Provera found no change in sexual function after four months, and women using progestin-only pills had no difference in sexual desire compared with those receiving placebo. Another study found that there was no significant change in libido after 24 months among women using Depo-Provera, women taking an oral contraceptive containing 0.15 mg of desogestrel and 20 mcg of ethinyl estradiol, and women using non-hormonal contraception. A prospective randomised study comparing Nuvaring with two combined oral contraceptives (one containing 20 mcg of ethinyl estradiol and 100 mcg of levonorgestrel, and the other containing 15 mcg of ethinyl estradiol and 60 mcg of gestodene) found that the latter pill had the greatest negative effect on sexual desire. The reason is not known.

 

If adverse sexual effects persist beyond three months, the method can be changed, but there is little evidence to recommend one method over another. Because sexual function depends on many factors, other causes of sexual dysfunction should be considered before changing methods.

 

Skin changes

Acne can develop or worsen with the use of progestin only contraceptives. A questionnaire-based study of 161 women who used the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (Mirena) for dysfunctional uterine bleeding found that 22 per cent discontinued use secondary to progestin-associated effects (e.g., acne, oily skin, hirsutism, bloating, headaches, weight gain, depression, breast tenderness, decreased libido).

 

A retrospective study of Implanon users found that 11 per cent had acne after insertion.  If acne worsens with a progestin-only contraceptive, a combination method can be tried if the patient is medically eligible.

 

Of patients who had acne at baseline and who were using a combined oral contraceptive with 20 mcg of ethinyl estradiol and 0.15 mg of desogestrel, 70 per cent had resolution of symptoms at six months. If acne does not improve within six months of combined oral contraceptive use, it typically will not improve with continued use. A Cochrane review analysing several combined oral contraceptive regimens found that they are effective in treating acne, but that differences in effectiveness among progestins is not clear.

 

About 6 per cent of Depo-Provera users report new onset facial hair at six months of use. Combined oral contraceptives are used to treat hirsutism, and a small, prospective, randomised, double-blind study found that those containing levonorgestrel and desogestrel are equally effective.

 

Nausea

Levonorgestrel-only emergency contraceptives cause less nausea and vomiting than regimens with a combination of ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel. Pretreatment with metoclopramide can reduce nausea in women using combined oral contraceptives for emergency contraception. The World Health Organisation advises pre-treatment for women who have a history of nausea and vomiting with emergency contraceptive use.

Decreased breast milk

A Cochrane review found insufficient evidence that hormonal contraceptives affects breast milk quantity or quality. Combined oral contraceptives should not be used for the first six weeks postpartum because of increased risk of hypercoagulability. Progestin-only pills do not impair lactation.

 

Master Principles For Curbing Depression and Suicide

By
Sesan Kareem
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On 7 April, 2017, the World celebrated World Health Day, with a campaign on depression. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), every 40 seconds, someone, somewhere in the world, dies by suicide caused by severe depression.

Globally,  more than 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression. It is the leading cause of disability worldwide, as well as being a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29 year olds across the world.  Close to 800,000 people die due to suicide every year.

What is depression?

Depression is an illness characterised by persistent sadness and a loss of interest in activities that one would normally enjoy. It is often accompanied by an inability to carry out daily activities, for, at least, two weeks.

In addition, people with depression usually have several of the following: a loss of energy, a change in appetite, sleeping more or less, anxiety, reduced concentration, indecisiveness, restlessness, feelings of worthlessness, guilt, hopelessness, and thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

Depression is real and it doesn’t matter one’s profession, religion, age, status, condition, region, ethnicity, country or continent. Anybody can suffer from depression, which can lead to suicide. We all need to be informed about the signs of depression and suicide in order to safeguard ourselves and others.

It is our duty to be intentional about our own happiness and the happiness of people around us too. Leading a happy and a fulfilled life is our personal business.

Antidotes to depression

  • Positive thinking

Positive thinking involves focusing on what is good in your life, instead of focusing on what is not working well. When you focus on your focus, you will become the focus. When you focus on what you think is wrong or unjust in your life, you will become miserable. Conversely, when you focus on what is right and enviable in your life, you will become happy.

Personally, I always choose to focus on my blessings, count them one by one throughout my day and feel heartfelt gratitude for them. From the gift of sight to good health to just meeting an old friend – I often find joy in my daily life by counting these experiences as part of my blessings.  My motto is “I am blessed and highly favoured.”Think positively; always see the good side of life, no matter what. Be an incurable optimist.

 

  • Exercise

Exercise is very good for your health and for overcoming depression. When you are fit and strong, with sound physiology, you can overcome doubt, fear or any negative emotions. If you can control your body, which is quite easy than controlling your mind, you can change your thoughts, emotions and outlook. Routine exercise will go a long way in protecting you from depression.

 

  • Engagement

Engagement is quite critical to staying happy and overcoming any type of depression. Surround yourself with the right people. Talk to someone you trust – a friend, family, colleague, your doctor or religious leader when you have any issue bothering you. Volunteer for an organisation. Share happiness with others. Make someone laugh. Stay connected. Keep doing what you love doing. Have fun.

 

Remedies for depression

If you already have depression, here are my three simple, yet result-oriented strategies for managing your mind against depression.

 

  1. Learn to identify perpetual thoughts and visual images that produce emotions of sadness, worthlessness or anxiety. Write them down in a jotter.
  2. Do not try to stop negative thinking or imagery from your subconscious mind. Instead, practice substituting positive thoughts and imagery that evokes feelings of peace, contentment, gratitude, happiness and security.
  3. Repetition. Remember, that it takes practice to change mental habits. Keep on keeping on. Practice consistently.

 

The happiest people in our world are not the most successful, richest or good looking. They are those who put priority on their happiness, share happiness with others, exercise regularly, forgive quickly, always grateful for their blessing, surround themselves with the right people, do what they love, love what they do, keep growing, control what is in their cycle of influence and leave the rest for the universe, stay true to their emotions and live in peace.

ACTION PLAN

Create your own happiness. Have an exercise routine. Be grateful at all times. Forgive yourself, forgive others. Love yourself, love what you do and share that love with the world.

AFFIRMATION

I am bigger than any problem, I can solve any problem.  I create my own happiness.

How NIPSS Can Help Solve National Problems – Akhimien

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Admin
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–  Says next DG NAFDAC should be a pharmacist

Pharm. Sir Anthony Akhimien is a former president of PSN. In this interview with Pharmanews, Sir Akhimien who recently completed the mni course at the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) spoke on his experience during the programme and how graduands of the prestigious Institute can make invaluable contributions to help solve the myriads of problems can fronting Nigeria. He also spoke on why a pharmacist should be the next DG NAFDAC

Below is the abridged text of the interview:

Congratulations on your successful completion of the mni course in Kuru, Plateau State. Tell us about your experience at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).

The mni course is indeed a senior executive programme. It is a gathering of top executives from the military, para-military, police, top government officials, politicians and civilians from some selected disciplines in the private sector. The 10-month course is made up of intensive series of lectures, study tours within and outside the country, and individual project topics that have relevance to the participants’ disciplines.

The individual project work is allocated a quarter of the entire course marks. For me, it was the most difficult course I had ever encountered in my life. It became more difficult because I was also the rapporteur for my group. The course work requires skills in writing, reading and ability to comprehend. The course promotes group assignments and compels the individual to process his or her thoughts before reacting to any situation.  My consolation is that I have gone through the programme and came out successful.

 

How many people graduated with you? Were there other eminent Nigerians that completed the course with you?

 

We were 67 eminent Nigerians, selected from the military, para-military, police, ministries, departments and agencies of government and the private sector. Unfortunately, we lost the participant from Niger State who died two days to our graduation. She was Hajia Maimuna and was a permanent secretary.  May her soul rest in peace.

What are the benefits of this mni course to you personally and are there benefits also for the pharmacy profession?

The benefits of the course are numerous. The course has broadened my knowledge about my country, sharpened my thinking and reading skills, educated me to tolerate others, especially in expressing their opinions on issues of national discourse and, above all, build friendship and networking with 66 distinguished and accomplished Nigerians.

Indeed, the course has made me a better manager and I can fit into any establishment when given the opportunity to do so.

The profession of pharmacy that sponsored me will find me more useful and competent, by way of advice and contributions on issues of national interest. They will, by extension, benefit from the good relationship I have built with other participants while on the course.

Having joined the league of eminent Nigerians who have graduated from NIPSS, what is your advice on how the alumni of this institute can contribute more to national development and help solve the myriads of problems confronting this nation?

The motto of the prestigious institute is “Towards a better society”. This motto has also been adopted by the alumni association of the Institute. This makes it mandatory for graduands of the Institute to be patriotic and contribute maximally to national discourse or any issue affecting the development of Nigeria and proffer unbiased recommendations and implementation strategies to the government of the day.

On the eve of our graduation, we had the singular opportunity to meet and discuss issues of national interest with Mr President and his ministers. We made far-reaching recommendations and implementation strategies after an exhaustive deliberation on contemporary issues of national interest.

It is instructive to note that mni promotes the welfare, security and economic advancement of Nigeria and members are willing to serve at all times as the think-tank to all tiers of government.

As an eminent pharmacist, what is your advice to the present government as it contemplates the appointment of a new DG for NAFDAC?

I strongly recommend that the next DG of NAFDAC should be a pharmacist. NAFDAC is a sensitive agency and should not be politicised because its mandate is to guarantee the safety of food and drugs, and nobody can carry out that function better than a qualified pharmacist.

 

The pharmaceutical, sector like other sectors of the Nigerian economy, faced a tough time in 2016 because of the economic recession, what should stakeholders in the sector be doing this year (2017), not only to get out of recession but to take the sector to the next level?

 

The pharmaceutical sector of our economy is very important and strategic. Healthcare spending is out of pocket; and for an average family that visits a hospital facility, whether private or public sector, they all buy their drugs directly from stores. The recession in 2016 adversely affected availability of essential drugs as Nigerians rely on importation of drugs for the teaming population.

The strategy in 2017 is to focus on deliberate policies that will encourage the local industries to scale up and produce at least 40 per cent of the nation’s drug requirements. The stakeholders in the sector must come together and bring to the table those short and long term plans that government can adopt, to help the growth of the Industry.

As a past president of PSN, what are your impressions of the current leadership?

The current Leadership of PSN received the support of all past presidents before and on assumption of office. He has only done one year and personally in my opinion, he is adding value to the legacies of our past leaders. I wish him well because he is on the hot seat and, at the end of his three-year tenure, he will join the league of past presidents.

QuintilesIMS Will Provide Quality Data Infrastructure For Healthcare Industry –Adeseun

By
Solomon Ojigbo
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Pharm. Remi Adeseun is the new country manager (West Africa) of QuintilesIMS, a multinational healthcare information management and clinical research organisation. In this exclusive interview with Pharmanews, Adeseun speaks on his new appointment and the plans of QuintilesIMS for the Nigerian health industry. Excerpts:

Tell us about QuintilesIMS.

QuintilesIMS is a merger of two global companies – Quintiles and IMS Health. Quintiles started as far back as the 1960s, in the UK, while IMS Health had started in the 1950s in the United States. Quintiles specialised in the area of clinical research, starting from phase 1 to phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. So it can be regarded as a clinical research organisation; while IMS is a health information, technology and data management company.

QuintilesIMS exists in over 100 countries and has staff of over 50,000, with an information resource database, calculated in hundreds of terabytes. It is so huge, as it covers many countries.

The company is just coming into Nigeria, although some work had been done before now, with a team coming in from Ghana and doing occasional primary market research. Now we are coming in fully. Many multinationals, from my initial talks with them, are very glad that the company is coming to Nigeria because they know the value of industry data in doing a marketing plan.

Tell us about your new role at QuintilesIMS.

My new role is that of country manager for West Africa region. I joined the company on 1 March 2017, based on my pedigree as an industry player and, more importantly, as one who recognises the importance data plays in effective planning.  This comes from having garnered over 30 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and health industry and being a person who is very conversant with the needs and challenges in the industry, as well as being a healthcare sector leader in general. I have also been an executive member of the healthcare federation of Nigeria; and, more recently, I have worked in public health, as a member of several national committees.

What territories are you covering as country manager for West Africa?

My position as country manager will focus on Nigeria and Ghana, the major markets of the English speaking parts of West Africa, before moving to the other smaller English speaking parts of West Africa, which include Liberia, Sierra-Leone and  The Gambia.

The French-speaking parts of West Africa, on the other hand, are being covered by my colleague who is the country manager for North Africa region and he is resident in the Ivory Coast.

What is the goal of QuintilesIMS in Nigeria within the next five years?

We intend to become the service provider of choice for those who are keen on understanding the dynamics of the health sector for different investment purposes; providing market strategies for pharma products; and other areas of healthcare such as treatment, information management etc.

Our philosophy is to help our clients with data management and whatever information needs they have.

How will QuintilesIMS be relating with the government? Will it be on advisory basis or will they pay for your services?

Our strategy is to understand the nature of our customers. The government, as a customer, has limited resources and inexhaustible needs. So, we work with development partners to finance products that we co-conceive with the government. For instance, we plan to provide the government advisory on local manufacturing capacity. We have done this for other countries, such as India.

We plan to share this vision with development partner groups who have who have shown interest in Nigeria’s health system and have the resources. Thereafter, we shall link them with the government with the framework for engagement. An example of such programme is the Global Health Support in Ghana which has been of tremendous benefit to the Ghanaian health insurance industry.

We will also encourage the Nigerian government to contribute or make a financial commitment to such programmes because sometimes people don’t fully appreciate free services.  In the national budget, there is a provision for the national health insurance policy trust that says a minimum of one per cent minimum of the healthcare budget should be devoted towards research on healthcare which can cater for such development programmes.

Has the Nigerian government shown interest in your vision?

From my early discussions with the health minister and the director of health research and statistics, they are very keen and optimistic about this development.

 

Glitz, Glamour As UNILORIN Inducts 1st Set of Pharmacy Graduands

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In what many termed as historic, the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of IIorin (UNILORIN) has churned out its first set of pharmacy graduates.

The colourful maiden induction and oath-taking ceremony of 17 Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) Degree graduands which took place at the institution’s main auditorium on May 4, 2017, attracted the rank and file of the school management officers, high profile pharmacists both in academic and administrative positions, pharmacy students and their parents.

Approved by the senate on May 22, 2010 with Prof. Philip Olurinola and Prof. Hajarat Ibrahim as its pioneer and second deans respectively, the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (one of the 15 faculties in UNILORIN) is divided into 6 departments. They are departments of Clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacy Practice, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Pharmaceutical and Medical Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology, Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy as well as Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Speaking at the occasion, Pharm. N. A. E. Mohammed, registrar, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) congratulated UNILORIN management on the historic induction of its first ever pharmacy graduands, adding that he was glad the faculty has improved from what he saw on his first visit to the school.

 

L-R: Prof. Abdulkarim Agunu, host faculty dean; Prof. Mbang Femi-Oyewo, dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) and Prof. Pharm N. A. E. Mohammed, PCN registrar at the high table.

“Pharmacy is one profession that is seriously understaffed. Imagine having only 17,000 registered pharmacists to a population of over 180,000 million Nigerians. It is quite worrisome! But we are hopeful all that will change soon.

“However I will advise the university to retain its best materials for internship and official engagement. Once you allow them to escape from the system, it takes toll on them and often leads to what is called abandoned project,”” he warned.

Continuing further, the registrar admonished the graduands that there is no limitation to where each individual can reach in life progress in life, noting that pharmacists competency is not only about knowledge and skills.

Mohammed added that competency should include critical thinking and decision-making, innovation, social interaction (negotiation), development of leadership skills and inter-professional relationship.

“That is indeed the third and life-long phase of pharmacy training,” he concluded.

Addressing the audience thunderous applause, Prof. Abdulkarim Agunu, incumbent dean of the faculty opined that their success story would not be completed with mentioning the contribution of great minds like Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali (vice chancellor), Prof. Philip Olurinola (Pioneer dean), Prof Hajarat Ibrahim, Prof Moji Taibat, Dr Isaac Olushola (pioneer head of department), Dr F. E. Williams, Mrs K. W. Garba (pioneer faculty officer), Mrs Tunji Akindipe and a handful of other pioneer staff.

L-R: Alhaja and Dr Taofeek Kasali, parents of the overall best graduating student; Pharm N. A. E. Mohammed, PCN registrar; Pharm. Yusuf Ghazali, pioneer best graduating student of the faculty receiving his prizes from Prof. Gabriel Olatunji, deputy vice chancellor, UNILORIN

“We are indeed grateful for where we are today but promise not to rest on our oars until we get to the zenith. I also want to use this opportunity to specially appreciate Peace Standard Pharmaceutical Industries and Pharm. Olakunle Ekundayo, chairman of Drugfield Pharmaceuticals,” he enthused.

In her keynote address themed, “From Drugs to patient care: Pharmacy in the next dispensation,” Prof. Mbang Femi-Oyewo, dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) declared that as a proof of the public’s confidence in pharmacists, the profession is continually ranked by the Gallup Poll as the most trustworthy profession globally.

According to her, in an era of rapid change in health care delivery, the pharmacy profession is experiencing significant growth and development such that it has been rated by Forbes as the best healthcare profession.

Tracing the history of pharmacy from 1900s to 1950 when Pharm D degree was first issued by the University of Southern California, Femi-Oyewo remarked that the fields of the practice has been robustly shaped to cut across regulatory and enforcement bodies, journalism, military as well as various pharmacy arms such as community, hospital, administrative, academic and industrial areas.

“One way or the other, I always feel I have an emotional attachment with UNILORIN. My first here was during the accreditation process with National Universities Commission (NUC). At that time, your faculty building wasn’t in place.

“Today, I am happy at how things have eventually panned out. I also heard that your Pharm D programme will take off in a couple of months. It shows we are improving. I want to see a situation where Pharmacy practice in Nigeria will get to a computerised stage where hospital physicians will always demand patients record from pharmacists as I saw during my visit to the United States in 1988,” she recalled.

Shortly after the oath-taking ceremony, four students were given special honours after clearing out the six departmental prizes at stake with Pharm. Hameedat Ayotunde and Pharm. Yusuf Ghazali emerging ‘Best Graduating Student’ and ‘Overall Best Graduating Student’ respectively.

While Ayotunde cleared out the prizes in pharmacology and toxicology as well as pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry, Ghazali won prizes in pharmaceutical microbiology and biotechnology, clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice as well as pharmaceutics and industrial pharmacy.

With a CGPA of 4.77, Ghazali was subsequently presented with PCN Award, Prof P. F. Olurinola Award (with N50,000 prize money attached), LUBCON Award and Prof. Hajara Ibrahim Award for Best Graduating Student.

With an air of a fulfilled, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, vice chancellor of UNILORIN who was represented at the occasion by Prof. Gabriel Olatunji, deputy vice chancellor (research and academics) remarked that he was quite impressed with the historic achievement.

“As graduates of this noble faculty, you (graduands) should be proud too. After all, wherever the issue of first graduates from UNILORIN’s pharmaceutical sciences is discussed, your names will always come up.

“I also want to thank the first two deans (Olurinola and Ibrahim) and the present one (Agunu) for their painstaking efforts and contribution. To show you the extent of hard work that has gone into this historic event, Prof. Agunu used to visit me, on the average, about three times a day to update me on the progress of their programme,” he disclosed.

As a parting shot, the vice chancellor called on pharmacists in the country to safeguard the influx of fake drugs in the society.

 

 

 

How I Resolved Members’ Apathy Towards ALPs Activities – Ologunagba

By
Temitope Obayendo
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Pharm. (Mrs) Modupe Ologunagba is the outgoing chairperson of the Association of Lady Pharmacists (ALPs) Lagos State Chapter. In this chat with Pharmanews, Ologunagba and few of her executives revealed to Temitope  Obayendo, the secrets behind their successes, and some of the bottlenecks encountered during their four-year tenure. Excerpts:

PHARM. OLOGUNAGBA, CHAIRMAN, ALPs-LAGOS

How has it been steering the ship of ALPs for the past four years?

It’s been a period of learning for me, a period of experience and a period of challenge. However, I am grateful to God and to the members of the association, who gave me the period to serve in that capacity.

What challenges did you encounter?

Cross section of lady pharmacists

The most challenging issue was membership mobilisation. Our meetings were scantily attended by ALPians, who unfortunately formed the majority of the national ALPs; but they were hardly available for our meetings and programmes. That was the initial bottleneck. But this has improved with the passing of months and years.

How were you able to resolve this challenge?

I employed the strategy of engagement. I was able to commit the few members readily available with assignments of heading committees for our programmes, using the slogan: ‘We must join hands to ensure we project the image of ALPs, and protect the interest of the association’. And this has gone a long way in helping us. We discovered that once we involve members in committees, they release themselves totally for the job.

Secondly the Whatsapp platform helped a great deal in improving our membership. Once a message is communicated through the medium, members respond speedily. Through this also, members in Diaspora started seeing our socio-economical programmes and they started showing interest in them.

What would you identify as the core achievements of your four-year tenure?

I and the members of my executive committee have been able to take ALPs a step further in the area of community outreaches, community intervention programmes, and diseases awareness creation. We engaged in cancer awareness programme, which was created among TBAs sometime last year; school moral campaigns, etc.

My tenure has also delved into documentation and research on current issues. For every activity we undertake, we back it up with research to know the impact of the programme. Much more, the average Lagos ALPian is now happy to identify with the association, but this was not the situation in the past.

Would it be right to attribute economic downturn as the reason for limited participation of members in ALPs activities?

Well, our membership fee is very affordable to the average ALPian, and we have been able to manage our little contribution to organise our programmes. However, we have been having support from corporate organisations and individuals that share same vision with the association. Our meetings are tailored towards capacity building, and members learn how to think out of the box.

Where would you like to see ALPs in the next five years?

To ensure that ALPs is an acronym that every household in Lagos knows, and what it stands for.

What is your advice to the newly inducted pharmacists from the Pharmacy Faculty, UNILAG?

They should key into ALPs, because ALPs has a lot to offer them in the area of mentorship. Learning should not be stopped; they should carve out niches for themselves, depending on their area of interests. That is where ALPs will assist them. The adult ALPians in community practice, hospital practice, industry and so on will help coach these youngsters.

PHARM. ABIMBOLA FALOPE LAWAL, P.R.O., ALPS-LAGOS

In what ways has joining ALPs impacted your life?

ALPs is another family for me. Joining ALPs has made a great impact on my life. I have met a lot of mentors, who are exceptional role models. I have met women pharmacists who have been able to combine different roles as mothers, leaders, mentors, and I have learnt a lot from them

As a female pharmacist, you can be a leader, role model, and an accomplished lady. Also as one of the executives, it afforded me the opportunity to meet dignitaries – first ladies, commissioners, DPSs, etc. – whom I wouldn’t have been able to meet on my own. In fact, I am blessed to be an ALPian, and more especially, to be part of this outgoing executives.

As the P.R.O., what significant contributions were you able to make to the association?

I joined the executive as the assistant PRO, and we initiated the Whatsapp platform, which has been a great medium of communication for us. We also built digital presence on social media – Facebook and Instagram – which has enhanced our internal and external communications a great deal.

I have been able to acquaint the leading Nigerian lady pharmacist in the UK, Pharm. Arikawe, with our programmes and activities,  and she has given us her word that she will see us any time she is around, to contribute her quota to the group. Bye and large, I think Lagos ALPs is going higher and higher by the day.

PHARM. OLUROMBI  ADELEKE, SECRETARY, ALPs-LAGOS

How would you assess the performance of the outgoing executives?

I was the assistant secretary, when I joined this crop of leadership, and later became the secretary after the former secretary left. Before I became a member of ALPs, I used to think that ALPs was all about ‘aso ebi’; but after I became a member as well as an executive, I discovered ALPs is more than that. It is a voluntary organisation, whose activities are tailored towards impacting the society.

This outgoing crop of leadership has done well in enlightening women, students and other members of the society on disease awareness, moral education, socio-economic initiatives, and others. In all, I will give them a pass mark.

Patent Medicine Vendors killing Community Pharmacy in Kaduna – ACPN Chairman

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Chairman of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) Kaduna State, Pharm. (Mrs) Talatu Uwa Ebune, has raised alarm over what she called “improper regulation” of patent medicine vendors in the state, saying their activities are silently killing the practice

 

Speaking with Pharmanews in an exclusive interview recently, Pharm. Ebune, a merit award winner of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and managing director, Nana Pharmacy and Stores Limited, equally tasked young pharmacists not to be money-driven, as pharmacy profession cannot be successfully practised without the passion to save lives. Excerpts:

Tell us about your pharmacy?

Nana Pharmacy and Stores Ltd was incorporated in July 1999 and we started business on 3 April 2000.  It was great from the beginning. We started small and we grew to three branches. Nana Pharmacy has been a household name in Kaduna, by the special grace of Allah we have been able to start from a humble beginning and we are still waxing strong in terms of providing adequate community pharmacy services to Kaduna and Environs.

 

Looking back can you confidently say studying Pharmacy was a good decision for you?

Yes, studying Pharmacy was a good decision for me. I studied Pharmacy out of passion and love for the profession. It was love for the profession that prompted my studying Pharmacy when my last child was five years of age. Pharmacy has been everything I hoped on and I am so glad to be a point of reference for patients and customers who need to access quality and effective medications in Kaduna and environs.

 

What was the profession like in your early days as a young pharmacist compared to present practice?

In those days, we had utmost discipline in the profession; there was love and respect for one another. We used to be referred to as ‘’one happy family’’, largely because if you went to a neighbouring town you had a pharmacist colleague willing to offer you the needed help and care to progress.

Pharmacist nowadays are  money-oriented; you hardly find that passion and motivation from the young ones these days. Yes, money is a necessary thing, but we must be more concerned about how services impact the larger society at all times.

A pharmacist is the only person legally allowed to advise and counsel patients on the best use of their medication. This alone is testament to the impact that a pharmacist has on the larger society. The younger ones should be mentored and coached to put the need of the patient above anything else. Together we can create a better future for the ones yet unborn.

At what point did you decide to vie for Kaduna State ACPN chairmanship position and what prompted the decision?

I was nominated to serve as the ACPN chairman by community pharmacists in Kaduna to foster and promote efficient and effective delivery of pharmaceutical services in Kaduna and its environs. In 2013, my opponent in the ACPN election stepped down, which adequately gave us a chance to develop in unison.

There are challenges in how community pharmacy practice was co-ordinated in Kaduna – rivalries and challenges with unqualified patent chemists. We stepped up and tried to sanitise the practice, setting a clear direction which everyone has agreed to help implement. It has been challenging but completely worth every effort that my team and I have put in.

 

Could you tell us some of your achievements and challenges so far as the ACPN chairman?

At the state level, we have partnered with the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) in so many ways. ACPN Kaduna has been a partner to the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) on achieving the goal of regulating patent medicine practice in Kaduna state and Nigeria as a whole.

We have also partnered with a host of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), especially in commemorating and creating awareness to the public (for instance, on World Malaria Day, World Cancer Day, World AIDS day etc). We have also greatly minimised cases of register-and-go which has become a major challenge in our practice these days.

Currently we have a proper channel of drug disposal by collaborating with the Kaduna Environmental Protection Agency (KEPA) to ensure adequate disposal of expired medicines. We are always working in synergy with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and other drug regulatory agencies to foster better sensitisation of the public on fake and expired drugs, as well as misuse of medicines.

We have harmonised an effective way of paying taxes by partnering with GEMS-3, an NGO from the UK that helps in solving the regular problems we face while paying taxes to the government. We now have a harmonised account that makes the process adequate.

The challenges we have include: the inadequate regulation of patient medicine stores is. Presently, we have purchased a bus which is going to be used for community outreach in villages and communities to help sensitise the public and bring health care closer to the surrounding communities.

The persistent issue of register-and-go among young pharmacists, as well as getting ACPN members to attend regular bi-monthly general meetings, has been a challenge. In all this, I must admit that we are positive that the gains achieved by ACPN Kaduna will be consolidated in the long run despite the mitigating challenges.

 

What will you say are the greatest challenges facing community pharmacists in Kaduna at the moment?

The greatest challenge presently facing community pharmacists in Kaduna is the proliferation of uncontrolled and unmonitored patent medicine shops in open drug markets. This is silently killing community pharmacy practice in Kaduna; and it is at the expense of patients in Kaduna and its environs.

Also the various litigations against the regulatory bodies are affecting the practice of community pharmacy in Kaduna. The presence of quacks, drug abuse and misuse amongst Kaduna environs is also a challenge. The quacks handle all sorts of controlled medicines that ordinarily should not be in their disposal and this is a major setback to the profession in Kaduna.

 

The current economic recession is affecting all sectors and is having effects on the business sector. Is this affecting the community pharmacy sub-sector in Kaduna State? How are your members coping?

The current economic situation affects every sector of the economy as there has been a major assault on the disposable income of our customers. Restocking has been challenging for most community pharmacies and there is a major dip in the purchasing power of our patients and customers. This has largely led to the closure of some pharmacies and reduction in staff strength of major pharmacies in Kaduna.

What can you say about the happenings in the health sector in Kaduna State?

I must admit that the re-organisation of the Kaduna State Drug and Medical Supplies agency has been a success. Patients can get drugs from the State Hospital services at a reduced cost and this has promoted compliance generally from uneducated patients. There is a government commitment to the belief that effective and efficient use of medicines is a priority for all and not just pharmacists.

Improvements must be made to  sustain what has been achieved. The government should involve all the key stakeholders, so as to promote a culture of inclusion in the health sector.

Meet Pharm. Udele Osakwe, Our Personality For May

By
Admin
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PHARM UDELE MICHAEL OSAKWE is the product manager of Mega Lifesciences.

Born on 4 April 1984, Osakwe is a native of Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State. He had his secondary education at Nana College, Warri, Delta State. Thereafter, he gained admission into University of Benin, where he bagged both BSc and PharmD (2002-2008).

Prior to joining Mega Lifesciences, Pharm. Osakwe worked for Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a Johnson and Johnson Company) where he was appointed as medical/sales representative in charge of Edo, Delta and Ondo States from October 2011 to May 2015.

At Janssen, Osakwe was tasked with several responsibilities, such as procurement monitoring, sales coordination, management of key accounts, co-leading a high impact campaign designed to reduce negative impact of parallel imports/substandard products on leading brand, drawing up sales and marketing strategies to increase market share, as well as management of various product portfolios.

His experience at Megalife include drawing up brand and marketing annual plans to increase market share, sales co-ordination, monitoring sales progress nationwide, sales trend analysis and forecasting, customer segmentation analysis and interfacing with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLS) to influence the use of company brand.

Other responsibilities involve overseeing key account management, training of medical & sales representatives on Mega Lifesciences brands, campaign development, indepth market research & product launch, portfolio management, preparation of DRs & Pharmacists product literature, detailing aid, patient/customer education booklet and liaising with warehouse manager to ensure prompt dispatch of promotional materials and other input for field force.

To further boost his drive as a result-driven personality with demonstrated skills in establishing and expanding new frontiers through indepth market research and aggressive sales strategy, Osakwe took up a professional course with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM, UK) where he bagged a diploma in professional marketing. He is presently running another course with Simon Page Business School (2017).

Other courses he attended in the course of his professional duties include: Professional Medical Selling (Janssen Pharmaceuticals) Nigeria (2011), Intelligent Selling (Janssen Pharmaceuticals) Lebanon (2012) and four factors sales/marketing training (Mega Lifesciences) Ethiopia (2016).

On his most cherished laurel, Pharm. Osakwe once made reference to Pfizer Global Innovation Award which he won in New York, United States in 2011. According to him, it was a unique award presented to him for conceptualising and successfully implementing the LUTH-PFIZER Electronic Pharmacy Project (first of its kind in Sub Saharan Africa).

A member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), his hobbies include travelling, general fitness exercise, reading and sporting activities (especially football).

Prof. Sarpong Emerges WAPCP New President

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-As Erhun canvasses insurance cover for future secretary general

Prof. Emeritus Kwame Sarpong, one of the founding fathers of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP), has been elected as the new helmsman, along with other new executive members, to pilot the affairs of the college for the next two years.

The handing-over ceremony which took place at WAPCP secretariat in Yaba area of Lagos on May 2, 2017, has a considerable turnout of high profile pharmacists and academic professors.

In his hand-over note, Prof. Wilson Erhun, outgoing secretary general of the college, thanked God for sustaining him throughout his eight-year tenure that saw him fell victim thrice to armed robbery attacks.

A cross section of the new WAPCP executives

Although Erhun claimed he didn’t sustain injuries, he nevertheless lost, among others, all the vital data he had gathered over a period of 30 years during one of such raids.

“I want to use this opportunity to appreciate members of the college and everybody who has worked with me in one way or the other.  You have all done well! I also want to apologise to those I may have offended directly or indirectly in the course of doing my duty,” he noted.

While applauding the immediate past secretary general’s hand-over speech, Revd. Tijli Tarty Tyee, chief pharmacist of Liberia Ministry of Health and outgoing president of the college, said that he was happy with the level of progress WAPCP has made so far.

In his summation, the college was not always the way it looks now adding that a lot of improvements and some level of stability have gone into its foundation.

In what appeared to him as a big shock, the incoming president confessed to Pharmanews that heading the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists was the last thing on his mind before his election.

“As you already know, I am a foundation member of WAPCP which we started in 1976. In fact, I know the college inside out.I am equally aware of its inherent challenges because I was one of the people who drafted the constitution, curriculum and other things.

L-R: Prof. Emeritus Kwame Sarpong, WAPCP’s incoming president presenting a Certificate of Service to Prof Wilson Erhun, outgoing general secretary of the college

“Interestingly, I have also served in various capacity ranging from the

treasurer, secretary general… (you name it) except this one (presidency). In truth, I am supposed to be resting. But when my professional colleagues pleaded with me to occupy the office, I couldn’t turn it down because I regard it as a big honour,” he stressed.

Other members of the new WAPCP executives included Prof. Cecilia Igwilo, 1st Vice President; Markieu Janneh Kaira, 2nd Vice President; Prof. Noel Wannang, secretary general; Prof. Azuka Oparah, chairman, joint faculty board; Dr. Olufunsho Awodele, editor-in-chief, West African Journal of Pharmacy; Major Pharm. Thomas Tucker, deputy secretary; Joseph Weah, treasurer; Prof. (Mrs) Mbang Femi-Oyewo, chief examiner; Wilson Ukachi, admin manager and Wiltshere Johnson, chairman, finance and general purpose committee.

IDEA Zone, OFRED Offer Free Medical Service To Community

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No fewer than 500 residents of Mosan Okunola community in Mosan Okunola Local Council Development Area of Lagos State benefited from a free health promotion and awareness campaign recently organised by the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), Ipaja, Dopemu, Egbeda and Akowonjo (IDEA) Zone, in collaboration with Pharm. Fred Oduwole (OFRED), a former chairman of the association and an aspirant for the post of executive chairman, Mosan Okunola LCDA.

The free medical screening and awareness, which took place at the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mosan Okunola Constituency, had, among the numerous people in attendance, royal fathers, politicians, civil servants, clerics, members of the Motorcycle Riders Union, popularly known as okada riders, and members of the Market Women Association, among others.

The event, which also featured public endorsement of the candidature of Pharm. Fred Adedeji Oduwole for the chairmanship position for Mosan Okunola LCDA in the forthcoming local government election in the state by ACPN-IDEA and some stakeholders in the constituency, also offered opportunity for many people to access free health counselling and screening on HIV, blood sugar, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), deworming, cholesterol, among others.Speaking with Pharmanews, the zonal chairman, ACPN-IDEA, Pharm. (Mrs) Mfon Nsese Ufot, explained that the free medical screening and awareness was organised by the association in partnership with the OFRED group as part of the association’s contribution to improve public healthcare.

Detail later.

FIP Calls On Pharmacy Leaders To Transform Workforce

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Admin
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A series of statements to support schools of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, and providers of continuing education with self-assessment, monitoring, identification of gaps and strategic planning in order to improve pharmaceutical education is released by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) today. The statements are presented in a full report of FIP’s Global Conference on Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Education held in Nanjing, China, in November 2016.

The “Nanjing Statements” have been published following extensive international consultation and three validation phases, and are grouped into eight clusters covering issues such as professional skills mix, recruitment of students, and resources and academic staff.

With the launch of the conference report today, FIP is calling on pharmacy leaders worldwide to engage in a national dialogue with key stakeholders, including governments, to analyse the current pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences workforce profile, guided by the conclusions of the global conference, which included 13 Pharmaceutical Workforce Development Goals that lay out directions for action.

“The continued development of pharmaceutical services and sciences in order to meet the health care needs of patients and health care systems around the world relies on a well educated, competent, sufficient and well distributed pharmaceutical workforce. With these newly developed FIP tools and guidance from the Nanjing Conference, leaders in pharmaceutical practice, sciences and education are well placed to support and advocate for the implementation of FIP’s Global Vision for Education and Workforce within their countries and health care systems,” said Professor William Charman, Chairman of FIP Education.

The conference report, “Transforming pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences education in the context of workforce development”, includes a chapter on implementing the outcomes of the Nanjing conference and a complete list of resources developed by FIP to enable action and which are adaptable to local needs.

FIP is establishing a steering group to develop mechanisms to identify priority areas for action and indicators to monitor progress, with a two- and five-year plan. “We recognise the need for resources to develop a sustainable workforce and, therefore, the importance of economic indicators and quantification of return on investment. FIP looks forward to working with country-specific stakeholders as they move to adopt and implement the empowering conclusions of the conference,” Professor Charman says.

FIP is hosting a series of webinars to guide its members through its resources in order to facilitate the development on their local strategies on workforce through education. The first of these will take place today at 15:00 CEST. The federation is also disseminating the conclusions of the global conference at two side events organised during the 70th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, later this month.

 

ABOUT FIP

The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) is the global federation of national associations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists, and is in official relations with the World Health Organization. Through its 139 member organisations, it represents over three million practitioners and scientists around the world. www.fip.org

About the Global Conference on Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Education

Massive Turnout, as LWI Holds Grand Health Bazaar (GHB) 2017

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Chief Executive Officer, Livewell Initiative (LWI), Pharm. Bisi Bright

The seventh edition of the carnival-like Grand Health Bazaar (GHB) 2017, a 3-day cross-cutting multi-sectoral health exposition, organised by Livewell Initiative (LWI) has lived up to expectations, as people from various segments of the society thronged the Havilah Event Centre, Victoria Island, venue of this year event.

The event, which was the seventh in the series was held between 25 and 27, April 2017 and had in attendance, hundreds of participants including over fifty prominent companies, conglomerates and over seventy Livewell Initiative officials and medical personnel.

The Grand Health Bazaar 2017, according to the organiser and chief executive officer, Livewell Initiative (LWI), Pharm. Bisi Bright was an event organised and designed to promote commerce and industry in different segments of the health sector, and as well brings together corporates and individuals in a multi-mixed setting under the fulcrum of healthcare.

She pointed out that the theme: “Creating shared value as an essential tool for enhanced corporate sustainability,” had succeeded in bringing high-profile keynote speakers from different organisations and they were able to enlighten and update attendees on new innovations in their various fields, including the prestigious Harvard University in Boston, USA.

According to her, the subthemes for the three-day summit were: Day 1, April 25: Retailers’ Day, ‘Retail crash in the economic downturn: a myth or reality?’ Day two, April 26: Maritime Day, ‘Floating production systems as a panacea to clean energy and safer Maritime Operations, and day three, April 27: Solid Minerals Day, ‘Extractive Industry as a powerful synergy to the predominant hydrocarbon sector in emerging economies’.

Details later.

 

Rethinking The Nation’s Approach To Disease Outbreaks

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Admin
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0

The ongoing cerebrospinal meningitis outbreak in Nigeria, which, so far, has killed over 800 people, has once again exposed the nation’s lack of preparedness for public health emergencies. It is saddening to note that the first case of the current outbreak actually occurred around November 2016 and, five months after, the nation is still grappling to curtail the spread, even after hundreds of people have died, with over 8,000 more suspected cases. This becomes even more appalling when one considers that this condition is vaccine-preventable and treatable.

The explanation of the Nigerian government that it was taken unawares by the outbreak is not just scandalous and self-implicating but also puerile, as investigations have shown that this is not the first time the current Type C meningitis will be recorded in the nation. In fact, a report published in The Guardian confirmed that the country first recorded the Type C strain of the disease way back in 2013.

Moreover, since it has long been established that climate change at certain periods in the country usually precipitates some health conditions, including meningitis, failure to prepare for such eventualities is totally inexcusable. For some northern states, in particular, meningitis is a condition that has very high chances of occurring annually because of the region’s mercurial climate; therefore, there can be no tenable reason not to have adequately prepared for it.

It must also be emphasised that one major reason why this deadly  Type C strain meningitis has quickly spread among  the   populace is because the country does not have enough doses of the Neisseria meningitis serogroup C (NmC) vaccine. This vaccine is usually procured through an arrangement with the World Health Organisation (WHO) because it is not commercially available like other vaccines.

The fact that the federal government eventually succeeded in bringing in more of this life-saving vaccine into the country and currently having it administered in the worst-hit states shows that the government prefers to be reactive, rather than proactive, in handling issues pertaining to health. Indeed, if stakeholders in the health industry had been foresighted and alert enough, this vaccine could have been procured before for this public health emergency and many lives could have been saved.

This is the time for both the government and all those saddled with safeguarding the health of Nigerians to rethink their approach to this sacrosanct duty. To start with, government at all levels must improve on healthcare funding. As has been repeatedly noted by concerned observers, the current budgetary allocation to healthcare in the country is too dismal to meet the health needs of the citizenry.

Beyond adequate funding however, we call on the Federal Ministry of Health and its health agencies like the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the National Primary Health Care Development Agencies (NPHCDA) to be more alive to their responsibilities of safeguarding the health of Nigerians.

These health agencies must be able to deliver on their mandates by taking the initiative to avert, rather than waiting to combat epidemic outbreaks. They must be able to preempt health issues and strategically plan for them.

Most importantly, we urge the federal government to consider putting machineries in place to ensure the commencement of local vaccines production, especially for common vaccine preventable conditions. A nation like Nigeria, with its huge population, cannot afford to perpetually depend on others for her health needs.

 

Court Dismisses NVMA Suit Against PCN

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Admin
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1

The Federal High Court, Abuja, has dismissed the suit filed by the Nigeria Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) against the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) on the regulation of veterinary drugs and others.

The incorporated trustees of the Nigeria Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) had challenged the powers of the council in regulating and controlling pharmacy education, training and practice in all aspects and ramifications as set out by Act 92 of 1991 Cap. P17, LFN 2004.

The association in the suit filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, argued that the mandate of PCN should be restricted to manufacturing, distribution, sale, and dispensing of human drugs, and that only veterinary surgeons should have rights to handle, sell and dispense veterinary drugs, vaccines and animal biologicals.

While dismissing the suit in favour of PCN, the presiding judge, Justice Dimgba held that the provisions of the Animal Diseases (Control) Act does not impinge on the powers of PCN in respect of registration of premises where animal drugs are kept and therefore an attempt to draw a distinction between human drugs and animal drugs was a misguided one.

In a related development, a Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has struck out a suit filed by Dr Grace Achilike, a medical doctor, against PCN for sealing her unregistered premises, Prize Pharmaceuticals.

The plaintiff in the suit claimed that the exercise of powers by the PCN amounted to breach of her fundamental human right to the sales and dispensing of drugs.

Also, the court struck out the case of Oyedeji Ola-Egbon Enterprises Limited in favour of PCN. In the suit, the plaintiffs had sued PCN and others over the sealing and evacuation of prescription drugs from their premises which were being sold and dispensed without a superintendent pharmacist in control.

In the ruling, the court accepted the submission of PCN that the court process filed by the plaintiffs was incompetent, and consequently struck it out.

SKG Rewards Loyal Trade Partners

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Admin
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–       Launches Rulox tablet

In apparent show of appreciation, SKG Pharma Limited recently organised a trade partners conference to reward its customers for businesses transacted with the company for the year 2016.

The conference, which was recently held at De-renaissance Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, also witnessed the introduction Rulox, the company’s  brand of antacid tablet into the Nigerian market.

According to the company’s Marketing Manager, Miss Victoria Okon, Rulox antacid, which already has an oral suspension in the market, is used in the management of peptic ulcer, dyspepsia, reflux oesophagitis and gastritis, heart burns (including heartburn in pregnancy) gastrointestinal flatulence and discomfort due to excess stomach gas.

“It is chewable and comes in handy transparent sachet enclosing the pink tablets, making it easier to carry when going out of home,” she said.

Speaking further on the newly introduced product, Okon explained that Rulox should only be administered orally, adding that it should be chewed thoroughly before swallowing.

“Rulox is to be taken between meals and at bed time not exceeding 10 tablets in a 24 hours period for adults and two and half tablets for children,” she said.

In his remarks at the conference, Managing Director, SKG Pharma, Mr Okey Akpa, expressed appreciation to the company’s trade partners for their loyalty in ensuring that the company’s products get to the consumers in all towns and villages in the country despite the nationwide economic meltdown, adding that they were the reason for the company’s continued survival and success.

Akpa noted that the trade partners’ conference is an annual event during which the company appreciates its clients for being in business with SKG Pharma, as well as to get feedback from them about the performance of the company and that of its field force.

“One important thing we gain from this conference is customers’ loyalty. Celebrating our customers every year is part of our scheme to retain loyalty. For us, loyalty is a two-way thing; we remain loyal to them, and they are loyal to us.

“Also, speaking to them enables us to get quality feedback, without which the business is at risk. So, we see this as a very important occasion where we interact, and chart the way forward for the organisation,” he said.

He added that despite the prevailing harsh economic climate, the company remains optimistic about the future of the country and the target markets.

Pharm. Akpa, who is a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and chairman of the Pharmaceutical Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN) however called on well- meaning Nigerians, governments at all levels and various institutions in the country to patronise made-in-Nigeria products, especially pharmaceutical products, noting that as long as the country continues to depend on imported products, the current economic crisis may linger for longer.

“The only way Nigeria can come out of recession quickly is to produce its way out of recession. For every product imported is a job lost to another country” said the SKG boss who is also chairman of West Africa Pharmaceuticals Association (WAPA).

The workshop facilitator, Mr Victor Ogharanduku of VIOGHA Consult, a renowned economist and researcher took the participants on the topic: “Sustaining and Growing Business in the Context of Economic Recession”.

He said, recession is not new as it is what the Economists described as ‘business cycle’, adding that the country present economic downturn started some years back, but the country entered the recession fully precisely January, 2016.

“The country has been in recession five times in the last thirty years, but the current economy recession is the worst we have witnessed and experienced as a nation, and the reason the previous recessions were not badly felt was because they were properly managed, so management is crucial in business and if it is not properly handled, it can mar the business.”

He further noted that high inflation, which made investors to lose confidence in the nation’s economy, government policy, high rate of unemployment, reduction in capital base, low sales and patronages and poor management were part of the factors responsible for the country’s present economic recession.

The trainer however urged SKG Pharma and its partners to see opportunity in the current recession, saying p the tips to survive the recession is for them to exit other investment and focus on building their businesses, increase their budget and expenses with respect to marketing and advertising, take care of their existing customers, inspire and motivate their employees, be committed to their business, as well commitment to partnership and lifelong learning.

The high point of the event was the presentation of awards and gifts to deserving distributors in various categories. In the national category for the Best Distributor Award, NewHealth Pharmacy and Simba Pharmacy came third and second respectively, while Jonaco Pharmacy, won the Best National Distributor Award.

In apparent show of appreciation, SKG Pharma Limited recently organised a trade partners conference to reward its customers for businesses transacted with the company for the year 2016.

The conference, which was recently held at De-renaissance Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, also witnessed the introduction Rulox, the company’s  brand of antacid tablet into the Nigerian market.

According to the company’s Marketing Manager, Miss Victoria Okon, Rulox antacid, which already has an oral suspension in the market, is used in the management of peptic ulcer, dyspepsia, reflux oesophagitis and gastritis, heart burns (including heartburn in pregnancy) gastrointestinal flatulence and discomfort due to excess stomach gas.

“It is chewable and comes in handy transparent sachet enclosing the pink tablets, making it easier to carry when going out of home,” she said.

Speaking further on the newly introduced product, Okon explained that Rulox should only be administered orally, adding that it should be chewed thoroughly before swallowing.

“Rulox is to be taken between meals and at bedtime not exceeding 10 tablets in a 24 hours period for adults and two and half tablets for children,” she said.

In his remarks at the conference, Managing Director, SKG Pharma, Mr Okey Akpa, expressed appreciation to the company’s trade partners for their loyalty in ensuring that the company’s products get to the consumers in all towns and villages in the country despite the nationwide economic meltdown, adding that they were the reason for the company’s continued survival and success.

Akpa noted that the trade partners’ conference is an annual event during which the company appreciates its clients for being in business with SKG Pharma, as well as to get feedback from them about the performance of the company and that of its field force.

“One important thing we gain from this conference is customers’ loyalty. Celebrating our customers every year is part of our scheme to retain loyalty. For us, loyalty is a two-way thing; we remain loyal to them, and they are loyal to us.

“Also, speaking to them enables us to get quality feedback, without which the business is at risk. So, we see this as a very important occasion where we interact, and chart the way forward for the organisation,” he said.

He added that despite the prevailing harsh economic climate, the company remains optimistic about the future of the country and the target markets.

Pharm. Akpa, who is a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and chairman of the Pharmaceutical Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN) however called on well- meaning Nigerians, governments at all levels and various institutions in the country to patronise made-in-Nigeria products, especially pharmaceutical products, noting that as long as the country continues to depend on imported products, the current economic crisis may linger for longer.

“The only way Nigeria can come out of recession quickly is to produce its way out of recession. For every product imported is a job lost to another country” said the SKG boss who is also chairman of West Africa Pharmaceuticals Association (WAPA).

The workshop facilitator, Mr Victor Ogharanduku of VIOGHA Consult, a renowned economist and researcher took the participants on the topic: “Sustaining and Growing Business in the Context of Economic Recession”.

He said, recession is not new as it is what the Economists described as ‘business cycle’, adding that the country present economic downturn started some years back, but the country entered the recession fully precisely January, 2016.

“The country has been in recession five times in the last thirty years, but the current economy recession is the worst we have witnessed and experienced as a nation, and the reason the previous recessions were not badly felt was because they were properly managed, so management is crucial in business and if it is not properly handled, it can mar the business.”

He further noted that high inflation, which made investors to lose confidence in the nation’s economy, government policy, high rate of unemployment, reduction in capital base, low sales and patronages and poor management were part of the factors responsible for the country’s present economic recession.

The trainer however urged SKG Pharma and its partners to see opportunity in the current recession, saying p the tips to survive the recession is for them to exit other investment and focus on building their businesses, increase their budget and expenses with respect to marketing and advertising, take care of their existing customers, inspire and motivate their employees, be committed to their business, as well commitment to partnership and lifelong learning.

The high point of the event was the presentation of awards and gifts to deserving distributors in various categories. In the national category for the Best Distributor Award, NewHealth Pharmacy and Simba Pharmacy came third and second respectively, while Jonaco Pharmacy, won the Best National Distributor Award.

 

Is Your Work Important To You?

By
Ifeanyi Atueyi
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2

How you answer this question determines, to a large extent, prospects and success in your occupational endeavours. It determines how your subordinates, associates and superiors see and value you. It determines your fulfilment and satisfaction at the work, as well as your self-image.

A story has been told about the attitudes of some three bricklayers. When asked, “What are you doing? the first bricklayer replied, “Laying brick.” The second answered, “I am making my daily N2000.” But the third said, “I am building the world’s greatest cathedral.” Obviously, the first two bricklayers lacked vision and respect for their job. They lacked what would enable them excel and record success.

Some workers think like those bricklayers. This why they never prosper in their jobs. They never see themselves moving up in their careers and becoming known as experts, specialists or consultants.

The way you think about your job tells a lot about you and your potential for higher responsibilities. Some workers dissociate themselves emotionally and spiritually from the business of the company. They always say “they” and never “we” to matters affecting the company. They do not demonstrate a sense of belonging.

If you think your present job is important, you put your mind and enthusiasm into it and, thus, open yourself to greater opportunities. The Bible says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he…” (Proverbs 23:7). Your thought power directs you to become what you are. If you think you are weak, you are headed to weakness and mediocrity. Therefore, why not think, “My work is important.  I am an important person.” Thinking this way will lead you to success. Your actions are controlled by your thoughts. And people judge your abilities by your actions.

In times of recession, employers lay off some of their staff, but they are careful not to lose their valuable staff, who respect and love their jobs and show it openly because such ones are productive.  They are the ones who are concerned with the welfare of the company and proffer suggestions on how to improve the business. They are the ones who do not cause problems.

On the other hand, those that have negative attitude do not commit themselves to the work. They come late to work and leave before the closing time. They seek opportunity to chat with fellow workers and spend time on social media. They are the ones who are often absent for sickness or taking care of their personal matters.

The way we think about our work often influences the attitude of our subordinates. Many years ago, I was familiar with a company where the general manager grossly misused the company’s property. Apart from fiddling with cash, he carried some furniture and equipment and converted them for personal use in his house. He used the company staff to work in his house during office hours.

That manager was feared but not respected by the staff. The result of his influence was that some staff became  unfaithful and dishonest. Some forged receipts for expenses; others stole materials like paper and sales stock of their products with the connivance of the security officers.  They worked as if stealing was a part of the culture of the company.

Of course, that company could not live long. Generally, workers imitate their bosses. Where managers have negative attitude to their jobs, how can they expect their subordinates to act otherwise?

If you believe that your work is important then you must look important yourself.  How you look on the outside affects how you think and feel on the outside. Your appearance talks to you;  but it also talks to others. It helps determine what others think of you. People evaluate you on the basis of your appearance. It is the first basis for assessing you. First impression matters and lasts. It has been said that you are addressed the way you dress. Your comportment is also important.

I once had an appointment with a company manager I had not met before but only exchanged a few phone calls. On getting to the premises, the gateman asked me to wait. Within a few minutes someone walked from the office building towards the gate and welcomed me. The small stature of that Chinese, coupled with the way he casually dressed, made me assume that his boss had asked him to bring me in.

We entered the office block, passed the reception, the office of the personal secretary and then into an executive office. He sat down and signalled to me to have my chair. It was then I realised he was the person I had come to discuss with. He personally came to the gate because of the respect he had for me. But his humility, dressing and small stature caused me the confusion. That meeting failed to give me the expected result. In the first place, when he greeted me at the gate I did not respond with expected excitement of meeting him for the first time. That visit taught me some lessons on interpersonal relationship.

Ghana, Kenya and Malawi to pilot malaria vaccine trial – UN

By
Admin
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2

The United Nations health agency’s regional office for Africa has announced that Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi will take part in a breakthrough pilot programme to make the world’s first malaria vaccine available in selected areas, beginning in 2018.

“The prospect of a malaria vaccine is great news. Information gathered in the pilot will help us make decisions on the wider use of this vaccine”, said Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, in a news release.

Image result for Ghana, Kenya and Malawi to pilot malaria vaccine trial – UN

Announcement of the coordinated rollout comes as the international community marks World Malaria Day and the kick-off of World Immunization Week, 24-30 April, which celebrates the widespread use of vaccines that protect people against 26 diseases. Overall, vaccines prevent an estimated two to three million deaths each year, according to WHO.

The injectable RTS,S vaccine was developed to protect young children from the most deadly form of malaria caused by Plasmodium parasites. It will be assessed in the pilot programme as a complementary malaria control tool to potentially be added to the core package of WHO-recommended measures for malaria prevention.

“Combined with existing malaria interventions, such a vaccine would have the potential to save tens of thousands of lives in Africa,” Dr. Moeti added.

Africa bears the greatest burden of malaria worldwide. Global efforts in the last 15 years have led to a 62 per cent reduction in malaria deaths between 2000 and 2015, yet approximately 429,000 people died of the disease in 2015 – the majority of them young children in Africa.

The WHO pilot programme will assess whether the vaccine’s protective effect in children aged 5 – 17 months old during Phase III testing can be replicated in real-life. Specifically, it will assess the feasibility of delivering the required four doses of RTS,S, the vaccine’s potential role in reducing childhood deaths and its safety in the context of routine use.

Pilot implementation strategy

The three countries selected to participate in the pilot were based on the criteria of high coverage of long-lasting insecticidal-treated nets; well-functioning malaria and immunisation programmes – a high malaria burden even after scale-up of LLINs; and participation in the Phase III RTS,S malaria vaccine trial.

Each country will decide on the districts and regions to be included, with high-malaria-burden areas prioritized, as they are predicted to provide the broadest benefit. Information garnered from the pilot will help to inform later decisions about potential wider use of the vaccine.

The malaria vaccine will be administered via intramuscular injection and delivered through routine national immunization programmes. WHO is working with the three countries to facilitate regulatory authorization of the vaccine for use in the pilots through the African Vaccine Regulatory Forum. Regulatory support will also include measures to enable the appropriate safety monitoring of the vaccine and rigorous evaluation for eventual large scale use.

Distributed by APO on behalf of United Nations (UN).

Cliantha Research acquires Inflamax Research

By
Admin
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19

Cliantha Research is proud to announce the acquisition of Inflamax Research. Inflamax has locations in Toronto, ON; Neptune, NJ and Newark, NJ. Cliantha Research will have the capabilities to perform Phase I, II, III and IV clinical research in North America. Inflamax’s world renowned expertise in inflammatory disease research and patented natural allergen Environmental Exposure Chambers (EEC) shall allow Cliantha to conduct Asthma, Allergy, Ophthalmology, Tobacco research plus specialized pulmonary/respiratory therapeutic studies.

The two New Jersey clinics were acquired by Hill Top Research (St. Petersburg, FL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Cliantha Research since 2011. With two clinical sites in the U.S., Hill Top Research can conduct HRIPT studies as per FDA guidance.

“Inflamax is the leader in research in inflammatory disease with a specialty in Environmental Exposure Chamber technologies. Now we can provide our sponsors with advanced clinical trial designs along with a strong, highly experienced scientific team in North America. This acquisition brings us closer to our goal of offering highly specialized trials to our sponsor.” says Mr. Vijay Patel, Executive Director, Cliantha Research.

Image result for Cliantha Research acquires Inflamax Research

Dr. Piyush Patel, CEO of Inflamax Research, commented, “I am very excited about the future prospects of Inflamax Research and the Cliantha team working together. This merger brings together the best of our collective scientific research capabilities and expands our infrastructure and offerings to our clients. There are many synergies between Inflamax Research and Cliantha which will offer new and expanded opportunities to our clients.”

Both firms are committed to a smooth, well planned integration of services in North America and India. The synergy of the combined companies expands service offerings and will drive growth. The Inflamax Toronto Clinic and Chambers will continue to operate under the current leadership of Dr. Piyush Patel and Dr. Anne Marie Salapatek as Inflamax Research. The New Jersey Clinical units will be integrated with our US operation as Hill Top Research to offer world-class dermatology research studies such as HRIPT, Adhesion, Cumulative Irritation and PK studies.

About Inflamax Research

Dr. Piyush Patel is the founder of Inflamax Research and an internationally recognized allergy and asthma specialist. Inflamax is a full service CRO with a strong, highly experienced scientific team led by Dr. Anne Marie Salapatek that provides First-in-human, BA/BE, and Phase II, III, IV services. Inflamax maintains 100 beds in Toronto, ON and 100 beds in Neptune, NJ. Inflamax has expertise studying allergic rhino-conjunctivitis and asthma using both traditional field and controlled allergen challenge approaches. Inflamax utilizes direct allergen instillation models of Conjunctival Allergen Provocation Testing (CAPT), Nasal Allergen Challenge (NAC), Bronchial Allergen Challenge, as well as natural airborne allergen challenges via our validated EECs. Inflamax’s natural allergen Environmental Exposure Chambers (EEC) are state of the art facilities that tightly regulate temperature and humidity while simulating the level of allergen exposure patients would encounter in their everyday lives. By monitoring patients throughout the exposure, nasal, bronchial and ocular symptoms and signs may be evoked consistently and safely.

About Cliantha Research

Cliantha Research, is a global Contract Research Organization (CRO) providing integrated clinical offerings in Early Phase (Phase I/IIa), Late Phase (Phase II-IV), Bioequivalence (BA/BE), Clinical Endpoint Trials, Bioanalytical, Biosimilars, Dermatology, Biometrics and Personal Healthcare services. Our services have science at its foundation that is developed through regular and systematic training of the Cliantha Team. Cliantha offers Biosimilar, Biotech, Cosmetic, Generic, Personal Healthcare and Pharmaceutical companies a comprehensive range of clinical research and support services. Cliantha Research has acquired Hill Top Research, Karmic Lifesciences and Inflamax Research. The companies operate under their legacy brand name; however, we operate as one company – Cliantha. For more information please visit www.cliantha.in

 

Prince Adelusi-Adeluyi Extols PEFON’s Concept, Decorates Octogenarians with Lifetime Achievement Award

By
Temitope Obayendo
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0

-As Osita Chidoka, others became Fellows

In recognition of their meritorious services to their father land, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, chairman, Board of Trustees, Professional Excellence Foundation of Nigeria (PEFON) has decorated three octogenarians and others with the Lifetime Achievement Award of PEFON.

L-R: Chief Badru Atanda Olaogun, Life Bencher and Oath Administrator; Elder Nathaniel C. Okoro; Engr. Shyngle I. J. Wigwe; and Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, chairman, Board of Trustees, Professional Excellence Foundation of Nigeria (PEFON) at the event

The awardees include: Prof. J.O Irukwu; Engr. Shyngle Imogbo J. Wigwe; Elder Nathaniel C. Okoro; and Chief (Dr) Emmanuel C. Iwuanyanwu. While Dr Solomon E. Arase, fomer Inspector-General of Police; Ostia Chidoka, former Aviation minister; Otunba Kehinde A.Shitta; Akinlolu A.Akinwunmi, group  CEO, Prima Garnet Africa; Layi Babatunde, SAN; Opeoluwa Seyi, SAN; and Mr Benedict U. Ujoatuonu, MD/CEO-Universal Insurance Plc, were all inducted as new Fellows of the association.

L-R: Founder, PEFON, Sir (Dr) Dipo Bailey; Prof. J.O Irukwu and Sir (Pharm) Ifeanyi Atueyi, managing director, Pharmanews Ltd at the event.

The investiture and induction ceremony of PEFON was held at the Hotel Victoria Palace (Smridu Nigeria Ltd), Victoria Island, Lagos, on Thursday, the 27th of April, 2017.

Congratulating the awardees, the BOT chairman extolled the motive behind the recognition, which he said was not for profit venture, but for the fact that the awardees have paid their dues during their service years in public sector.

He continued: “Out of the several groups in Nigeria, and NGOs, PEFON’s idea is the concept whose time has come for manifestation. The people invited for the lifetime award need no introduction as their profiles speak volumes about them. Most of them are in their eighties, but we have decided to honour them, because of the great roles they have played in their respective fields towards nation building”.

Earlier, the Founder, PEFON, Sir (Dr) Dipo Bailey, explained the idea behind the Foundation, describing it as a non-profit and a non-Governmental Foundation, established primarily to mitigate the dire shortage in the supply of professionally qualified and competent manpower for the various sectors of Nigerian economy.

The Foundation, was an offshoot of Bailey Professional Training and Development Center (BPTDC) was established in 1998.

Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi decorating the awardees with the badge of honour at the event.

The Foundation is superintended by a Board of Trustees comprising of Distinguished Professionals including Edet Amana, Mohammed Hayatudeen, Akinbayo Adenubi, Stella Okoli, and Sir (Pharm) Ifeanyi Atueyi. The Board is headed by Prince Julius Adelusi- Adeluyi.

PEFON’s major strength as a Foundation lies in its Board of Trustees, the Council and Distinguished fellows who are accomplished industrialists’, technocrats, qualified professionals in diverse areas, Present and Past Presidents of Professional Institutes and other core professionals who have excelled in private and public administration and who have distinguished themselves in various fields within and outside Nigeria.

The awardees expressed their immense gratitude for the award and promised to continue the good works, as God grants them life and sound health.

Sir (Pharm) Ifeanyi Atueyi, managing director, Pharmanews Ltd,  gave the closing remarks by appreciating all participants at the event, urging them to always endeavour to be loyal ambassadors of PEFON, as they join hands in making Nigeria a better place to live.

 

 

 

UNICEF reaches almost half of the world’s children with life-saving vaccines

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Admin
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0

UNICEF procured 2.5 billion doses of vaccines to children in nearly 100 countries in 2016, reaching almost half of the world’s children under the age of five. The figures, released during World Immunization Week, make UNICEF the largest buyer of vaccines for children in the world.

Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the three remaining polio-endemic countries, each received more doses of vaccines than any other country, with almost 450 million doses of vaccines procured to children in Nigeria, 395 million in Pakistan and over 150 million in Afghanistan. UNICEF is the lead procurement agency for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Access to immunization has led to a dramatic decrease in deaths of children under five from vaccine-preventable diseases, and has brought the world closer to eradicating polio. Between 2000 and 2015, under five deaths due to measles declined by 85 per cent and those due to neonatal tetanus by 83 per cent. A proportion of the 47 per cent reduction in pneumonia deaths and 57 per cent reduction in diarrhea deaths in this time is also attributed to vaccines.

Yet an estimated 19.4 million children around the world still miss out on full vaccinations every year. Around two thirds of all unvaccinated children live in conflict-affected countries. Weak health systems, poverty and social inequities also mean that 1 in 5 children under five is still not reached with life-saving vaccines.

“All children, no matter where they live or what their circumstances are, have the right to survive and thrive, safe from deadly diseases,” said Dr. Robin Nandy, Chief of Immunization at UNICEF. “Since 1990, immunization has been a major reason for the substantial drop in child mortality, but despite this progress, 1.5 million children still die from vaccine preventable diseases every year.”

Inequalities persist between rich and poor children. In countries where 80 per cent of the world’s under-five child deaths occur, over half of the poorest children are not fully vaccinated. Globally, the poorest children are nearly twice as likely to die before the age of five as the richest.

“In addition to children living in rural communities where access to services is limited, more and more children living in overcrowded cities and slum dwellings are also missing out on vital vaccinations,” said Nandy. “Overcrowding, poverty, poor hygiene and sanitation as well as inadequate nutrition and health care increase the risk of diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhea and measles in these communities; diseases that are easily preventable with vaccines.”

By 2030, an estimated 1 in 4 people will live in urban poor communities, mainly in Africa and Asia, meaning the focus and investment of immunization services must be tailored to the specific needs of these communities and children, UNICEF said.

World Immunization Week runs from 24 – 28 April 2017.

For more information visit: www.unicef.org/immunizationweek

New hepatitis data highlight need for urgent global response

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New WHO data reveals that an estimated 325 million people worldwide are living with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The WHO Global hepatitis report, 2017 indicates that the large majority of these people lack access to life-saving testing and treatment. As a result, millions of people are at risk of a slow progression to chronic liver disease, cancer, and death.

“Viral hepatitis is now recognized as a major public health challenge that requires an urgent response,” said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “Vaccines and medicines to tackle hepatitis exist, and WHO is committed to helping ensure these tools reach all those who need them.”

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Increasing mortality, new infections

Viral hepatitis caused 1.34 million deaths in 2015, a number comparable to deaths caused by tuberculosis and HIV. But while mortality from tuberculosis and HIV has been declining, deaths from hepatitis are on the increase.

Approximately 1.75 million people were newly infected with HCV in 2015, bringing the global total of people living with hepatitis C to 71 million.

Although overall deaths from hepatitis are increasing, new infections of HBV are falling, thanks to increased coverage of HBV vaccination among children. Globally, 84% of children born in 2015 received the 3 recommended doses of hepatitis B vaccine. Between the pre-vaccine era (which, according to the year of introduction can range from the 1980s to the early 2000s) and 2015, the proportion of children under 5 years of age with new infections fell from 4.7% to 1.3%. However, an estimated 257 million people, mostly adults born before the introduction of the HBV vaccine, were living with chronic hepatitis B infection in 2015.

Epidemics in regions and “hotspots”

Hepatitis B levels vary widely across WHO regions with the WHO African Region and WHO Western Pacific Region sharing the greatest burden.

  • WHO Western Pacific Region: 6.2% of population (115 million people)
  • WHO African Region: 6.1% of population (60 million people)
  • WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region: 3.3% of population (21 million people)
  • WHO South-East Asia Region: 2% of population (39 million people)
  • WHO European Region: 1.6% of population (15 million people)
  • WHO Region of the Americas: 0.7% of population (7 million people)

Today, unsafe injections in health care settings and injecting drug use are considered to be the most common routes of HCV transmissions. HCV prevalence by WHO region is:

  • WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region: 2.3% of population (15 million people)
  • WHO European Region: 1.5% of population (14 million people)
  • WHO African Region: 1% of population (11 million people)
  • WHO Region of the Americas: 1% of population (7 million people)
  • WHO Western Pacific Region: 1% of population (14 million people)
  • WHO South-East Asia Region: 0.5% of population (10 million people)

Treatment access is low

There is currently no vaccine against HCV, and access to treatment for HBV and HCV is still low.

WHO’s Global Health Sector Strategy on viral hepatitis aims to test 90% and treat 80% of people with HBV and HCV by 2030.

The report notes that just 9% of all HBV infections and 20% of all HCV infections were diagnosed in 2015. An even smaller fraction – 8% of those diagnosed with HBV infection (1.7 million people) were on treatment, and only 7% of those diagnosed with HCV infection (1.1 million people) had started curative treatment during that year.

HBV infection requires lifelong treatment, and WHO currently recommends the medicine tenofovir, already widely used in HIV treatment. Hepatitis C can be cured within a relatively short time using the highly effective direct-acting antivirals (DAAs).

“We are still at an early stage of the viral hepatitis response, but the way forward looks promising,” said Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, Director of WHO’s Department of HIV and the Global Hepatitis Programme. “More countries are making hepatitis services available for people in need – a diagnostic test costs less than US$ 1 and the cure for hepatitis C can be below US$ 200. But the data clearly highlight the urgency with which we must address the remaining gaps in testing and treatment.”

Country progress

WHO’s Global hepatitis report, 2017 demonstrates that despite challenges, some countries are taking successful steps to scale-up hepatitis services.

China achieved high coverage (96%) for the timely birth dose of HBV vaccines, and reached the hepatitis B control goal of less than 1% prevalence in children under the age of 5 in 2015. Mongolia improved uptake of hepatitis treatment by including HBV and HCV medicines in its National Health Insurance scheme, which covers 98% of its population. In Egypt, generic competition has reduced the price of a 3-month cure for hepatitis C, from US$ 900 in 2015, to less than US$ 200 in 2016. Today in Pakistan, the same course costs as little as US$ 100.

Improving access to hepatitis C cure received a boost at the end of March 2017, when WHO prequalified the generic active pharmaceutical ingredient of sofosbuvir. This step will enable more countries to produce affordable hepatitis medicines.

Baseline for elimination

WHO’s Global hepatitis report, 2017 aims to provide a starting point for hepatitis elimination by indicating baseline statistics on HBV and HCV infections, including mortality, and coverage levels of key interventions. Hepatitis B and C – the 2 main types out of 5 different hepatitis infections – are responsible for 96% of overall hepatitis mortality.

 

Source: WHO

World Leaders Recommit to Ending Neglected Tropical Diseases, Citing Remarkable Progress Since 2012

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Governments and private donors pledge US$812 million around five-day summit in Geneva; World Health Organization releases data showing medicines to prevent NTDs reach nearly a billion people each year

GENEVA, Switzerland, April 19, 2017/ — This week, leaders from governments, pharmaceutical companies and charitable organizations convened at a five-day summit in Geneva to pledge new commitments to the collective efforts to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The summit coincided with the launch of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Fourth Report on NTDs, showing transformational progress against these debilitating diseases, and a commitment by the United Kingdom to more than double its funding for NTDs.

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The meeting comes five years after the launch of the London Declaration on NTDs (http://APO.af/5jKHBH), a commitment by the public and private sectors to achieve the WHO goals for control, elimination and eradication of 10 NTDs. In that time, billions of treatments have been donated by pharmaceutical companies and delivered to impoverished communities in nearly 150 countries, reaching nearly a billion people in 2015.

NTDs are some of the oldest and most painful diseases, afflicting the world’s poorest communities. One in six people suffer from NTDs worldwide, including more than half a billion children. NTDs disable, debilitate and perpetuate cycles of poverty, keeping children out of school, parents out of work, and dampening hope of any chance of an economic future.

New Report Shows Dramatic Progress

A new report titled Integrating Neglected Tropical Diseases in Global Health and Development (http://APO.af/GaR2bN) by the WHO revealed that more people are being reached with needed NTD interventions than ever before. In 2015, nearly a billion people received treatments donated by pharmaceutical companies for at least one NTD, representing a 36 percent increase since 2011, the year before the launch of the London Declaration. As more districts, countries and regions eliminate NTDs, the number of people requiring treatments has decreased from 2 billion in 2010 to 1.6 billion in 2015.

“WHO has observed record-breaking progress towards bringing ancient scourges like sleeping sickness and elephantiasis to their knees,” says WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan. “Over the past 10 years, millions of people have been rescued from disability and poverty, thanks to one of the most effective global partnerships in modern public health.”

The report detailed progress against each disease, citing countries and regions that are reaching control and elimination goals for specific NTDs. Highlights include:

  • Lymphatic filariasis (LF) racing toward finish line: In the last year, eight countries (Cambodia, Cook Islands, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Niue, Sri Lanka, Togo and Vanuatu) eliminated LF, and 10 other countries are waiting on surveillance results to verify elimination. Thanks to strong programs, the number of people globally requiring preventative treatment has dropped from 1.4 billion in 2011 to fewer than 950 million in 2015.
  • Fewest-ever cases of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT, or sleeping sickness): In 2015, there were fewer reported cases of sleeping sickness than any other year in history, with fewer than 3,000 cases worldwide – an 89 percent reduction since 2000. Innovative vector control and diagnostic technologies, supported by increasing numbers of product development partnerships, are revolutionizing sleeping sickness diagnosis, prevention and treatment.
  • Eighty-two percent decrease in visceral leishmaniasis (VL) cases in India, Nepal and Bangladesh: Since 2008, cases of VL across India, Nepal and Bangladesh have decreased by 82 percent due to improvements in vector control, social mobilization of village volunteers, collaboration with other NTD programs and drug donations from industry partners.
  • Guinea worm disease nearing eradication: Cases of Guinea worm disease have reduced from an estimated 3.5 million in 1986 to just 25 human cases in 2016 in just three countries – Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Global Donors Pledge Additional Support

Governments and other donors announced new commitments at the summit to expand the reach and impact of NTD programs around the world. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation committed $335 million in grants over the next four years to support a diverse group of NTD programs focused on drug development and delivery, disease surveillance and vector control. The commitment includes $42 million to support The Carter Center’s guinea worm eradication initiative, as well as dedicated funding to accelerate the elimination of African sleeping sickness.

“NTDs are some of the most painful, debilitating and stigmatizing diseases that affect the world’s poorest communities. That’s why we helped launch the London Declaration, a historic milestone that led to significant progress in treating and reducing the spread of NTDs and demonstrated the impact that the public sector, the private sector, communities and NGOs can have by working together,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Thanks to this partnership, these neglected diseases are now getting the attention they deserve so fewer people have to suffer from these treatable conditions. There have been many successes in the past five years, but the job is not done yet. We have set ambitious targets for 2020 that require the continued commitment of pharmaceutical companies, donor and recipient governments, and frontline health workers to ensure drugs are available and delivered to the hardest to reach people.”

The Belgian government also pledged an additional $27 million, spread equally over the next nine years, toward the elimination of sleeping sickness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This amount will be matched for the next three years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, establishing a platform for increased collaboration between Belgium, the DRC and the broader NTD partnership.

As part of its commitment to eliminating HAT, Vestergaard pledged to donate 20 percent of its insecticide-treated “tiny targets” used to control the tsetse flies that carry the disease, scaling over the next three years towards 100 percent as elimination nears.

These commitments build on the UK Government’s announcement earlier this week, in which it pledged almost $450 million over 5 years to support NTD control and elimination efforts around the world.

Industry Contributions Expand Scale and Reach of NTD Program

Progress against NTDs has been enabled by the large-scale donation of medicines by 10 pharmaceutical companies. In the five years since the London Declaration, companies have donated over 7 billion treatments that, with the support of partners, now reach nearly 1 billion people every year. These donations, worth an estimated $19 billion from 2012 through 2020, greatly multiply the impact of donor investments; USAID estimates that each dollar invested in delivery leverages $26 worth of donated drugs.

In a statement (http://APO.af/55buit) released today, industry leaders reaffirmed their 2012 pledge to do their part to beat these diseases, and encouraged other sectors to maintain their commitments as well.

“The London Declaration is a powerful example of the impact of successful partnerships,” said Haruo Naito, CEO of Eisai and an original signatory of the London Declaration. “By leveraging our resources and focusing on a common goal, we are already making unprecedented progress towards eliminating these horrific diseases. The work we are doing today is a long-term investment into a healthier and more prosperous future.”

In addition to donations, pharmaceutical companies are working together and with research institutes to discover and develop new tools to prevent, diagnose and treat NTDs. A report (http://APO.af/YkMskp) released today by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations collected the full scope of industry investment in NTD R&D, including:

  • Sanofi and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) are developing a new oral drug candidate for HAT, fexinidazole, which would replace the current mixed oral-intravenous drug regimen. Fexinidazole could represent a therapeutic breakthrough which will support sustainable elimination efforts as per the WHO roadmap for 2020. The drug is expected to be submitted for regulatory approval later in 2017.
  • Several companies are working to develop pediatric formulations of existing NTD medicines, including Bayer (nifurtimox, for Chagas disease), Merck KGaA (praziquantel, for schistosomiasis), and Elea/Mundo Sano (who are working with DNDi to develop a second pediatric source of benznidazole, for Chagas disease), while Johnson & Johnson (mebendazole, for soil-transmitted helminths) developed a new chewable form of mebendazole, recently approved by the FDA, for children too young to swallow.
  • AbbVie, Bayer, Eisai, Johnson & Johnson and Merck KGaA are part of the Macrofilaricide Drug Accelerator Program, an initiative aimed at identifying and generating new drug compounds that can kill the adult worms that cause onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis.
  • Bayer is working with DNDi to develop emodepside, an oral treatment for lymphatic filariasis and river blindness
  • Eisai is working with DNDi to develop ravuconazole, a new oral drug currently in clinical trials for Chagas disease, and is partnering with DNDi to develop ravuconazole in a new disease area, mycetoma.
  • GlaxoSmithKline and DNDi have agreed to jointly pursue the pre-clinical development of the two novel candidates for the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis; the candidates were developed by a collaboration between GSK and the University of Dundee’s Drug Discovery Unit, and the work was funded by Wellcome. The agreement for pre-clinical development will be conditional on signing an additional agreement.
  • In 2015, Eisai, Shionogi, Takeda, AstraZeneca and DNDi launched the NTD Drug Discovery Booster (http://APO.af/bbHZQG), a multi-company effort to accelerate the discovery of new drugs for leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. In 2016 they were joined by Celgene Global Health. Merck KGaA announced today that it will join the consortium.
  • Many companies – including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Chemo, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Elea, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck KGaA, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, Shionogi, and Takeda – have given DNDi and other non-profits access to their compound libraries and/or contribute scientific and technical expertise to DNDi and conduct pre-clinical and clinical studies to facilitate the development of new drugs to combat various NTDs.
  • Gilead is collaborating with the US Department of Defense, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes of Health as well as multiple academic institutions to discover and develop novel antivirals for highly pathogenic infections and neglected/emerging viral diseases, including dengue fever. GS-5734, Gilead’s most advanced investigational agent, is currently being studied in Ebola survivors.

Companies are also working with partners to solve supply chain problems, develop program strategies and build in-country capacity to ensure that drugs, tools and other interventions reach those who need them most.

Addressing the Challenges Ahead

Though tremendous progress has been made in reducing the burden of NTDs, global control and elimination targets cannot be met without increased financial support, stronger political commitment and better tools to prevent, diagnose and treat the diseases. This week, partners from private philanthropy, affected country governments and cross-sector partnerships recommitted to leveraging their respective resources and expertise to fill critical gaps.

Financial Resources

Although nearly a billion people received NTD treatments in 2015, more funding is needed to ensure that NTD programs reach all people and communities affected by the diseases. WHO estimates that 340 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa could be covered by new investments of $150 million per year through the year 2020.

In addition to government commitments, private philanthropy is helping to address these gaps by supporting drug delivery and surveillance programs, as well as research and development into new medicines, diagnostics and other health tools. The END Fund (www.END.org), founded shortly after the London Declaration, has raised over $75 million to target the five most common NTDs, helping to treat over 145 million people around the world.

Political Commitment

Strong leadership from affected countries is vital to sustaining progress against NTDs, particularly in the face of shifting economic climates and competing health priorities. Despite these challenges, some countries are increasing financing for NTD programs and integrating them into national health systems. Among other countries, Ethiopia has made significant strides in fighting trachoma by including progress against the disease as a target in its national health plan, providing significant domestic funding, participating in the Global Trachoma Mapping Project and training surgeons to conduct eye-lid surgeries to correct the effects of trachoma.

“Ethiopia is fully committed to realizing ambitious, yet achievable, elimination targets for trachoma and other NTDs with proactive program coordination,” said H.E Professor Yifru Berhan Mitke, Ethiopian Minister of Health. “An increased direct program financial contribution by the government to NTDs, as high as 3 million USD by 2016, is a big step forward in alleviating the burden and stigma of these diseases.”

New Tools and Innovations

To meet control and elimination targets, more research and development is needed to provide NTD programs with improved tools to prevent, detect and treat the diseases. Promising new therapies are in the pipeline: A new three-drug regimen for LF known as triple therapy has the potential to dramatically accelerate the pace of elimination in affected countries, and is currently in large-scale safety trials in India.

R&D organizations such as PATH and partnerships like DNDi and the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund have catalyzed the development of better and more cost-effective tools. These innovations, which include new drugs and rapid diagnostic tests for sleeping sickness and river blindness, are especially critical in the low-resource settings most burdened by NTDs. Several new vector control tools are under development and being piloted to address the growing problem of diseases transmitted by Aedes mosquitos.

The Global Partners Meeting on Neglected Tropical Diseases (http://APO.af/oloCnt) will be hosted by the World Health Organization on 19 April 2017. From 20-22 April, Uniting to Combat NTDs and the global NTD community will host the NTD Summit (http://APO.af/mEY60y), which will feature technical discussions on the best strategies to reach the NTD control and elimination goals.

SOURCE
Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases

PharmAccess Foundation partners with Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Awards

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PharmAccess Foundation Nigeria, a leading and diversified non-government organization dedicated to improving access to better healthcare in Africa is partnering with Nigeria Healthcare Excellence Award (NHEA 2017). In this new arrangement, one of the award category has been named after them – PharmAccess Innovative Healthcare Service Provider of the Year.

Speaking on the partnership, Dr. Shola Alabi, NHEA Project Coordinator says, “We were very excited to welcome PharmAccess on board again this year after the support we received from them in NHEA 2016. Their commitment and steadfastness to improve healthcare in Nigeria cannot be over emphasized”.

Alabi also reiterated the fact that nominations for the 4th edition of the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Awards (NHEA 2017) is still on-going. He called on stakeholders in the health sector to visit www.nigeriahealthawards.com.ng to either make their nominations online or download the nomination form.

Mrs. Njide Ndili, PharmAccess Nigeria Country Director, spoke about their motivation for supporting the award. “This is our second year of partnership with NHEA to recognise excellence in healthcare quality. At PharmAccess Foundation, our objective is to facilitate innovation to improve access, efficiency in service delivery with continuous and sustained improvement in healthcare especially for the low-income communities in Africa and Nigeria in particular. NHEA presents one of those credible platforms to recognize and reward these objectives.”

Winners of the various categories will be honoured on Friday, June 23, 2017 at Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos. Nominations will close on May 26, 2017 before the commencement of online voting to enable the award jury select the winners of the various categories.

About 23 awards and recognitions will be presented at the ceremony. It is made up of three main categories;Special Awards, Healthcare Delivery Services and Biomedical Technology.

PharmAccess Foundation mobilizes public and private sector resources for the benefit of healthcare providers and patients through clinical standards and quality improvements, loans for healthcare providers, health insurance, mhealth innovations and operational research.

NHEA is organised by Global Health Project and Resources (GHPR) in collaboration with Anadach Group, USA.

Accolades for Bukky George as HealthPlus Pharmacy clocks 18

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Encomiums have continued to pour in as HealthPlus Group, arguably Nigeria’s first and fastest growing integrative pharmaceutical outfit, celebrates its 18th anniversary.

Since 2014, the retail chain has been voted ‘Best Pharmaceutical Retail Outlet’ in West Africa for three consecutive years by the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Award (NHEA).

Leading the pack of well-wishers, Pharm. Femi Soremekun, managing director, Biofem Pharma remarked that there is not much one can really say about Pharm. Bukky Fajemirokun George, the brain behind HealthPlus success story because she has developed the audacity to risk expanding the scope of pharmacy.

Pharm. Bukky George (centre) flanked by staff of HealthPlus Pharmacy

“To go into an area that people who really don’t have a big heart cannot get into is commendable. I respect her courage and determination. There are not many out there who can take up such risk that can further tell us about how the retail segment of the industry can be shaped.

“Interestingly, there are those who are shaping the industry. They are people I know and I am very fond of. For Bukky George celebrating 18 years, I wish her the very best and hope she does not rest on her oars,” she said.

 

Details Later

World Malaria Day 2017: Harnessing Local Medicinal Plants to Reduce Burden

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Temitope Obayendo
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World Malaria Day (WMD) is an international observance commemorated every year on 25 April and recognizes global efforts to control malaria . Established on May 2007 by the 60th session of the  World Health Assembly,      WHO’s decision-making body, WMD has come to stay since then, with different programmes every year tailored towards reducing the burden of malaria.

For the observance of 2017 WMD with the theme:”End malaria for good”, the catch was the announcement of the WHO malaria vaccine RTS, S, with pilot programme to be conducted in three African countries- Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.

While the whole of African continent is still basking in the euphoria of this discovery, it is pertinent for all healthcare practitioners to look inwards, especially Nigerians to seek way forward to the development of medicinal plant for malaria control.

Several studies conducted at different parts of the country, have validated the use of different medicinal plants for the treatment and prevention of malaria, but more often than none, most of these findings have remained moribund, as they were not being implemented.

That Nigeria- known to be the most populated black African country, was not among the countries selected to partner with WHO on the new malaria vaccine poses two impressions-perhaps our scientists are not doing enough work on malaria or the WHO deliberately sidelined Nigeria.

In the wake of this development, Nigerian researchers are called to rise to their responsibility of harnessing the rich natural flora of the nation to upgrade the wellness status of the citizens. Already, some plants as used by the countryside people have been listed for their anti-malaria properties.

In the study titled:”Traditional Medicine Treatment of Malaria in Onitsha, South East Nigeria”, conducted by Ogbuehi I.H. and Ebong O.O.,  11 plant species were found to be in use for the treatment of malaria in the study area. Their botanical and local names respectively are as follows: Nauclea latifolia (Mburumuilu); Azadirachta indica (Dogonyaro); Cymbopogon citratus (Achara ehi); Morinda lucida (Ezeogu); Sida acuta (Udo); Alstonia boonei (Egbu) for fever; Ocimum gratissimum (Nchuanwu); Carica papaya (Poo-poo); Mangifera indica (Mangoro); Vernonia Amygdalina (Olugbu) and Psidium guajava (Gova).

The research, conducted at the Centre for Malaria Research and Phytomedicine, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, showed the plant parts used to be the leaves, roots and stem bark.

Again, according to the work of Tolu O Odugbemi et al, titled “Medicinal Plants Useful for Malaria Therapy in Okeigbo, Ondo State, Southwest Nigeria”, several plants were identified for the treatment of malaria in the area.

Some of them are: Sphenocentrum (Akerejupon) Rauvolfia vomitoria (Asofeyeje) Enantia chlorantia ( African yellow) Khaya grandifoliola (Iroko) Senna siamea (Senna) Senna podocarpa (Asunwonibile) Azadirachta indica (Neem) Mangifera indica (Mango Bark) Physalis angulata (Koropo) Carica papaya (Pawpaw) Tithonia diversifolia (Jogbo) and so on.

If these plants are tenaciously worked upon by our scientists in state-of –the- laboratories that meet worldwide standard, then combating malaria in Nigeria will be a workover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World Immunisation Week: Accelerating Global Access to Vaccines in Developing Countries

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As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate the World Immunisation Week, which spans from 24-30 April, with the theme: “Vaccines Work”, Pfizer has expressed her dedication to increasing access to immunisations in countries that carry the greatest proportion of the global burden of pneumococcal disease, which can help prevent diseases and save lives.

In support of this commitment, and to help address the practical constraints experienced by health workers operating in many Gavi countries, Pfizer developed Prevenar 13® in the Multi-Dose Vial-MDV presentation (4 doses per vial). This new presentation will help to significantly reduce storage requirements and shipping costs in communities with health systems that are still developing. In April 2016, the MDV presentation received a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Subsequently, the MDV was pre-qualified by the WHO in July 2016.

In January 2017, Pfizer launched the new multi-dose vial- MDV which was prequalified in accordance with WHO’s ‘open container policy.’ With its ‘open container’ attributes, it allows for the fourth dose to be used for up to 28 days after the first dose in drawn and providing the recommended cold storage requirements have been met.

To ensure the efficient use of the multi-dose vial, Pfizer is supporting Gavi countries with a refresher training of trainers program on a variety of immunisation topics including the proper handling of multi-dose vials with open container policy. Pfizer partnered  AMP Services, an organisation dedicated to providing the tools to promote preventive medicine and public health worldwide, to execute the training of trainers sessions in 16 countries in 2017.

During the first four months of launch, fifteen countries have received the new MDV and nine of these have completed the training of trainers programs. These training sessions were well received by the national and regional trainers.

“We developed training materials that are easy to use for health workers and allow for interactive learning process at all levels”, said Georgiana Golodnius, Training Project Manager of AMP Services. In the countries where we have implemented training of the trainers, 97.3% of the participants think the developed training tools are useful and relevant.”

“Indeed we learnt a lot from the training and I feel the knowledge gained will be used to train other health workers in the country” Mr Mwagomba, Malawi.

Pfizer is committed to constant innovation and development to ensure that the challenges facing many throughout the world- geographical, economical and operational- can and will be met

 

 

Pfizer Inc.: Working together for a healthier world®

At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly improve their lives. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacture of health care products. Our global portfolio includes medicines and vaccines as well as many of the world’s best-known consumer healthcare products. Every day, Pfizer colleagues work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as one of the world’s premier innovative biopharmaceutical companies, we collaborate with health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable healthcare around the world. For more than 150 years, Pfizer has worked to make a difference for all who rely on us.

 

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