-Task Fast Food Companies on Proper Libelling of Foods
Members of the Nigerian Association of Nephrology (NAN) have condemned the rising incidence of diabetic kidney diseases in the country, thus, they have called for legislation against those fast food companies, who hitherto have not been complying with proper libelling of foods, to indicate calorie and salt content on their food labels.
The nephrologists, who were also worried about the spate at which more professionals seek greener pastures abroad and the resultant depletion of core specialists and other allied health care providers, called on the authorities concerned to ameliorate this by providing more incentives by way of better working environment and enduring infrastructure.
The members of NAN made these remarks in the communique issued at the end of the 31st Annual General and Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Association of Nephrology (NAN), held at the International Conference Centre, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State and was hosted by the Renal Unit of the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA), from 14 to 16 January 2019.
The conference themed: ‘Kidney in multi-systemic diseases”, had it sub-themes as :(i) Viral diseases and the kidney and (ii) Inherited disorders of the kidney.
The conference, which was formally declared open by the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr Dave Umahi, ably represented by the Commissioner for Health, Dr Daniel Umezurike, had its keynote address delivered by Professor Solomon Kadiri (a past president of the association) while Professor Ikechi Okpechi from the University of Cape Town, South Africa gave the guest lecture. He spoke on the role of hypertension in the increasing epidemic of end stage renal disease in Africa and the need for countries in the region to act fast in curtailing this scourge.
At the end of the 3-day conference, the following resolutions were made:
“ The need for the Federal Ministry of Health to sponsor more large-scale studies on non communicable diseases surveys and mapping in the country, while commending it for the current nationwide mapping and demographic study of HIV and hepatitis B diseases.
“The capacity of the NHIS should be further strengthened to accommodate more haemodialysis session than presently allowed.
“School health services should be energized to include routine urine analysis and blood pressure checks especially in primary and secondary schools.
“The Association hereby calls for increased awareness of the advantages of peritoneal dialysis (low technology, cheaper, user friendly and no electricity required) and appeals to the authorities concerned to encourage the local production of peritoneal dialysis fluids and other consumables as obtains in other countries such as Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa. Also, import duties could also be cancelled.
“There is a need for active antenatal and perinatal activities to routinely screen for potential congenital anomalies in the newborn as a means of detecting congenital diseases of the kidneys early”.
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