SUNDAY PUNCH
HEALTH
JUNE 12, 20 11
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Nordic ambassadors laud IITA research Stories: SOLAADE AYO-ADER ELE
T
HE
amb~o~
from
Finland,
No r w a y , and Sweden
have
commended
the
quality of research and scientifIC p rofessionalism being displayed at the International [nstilute
of Tropical Agrlcullure, [badan, Oyo Stale, in fight ing hunger and poverty In tropical countries.
works with parlners to enhance aop qual iry and prodUChvity. reduces prod ucer and consumer risks, and ge nerat es wealth from a gricultu re. According to th e UTA's Di rector General, Dr. Pe ter Ha rtman n, ~ In over fou r decades of exislence, th e insTiruTe has conrribuled to build ing the capaciry o f scientists in tro pical nations.
thereby helping to stabilise th e na tional research systems, especiall y those In sub-Saharan Africa. " Improved maize varieties released by the institute today make up 60 per cent of farmers' preferred varieties in West and Central Africa . And the biological co ntrol p rogra ms of the institute against food crop pestS saved cassava, a major staple In Africa No rway's Ambassador H
[0 Nigena , His Excellency KJe li L1l1erud , said he was proud o f his government's support to IITA and The posilive ol.Jlcomes tha t research has had on [he lives o f people in the tropics. ~ I am happy my country is su pporting tITA and [ am Impressed with the work here," he said. Among the areas visited by the ambassadors were the inslllu te' Gene tic
Resources Center, which holds in trusl (or the world the largest collection of cowpea and other crops such as soybean, cassava, maize, yam , a nd banana, among o thers. The team also visited the Bioscience Center and th e IITA forest - o ne of the few surviving secondary (orests in the West African region, where thousands o f indigenous tree seedlings are being raised fOf
"The visit to UTA-West Africa by the d iplomats further rei nforced the Imperative for agricultural
research to address the -in tropical countnes, Siaies a release signed by Ihe IOslUule's Corporate Communications Officer (East & Southern Africa), Mr. GodWin Alser. Speaking on the Amba~or
Nigeria,
Her Excellency Anneli Vuonnen. noted that
-,he level of excellence and kn owledge at UTA is extraordmary.-
Estabhshedm 1967, IITA now one of the v.lorld路s leadmg research partners in find ing solutions 10 hunger. malnutrition. a nd poverry. UsIng the researrll for development !R4D) approach. the institute 15
Instllute oj Tropical Agric ulture, Dr. Pe ter Hartman,, ; Ambassador, Anne" Vuorlne n; SlDedlsh Ambassador, Per Llndgcirde ; (l n d Narillay's Ambossador KJell Llllerud , durlll g Q ulsll 10 the Institute
FG, Qgun, NGO partner on malaria control ETERMI NED to tackle malar ia 5Courge In Ogun State, the Federal Mintstry of Health in collaboration wi th Ogun Stale Government and a nongovernmen tal organisation, SUSTainable Health Care Inttiatlve, have trained 45 health officers on ~ Malaria commodities quantification and forecasli ng .~
According to a relea;e signed by the Press Officer of the Mi nistry of Health. Mr. Ayok unle EVJU05O, the one-day training programme w hich look place al the NUl Hall. lweIroym, Abeoku ta , the state capita l, had participants drawn from the 20 local govern ment areas o f the sta le . The statement (urthe r gave the breakdown of the parTicipa nts as 20 local government malaria o fficers. 8 pharmacISts, 4 pharmacy technIcians. 6 officers from the S tate Malaria Co.mol
with a hlslory of heart Ilre at auack Increast'd risk of suffering another anack or dYing afler even a wi'ek of takJng certain typi'i 0 1 prescnption and OVE!foIhe路 coun ter paInkIllers, mcludi ng Advii. Molnn or Vollarin. a large new study suggests Danish rexarchers a nalYlE'd nationwide Ti!cc"ds 01 almos[ 8<UXlO hean attack SUrviVOrs and found tnal those who used certain nOTl-Steroid",1 antI' inflammatory drugs (NSAIO) for one week lacl'(] II 4 5 perc;ent he lghlened rIsk of anolher hE'Mt auack. Thlee months' use raised the nsk 1055 percent The results reinforce a 2007 Ami'ncan Hean Associa tI on statement adv;$ing doclors oOobOUl the fisk 01 NSAID use among hearl patients and recommending the drugs be used only In Ihe lowesl dose and lor the shortest durallon
EOPLE
Finland's to
Swedish Th' AmbassadOI to Nige ria, His Excellency Per Lindgarde. who was insTrumental in organising the Vliit, said his coun try apprecia ted the positive impacts IITA's work has had on food prod uction in Africa. kWe see the value in [he work [ITA is dOi ng and we WIll continue to give our support,~ he said. The visit provided [he NordIC ambaiSadors and IITA administration the opportuniry to explore a broad rangeof development challenges.
After h eart attack, certain pain kill ers may ra ise risk for rec urre nce
chaJienge.soHood insecurity
occasion .
reforestation.
Programme, Sla te Central MedIcal Store Pharmacist and store o fficers Others include sla te monitori ng and evaluation and state officers epidemio logist Speaking o n [he need for the programme. the Traintng and logistics Adviser. S ustaina ble Health Care Initiate , Mr. Oayo Falok!. said the traIn ing was pu t together in order [0 know the quanti ry o f malaria drugs needed a t both the local and state government levels before supplymg them . He said~ This training is necdsated because we want 10 create a sltuauon where we can be doing a bottom up app ro ach in which al th e local level, th ey can lell us what malaria commodities th ey need, we can actua lly exlrapolaie it for the state, th en take it to the federal level; Ihe Federal Governme nt can then buy and disnibute. ~One thing Is that all these commodities are actually given Ou t free ; bul \o"e need to know the
number of commodities that we need before we can teU the runders to supply us .. ~ We must have adequa te record-keeping so that th e funders can be SUfe tha t th e drugs boughT were taken [0 the righ t places. ~ Mr. Fa[okl staled further
th at the training was slated [0 hold in 18 states u nder the malaria conrrol programme, which cuts across the nalion. In h is remarks, the Permane nt Secre tary, Ministry of HealTh , Dr. TundeOlowonyo. d escribed malaria as a dead ly disea!ie
which has been hn ked [0 other illnesses like ki dney fa ilure. child hood cancer and lungs disease He advised that malana scourge should nol be laken with levlIY. add ing Ihat the good thIng about it was tha t it's prevenlabie and treatable.
A caps ule ca mera ins tea d of a c olonoscop y? new technology lhlliusesaremotecontrolled capsule c:alT\eTi!l 10 scan IhE' inside 0 1 the colon may one day be an alternative 10 coloooscopy, II new study suggests. Researcherslrom J apan's Osaka Medical College have developed a Mself_propelled capsule endoscope- that can be inserted Into the anus and drIVen through the colon via remote conlrol and a magnetic field, caplu nng images along Ihe way. Similar ca psWe cameras are ClJrrently uSI'd [0 seout out p roblems In [he smaU intestine, said Or. Ourada Brooks, dIrector of colorectal cancer lor the Amelitan Cancer SocIety. Palients swallow the capsule, which then moves through the
A
d igesTive system much in thE' same way that food does. reco rding images of the inside of [he In[esllne Bm Qlpsules haven't IWOfked as weU III looking 101 problems In the colon. Brooks noted Pal l o f Ihe reason is that the colon has many nooks a nd crannies During a colonoscopy, phYSicians move an endoscope. or a nexible lube containing a ligh t and a cameTi!l, around Inside Ihe colon to get a full View, something that can't be done easily wllh capsule OImeras. The colon 15 not a smooth rube. It's not like a pipe, ~ Brooks said. ~ [I 'S a convolu ted, musc:ular lube with a 101 of foldi and crevices. The capsule camera is going 10 need 10 be able
to visualize behind Ihe folds and into the creVlces.Also, the colon - though at abou t 4.5-leet long IS considerably shorter lhan the 2 I -feet of the smalllnteshne - Is larger 10 dii!lmeter than [he small in testIne, making gettmg a full 360 degre e view more dlffiCIJit FlnaUy, capsule cameras ClJnenily In use take a long time 10 move th rough thE' dlgeslive traa. To gel a good VIew 01 the colon. it wouJd have 10 be empTy of waste material, ind udrng stool and mucus. Even if a patient unde rgoes an ene ma. waste malenlll thai hasn' t yet made tts way to the colon may end up obscuring the view by the time Ihe capsule camera ge ts there. NE'1lJ York nines News Serllice
~~'Y
-The present resul15 indicate IheR IS no apparent therapeutic window lor NSAIDs In plIotienlS wll h prtOr [heart anackl, and c;h.1lJlenge the current recommendatlOlU of low-dose and shorl'l2rm USi.' 01 NSAIIh as being sale,- said study author Dr. Anne路Mane Sth] eming Olsen. a reseaICh feUow 0001 Copenhagen Umverslly 11'1 Denmark. The study 15 published online May 9 in the Journal Circulation The most common NSAl05 prescribed 10 Study plIortiapalllS were Ibuprolen fAdvd. MOlrln) and didofenac (Cataflam, Voltaren) Dlclofenac:: earrled the highesl cardiO\.'MCUlar nslt. even grealer than rolecoxib [Vloxx), an NSAID banned In the United Silltes 10 2(){)11 bqcause 01 a hl9her rate of heart attacks and strokes among Ihose taking ~fi'
New York
nmes N ews
S erulce