off.-
VnI19"",-.d, TUUMY~
OCTO~ER 25, Z91 T
Health WEEKLY
0110561110111, sula.chArla@yahoo.co.1L1t
FG sets agenda for bio-business through herbal medicine BY CHIOMA OBINNA 'CEDERAL Govemmeut .Lays for the nation's biGbusiness would only thrive, lbroughpmpeI"identifK:3tion of her Medicinal. Aromatic and Pesticidal Plants (MAPPs), animals/animal partsand oCberraw materials used for berbill medicine, cosmetics and othcIs.. Minister o( Science and Thcbnology, Prof. Okon BasseyEwa wboslated.this at the opening a!rerrtony 0{ HerbfBST 2011. stressed lbat the highlighted products should be made readily available and backed with scientific evidence based information and tedmologicaJ infrastructure toenswe theircultivatian ami.
conservation In his presentation entilled
• IHleoJ the EenueSfafe Governor. Arc. leml.dSuSWo1mdewormlnga chIlddurfng
'he mass deH'ormlng eerche
In Makurdl ren;nUy
; Investment Opportunities IorHerbal Food and Natuml Products, Ewa said thecaU bad become pertinent as it hasbeen shawn thatlhestock of medicinal plants in U.l e country are depleting alllD ala.rming rate due to environmental degrctdation. inappropriate harvesting methods, b io-piracy and illegal commerrialisation. "This growing demand and activities threaten the
traditional medicine and MAPPsofNigeria. '1hisemtise wiR~tbe
de'llo!lopment of appropriate species and cultivaJ'S for he1bll1 Utempy deveJopment fo r naditioDaJ Medidne Practitio ners (TMPs) and enbeprenems interested. in developing {anns of MAPFs. Fwthcnnore.lbe miIlistEr" noted that olbcr Agendes such as the NationalAqeocy forScience end Engineering Infmstructure (NI\SENI) are aJsoWUI.king withNNMDA toassistlhed~to{
sustaioabilityot tberounUy's vast biodiversity," h e Iomenled. Recognising the effecth"'e documeulation. cunservation and promotion of suslainableU!leolbkxli\'el5ity i<lan iUlportantsteptoelplDi.l: the buge potentials in globa.l bio·business, the Minister said his ministrytbrougb the NNMDA.lbe Raw Material Research and Development Council (RMRDC) and other stakehoklers are working at dcvcloping atoolprel~ inventol'yofthe nation's Jlio.. resources, bio-diveBity and e n ormous trad itional (i nd.lg e nous) medicinal Imo wledge and published. researc.h findings in
low cost equipment a nd .spares lor herbal products deve lo pm e nt aDd commercialisatioo. Director S pea.lting, Ge n e raJ. NNMDA. Dr. lMnuno Oluljagu said the g lobal huge economic potential in nalwill med1cine prod uct is eMimated. at $100 billion U.5dollarsand if~ developed and managed ill NigeriacouJd pave the way for huge source of job and wealthcreatioD. He noted that world w~ herbal medicine is gaining prominence, e.'q}ecially in view 01: new or resistanland challenging ailments, wb..-'cb o rthodox medicine hM not been ableto ~thetctal. cart! approach o(tJaditiaDaJ.
Climate change, low resources, hunger threathen global health - ActionAid BY SOLA OGUNDlPE
J\ S the wodll comes 10 J-1ule end o f the e ra of cbeap lood, a call forurye nt ac tion for large scaJe a gricultUie to counler depleted natural T1!SOun:e5 of the world IUId and rising food prices has g one out to world leaders. As th ey meet next mo n.b for Ihe G20, the leaders "ave been
charged to put the triple crisis 01 dima!e change, d esolate d natural resources and rocke ting food prices al the top of the age nda. The c all, by ActionAid, which warns of the looming threat to the world's ability to feed it's seven billion population, calls (or gre;Jtcr investment in small
fanns in poor countries where the majority of poor people's food is grown; immediate delivery of the c limate c ash needed to help poor (anneJS dima~ proof the ir agricuJture; binding c uts in rich countries' carbon e missions; the creation of a system o f pllD-regional food res erves and the
immeiliate elimination of bioluel targets that are driving land grabs in Africa, Asia and the Americas. ActionAid's Chief Executive Joanna Kerr said key findings reveal that over one and a hall billion people are on Ule brink of a climale-driven food crisis. " Every "-,raj community
'Patient safety in Nigeria is nOfHlegotiable' BY CHIOMA OBINNA
P
ATIE NT sffe t y has _ been moot( d as an a s p ect o f h f"a llh care de li very th a t i s non negotiable as far:lS wellare o f Nigerians aIe concemed. As a resull , h ea llhcare p roviders h a"e been e njoined to m e ke it top p riority in their rra.ctice. PresidenVFounde r of International CoPJerence of the Society for Quality in I l e alth c ilre in Nige ria, SO H N, ProLAd~Elebute. w ho observed 1'1<11 most lunes, st an dard~ were too low sta tedthat cangerous p r ac tice~ "re hound in hea lth care am i l ack of s ecurity is alsc a majo r bMrier in seMC'(' delivery. Patientsafe ly ace mIing the World Hea lth Organisation, 'W'-IO, is the
abse nce of avoidable bann to patients during tbe process o f healthcare a nd red u c ti o n o f ri s k o f unn ecessa ry harm associated with healHI care to an lIcceptable minimwn. He spoke during tbe 3rd lntemational Conference of the SQH N with the theme: MSa!ety, S tandards and C us tomer Service", was to emphas ize the importance 01 Sa fety as a n essential dimension o f quality i n h ealthcare. In her lechne lagge d ; "WHO Patient Sa lety Progmm me", WHO's Dr. Carme n Audera - Lopez idenlifie d risks 10 patient safety to include aspects such i!5 poor test foUow-up, mtsdiagnosis . poor safety cultu re, inadequate use of protocols. etc.
On patient sarety situation in Alrica. s he noted tha t mos t cou ntries l ack na tio nal policies and plans on sa fe and quality h ea lth ·care pra c tices , Inappropriate funding of healthca re s ystems and uua vailability of critical support syste ms, tools and gujdeLines, weak bealth care d elivery systems, poor manage me nt capacity and under-equipped health faciliUes, overuse, underuse or misu se o f medicines. lack 01adequate infection control wi Ulin healthca re lacili ties and unsa fe su rgical care. " The WHO Patient Safety Programme is proposing simple solutions that make a cha nge s uch as hand washing , c heckHsls, protocols, sta nda rd
procedures. local solutions a nd c hang e in Jlatien t safe ty c ulture through c ommuni ca ti on, leadership. learning from errors and commitment. Executive Secretary, Natio nal H ealtb InsUlllllce Scheme, NHI S, Dr. Dogo M o bammed. in his lect ure en t itle d ; " lm por1ilDce o f StllDda.nis in a De mand Drive n H ealth Ins urance System". observed t ba t s tand ards a re not only d esi rable but impor1ant in the hea lt h iris urance 5ys tem which is demand driven. Dogo Mohammed s t resse d tha t quality of care cannot be measlued un l ess there wa s som e th i ng to m eas ure with. a nd lhis he said. is kn own as s tandards.
surveyt!d across Africa. Asia and the Americas said that erratic and extreme weatbe .r was crippling their ability to (eed themselves. Uns u stainable farming practices an~ . an' unprecedented nlsb (rom loreign investors to control r esources s uch as minerals, oil, blo fuel and water; could eve millions of Ule poorest people without enough arable land to produce lood. In Africa alone, over 6 million hecta res of d e graded farml and mus t be regen e rated to meet the demand fo r food from a popuJiltion set to double by 2050. ';0\ dange rous new era of high food prices is set to push 44 million mo re people into poverty. The
d emand lor biolnel produced from wheat, cum. soybean IUId sugarcane • means that food pria>5will keep rising unless rich countries fmd alternative sources of e nergy. In Africa, ac:rording to the report, Ute DemocraHc Republic of Congo is th~ most vulne rabloe countly to the triple crisis while Ghana is least vulnerable. Nig e ri a is the 5th least vulne rable co untry. Amongst countries most pre pare d lor the triple c risis, Braz il is most pre pare d in t he world , while Kenya is rated the least prepared. Nigeria is ratro the SUI least prepa re d country behind Guatemala (41b) , Vie tnam (3rd) and llie Gambia (2nd). The r eport surveys which cove rs 28 developing cou nlries, examined the record of thecountries i n overall vulnerability to lbe dimaW hunger crunch, and key policy measures that can redu ce vulnerability. This e nabled
detennination of the most
• Prof Elebure
appropriate strategies for tackling h un g er and pinpoint lhcareas that ,viii need Ule most a ttentio n n ow and in Ule future.