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83% of Africans yet to receive COVID-19 vaccine – WHO

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WHO says life expectancy increased from 46 to 73 years

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says a third of the world’s population has yet to receive a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, including a shocking 83 per cent of all Africans.

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, said in a statement: “This is not acceptable to me, and it should not be acceptable to anyone.

Also read: COVID-19 triggers 25% increase in anxiety, depression globally-WHO

“Are some lives worth more than others?” He said WHO was launching a new strategy to scale up genomic surveillance, for deadly pathogens that had “epidemic and pandemic potential” to tackle the future threats of the virus.

According to him, COVID-19 has now taken well over six million lives and infected no fewer than 483 million people.

He also said the UN health agency had unveiled the updated Strategic Preparedness, Readiness and Response Plan for COVID-19.

“This is our third strategic plan for COVID-19, and it could and should be our last”, he said, laying out three possible scenarios for how the pandemic could evolve this year.

“The most likely scenario is that the virus continues to evolve, but the severity of the disease it causes reduces over time as immunity increases due to vaccination and infection.

“Periodic spikes in cases and deaths may occur as immunity wanes, which may require periodic boosting for vulnerable populations.

“In the best-case scenario, we may see less severe variants emerge, and boosters or new formulations of vaccines won’t be necessary.”

But, in the worst-case scenario, a more virulent and highly transmissible variant could emerge, sooner or later, and against this new threat, people’s protection against severe disease and death, from prior vaccination or infection, “will wane rapidly”, he warned.

According to him, addressing this situation will require significantly altering the current vaccines and making sure they get to the people who are most vulnerable to severe disease.

In addition, he said equitable vaccination remained the single most powerful tool at the world’s disposal, to save lives.

“Striving to vaccinate 70 per cent of the population of every country remains essential for bringing the pandemic under control, with priority given to health workers, older people and other at-risk groups.’’

Over 24 million people will need humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan this year, he said, and they face displacement, drought, food insecurity and malnutrition, COVID-19, and many other health challenges.

Women and girls are especially at risk, he added, from lack of access to health services, and lack of access to education, describing last week’s failure to backtrack on opening middle and high schools for girls as “very troubling”.

For the millions whose lives and basic healthcare are at risk due to the raging conflict in northern Ethiopia, Ghebreyesus welcomed last week’s declaration of a humanitarian truce in the region – between Tigrayan leaders and Government forces in order to allow in vital aid.

He hoped it would lead to the rapid restoration of public services, including electricity, telecommunications, banking and healthcare.

“However, a week has passed since the truce was announced, but no food has been allowed into Tigray yet,’’ he said.

“Every hour makes a difference when people are starving to death.

No food has reached Tigray since mid-December, and almost no fuel has been delivered since August of last year.

“The siege of six million people in Tigray by Eritrean and Ethiopian forces for more than 500 days, is one of the longest in modern history.

“Sustaining WHO’s response to all of these emergencies, from the COVID-19 pandemic to Ukraine, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and more, requires the generosity of donors,” he added.

Under WHO’s Global Health Emergency Appeal for 2022, he noted that 2.7 billion dollars were needed “to save lives and alleviate suffering around the world”.

 

Health and Safety

Japa: FG Prohibits Leave Of Absence For Health Workers

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The Federal Government has placed a ban on leave of absence for health professionals relocating abroad.

The Minister of State for Health, Dr Tunji Alausa, who disclosed this on Saturday in Abeokuta said that health workers going abroad to seek greener pastures must “henceforth resign their appointment before embarking on such journeys”.

The Minister who spoke during his visit to the Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Aro, said the directive was contained in the Executive Order issued by President Bola Tinubu.

He said the decision was taken to combat the challenge of brain drain fondly called ‘Japa Syndrome’ confronting the health sector.

The minister also disclosed that the federal government had commenced aggressive recruitment of manpower in the health sector.

According to him,  the annual enrollment of Nurses which used to be about 28,000 had been increased to 68,000 adding that by the end of the year, it would have gone up to 120,000.

*President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

He said President Tinubu acknowledged the people as the biggest asset of the country and had vowed to take proactive measures to improve the health sector for their benefit.

On the shortage of manpower in the health sector, Alausa said the President had ordered massive recruitment of personnel to bridge the gap.

“In addition to the massive engagement of Nurses, we have equally doubled our enrollment for Doctors, Dentistry, and Pharmacists.

“However, the government has not prohibited anyone who wants to move to the UK or Australia to take up appointments not to do so.

“It is a free world. But, you cannot eat your cake and have it. If you are going, just resign your appointments with the federal government, rather than applying for a leave of absence.

“That is the Presidential Executive Order which has been communicated to all the Chief Medical Directors of Federal Government owned health facilities to implement,” he said.

The minister explained that the challenge had been that many health professionals who applied for leave of absence would travel outside the country to practice and make money, yet their names would still be in the payroll of the government

“So, to resolve this problem, the President has directed that any health worker going abroad to work should just resign his or her appointment.

“This way, you won’t be blocking others who want to work,” he said

Responding to demands on increased funding, infrastructural development and welfare packages of health workers,  Alausa assured that his ministry would leave no stone unturned to improve the fortunes of the health sector in the country.

The minister commended the Provost and Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Paul Agboola for his commitment towards providing qualitative healthcare for Nigerians.

Earlier, Agboola hailed the minister for his selflessness and passion to turn things around for good in the health sector.

He said that,  as a result of the approval given by the minister, the hospital had embarked on many new projects, including a 40-bed mother-and-child hospital

Agboola said that his administration remained committed to doing everything necessary and possible to continually make the hospital the centre of excellence in neuro-psychiatric across the globe.

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Health and Safety

Lagos Set To Enforce Drainage Right-of-way In Apapa

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The Lagos State government says it will start enforcement operations in Apapa to re-establish the three-metre drainage right-of-way for all its drainage channels on Monday.

The Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, said this in a statement on Sunday in Lagos.

He said the enforcement was coming after the expiration of notices and convening of stakeholders meetings with the property owners earlier in the year to voluntarily move their fences that fell within the drainage setback.

He said the Ministry had served contravention notices to the buildings on the drainage setbacks.

He added that for several years, the ministry had not been able to access the eight major collectors for maintenance purposes due to encroachment which was a major contributor to flooding in the Apapa area.

Wahab said the state government was determined to find a lasting solution to flooding in Apapa.

He directed enforcement officers to ensure that all contravening properties were removed from the drainage right-of-way in accordance with the three metres required by law.

He gave the assurance that the government would not cherrypick properties during the enforcement process.

“We want to check the state of collectors in Apapa in order to evacuate and treat the collectors.

“The whole of the collectors in this area are blocked and the right-of-way taken over by individuals who moved their fences in order to acquire extra land thereby denying us access to the drains,” Tokunbo said.

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Health and Safety

NAFDAC NATIONAL STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN: Partners With Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Stakeholders

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…On Prevention, Detection, And Response To Substandard And Falsified Medicine

The NAFDAC has Vowed to close down the sale and distribution outlets Facilitating the Spread of Fake Drugs, as It stresses it’s determination to combat the incidence of Substandard and Falsified (SF) medicines in the country,

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC has subsequently engaged stakeholders in the pharmaceutical products supply chain in its resolve to put an end to the menace and effectively safeguard the health of Nigerians.

The Director General, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, at a stakeholders meeting organized by NAFDAC on Thursday, emphasized the need to explore how to combat the sale and distribution of Substandard and Falsified Medical Products within the supply chain, insisting that the Agency would not hesitate to clamp down on wholesale and retail outlets where fake drugs are dispensed for public use.

According to her, the engagement with Pharma supply chain stakeholders in Nigeria serves as a means of thinking together and putting in place a position that will represent or guide collective efforts and strategy to prevent, detect, and respond to substandard and falsified medicinal products, adding that the goal is to ensure that medical products in circulation are of the quality standard required and safe for public use. 

The NAFDAC boss noted that the high prevalence of SF in Africa is a major threat to public health, attributing this to the fact that regulation in the region is limited with about 10% of African National Regulatory Agencies NRAs having achieved ML3. 

L-R: Director, Laboratory Services (Drugs) National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mr. Victor Abiola, Director General, NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director Post-Marketing Surveillance, NAFDAC, Dr. Fraden Bitrus Dasniyam, and Director Narcotics and Controlled Substances, Mrs Yedunni Adenuga, during the Agency’s engagement with the pharma supply chain stakeholders for input on the National Strategic Document on Substandard and Falsified Products in Lagos…on Thursday

Prof Adeyeye noted with dismay that this allows for poorly regulated manufacturers to supply their products in Africa where technologies to detect SF and track/trace are limited. 

She added that the menace of substandard and falsified medical products threatens access to safe, efficacious, and affordable medicines, undermining health systems and the achievement of Universal Health Coverage globally.

With the mandate to regulate and control the manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale, and use of drugs, cosmetics, chemicals, detergents, medical devices, and packaged water generally referred to as Regulated Products, she noted that this puts a burden on the Agency to lead the fight against SF medical products in Nigeria and support efforts that will see a reduction in the prevalence of SF medical products both locally manufactured and imported. 

The DG explained that NAFDAC is not the only regulatory agency in terms of substandard falsified medicines, adding that the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) probably has more to do in the fight against fake drugs. 

She, however, relished a cordial relationship that exists between the two sister agencies, insisting that we must do this fight together. 

Prof Adeyeye explained that currently, NAFDAC is doing its best to fight this issue of Substandard and Falsified products, stating that the fight against Substandard/Falsified medical products is based on three broad thematic areas Prevent, Detect, and Respond (PDR). 

She said that NAFDAC operatives are not just going on the streets to look for substandard falsified medicines but also going after products that have been approved in Southeast Asia en route to Nigeria. 

She reiterated that 70 percent of medicines used in Nigeria come from outside which necessitated the establishment of a Pre-shipment testing scheme that has stopped over 124 products that were approved from coming into the Nigerian market. 

According to her, some of the SF medicines do not have content, some will not disintegrate, and some will not dissolve. In contrast, some of them have wrong labelling and all sorts of non-compliance, adding that the Agency is dealing with that now with the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

Prof Adeyeye further disclosed that most of the products stopped from coming into the Nigerian market have fake certificates of pharmaceutical products. Noting that it takes two to tango, Prof. Adeyeye opined that its not just India bringing substandard falsified medicines to us, it is us; Nigerians that connive with them to bring in cheap products at the detriment of lives in Nigeria. 

Furthermore, She disclosed that over 124 shipments have been stopped, adding that these are products that had been approved, that could have been in circulation in Nigeria for five years. 

So, if ten containers per year for one particular product or two containers per year should find their way into Nigeria, you can figure out what the consequences might be.

The NAFDAC boss, however, announced the berth of a new regulatory directive with emphasis on the source of raw materials used in the production process. For those that are registering new products, she said they must procure raw materials from approved sources like WHO Prequalified sources, FDA, or other stringent Regulatory Authorities. 

If you don’t source from a prequalified source, we will not register the product, she said. 

She, however, dispelled the news going around, over the alleged proliferation of fake drugs in the country, saying the proliferation news that has been going on is false. 

There is no proliferation of substandard medicines. We do a national survey, sampling of products using scientific methods from different parts of the country., she said, adding that the survey was done in 

2021 and 2022 for ant-malaria with a 10 percent prevalence level. 

We couldn’t do it in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. She explained further, If you live very close to the border where people come in and out the prevalence may be higher there. Thats statistics. 

The average is about 10%, she said, insisting that proliferation is not synonymous with shortage because the two words are now used together. The fact that we have a shortage of medicines does not mean there is a proliferation of substandard falsified medicines.

 The survey for 2023 is not ready yet. We will publish 2021 and 2022.

She noted that the Pharmaceutical Supply chain plays a vital role in ensuring that safe, quality, and efficacious medicines reach the end users, adding that there is therefore a need to foster complementary partnerships that will seek to identify lapses in the supply chain system to improve the chances of winning the war on substandard and falsified medical products in Nigeria. 

We have formal and informal markets. Do not buy medicines from the informal market. We do a lot of raids in Oke- Arin, Idumota markets Lagos, Onitsha head bridge where you can buy a product maybe 50 per cent or 80 per cent cheaper because of low quality, she added, the state of the economy shouldn’t be an excuse for people to buy poison under the guise of cheap products.

I enjoin you to sustain your support to NAFDAC to ensure that only safe, efficacious, and quality medicines are used in Nigeria. NAFDAC, as the regulatory agency is seeking the support of all stakeholders in the pharma industry and supply chain system to improve our chances of winning the war on SF medical products.

The Supply chain stakeholders made very useful contributions for input into the National Strategic document to guide our collective efforts towards combating the menace of the SF in the country.

The stakeholders present at the supply chain engagements include the World Health Organization (WHO), United States Pharmacopeia (USP), Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria ( PMG-MAN), Association of Community Pharmacist of Nigeria (ACPN), Pharmaceutical Wholesalers Association of Nigeria (PWDAN), Nigerian Representatives of Overseas Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (NIROPHARM), Association of Pharmaceutical Importers of Nigeria (APIN), Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacist of Nigeria (AHAPN), Nigeria Army Medical corps, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), National of Veterinary Medical Association(NVMA). Others are different companies represented under PMG-MAN, APIN, PWDAN, and Niropharm.

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