WHO scales up emergency response to reach displaced vulnerable populations in north-...

Maiduguri, 15 February, 2023 - Raising from the recently concluded 12th Joint Operations Review (JOR) on humanitarian support in the northeast, the World Health Organization (WHO) is  widening  its emergency health response to reach displaced vulnerable populations in the region.

Already, the agency leads international action to expand universal health coverage and coordinates health emergency responses globally.

Prevention is better than cure – Bayelsa state vaccinates residents against Yellow f...

Yenagoa, 14 February, 2023 - It was between 11 am and noon on a recent Wednesday when health workers with their Geostyle boxes filled with the Yellow fever (YF) vaccines got to Kpansia area of Yenagoa Local Government Area (LGA), Bayelsa State. 

Having lost a sibling to YF in 1996, Tarekebi Ebi-Jones, a 40-year-old single mother of two was waiting patiently for her turn to get her children vaccinated against the disease. 

In Nigeria, stakeholders  are not lowering their guards against all  forms of poliov...

Lagos – 14 February 2023 - Alhaji Safejo Amogbon (fondly called Baba – Father in the Yoruba language) is an octogenarian (89 years). notwithstanding his age,  he still mobilizes people in his community (Surulere-Safejo,  Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State) to present their children for vaccination. 

He is one of the community’s pillars of support on health and education, and he leverages his years of experience to educate parents about the importance of vaccination, especially against poliovirus. 

In Nigeria, boosting viral hepatitis awareness and treatment

Abuja, 8 February, 2023 - Four months before her wedding and on the eve of starting a new job, Dada Titilope went in for a routine medical check. It was then that the 36-year-old resident of Ile-Ife Osun State in Southwestern Nigeria discovered that she had hepatitis B.

“I was very scared,” Titilope recalls, describing the horrors she read online about the disease. “I thought it was a death sentence.”

She considered calling off the wedding. But her fiancé and family wouldn’t hear of it, encouraging her instead to focus on staying well. 

In Nigeria, boosting viral hepatitis awareness and treatment

Abuja – Four months before her wedding and on the eve of starting a new job, Dada Titilope went in for a routine medical check. It was then that the 36-year-old resident of Ile-Ife Osun State in Southwestern Nigeria discovered that she had hepatitis B.

The 12th Joint Operations Review on humanitarian support to North-east begins in Bor...

Borno, 6 February 2023 - The 12th Joint Operations Review (JOR) on humanitarian support to the northeast commenced on 6 February 2023, in Maiduguri, Borno State. 

The 3-day meeting (6-8 February) is the 12th in a series of its kind, since the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2016, declared the humanitarian situation in the northeast at grade 3, owing to its gravity and impact on public health that put intense pressure on healthcare services in the affected communities. 

Breast cancer survivor preaches routine screening 

Abuja, 6 February, 2023 - Gloria Orji was 35 years old when she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in June 2010.

As an unmarried young woman in her prime, she was devastated because she thought she had her life planned out but finding out she had breast cancer was certainly not a part of her plans. 

“I felt shattered and asked the doctor how long I had to live, and he answered who said you will die?” she says, recalling the day she received her result. 

“People living with Elephantiatis are often stigmatized” – patient 

Abuja, 31 January, 2023 - Betty Livingstone, (not her real name), 22 years old native of Benue State, has been living with swollen lower limbs since 2012. 

“I remember waking up one morning and noticing my feet were swollen. The swelling started in my feet and gradually progressed to my legs. Having swollen legs is very embarrassing as people look at me weirdly,” she says.  

Cervical cancer - Early detection saves lives 

Ondo, 27 January, 2023 - It's 10 am on a Wednesday, and Ilemobayo Wuraola, a health worker, is holding a cervical cancer awareness talk for women attending the Family Planning (FP) clinic at Arakale health centre in Akure, Ondo State. 

“Cervical cancer screening is importanct for early detection of the disease, and it is advisable for women of child bearing age or sexually active females to get tested,” she says. 

Nigerian laboratory receives WHO full accreditation for fight against measles and ru...

Abuja, 19 January, 2023 - A Nigerian laboratory, the Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL), Lagos, recently attained a World Health Organization (WHO) full laboratory accreditation status in respect of its contribution to the fight against measles and rubella in the country. 

The CPHL is one of the laboratories under the Nigeria Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) Measles and Rubella laboratory network.

The WHO full accreditated status is the highest accreditation level that can be achieved by any laboratory.