Health and Life Style
Covid-19: FCTA threatens tougher measures over lockdown violations, as 500 beds facilities ready for COVID-19

The Federal Capital Territory Minister, Muhammad Bello said his administration may impose tougher measures to achieve health safety precautionary protocols needed to contain the spread of the deadly Coronavirus in Abuja.
Bello who expressed displeasure over flagrant violation of the lockdown order at the rural areas within the territory, noted that the administration will not allow few individuals to carelessly put the larger population at jeopardy.
The Minister disclosed this at Asokoro District Hospital when he inspected the on going work in the hospital, already converted to COVID 19 Isolation and treatment centre.
Bello who had earlier inspected an already furnished 300 bed facility at Idu District, designated as Isolation Centre for COVID 19 patients, the on going rehabilitation works at Karu District Hospital, also meant for COVID 19 patients’ accommodation, said he was satisfied with both the private sector partnership and government’s preparedness to combat the dreaded disease. adsbygoogle || []).push({});
According to him, the Idu centre is a 300 bed facility, but can be expanded to 500 beds. He noted that one hundred and fifty beds were already installed through the partnership of Polaris Bank, FATE Foundation , and more 300 beds that is coming from Julius Berger PLC.
He further enjoined residents to demonstrate forbearance and cooperate with government by observing the all the necessary rules recommended by health experts towards in order to achieve victory over the virus.
He said, “while the lockdown has been relatively successful in the city centre, I must say that in many of our communities, especially in the vulnerable communities the lockdown has not been extremely successful.
“And when this virus hits us, it is going to hit these vulnerable communities very hard. That is why I am appealing. This is a government that is very passionate, but I am thinking that if the situations continue like as it is now, government will have no option than take more hash and firmer measures, because we will not allow a small percentage of us to put all of us at risk.
” It is common knowledge what is happening the world over. We should thank God Almighty that we just talking about 47 cases in FCT, with 2 deaths. As much as possible , we want it to remain low, but that can’t be done without our corporation.
He added that while FCT administration prays that the confirmed cases of COVID 19 should not exceed the current 47 it is now, private partnership courted through the Ministerial Adversory Committee has gone ahead make enough provisions to tackle the pandemic.
” The Idu isolation centre is a reflection of wat partnership can do, the partnership is between the government, private sector and one of the stakeholders in Abuja, the Chinese Construction Company, the CCECC that provided furnishings, as well as all the air condition, both power and water.
” We have one hundred and fifty bed already installed. Polaris Bank donated 100 beds, 50 beds were donated by FATE Foundation , they also provided personal protective materials for health workers. Another 300 beds are coming from Julius Berger PLC . This partnership was made possible through the Ministerial Adversory Committee headed by the former minister of FCT Dr. Modibo Aliyu Umaru”.
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- Prince Abdulrahman Obaje is a Media and ICT Consultant, Journalist, online marketer, social media strategist, Mathematician and Computer Scientist based in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the Founder and the Publisher of The Informavores!. You can reach me on +234 805 939 5252 or send i-witness report directly to me on news@informavores.com.ng.
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Health and Life Style
Group Urges FG To Ensure Affordable Access To Drugs For PWD

The Diabetes Association of Nigeria, has called on the Nigerian government to ensure affordable access to fundamental care for people with diabetes(PWD).
Speaking during sensitization exercise to commemorate the 2021 World Diabetes Day, National President of the Association, Dr Alkali Mohammed, stated that access to care which include information, drugs, technology, and support is a right to all citizens and will go a long way to reverse the emerging ugly trend of the diabetic epidemic.
“Diabetes has become a major global epidemic being the leading Non-Communicable Disease (NCD).There are 537million people living with diabetes globally and is projected to reach 743 million by 2030 unless urgent steps are taken. Almost 1 in 2 of the people living with diabetes are undiagnosed while 4 in 5 of them are in the middle and low-income countries.
“In the year 2021,diabetes is responsible for 6.7million deaths. Although no reliable National Data is available in Nigeria, about 6 million Nigerians are estimated to have diabetes.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that almost everyone in Nigeria has a relation or friend that is diabetic and might have lost one. This is only going to worsen unless concerted efforts are put in place,” he said.
He also called on government to develop appropriate policies to improve the presentation of type 2 diabetes and also improve screening to ensure timely diagnosis and prevention of diabetes related complications.
Mohammed urged for implementation mechanisms to engage with diabetes meaningfully in the development of policies to tackle diabetes.
He revealed that this year’s commendation of the event is unique because of the COVID-19 epidemic as people with diabetes have higher complications and mortalities among the infected patients.
The national president also added that this year also mark the 100 years since the discovery of insulin which was a breakthrough in the treatment of diabetes.
“However, despite the existence of insulin for a decade, 1 in 2 people in need of insulin globally cannot afford it. In Nigeria, the gap in access is even more as our health care system is mainly funded through out of pockets system.
“Additionally, the current economic realities and high inflationary trend is a major challenge to the effective management of diabetes as most patients cannot afford the minimum basic care since they do not have money,” he said.
The World Diabetes Day is celebrated on the 14th of November annually to serve as the primary global awareness campaign of the diabetes world.
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Health and Life Style
UNICEF Organises Workshop On COVID-19 Vaccine For Journalists On Demand Creation

The United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF) has organised a workshop for journalists on ways to support the Federal Government on COVID-19 vaccination exercise in Nigeria.
Speaking during a Two Day Media Engagement Dialogue on Demand Creation for COVID-19 Vaccine organized in collaboration with the Child Rights Information Bureau of the Federal Ministry of information and Culture in Kano, Communication Specialist for UNICEF Nigeria, Geoffrey Njoku revealed that the vaccination exercise was slow in some states because the government were reluctant to provide logistics for the exercise.
He therefore urged journalists in the country to use their various tools for advocacy to both Federal and state government to provide logistics and operational support for the delivery of vaccines to every part of the country. adsbygoogle || []).push({});
Njoku also added that Journalists have to be on the forefront of allaying fears amongst Nigerians who had conspiracy theories about the vaccine, there creating vaccine hesitancy in many parts of the country.
While being optimistic that the workshop will avail the participants on the skills to use to ensure the increase of uptakes of the vaccine, Njoku urged the journalists to use data from World Health Organisation(WHO), UNICEF, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control(NCDC) and other reliable organisations to derive stories that will bring about positive impact on the vaccination exercise.
Also speaking while giving an opening remark, the WASH Manager, UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Rafid Salih stated that vaccine hesitancy have to be tackled hands down so as to avoid deaths caused by the virus.
Salih who was represented UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Kano State, Maulid Warfa urged the journalists to use that same medium used to perpetrate misinformation about the virus, to propagate the fact to every part of the country.
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Health and Life Style
COVID-19 Misinformation: NOA Promises Collaboration With Paged Initiative To Battle Scourge

The National Orientation Agency(NOA) has promised to work with the Participatory Communication Through Gender Development (PAGED) Initiative, a media and advocacy Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) to battle the issue of COVID-19 Misinformation in 19 Northern states of the country.
While the organisation paid a courtesy visit to the Agency, the Director General of NOA, Garba Abari stated that they were ready to collaborate with any organisation on the dissemination of information to curb the COVID-19 virus.
Abari who was represented by the Agency’s Director of Special Duties and State Operations, Mette Edekobi revealed that NOA was well equipped to carry out any awareness in the country as it has staff in all the 774 local government in the country.
“Our strength is the fact that we speak all languages. Our 774 officials are in their local government areas where they can speak the local languages and communicate with the people in the way that they will understand. We are predestined to do what we are doing,” he said.
Abari who lamented that the Agency had to battle with the issue of fake information about the virus and its vaccine, added that collaboration with other organizations would help a great deal as many Nigerians do not believe in their leaders, no matter what they tell them.
“So we need Nigerians to hear from other people that do not come from the government and maybe that will make them believe,” he said.
Earlier while stating the reason for their visit, the Programme Director, Paged Initiative, Ummi Bukar, said her NGO was there to ascertain the challenges NOA has encountered in the dissemination of information about COVID-19 and where the organisation can come in to assist curb the pandemic.
“In terms of COVID-19 media response, what we want from NOA is to know the gaps you have encountered that you will need the media to help address because there are still a lot of people who do not believe that COVID-19 exist. There is a lot of mis-information out there. We are have a lot of media partners across the 19 states that can help in this aspect,” she said.
Bukar added that her NGO in collaboration with European Union and Free Press have helped push for participatory development to ensure that the needs of the communities were met.
Author Profile

- Prince Abdulrahman Obaje is a Media and ICT Consultant, Journalist, online marketer, social media strategist, Mathematician and Computer Scientist based in Abuja, Nigeria. He is the Founder and the Publisher of The Informavores!. You can reach me on +234 805 939 5252 or send i-witness report directly to me on news@informavores.com.ng.
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