Category: Health & Environment

Fola Tayo Appointed Into WHO Cancer Medicine Advisory Group [2018]

Professor Fola Tayo has been appointed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to serve on its Cancer Medicine Advisory Group for the availability and affordability of cancer medicines.

Professor Fola Tayo, who is the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, is among the 14 eminent people and the only West African appointed across the globe to serve on the group.

Mr. Elvis Otobo, the Head, Media and Public Relations Officer, Caleb University, said in a statement that the advisory group was made up of core professionals.

He noted that other members were from Australia, Canada, South Africa, Egypt, South Korea, Malaysia, Suriname, Malawi, Thailand, UK, Austria, Jordan and India.

Professor Fola Tayo has also been appointed to serve as the Protem Chairman of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Private Universities in Nigeria.

Until his appointment, he has been a very active member of the committee and made many useful contributions to the growth and development of the body in particular, and Nigeria Universities in general.

WHO’s Cancer Medicine Advisory Group is set up to define the problems relating to availability and accessibility of cancer medicines and seek expert’s advice on the scope of the report, analytical feasibility and case studies.

It is also to seek expert advice on the benefits and consequences of various pricing approaches for cancer medicines, options for improving availability and affordability of cancer medicines.

The group will brainstorm on three key projects for three days when they meet in Switzerland according to an Agenda Review released by the WHO.

These include project inception, problem definition and scope of reports; Pricing and impacts of pricing approaches and Options to improve availability, affordability and transparency of cancer medicines.

Ayodeji Olarinoye Appointed FIFA Doping Control Officer [2018]

Ayodeji Olarinoye, a former medical doctor in the Nigerian U-17 football team, has been appointed as a FIFA Doping Control Officer (DCO) by the world soccer governing body, FIFA.

According to the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) in its weekly bulletin, the institution from which Ayodeji Olarinoye, graduated from, with this appointment, Ayodeji Olarinoye is Nigeria’s first FIFA doping control officer.

According to the publication, the 38-year-old is a member of the American College of Sports Medicine and British Association of Sports and Exercise Medicine.

The publication said the medical doctor would join the network of FIFA medical officers, responsible for ensuring safe and healthy participation in football after attending several anti-doping training.

According to the publication:

“The 38-year-old Ayodeji is the son of a retired civil servant and former Head of the International Department of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in the 1990s, Dr. Steve Olarinoye.

Dr. Olarinoye was honoured in 2015 by the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) for his dedication to duty and special interest in the field of Sports Medicine.

He is currently running a programme in Sports and Exercise Medicine in Cardiff, U.K.”

Nigeria Awarded 2018 Green Bonds Award In New Countries Taking Green Bonds Global Category

Nigeria has been awarded the 2018 Green Bonds Award under the category of New Countries Taking Green Bonds Global at the Annual Green Bonds Conference in London, UK.

The 2018 Green Bonds award was received by Ambassador Kabiru Bala, Deputy High Commissioner/Head of Mission, Nigeria High Commission, London.

According to the Ambassador on country’s award in the New Countries Taking Green Bonds Global category:

“The issuance of a green bond by Nigeria delivers on Programme 47 of its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), in addition to meeting the expectations of Article 2 of the Paris Agreement.”

Green Bonds are like regular bonds, but with a slight difference – they can only be used to fund projects that have been identified to have environmental benefits, with their contribution to emissions reduction clearly articulated.

In the words of the Environment Minister of State, Usman Jibril in Abuja:

“This further reinforces Nigeria’s re-emergence as a major player in the international climate regime and President Muhammadu Buhari’s strides in moving Nigeria to a low carbon economy.

Nigeria take pride in being the first African country to issue a Sovereign Green Bond and the fourth in the world. Today’s event marks a unique and historic day in the efforts of Nigeria in tackling climate change.”

Nigeria’s recent issuance of the Soveriegn Green Bond (or Climate Bond) apparently influenced its three-star rating in the monthly assessment of 20 countries (including the EU) with high emission levels.

In its Global Spotlight Project for March 2018, Climate Scorecard, a not-for-profit group, gave Nigeria a pass mark, saying that the West African nation was moving in the right direction towards the realisation of the Paris Agreement.

Juleit Chioma Wins The Inaugural Chefs Taste Challenge

Juleit Chioma, of Le Petit Square restaurant, located in Grand Square, Abuja, has emerged winner of the first Chefs Taste Challenge, an initiative of the Embassy of France, in Nigeria.

The initiative is run under the ‘Good France programme’ by the Embassy to further create cultural fusion between the two countries.

Juleit Chioma who spoke on her winning dish, “Out of the Pot Chicken”, said:

“It is very rewarding for a chef to win in a contest of this nature.

I felt since this was the era where people want to eat good cuisine and still look good, I decided to prepared the ‘Out of the Pot Chicken’.

This is a meal that I created with natural ingredients produce in Nigeria, which you can find around your neighbourhood and gives you a natural taste.”

Juleit Chioma commended the embassy of France for creating the awareness, which would enable Nigerian chefs’ showcase their expertise globally.

Mr. Denys Gauer, French Ambassador to Nigeria, said the initiative was created five years ago to celebrate gastronomy as an art of cooking. He said that four restaurants were participating in the programme to showcase different varieties of cuisine of Nigeria and France.

According to the Ambassador:

“This is the first year we are organising a contest of this nature and I hope it increases as time goes by.

The embassy’s aim was to create awareness in the culinary world for both Nigeria and Europe to come together to promote culture through gastronomy.”

Highlight of the Chefs Taste Challenge include the presentation of certificate of participation to the chefs, drawn from various food companies and restaurants in Nigeria.

Each chef was rewarded with a ‘Relais Café’ prepared duck, bread and mango dressing for their presentation which lasted 15 minutes.

Dr. Michael Odighemeh Develops Ebola & Lassa Fever Detector

Dr. Michael Odighemeh, has announced the discovery of a fuzzy-neutral expert system for detecting ebola and lassa fever.

Dr. Michael Odighemeh is a lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering in the Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi State.

He made the presentation in Abuja titled: “Research and development results, inventions, innovations.”

He explained that the expert system could be domiciled in an ATM-like interface, and offers self-help in a way that when pressed, it would trigger who to call depending on the symptom acquired.

He added, for instance, that if the system gives malaria as its findings, it means that the contagious disease is still mild.

But, if the temperature changes within a period of 30 minutes, it could mean a second stage of ebola or lassa fever.

Odighemeh disclosed that the expert system, unlike medical expert, hardly makes mistake, adding that whatever it produced could be re-validated all over the world.

According to Dr. Michael Odighemeh:

“The system works in such a way that, with mathematical computed evidence levels and errors in judgement values, medical experts could obtain near accurate diagnosis, subject to verification by trained experts.”

Odighemeh said, having only developed the software, the next stage is to publicise and domesticate it for the use of medical facilities across the country.

He stressed that the technology would help to reduce the death of medical professionals in the treatment of contagious diseases.

Bashir Dodo Develops New Technique For Identifying And Diagnosing Damage To The Human Retina

Bashir Dodo, a student at the Brunel University, London, has developed a new technique for identifying and diagnosing damage to the human retina.

The technique described by the Press Office of the university is an algorithm for Optical Coherence Tomography equipment, which could automatically segment images of the retina into seven distinct layers.

Bashir Dodo, currently a doctoral student at the institution’s Department of Computer Science, demonstrated the new algorithm at the BIOIMAGING 2018 Conference recently held in Portugal and was rewarded with the ‘Best Student Paper’ Award at the event.

Dodo’s work seemed to have been inspired by the psychological concept of similarity, used the ideas of continuity and discontinuity to develop the algorithm.

The university expressed the hope that apart from improving the accuracy and speed of diagnosis, the technique would help to save the sight of patients by identifying damage earlier.

According to Bashir Dodo:

“Layer segmentation is one of the early processes of OCT retina image analysis, and already plays an important role in clinics.

For example, the thickness profile of the Retinal Nerve Fibre Layer – which can be calculated directly from the segment layer – is used in the diagnosis of glaucoma, which is one of the most common causes of sight loss worldwide.

Automatically segmenting the layers could provide critical information for abnormality detection by comparing them to the average population, and monitoring the progress of disease against previous scans.”

While doctors are able to identify the layers manually from OCT images, Dodo’s new technique would automatically segment images of the retina, thereby allowing specialists to spot abnormalities quicker and better track the progress of medication.

NIPRD Develops Traditional Herbal Products For Ebola, Malaria & Other Diseases

The National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, NIPRD, has successfully researched and developed six traditional herbal products for the treatment of Ebola, malaria and other diseases.

Professor Karniyus Gamaniel, the NIPRD director-general, said this while presenting an assessment of his eight-year tenure (2009 to 2017) in Abuja on  January 19, 2018.

Professor Karniyus Gamaniel said that NIPRIBOL, a fixed dose combination drug was developed by the Institute for the treatment of Ebola Virus Disease, adding that the Institute had completed the Phase I study of the drug.

Professor Gamaniel further stated that the Institute had also developed NIPRIMAL, an anti-malaria for treatment of uncomplicated malaria, stating that the drug was also safe for use by pregnant women.

Other traditional herbal products include NIPRIMUNE, an immunostimulant, which can also be used to manage HIV in Nigeria and NIPRIFAN for the treatment of fungal skin infection.

He also said that another product developed by the Institute, NIPRD Oil, could be used as a nasal decongestant, insect repellant, air freshner and an anti-inflammatory agent.

He however noted that excessive use of this oil could cause irritation.

In the words of Professor Karniyus Gamaniel:

“The Institute has also developed ‘NIPRISAN’ for the management of sickle cell anaemia.

We are currently concluding plans to carry out commercial production and distribution of this product.

We have developed and implemented various institutional policies for effective governance, this include the scheme and condition of service, intellectual policy and quality management system.

We have also ensured the introduction of traditional herbal medicine into the national health system and established partnerships with local and international organisations.

The core competence of NIPRD is in the development of phytomedicines from indigenous plants and products, clinical trials, among others; we are a quality assured Institute.”

The Institute presented awards to over 150 staff for their hard work and dedication to the growth of the Institute, and the research and development of traditional herbal products.

The Federal Government of Nigeria in 1987 approved the establishment of the Institute as a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.

It was established with the primary objective of developing medicine and biological products from indigenous resources towards the growth and development of the country.

The Institute was later moved to the Federal Ministry of Health in 2001.