Lexy Blog

Policies to control tobacco use, including tobacco tax and price increases, can generate significant government revenues for health and development work, according to a new landmark global report from WHO and the National Cancer Institute of the United States of America. Such measures can also greatly reduce tobacco use and protect people’s health from the world’s leading killers, such as cancers and heart disease. But left unchecked, the tobacco industry and the deadly impact of its products cost the world’s economies more than US$ 1 trillion annually in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity, according to findings published in The economics of tobacco and tobacco control. Currently, around 6 million people die annually as a result of tobacco use, with most living in developing countries. The almost 700-page monograph examines existing evidence on two broad areas: The economics of tobacco control, including tobacco use and growing, manufacturing and trade, taxe

The National Service Delivery Innovation Challenge (NSDIC) showcase, which is a competitive process to identify, showcase and spur innovations in service delivery is set to improve the quality and coverage of RMNCAH and nutrition interventions across the country – particularly in North-East Nigeria and undeserved populations. Until now, the North East has been affected by insurgency for over three years which negatively impacted the access to quality of care, routine maternal and neonatal child health care of childhood diseases such as polio, measles, etc. This development has led to the reappearance of the Wild Polio Virus (WPV) in 20116 which has been described as a setback in the wake of the country’s polio eradication and certification as a Polio-free nation by the World Health Organisation (WHO) His Excellency, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will be the Special Guest of Honour at the NSDIC showcase of shortlisted innovations