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Alex Stories: World Bank to help Nigeria consolidate 95% decline... : "L-R: Melinda and Bill Gates on their recent visit in Nigeria to support the fight against Polio spr..."

L-R: Melinda and Bill Gates on their recent visit in Nigeria to support the fight against Polio spread in infants. Relief has come the way of Nigeria as the World Bank recently approved an additional credit of $60 million for its Partnership for Polio Eradication project. These funds are expected to help finance polio vaccines during the coming year as well as continue to support other aspects of primary health care (PHC) in the country. This development, experts believe, is sequel to recent success the nation has achieved in combating polio vis-a-vis immunizing children with oral polio vaccine. Making this known in a statement, Muhammed Pate, executive director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, (NPHCDA), revealed that the achievement demonstrates the value of a unique model of performance-based development assistance and the commitment of Nigeria and its partners to a polio-free country. Pate stated that the result of this un

…infrastructural, human capacity development of medical personnel key in the sector In recent times, a new trend in the healthcare sector known as “medical tourism”- a term used to describe the practice of people travelling to another country in order to receive medical attention, be it heart surgery, hip replacement, or dental work- has gained popularity among highly industrialized countries like the United States, Germany, France, as well as developing nations like Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, etc. Current survey indicates significant growth in the medical tourism industry currently at $20 billion market, is expected to reach $100 billion by 2012. While exact statistics for medical tourism may seem difficult to confirm, these estimations indicate a strong potential for medical tourism not only at the moment but in the future. With the nation’s dearth in infrastructures like medical equipment, stable power supply (there

... Over $100m spent on its eradication globally   It is disheartening that an estimated 800,000 people die annually from malaria globally. In Africa where malaria accounts for three out of 10 deaths in children and one out of 10 deaths of pregnant women, the disease is said to be the third single biggest killer of children. In Nigeria , about 25 to 30 percent of mortality in children under five is said to die annually to malaria scourge. Beyond the death tolls, the scourge of malaria, no doubt, holds back economic and social development in Nigeria . Not only does it keep children away from school, it stops their parents from getting out into the fields, to harvest their crops and tend to animal husbandry. As physiological changes of pregnancy and pathological changes due to malaria have synergistic effect on the course of each other, thus making the life difficult for the mother, the child and the treating physician, stakeholders in the nation’s health sector have

…Experts say inadequate financing may worsen healthcare While healthcare needs seem to be on the increase, government expenditure on health in developing countries appears to decline. This has resulted in a situation whereby as the teeming population gets older, as more people suffer chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and as new and more expensive treatments appear, health costs seem to soar. Even as the target set for countries attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) vis-a-vis improving healthcare, environmental sustainability, reducing infant and maternal mortality barely four years away, recent reports by the World Health Organisation (WHO) leaves nothing to cheer as most member countries of African Union (AU) are not yet on track to achieve the health-related MDGs. A scorecard released by the WHO entitled: “The Abuja Declaration: Ten Years On,” revealed that only Rwanda and South Africa have achieved the Abuja Declaration target adopted

…Say its passage crucial to health sector Over the years, providing adequate health care to Nigerians has remained a big challenge to successive administrations. Access to essential drugs and other healthcare services has continued to hamper the process of ensuring Nigerians enjoy quality healthcare. The Primary Health Care, which is the entry point into the nation’s health services, is unfortunately in the hands of the local governments. However, some individuals who throng such centres are more often than not are greeted with either inadequate access to essential drugs or empty building without medical personnel to administer medicare to patients. Health experts in the country believe that a bill for an act to provide a framework for the regulation, development and management of a national health system and set standards for rendering health services in the federation is urgently needed. It is also in their opinion that the inability of the N

… as Massey Street Children Hospital receives a boost from GT Bank Survival no doubt is the most fundamental law of nature. Indeed where issues of life are concerned, only the fittest can survive. But as a country currently ranked sixth in the world for child mortality, Nigeria has nothing to cheer by way of child survival. Nigerians know too well that hunger and poverty are birds of the same feather. But Nigerians are confused about which comes first. They wonder if they have to be alive in order to survive, or whether they must survive in order to be alive. Even the children have been compelled to ask what their lot is. According to the State of the World’s Children 2008, although the annual number of deaths among children under age five is on the decline, Nigeria is yet to record a stable or improved rate of child mortality over the last decade – meaning the country is not on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals 5 target for child s