Nigeria Health Watch
Entering the Paediatric Oncology ward of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Yaba, where children are treated for cancer, you would naturally expect a solemn environment. That was not the case if you had visited on the 1st of March 2018. The atmosphere was practically festive, the ward, colorful, lively and far from unnerving, unlike […]
Sitting in a small room outside the chief’s residence in the tiny village of Yalwa in Jigawa State, a group of Fulani women have gathered to chat. A fair-skinned boy, about a year old, is in his mother’s arms, smiling and kicking around with both his hands and feet. He has adorably chubby cheeks and […]
Editor’s Note: This week the FP2020 Summit took place in London to discuss efforts to reach the Family Planning 2020 goals and ensure that more women and girls around the world are able to plan their families and their futures. In Nigeria several organisations are making a tremendous effort to ensure that family planning becomes […]
Editor’s Note: A few weeks ago, we were delighted to hear about a donation of an electroencephalography machine (EEG) to the Neurology Unit at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) by members of the graduating class of 1994 based in North America. We have often written about the scale of the challenges facing the […]
Reading Nigerian newspapers, or browsing the plethora of social media platforms, it is easy to think that the country is doomed. On some days, this feels especially so in the health sector. There seems to be no end to the list of things that are not working for Nigerians when it comes to their health. […]
In continuation of our series to highlight innovative interventions across the Nigerian health sector, Nigeria Health Watch team member Ada Ezeokoli recently visited the ObiJackson Children’s Hospital in Okija, Anambra State, to learn more about how this island of modernity is being positioned to challenge a culture of low expectations in maternal and child health. […]
Editor’s Note: Over the years we have written vigorously on the things that do not work in the Nigerian health sector. This week we are starting a new series of highlighting projects and programmes that do work, showing that despite the chaos, there are pockets of excellence in sometimes unusual places. In the first story […]
If you look hard, you will find that at the heart of the growth in the Nigerian economy is the drive, innovation and resilience of young Nigerians. From the new generation banks to the telecommunication firms, from new media to Nollywood, young people are re-defining business in Nigeria. Sadly, the health sector has predominantly excluded […]
By Ebele Vivien Okoli Editor: The 3rd of December was World Disability Day. Ebele Vivien Okoli, a Resident Doctor specialising in Community Medicine at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, who has a deep interest in these issues sent in this powerful piece. Read, reflect and do what you can….but whatever you do, don’t […]
October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month. You may have noticed the pink fests in many Nigerian cities. Yet, beyond all the pink is deep anxiety, that if one does get cancer in Nigeria, your chances are indeed very bleak. With all the pink in town, we saw or heard very little in terms of concrete steps […]
In September 2014, the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone was getting worse by the day. Nigeria had managed to successfully control an outbreak at home, but the rest of the continent was on edge and anxiety was sky high, especially following the few cases that had occurred in the West. Some projections […]
Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s recent announcement that the Buhari administration plans to revive the school feeding programme across public schools in the country has met with its share of public debate and conjecture. Osinbajo has been repeatedly quoted as saying that the “one meal a day” school feeding program being proposed by the Nigerian […]
Editor’s Note: The Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI) project commenced in 2009 to address gaps in access to family planning services in six Nigerian cities, targeting “urban poor” communities. The program has run for five years. On September 29, the project will hold an event to share with partners and beneficiaries the lessons they […]
A few weeks ago, my colleague Chioma and I volunteered with Pro Health International to provide free medical care for IDPs in three camps in Abuja. Pro Health International provides “quality and quantitative health care and hope to the poor and less privileged in rural areas of Africa at little or no cost to the […]