Nigeria Health Watch
Patience Adejo and Dara Ajala-Damisa (Lead Writers) Musa is a 32-year-old junior associate who works in a law firm. He used to love the Law profession, but unfavourable work conditions robbed him of that passion causing him to lose all interest in his work and the profession altogether. “My office is a toxic place,” he […]
Health is a human right and everyone, irrespective of location or socioeconomic status has a right to healthcare at their point of need. For a heavily populated country like Nigeria where there are income inequalities, there is a need to examine the healthcare system through the lens of health equity, which is accessible, affordable, and […]
Ifeyinwa Yusuf (Lead Writer) Growing up I dreamt of being a renowned obstetrician or surgeon like Ben Carson. After reading his book, Gifted Hands, I was pumped-up with zeal, so, using my monthly student allowance, I bought as many medical books as I could afford. I imagined what it would be like to live in […]
The COVID-19 pandemic not only exposed weaknesses in global health systems, it also provided us with an opportunity to course-correct and build more resilient health systems that will ensure health security for all. Taking advantage of this opportunity, on September 2 and 3, 2021, the Nigeria Health Commissioners Forum convened a 2-day meeting with the […]
Onyinye Oranezi & Dara Ajala-Damisa (Lead Writers) Nigerians in the health sector and key stakeholders have waited with bated breath for the announcement of the new Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). This is following the appointment of its first Director General, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu to lead WHO’s new Pandemic & […]
After the successful deployment of the first round of vaccines received from the COVAX facility in March 2021, Nigeria has received its second batch of vaccines from countries around the world; receiving 4 million doses of the Moderna vaccine from the United States through the COVAX facility and 177,600 doses of the single-shot Johnson & […]
In 2019, when my father was in the Intensive Care Unit of one of Nigeria’s biggest tertiary hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory, one of the most contentious issues my family experienced was the constant chasing after specialist doctors to assess him and answer our burning questions. We would wait hours for the single cardiologist […]
Nigeria is prone to seasonal disease outbreaks and in the last few years, a series of outbreaks including monkeypox, measles, Lassa fever, yellow fever, cerebrospinal meningitis and cholera have threatened the nation’s public health security. In 2020, while responding to COVID-19, Nigeria was at the same time tackling what was reported as the largest recorded […]
Zainab was only 11 years old when she became the fourth wife of a 42-year-old cobbler in her community. She is from Marki, a village in Northern Nigeria where girls are married off at the age of 12 to preserve their purity. Her parents did not consider educating a girl child a worthy venture. Therefore, […]
By Gabriel Oke and Kenni Ndili (Lead Writers) In December 2020, the first COVID-19 vaccine was issued emergency use authorisation (EUA) by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This was the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, a partnership between a global leader in vaccine manufacturing and a German biotechnology company. Vaccine campaigns slowly began to take place […]
Breastfeeding provides essential nutrients to newborns and infants, which translate to proper growth and development from childhood to adulthood. There are many benefits to breastfeeding for both infants and mothers. These include, a reduced risk of infections, heart disease, obesity and others, for the infant and a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers, heart […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that there is no dropping the ball when it comes to preventing, detecting and responding to infectious disease outbreaks. Therefore, during the Nigerian Conference of Applied and Field Epidemiology — NiCAFE2021, which took place on the 27th and 28th July 2021, speakers and panelists shared strategies to strengthen public health using lessons […]
President Muhammadu Buhari and other global leaders gathered in London for a two-day Global Education Summit that aims to raise US$5 billion for education globally. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted school systems, resulting in school closures in 2020, with many schools turning to virtual learning where it was possible. A recent report found that in low […]