Author: NewsDesk

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has prequalified the new oral poliovirus vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), marking it the first time the organisation has ever done so for a vaccine being used under the emergency use listing. In an announcement weekend, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) said that the WHO prequalification paves the way for more nations to obtain the vaccine, which has played a vital role in halting outbreaks involving type 2 variant poliovirus (cVDPV2). In the announcement, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the prequalification as a historic public health milestone. “Novel oral polio vaccine type 2 has…

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday launched a $1.5 billion emergency appeal to provide care to more than 87 million people affected by ongoing crises in 2024, including in Africa, the occupied Palestinian territory, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria, and the Horn of Africa. The appeal comes at a time when climate change, drought, and other extreme weather events are fueling food insecurity, conflict, and displacement, causing deeper and more complex health emergencies and leaving healthcare increasingly under fire. Every humanitarian crisis is a health crisis, WHO said, and each dollar invested in its lifesaving work nets a return on investment…

Apart from being intersex, Amina had spina bifida, a condition that affects the spinal cord. As a result, the doctor recommended euthanasia, which is illegal in Nigeria. 

Rakiya A.Muhammad   What many young girls in Binji and Shagari Local government areas of Sokoto State see in Hajiya Hafsat Abubakar and Hajiya Kulu Modi are quintessential role models. One of the girls, who was then out of -school, did not mince words. “I want to be like you,” she told Kulu, who subsequently approached her parents, and they enrolled her in the school.   Kulu is one mentor in Shagari trained in strategies and facilitation skills for Girls -for -Girls (G4G), an initiative aimed at increasing confidence, hygiene, and good morals among girls, for improved retention, transition, and…

By Tunde Omolehin, Kaura-Mata- Kano One Monday morning, a 76-year-old, Mallam Yahaya Ado, a community head of Kaura-mata, stood at the eroded bank of Challawa river with his subjects, gesturing as he spoke about many environmental degradation facing his community. Kaura-mata is one of the riverine communities located in Madobi local government area of Kano state, northwest Nigeria.  Its residents have continued to suffer in the hands of illegal miners. Our farmlands have been taken over by these illegal sand miners because their illicit activities have continued to expand gully erosion and affect our source of drinking,” Ado said During…

Rakiya A. Muhammad The new Sports facility under construction by the Sokoto State government is an impressive investment, Minister of Sports and Youths Development, Mr Sunday Dare, has said. During an official visit to the facility in Sokoto, he said that with 68% of those involved in sports in the country being youths between the ages of 12-35, investing in such infrastructure is a futuristic and veritable avenue for earning huge revenue. He noted it would benefit the state and the federal government, assuring it would avail itself of the opportunity of the facility for national and international events. The…

Rakiya A.Muhammad  We cannot do anything without a safe and secure Nigeria, Governor Aminu of Sokoto has stressed. “That being the case, those at the frontline should receive every attention that they deserve,” he added. The Governor noted this just as he disclosed that the state government has procured surveillance equipment to facilitate operations of the State Security Service in bandits’ prone areas and criminal hideouts. He disclosed this at the presentation of long service awards to operatives of the SSS by the Director -General of the Service in Sokoto. “SPZ machine is on its way and we will continue to reach out to…

Rakiya A. Muhammad 45-year-old Ali Sani hears cancer treatment, and his mind goes to the death of his 4year old son Ahmad, who had leukaemia, one of the most common types of cancer among children in Nigeria. Other common types of childhood cancer include brain cancer, Wilms tumour, lymphomas and neuroblastoma. “Ahmad was losing weight and having recurring fever. We thought it was Malaria and continued to treat him at home,” said Ali, a petty trader in Kano, Northwest Nigeria. “When the situation worsened, we took him to the hospital where they told us it was cancer and that he…

The Kogi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (KSPHCDA) has denied reports of alleged demand for money from clients for the vaccine. An NGO, the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), at a press conference in Bauchi state, alleged that vaccine administrators in Kogi were demanded money from clients before vaccinating them. A statement Agency director Dr. Abubakar Yakubu in Lokoja said the report was misleading and far from the reality of COVID-19 vaccination in the state. He stressed that the report was most likely not true, as the NGO was unable to back up its alleged findings with…

The Dimaska ​​Village community in the Gombi Local Government Area of ​​Adamawa has started a project to build more than 250 toilets for its people. Mr. James Steven, Head of the Dimaska ​​Village Health and Development Committee, revealed this to the Nigerian News Agency, in Dimaska ​​on Friday. Steven said the project focused on improving the delivery of health care services to residents through the community’s self-sufficiency program. He said the development followed a health training offered to Community Ministries, an American NGO, under the umbrella of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN). “Before the training in Dimaska,…