PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Nigeria: Ebola, national confab reported in Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The continuing battle by the federal government to limit or even contain the spread of the Ebola virus, and recommendations from the national conference on the constitution were the major stories in Nigeria this week.
"Ebola: Nigeria gets Nano-Silva trial drug", was the headline of the NATION which quoted the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, as telling a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, that the Federal Government is to receive Nano Silver trial drug for treatment of Ebola Virus’ victims. The drug is from a Nigerian scientist.
According to the minister, the drug has been used experimentally for many things.
In its second story on Ebola, titled "Nigeria: we’ll battle Ebola to stand still, says Jonathan", the NATION reported that Nigeria took a stand on Thursday to battle the Ebola disease at a special presidential meeting convened by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Governors, health commissioners, Federal Government officials and the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Nigeria attended the meeting.
The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the meeting focused on infection control, case management, contact tracing, capacity building and sensitisation.
He said the meeting also focused on the need for synergy and collaboration between Federal and state governments, global partners and civil society.
It discussed the national status reports by the Health Minister and health commissioners.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Prof. Chukwu, said the Federal Government has named four laboratories for testing -- the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos; the Centre for Disease Control in Asokoro, Abuja; University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State and the Redeemer University Laboratory at Kilometre 35, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
According to him, the government is also targeting more laboratories in Jos and Kano and will set up a mobile testing centre in Enugu by the end of the week.
Nine laboratories, he said, would be set up across the country before the end of next month.
Chukwu said Nigeria had 10 confirmed cases, including the Liberian-American who brought the disease, and those who had contact with the index case.
Of the 10 cases, he said, three had been confirmed dead – Patrick Sawyer, the nurse who attended to him and the protocol officer with ECOWAS Commission who was detailed to welcome delegates to conference in Calabar, Cross River State.
“Seven of the 10 confirmed cases are alive and are showing progress with treatment,” he said.
According to him, 177 persons are under surveillance and at the end of the 21-day incubation period, those under surveillance will no longer be under surveillance.
He said there were 21 secondary contact cases in Enugu State under surveillance, adding that a defiant nurse was under observation in Lagos.
Chukwu said the meeting discussed effective communication and the need to provide isolation centres and laboratories for experiments.
The minister said the government’s decision on prohibition of repatriation of bodies from abroad would be enforced.
But he said waivers would be granted after due diligence would have been carried out.
Chukwu said two of such waivers from Kenya and India of Nigerians who died of diabetes and cancer respectively had been granted.
The SUN also ran the story under a similar headline "Ebola: FG to introduce Nano Silver drug for treatment".
Meanwhile, doctors are fleeing hospitals because of the disease.
According to the GUARDIAN, under the headline "Doctors treating Ebola patients down tools",
"The hope of recovery by patients currently being treated for the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) seems to be getting lost, as the doctors and nurses attending to them at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, on Friday, downed tools.
Their action may not be unconnected with reports of allegation of negligence levelled against them by relatives and associates of the dead victims and other Ebola patients in the hospital.
Relatives and associates of the female doctor and other health workers who contracted the EVD from the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, had, at a media briefing on Thursday in Lagos, accused the federal and state governments of neglecting patients.
Similarly, there seems to be no respite in sight between the federal government and the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) as the latter has demanded the immediate reversal of Thursday’s letter by the Federal Government terminating the appointment of 16,000 resident doctors in government hospitals across the country.
However, traditional worshippers in south west Osun State on Friday claimed that there were traditional ways of curing the disease.
The traditionalists, under the aegis of Traditional Worshippers Association of Nigeria, told newsmen in Osogbo, Osun State capital, that the association had discovered herbal medicine that can cure the disease.
The president general of the association, Chief Idowu Awopetu, who was accompanied by members of the association to the Correspondents’ Secretariat in Osogbo, said the outbreak of the disease was a result of the increasing sins of the people, adding that the disease was not new, as it was just one out of the 201 diseases associated with Sanponna, a deity in Yoruba land.
Awopetu said: “Ebola disease is an indication that the gods are angry with the nations of the world.”
Awopetu, who enjoined Nigerians to maintain proper hygiene through frequent washing of hands, avoiding consumption of bush meat as well as avoiding contact with Ebola-infected people, said “with natural herbs the disease can be cured and prevented from the country.
“I consulted Ifa and immediately I finished my consultations, I made my findings known through Facebook. The Ebola disease is not new but it is a punishment for the wrongs done by the people of the country where it was first noticed,” Awopetu said.
As Nigerians are beginning to heave a sigh of relief over the anti Ebola experimental drugs, approved by the U.S. government to Nigeria, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has raised concern over the safety of nano-silver, the name given to the experimental drug as a pesticide.
According to a report credited to Erica Jefferson, a spokesperson for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency could not find or verify any information on the treatment of the drug designated as an anti-bacterial used to fight mold and other bacteria.
They have also expressed concern about the purported makers of the products that contain the substance, saying it must be registered and receive clearance.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday, expressed concern over the “vastly underestimated” scale of the Ebola outbreak as the death toll from the disease reaches 1,069.
The WHO, in a statement, said it had evidence that the number of reported cases and deaths do not reflect the scale of the crisis.
“Staff at the outbreak sites sees evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak.
“WHO is coordinating a massive scaling up of the international response,” the statement said.
“Part of the challenge is the fact that the outbreak is in settings, characterised by extreme poverty, dysfunctional health systems, a severe shortage of doctors and rampant fear,” the statement said.
The agency, however, warned that the risk of transmission of Ebola during air travel remained untrue, as the disease is not airborne.
Also, International President of Medecins Sans Frontieres (doctors without borders), Joanne Liu, said in Geneva on Friday that it would take about six months to bring the Ebola epidemic in West Africa under control.
She said the situation was like “war time” and required greater leadership from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The PUNCH, on Saturday, captioned its story "Ebola: health workers scared, flee hospital". It said afraid of contracting the Ebola virus, health workers at the Yaba Mainland Hospital, Lagos,have been running away from patients isolated in the hospital, thus putting intense pressure on the few ones still treating victims.
Impeccable sources at the hospital said that health workers in the hospital were also being pressured by family members to resign their appointments with the establishment.
Some of them are already avoiding the patients like a plague. As a result of this development, hospital sources said the few health workers available have been working for 24 hours in order to take care of patients in the isolated area.
And President Goodluck Jonathan has asked school owners across the country to consider extending the current holiday until the Federal Government would have carried out a reassessment of the level of the threat posed by the virus.
He also asked religious organisations to discourage gatherings that may increase the spread of the virus and asked that movement of corpses from one community to the other or from overseas into Nigeria should be stopped forthwith.
Also during the week, the President summoned the 36 state governors and their health commissioners to an urgent meeting over the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the country.
On the national conference, the PUNCH headline was "National Conference ends, delegates adopt final report" while the GUARDIAN called it "Delegates okay resolutions as National Conference ends".
According to the GUARDIAN, delegates unanimously approved the prepared reports and entire contents of the three volumes made available to members by the leadership.
This is contrary to the apprehension that there would be disagreement as delegates ended their assignment.
The PUNCH reported that the National Conference officially ended its plenary on Thursday amidst solidarity songs by delegates who adopted its final report.
Thursday’s plenary drew the curtains on the almost five-month conference which was characterised by heated debates, political maneuvering and caucus meetings by various interest groups.
The VANGUARD also treated the story under the headline "Confab: Delegates adopt final report".
It said delegates will now reconvene on 21 August for the closing formalities.
-0- PANA VAO 16Aug2014
"Ebola: Nigeria gets Nano-Silva trial drug", was the headline of the NATION which quoted the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, as telling a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, that the Federal Government is to receive Nano Silver trial drug for treatment of Ebola Virus’ victims. The drug is from a Nigerian scientist.
According to the minister, the drug has been used experimentally for many things.
In its second story on Ebola, titled "Nigeria: we’ll battle Ebola to stand still, says Jonathan", the NATION reported that Nigeria took a stand on Thursday to battle the Ebola disease at a special presidential meeting convened by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Governors, health commissioners, Federal Government officials and the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Nigeria attended the meeting.
The President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the meeting focused on infection control, case management, contact tracing, capacity building and sensitisation.
He said the meeting also focused on the need for synergy and collaboration between Federal and state governments, global partners and civil society.
It discussed the national status reports by the Health Minister and health commissioners.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Prof. Chukwu, said the Federal Government has named four laboratories for testing -- the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos; the Centre for Disease Control in Asokoro, Abuja; University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State and the Redeemer University Laboratory at Kilometre 35, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
According to him, the government is also targeting more laboratories in Jos and Kano and will set up a mobile testing centre in Enugu by the end of the week.
Nine laboratories, he said, would be set up across the country before the end of next month.
Chukwu said Nigeria had 10 confirmed cases, including the Liberian-American who brought the disease, and those who had contact with the index case.
Of the 10 cases, he said, three had been confirmed dead – Patrick Sawyer, the nurse who attended to him and the protocol officer with ECOWAS Commission who was detailed to welcome delegates to conference in Calabar, Cross River State.
“Seven of the 10 confirmed cases are alive and are showing progress with treatment,” he said.
According to him, 177 persons are under surveillance and at the end of the 21-day incubation period, those under surveillance will no longer be under surveillance.
He said there were 21 secondary contact cases in Enugu State under surveillance, adding that a defiant nurse was under observation in Lagos.
Chukwu said the meeting discussed effective communication and the need to provide isolation centres and laboratories for experiments.
The minister said the government’s decision on prohibition of repatriation of bodies from abroad would be enforced.
But he said waivers would be granted after due diligence would have been carried out.
Chukwu said two of such waivers from Kenya and India of Nigerians who died of diabetes and cancer respectively had been granted.
The SUN also ran the story under a similar headline "Ebola: FG to introduce Nano Silver drug for treatment".
Meanwhile, doctors are fleeing hospitals because of the disease.
According to the GUARDIAN, under the headline "Doctors treating Ebola patients down tools",
"The hope of recovery by patients currently being treated for the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) seems to be getting lost, as the doctors and nurses attending to them at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, on Friday, downed tools.
Their action may not be unconnected with reports of allegation of negligence levelled against them by relatives and associates of the dead victims and other Ebola patients in the hospital.
Relatives and associates of the female doctor and other health workers who contracted the EVD from the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, had, at a media briefing on Thursday in Lagos, accused the federal and state governments of neglecting patients.
Similarly, there seems to be no respite in sight between the federal government and the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) as the latter has demanded the immediate reversal of Thursday’s letter by the Federal Government terminating the appointment of 16,000 resident doctors in government hospitals across the country.
However, traditional worshippers in south west Osun State on Friday claimed that there were traditional ways of curing the disease.
The traditionalists, under the aegis of Traditional Worshippers Association of Nigeria, told newsmen in Osogbo, Osun State capital, that the association had discovered herbal medicine that can cure the disease.
The president general of the association, Chief Idowu Awopetu, who was accompanied by members of the association to the Correspondents’ Secretariat in Osogbo, said the outbreak of the disease was a result of the increasing sins of the people, adding that the disease was not new, as it was just one out of the 201 diseases associated with Sanponna, a deity in Yoruba land.
Awopetu said: “Ebola disease is an indication that the gods are angry with the nations of the world.”
Awopetu, who enjoined Nigerians to maintain proper hygiene through frequent washing of hands, avoiding consumption of bush meat as well as avoiding contact with Ebola-infected people, said “with natural herbs the disease can be cured and prevented from the country.
“I consulted Ifa and immediately I finished my consultations, I made my findings known through Facebook. The Ebola disease is not new but it is a punishment for the wrongs done by the people of the country where it was first noticed,” Awopetu said.
As Nigerians are beginning to heave a sigh of relief over the anti Ebola experimental drugs, approved by the U.S. government to Nigeria, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has raised concern over the safety of nano-silver, the name given to the experimental drug as a pesticide.
According to a report credited to Erica Jefferson, a spokesperson for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency could not find or verify any information on the treatment of the drug designated as an anti-bacterial used to fight mold and other bacteria.
They have also expressed concern about the purported makers of the products that contain the substance, saying it must be registered and receive clearance.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday, expressed concern over the “vastly underestimated” scale of the Ebola outbreak as the death toll from the disease reaches 1,069.
The WHO, in a statement, said it had evidence that the number of reported cases and deaths do not reflect the scale of the crisis.
“Staff at the outbreak sites sees evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak.
“WHO is coordinating a massive scaling up of the international response,” the statement said.
“Part of the challenge is the fact that the outbreak is in settings, characterised by extreme poverty, dysfunctional health systems, a severe shortage of doctors and rampant fear,” the statement said.
The agency, however, warned that the risk of transmission of Ebola during air travel remained untrue, as the disease is not airborne.
Also, International President of Medecins Sans Frontieres (doctors without borders), Joanne Liu, said in Geneva on Friday that it would take about six months to bring the Ebola epidemic in West Africa under control.
She said the situation was like “war time” and required greater leadership from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The PUNCH, on Saturday, captioned its story "Ebola: health workers scared, flee hospital". It said afraid of contracting the Ebola virus, health workers at the Yaba Mainland Hospital, Lagos,have been running away from patients isolated in the hospital, thus putting intense pressure on the few ones still treating victims.
Impeccable sources at the hospital said that health workers in the hospital were also being pressured by family members to resign their appointments with the establishment.
Some of them are already avoiding the patients like a plague. As a result of this development, hospital sources said the few health workers available have been working for 24 hours in order to take care of patients in the isolated area.
And President Goodluck Jonathan has asked school owners across the country to consider extending the current holiday until the Federal Government would have carried out a reassessment of the level of the threat posed by the virus.
He also asked religious organisations to discourage gatherings that may increase the spread of the virus and asked that movement of corpses from one community to the other or from overseas into Nigeria should be stopped forthwith.
Also during the week, the President summoned the 36 state governors and their health commissioners to an urgent meeting over the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the country.
On the national conference, the PUNCH headline was "National Conference ends, delegates adopt final report" while the GUARDIAN called it "Delegates okay resolutions as National Conference ends".
According to the GUARDIAN, delegates unanimously approved the prepared reports and entire contents of the three volumes made available to members by the leadership.
This is contrary to the apprehension that there would be disagreement as delegates ended their assignment.
The PUNCH reported that the National Conference officially ended its plenary on Thursday amidst solidarity songs by delegates who adopted its final report.
Thursday’s plenary drew the curtains on the almost five-month conference which was characterised by heated debates, political maneuvering and caucus meetings by various interest groups.
The VANGUARD also treated the story under the headline "Confab: Delegates adopt final report".
It said delegates will now reconvene on 21 August for the closing formalities.
-0- PANA VAO 16Aug2014
