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Current Feed ContentNIGERIA: Painkiller leaves 84 children deadHealth authorities in Nigeria announced on 4 February that 84 children have died and a further 27 have fallen ill since November as a result of ingesting a pain-relief syrup called ‘My Pikin’. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) discovered in November that the product contained the chemical Diethylene glycol, which can be lethal to babies and children. The chemical has been involved in a number of poisonings in the past after being added to medicines,...NIGERIA: Northern states on high alert for meningitisNigerian health authorities have placed northern states on high alert following a meningitis outbreak in neighbouring Niger, which according to the World Health Organization (WHO) killed 17 people and infected 382 in January. “In view of the fact that there are certain states sharing boundaries with Niger Republic, we have adopted a stitch-in-time strategy of putting these states on a state of high alert,” said Nigerian Health Minister Babatunde Osotimehin in a 4 February statement. The...NIGERIA: Malaria kills 401 peopleMalaria has killed 401 people in the last four weeks in northern Nigeria’s Katsina state, according to local health officials. “In the last 28 days 401 people have died of malaria which has become endemic in the state,” Halliru Idris, director of public health in the state’s health ministry, told IRIN. The death toll could be much higher because this figure does not reflect those who died at home, he said. WHO has recorded up to 50,311 malaria cases in Katsina state since September 19, which...NIGERIA: Cholera outbreak kills 97 in northLocal government officials say cholera outbreaks across Katsina, Zamfara, Bauchi and Kano states in northern Nigeria have killed 97 people in the past two weeks, making it the worst outbreak in the north for several years, according to an official from National Primary Healthcare Agency (NPHA) in Abuja. More than 60 people have died in Zamfara state in the past two weeks, according to Tukur Sani Jangebe, Zamfara’s state commissioner for religious affairs. “It is quite alarming and it is quite...NIGERIA: Sickle-cell disorder killing 100,000 infants a yearAt least 100,000 infants die from the sickle-cell genetic disorder in Nigeria every year, and the country still has the highest incidence of the illness in Africa. “From available statistics, 100,000 infants die from sickle-cell disease in Nigeria annually, making it the number one sickle-cell endemic country in Africa,” Sadiq Wali, president of the Nigeria Sickle-cell Foundation, told IRIN. “Based on World Health Organization [WHO] indices, Nigeria accounts for 75 percent of infant...NIGERIA: New bird flu strain confirmedA highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza never previously registered in sub-Saharan Africa has been detected in northern Nigeria but local health officials have downplayed the significance. “After a 10-month lull, we have recorded avian influenza outbreaks in two northern states and laboratory analysis showed that the virus belongs to the sub-type related to a different kind [of bird flu] that is found in Europe,” Ibrahim Ahmed, chief epidemiologist in Nigeria’s Federal Department of...NIGERIA: Two million at risk of radiation cancerNigerian environmental and health officials warn that slightly radioactive tailings found in abandoned mines in central Nigeria’s Plateau state poses a health risk to around two million inhabitants. Laboratory analysis conducted earlier this year by officials from Nigeria’s nuclear research agency of 1,100 abandoned mines where tin and a mineral called columbite had been mined showed levels of radiation that could be harmful to human health, the officials said. “The people living around these...NIGER-NIGERIA: Porous border aids human traffickingNigeria’s porous border with its northern neighbour Niger is being exploited by traffickers smuggling teenage girls to Europe where they will work as prostitutes, immigration officials told IRIN. “Our 910 kilometre boundary with Niger is too much for us to police which provides human traffickers an advantage to conduct their trade of smuggling young girls to Europe for prostitution,” Oemi Bio Ockiya, head of the Nigerian immigration department in Kano told IRIN. Ockiya said girls... |
