Over two-thirds of the world’s population doesn’t have access to safe, affordable, and timely surgical care You know that phrase, “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, you feed him for life”? Yeah, I hate that phrase; it creates a false dichotomy. Why not do both? After all, it’s easier to learn when you’re not hungry. We often construct a similar dichotomy in global health, pitting relief against development, and assuming only one should happen. For many valid reasons, that one is development. It’s a reductionistic view of global health, and…
Author: TheStories
By Abdallah el-Kurebe, reporting from Accra, Ghana The African Union Development Agency of the New Partnerships for African Development (AUDA–NEPAD) on Monday in Accra, Ghana began a two-day training workshop for African journalists and communicators. Participants are members of the African Biosafety Communication Network drawn from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, E-Swatini, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and Zambia. Guided by its implementation drive of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024 (STISA 2024), AUDA-NEPAD has been “engaged in building the pre-requisites for the safe adoption and application of new and emerging technologies such as…
Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike has said that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar is disrespectful to the people of his state because he did not consult him before he picked members of his campaign council from the state. The governor, who spoke at the inauguration of the Rivers State PDP Campaign Council in Port Harcourt on Monday, claimed Atiku selected “enemies” of Rivers into his campaign council for the 2023 general elections. Wike also explained that Atiku’s photos and those of PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu have been missing in PDP campaign materials in…
The messaging app, WhatsApp, is back after millions of users of the social media platform were unable to send, and receive messages. Nigerians and other users of the instant communication app, owned by Meta, had reported that they were unable to either receive or send messages. Tuesday’s outage began around 8:00 am with several of the users heading to other social media platforms like Twitter to lament the development. Both the mobile and web versions of the app experienced similar issues. But the services were restored around 10:00 am (just over two hours after the crash). A check indicated that…
Over the last two decades, advancement in science and technology has made meteorological forecast increasingly accurate. All over the world, policy makers utilise the vast meteorological knowledge, as well as precise and other dependable weather tools, to warn about impending adverse weather days, weeks and months ahead. Whether it is a heat wave, hurricane or flood, authorities avert the most catastrophic fallouts of natural and emergency disasters by promptly responding to early warning signs. However, in Nigeria, such early warnings are sometimes ignored leading to unprecedented human and material costs. A case in point is the recent flood disasters in…
A funding shortfall has forced the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) to make cuts to a number of its operations across the globe The agency said in a statement on Tuesday that at least $700 million in funding was needed before the end of the year, warning that “the next round of cuts in assistance will be a catastrophic for people in need.” It had already scaled back essential programmes, including in Uganda which is currently battling an Ebola outbreak and where the UNHCR was unable to procure enough soap and hygiene kits. In Chad water supply in camps had…
A group, the Bauchi Good Governance Monitor, has said it is excited by the well-deserved recognition of the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed for the Nigerian Excellence Awards in Public Service by President Muhammadu Buhari. The Group, while reacting to the award on Governor Bala in a statement by its convener, Hassan Tijjani Azare, said it is reassuring to the people of Bauchi that their Governor, though in the opposition has been found worthy of the award meant to recognise and reward innovation, purposeful leadership, and other exceptional deserving individual qualities by people that are contributing to the betterment of…
This week, I am in Niamey, Niger Republic engaged in an initiative to create a pathway that could free the Sahel from the existential crisis it faces. In September, a high level panel was inaugurated with an open mandate to galvanise African intellectual and political power in seeking solutions to the insecurity raging in the sub-region and placing development back on the agenda. The Panel is led by the former President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, who working with four other members from the continent. The Panel is supported by the United Nations, the African Union and G5-Sahel and has been…
Poultry farmers have lamented the high cost of production and called for government intervention to address the challenges affecting the sector. The farmers made the call in separate interviews in Lagos on Monday. Mr Iyiola Mojeed, Treasurer, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Lagos state chapter, said the cost of poultry feeds have crippled the sector. Mojeed called for the government’s intervention in permitting poultry association to import necessary components needed for the production of poultry feeds. “The major issue we have in raising poultry and egg production is the cost of inputs for bird feed. The inputs we need to…
As election year draws closer, it is important that the health sector should be one of the main talking points of political conversations. This is because, it is only when one is well and healthy that he/she will begin to think of any economic, political or social activity. However, this has not been the case as ethnicity, religion and other issues have remained on the front burner, forgetting the popular saying that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. This maxim makes it imperative for political office aspirants to articulate a comprehensive health financing mechanism to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC),…