Nearly 90 million children in the world under one year old live in countries where fathers are not entitled to paid paternity leave, a new analysis by the United Nations Children Funds (UNICEF) has revealed. According to a press statement by UNICEF on Thursday, the analysis disclosed 92 countries do…

Over 20 billion sticks of cigarettes are consumed annually in Nigeria, the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, has said. Mr Adewole also said 4.5 million adults currently use tobacco products, while about 82 per cent of people who visit bars and nightclubs are exposed to second-hand smoke. The minister, who spoke during…

The National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has shelved its planned strike. This was the decision reached at a scheduled meeting by the doctors which ended late on Saturday night. Hours after health workers under the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) suspended their nationwide strike after 44 days, the resident…

Hours after health workers under the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) suspended their nationwide strike after 44 days, the Nigeria Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) on Thursday served a notice of its own looming strike. Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday when JOHESU announced the suspension of a strike that crippled services…

The Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) has suspended its nationwide strike that started six weeks ago. The union announced the decision on Thursday, via a communique issued at the end of its National Executive Council meeting. In the communique signed by Biobelemoye Josiah, the national chairman of JOHESU, the union…

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, on Monday paid an unscheduled visit to the Port-Health Service stand of the Nnamdi International Airport Abuja in an effort to ensure that screening measures are heightened at all ports of entry. In a press statement released by the ministry, the minister’s visit was…

As Nigeria joins the rest of the World to commemorate the 2018 Menstrual Hygiene Day, a group, WaterAid, has said nearly half of the schools in Nigeria do not have basic toilets. These toilets, it added are meant to enable adolescent girls manage their menstrual hygiene properly. The Country Director,…

Despite calls for his sack by striking health workers, the health minister has expressed the government's commitment to end the strike. The health workers, JOHESU, have been on strike for about a month, causing hardship to millions of sick people who use Nigeria's public hospitals. They called for Mr Adewole's…

The Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) has called for the immediate removal of Isaac Adewole as Nigeria's Minister of Health. The union said his continued stay remains a major barrier to the resolution of the ongoing nationwide strike by health workers. The minister has been at the forefront of the…

Uneasy was the contenance on Ebele Nwaka as she struggled to climb down one of the stairs of Asokoro District Hospital. Mrs Nwaka is carrying a seven-month old pregnancy and she is an albino. As our correspondent helps her down the stairs, she complained bitterly. "I came to see my…

Patients in federal health institutions are currently passing through untold pain even as their relatives have been grumbling for the past 22 days as a result of the ongoing strike by health workers, an investigation by PREMIUM TIMES has shown. Three weeks ago, JOHESU, an association of health workers except…

The United States government has donated about $90 million to support the forthcoming HIV survey in Nigeria. The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the survey. The agreement was signed by the minister, the United…

Only one production site of pharmaceutical firm, Emzor, was shut contrary to the claim of the food and drug regulator, NAFDAC, the company said on Tuesday. In a series of tweets on its Twitter handle, Emzor said NAFDAC only sealed its liquid line. It said the rest of its manufacturing…

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC) has shut down three major pharmaceutical companies for their alleged involvement in the codeine syrup abuse currently ravaging youth in Nigeria. The companies shut are Emzor Pharmaceuticals Ind. Ltd., Peace Standard Pharmaceutical Limited, and Bioraj Pharmaceutical Limited. In a…

Ngozi Ezeokeke slowly wheeled her aged mother through the corridors of the Federal Medical Centre, Jabi, on Saturday, and the patient's pains were clear on her face. She was drooling, her neck dropped to the shoulder. "Her condition has worsened because nurses are not around to give her regular therapy,"…

"That greenish water over there is our only source of water in this village," Idris Adamu Danjaka said. A man of about 60 years, he was referring to the water in a dam the Nigerian government built in Danjaka, a village in Kunchi Local Government Area of Kano State. The…

The US President Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has spent about $4.7billion in the past 14 years to fight HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. The Country Director, US Public Health Service, Mahesh Swaminathan, stated this on Thursday at a press conference attended by Nigerian officials on the forthcoming Nigeria Aids Indicators…

Binta Nuhu is a Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) in Igu, a community in Bwari on the suburb of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory. In this interview with Premium Times' Nike Adebowale, Mrs Nuhu talks about her practise, experiences and challenges. PT: Can you give a brief detail of yourself? Nuhu: My name is…

Zaid Jurji is the Chief of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for UNICEF Nigeria. In this exclusive interview with ‘PREMIUM TIMES’ Nike Adebowale, he talks about the WASH project, funding and the problem of open defecation in Nigeria. PT: WASH is one of the projects the United Nations Children’s Fund…

The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) have called a bluff of the federal government's threat to invoke the ‘no work no pay rule’ rule should the unions persist in continuing with their strike. The strike has crippled health care delivery in parts of the country. The union said it is…

Nigeria needs about $2.7 billion (N824 billion) to buy vaccines over the next 10 years to enable it achieve its target of 84 per cent immunisation coverage by 2028, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has said. The Executive Director of NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib, said the investment will…

The federal government says it will invoke the 'no work no pay rule' rule if the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) persist in their strike, which has crippled health care delivery in parts of the country. “If this group of health workers persists on continuing this strike, government will be…

There was partial observance in public hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory of the industrial action by the Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU. JOHESU, the association of other health workers apart from medical doctors and dentists, on Tuesday midnight commenced an indefinite strike over failure by the federal government to…

Medicines for Malaria Ventures (MMV) says it is working with various organisations to develop new combination therapies to address the challenges of anti-malarial drug resistance. MMV is an organisation that aims to reduce the burden of malaria in disease endemic countries by discovering, developing and delivering new, effective and affordable…

Asabe Joshua resides in Igu, a suburb of Abuja, Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory. Located about 15 kilometres from Bwari town of Bwari Local Government Area, the community is as rural as you are likely to find in many other parts of Africa's largest economy. A public primary health care centre…