Dirty Environment: State Government Closes Markets In Ogun

The government of Ogun state, Nigeria, yesterday ordered the immediate closure of shops and market stalls in Ifo, Obada-Oko and Owode-Ijako areas of the state for operating in a dirty environment.

The state Deputy Governor, Mrs Yetunde Onanuga, gave the order while monitoring the level of compliance with environmental sanitation regulations by shop owners and market women in parts of the state.

Onanuga, who visited Ewekoro, Ifo and Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Areas, said the government would ensure strict compliance to environmental sanitation laws in homes and business places.

She therefore urged traders in the affected markets to participate regularly in cleaning their environment, to avoid clampdown in the future.

The deputy governor also enjoined people in the state to desist from disposing their wastes in drains and road medians.

She said that a clean environment would help to enhance the productivity of the people.

Onanuga reiterated the state’s commitment to environmental sanitation and its resolve to punish non-compliance.

She stressed that the government would continue to enlighten the general public on the importance of clean environment to healthy living and socio-economic development.

The deputy governor, who noted that “a healthy person is a wealthy person,” declared that the environmental sanitation law was made in good faith.

Mr Monday Cletus and Mrs Adegbesan Adebola, stall owners at Sango–Ota market, commended the efforts of the government, saying that it would improve people’s well being.

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NAFDAC On The Hot Seat As EU Bans Nigerian Foods

These are certainly not the best of times for National Agency For Food And Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the agency in charge of the regulation of food and drugs in Nigeria. The Senate last Thursday, called on NAFDAC to tighten its oversight on locally produced food and agricultural items to ensure global acceptance. This followed a four-point motion by Sen. Francis Alimikhena on European Union’s ban on Nigeria’s agricultural export products.

The products banned by the EU till June, 2016, according to Alimikhena, are beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish, dried meat, peanut chips and palm oil.

He said that the rejected beans, for instance, were found to contain between 0.03 kilograms to 4.6 kilograms of dichlorvos substance, contrary to acceptable limit.

The senate also called on ministries of Agriculture and Health, respectively, Standards Organisation of Nigeria and National Food Safety Management Committee to sanitise food and agricultural products imported into or exported out of Nigeria. It mandated its Standing Committee on Health and Agriculture, when constituted, to look into the matter with a view to overturning the EU ban on Nigerian agricultural products.

The lawmakers equally urged federal and state governments to invest more in the production of agricultural products. They further urged agriculture extension workers to enlighten illiterate farmers on the dangers of chemicals in food.

President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, said the ban by the EU was embarrassing given the strength of Nigeria in the international community. He called on relevant stakeholders to wake up to their responsibilities, adding that “the regulatory agencies should work to reverse this ban. As we talk about diversification we should take a good look at this particularly, because the EU market is closer to us than Asian markets.”

Earlier in his contribution, Sen. Ali Wakili said agencies of government must be strengthened in terms of equipment and welfare. He added that agriculturists should be trained so that products from the country would not be rejected, saying “we have to look inward.”

Sen. Aliyu Sabi  lamented that the EU ban had the potential to affect the country’s revenue.
“One thing is certain, the EU takes standard importantly; the world has gone far and we must wake up else we will remain where we are. How much funding are we giving our research institutes? They have not been funded well in the last five years.

On his part, Sen. Joshua Lidani said that the ban was a wake-up call for the regulatory agencies to closely monitor agricultural products consumed by Nigerians.

It must however be noted that NAFDAC has always been known for its reputation in standards of foods and drugs produced in the country. This has won it many international recognitions. 

An insider who spoke with Nigeria Natural Health Online www.kimekwu.blogspot.com, said an investigation has commence to find out factors behind the ban.

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Urbanisation And The Risk Of Mental Disorders

Do we need to prepare ourselves for a more urbanised and, therefore, more depressed world? With the following article this article aims to stimulate a conversation between urban planning, architecture and neuroscience, in the hope of facilitating a more nuanced understanding of how urban and rural living conditions differentially impact upon our mental health. At a first glance, there are enormous methodological differences between the disciplines of urban planning and neuroscience. Nonetheless, considering the neuroscientific approach to the topic of cities is essential, as from it we can start to understand how city living affects inhabitants’ brain biology and could therefore influence the risk for developing mental disorders. On the bright side, there are also indicators that show a protective aspect of large cities with regards to mental health. Cities, therefore, may lend themselves to facilitating new and appropriate health intervention strategies.

Urban living is on the rise whereas rural living is becoming the exception – in all parts of the world and at an ever-increasing rate. The rapid pace of urbanisation is an important marker of the societal transition at large that has occurred over the past 30 years. Our world is shifting towards an urban, small-family or single household, and at the same time, an ageing society. In the next 30 years we will be faced with the growing challenges specific to our cities’ aged single urban populations.

But urban living is not only about getting older, it is also about getting stressed. Stress is the unspecific physiological and psychological reaction to perceived threats to our physical, psychological or social integrity. And urban living can be threatening if you haven’t enough space of your own, if you experience insufficient security or live under unstable economic conditions. Stress increases with the anticipation of adverse situations and the fear of not having the adequate resources to respond to them. From an evolutionary point of view, stress is the mechanism that prepares us for any ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction, and also causes us to evolve in order to better adapt to our environment. Although not harmful per se, stress may jeopardise our health when stress exposure is chronic or when complete recovery is not possible.

Living in an urban environment is long known to be a risk factor for psychiatric diseases such as major depression or schizophrenia. This is true even though infrastructure, socioeconomic conditions, nutrition and health care services are clearly better in cities than in rural areas. Higher stress exposure and higher stress vulnerability seem to play a crucial role. Social stress may be the most important factor for the increased risk of mental disorders in urban areas. It may be experienced as social evaluative threat, or as chronic social stress, both of which are likely to occur as a direct consequence of high population densities in cities. As for the impact on mental health, social stress seems to outweigh other urban stressors such as pollution or noise. Living in crowded areas is associated with increased social stress, since the environment becomes less controllable for the individual. Social disparities also become much more prominent in cities and can impose stress on the individual. Further, disturbance of chronobiological rhythmsis is more frequent in cities than in rural areas and has a negative influence on mental health and beyond. A recent meta-analysis showed that urban dwellers have a 20 per cent higher risk of developing anxiety disorders, and a 40 per cent higher risk of developing mood disorders. For schizophrenia, double the risk has been shown, with a ‘dose-response’ relationship for urban exposure and disease risk. Longitudinal studies on patients with schizophrenia indicate that it is urban living and upbringing per se, rather than other epidemiological variables, that increase the risk for mental disorders.

As urbanisation of our world is inevitable, we urgently need to improve our understanding of the threatening – as well as the health protective – factors of urban living. Evidence is beginning to surface that indicates that the urban population shows a stronger brain response to stress, and stronger cognitive impairment under stress. A recent fMRI study in the journal Nature, conducted by a German research group, showed that these effects seem to occur irrespective of age, gender, general health status, marital or income status. In this study, the amygdala (a brain region that regulates emotions such as anxiety and fear) showed higher activation under stress in healthy individuals from large cities compared to their counterparts from rural regions. Interestingly, activation grew with the size of the current home city. Further, activity in another brain region associated with depression, the perigenual anteriour cingular cortex, was positively correlated with the time that an individual had spent in a large city as a child. The more years someone had spent growing up under urban conditions, the more active this brain region tended to be.

The author of this piece, Mazda Adli is a Senior Physician in the field of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Director of the Mood Disorders Research Group and Executive Director of the World Health Summit.

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Nigerian Bitterleaf Sold In Capsules And Tablets In The UK

The Nigerian natural health industry is gradually coming of age has capsules made of bitter-leaf from the country are now sold as food supplements in the UK. A source from London, who spoke with Nigeria Natural Health Online www.kimekwu.blogspot.com, reviewed that the bitter-leaf supplements are now in high demand in that country because of its preventive and curative qualities.

As far back as 2013, Nigerian researchers had gone a step further to a universally accepted cure for hepatitis B and C, cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis with the development of bitter leaf-based dietary supplements that have shown great promise in clinical studies. The researchers from Halamin Herbal centre, in Abuja and Department of Histopathology and Cytology, Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) Jos found that poly herbal preparations with bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina) as the active ingredient strengthen the immune system through many cytokines and chemokines regulations. 

 The poly herbal preparations include: SAAAB and HAABS dietary supplement for hepatitis B and C; SAABFAT 7 for cancer; TABSAABS for tuberculosis; and DAABS-2 for type two diabetes.

The researchers led by a leading researcher in plant extracts and natural medicine and pharmacist, Dr. Ben Amodu, have shown that there is a cure for the chronic form of hepatitis B and C.   

Amodu is also a member of the committee inaugurated recently by the Director General of the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, to champion the development of herbal medicine through scientific validation of all the cure claims.

* Bitter-leaf speeds up metabolism and therefore is great for weight loss.

* Bitter leaf juice relieves fever and feverish conditions.

* It also helps to reduce high sugar level in the blood, and great for diabetic patients.

* Bitter leaf is said to soothe and also cure pile.

* Taking a cup of bitter leaf juice a day, is a great way to detoxify the body of harmful toxins.

* Bitter leaf nourishes the skin.

* Bitter leaf also cures mild stomach ailments

* Bitter leaf is said to increase breast milk production in nursing mothers.

Bitter Leaf Capsules is now available in Nigeria and other African countries. To place your orders and get it delivered on your doorstep, call or SMS Frank on +2347031040178.

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Breastfeeding Reduces The Risk Of Cancer, Other Diseases

What are the benefits of breastfeeding?

Today is World Breastfeeding Day, a day set aside to look into issues surrounding breastfeeding as it affects mother and child especially in terms of health. Breastfeeding is a personal choice but there are many benefits for you and your baby if you choose to breastfeed.

If you are able to, then it is best to breastfeed your baby exclusively for six months. After that, your baby will benefit if you continue to breastfeed alongside introducing other foods.

What are the benefits for babies?

Breast milk is the best start for your baby as it contains all the nutrients your baby needs for healthy growth and development.

It also helps your baby to build a strong immune system, meaning there is less chance they’ll have diarrhoea, constipation or chest and ear infections.

There is evidence that breastfed babies are also less likely to develop eczema.
Research also shows that breastfeeding helps babies to grow at a healthy rate. Breastfed babies are less likely to become overweight or obese later in life compared to babies fed on infant formula.

Scientists think this may be because breast milk can help establish our metabolism. This means that by breastfeeding you may be helping your baby be a healthy weight when they grow up.

Being a healthy weight is an important way of reducing the risk of eight cancers including bowel cancer and other diseases such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

Any breastfeeding is beneficial for you and your baby, and the longer you breastfeed for the longer the protection and benefits last.

Many mothers choose to breastfeed because breast milk is free and available whenever your baby needs a feed. Breastfeeding can also help you and your baby to bond.

How does breastfeeding reduce breast cancer risk?

As well as being good for your baby, breastfeeding can also help new mums lose any excess baby weight more quickly. This is one way it can help reduce your risk of breast cancer.
Breastfeeding lowers the levels of some cancer-related hormones in the mother’s body, which can also help reduce your risk of breast cancer.

At the end of breastfeeding, your body gets rid of any cells in your breasts that may have DNA damage. This reduces the risk of breast cancer developing in the future.

Help with breastfeeding

If you are thinking about breastfeeding and need more help and advice, talk to your doctor.
This article was sent in by experts from the World Cancer Research Fund

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"There Is No Cholera Outbreak In Delta State" - Govt.

Dr Ifeanyi Okowa

Contrary to reports in some porters, that there is an outbreak of cholera in some part of Delta state, the state government has come out to refute the claims. Delta State Government debunked rumours of the reported outbreak of Cholera in some parts of the state.

Speaking to reporters on Friday in Asaba, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Sunday Otobo, who led a team of the ministry’s officials, said that there was no confirmed outbreak of cholera in the State but that there were incidents of stooling and vomiting recorded in Aladja and  Udu Local Government Areas.
Dr Otobo explained that various samples had been taken to Lagos for testing and none had been confirmed to be suffering from cholera.

The Permanent Secretary also stated that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa had directed health officers in the 25 local government areas of the State to be proactive in detecting and tackling any outbreak of diseases in all communities.

He  said that the State Governor had also instructed that the water plant in the community be resuscitated and put in use to provide potable drinking water for the community.

 Governor Okowa said that the State Government had taken measures to ensure that the people of the area were sensitised on the need to keep their environment clean and maintain healthy living standard.

“The Ministry of Health is also going to mobilise people in Aladja to make sure that environmental policies that will not endanger the health of the people are put in place, so that everybody in the community maintains a clean environment and also find a way of proper disposal of faeces,” Mr Otobo.

The Permanent Secretary said that the Ministry of Health had a monitoring team on ground in the community to sensitise the people, monitor the situation on ground and report back to the Ministry.

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