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  • Group Tells Nigerians To Report Cases Of Domestic Violence While Observing Stay-at-home Order

    Group Tells Nigerians To Report Cases Of Domestic Violence While Observing Stay-at-home Order

    Group Tells Nigerians To Report Cases Of Domestic Violence While Observing Stay-at-home Order 1

    Group Tells Nigerians To Report Cases Of Domestic Violence While Observing Stay-at-home Order 2


     

    Women at Risk International Foundation, a non-profit organisation focused on reducing the prevalence of gender-based violence in Nigeria, has urged Nigerians to report any case of domestic or gender-based violence that may occur during the period of stay-at-home order by the government.

    WARIF expressed fear that as the number of Coronavirus cases continue to increase across Nigeria and with stringent measures being put in place for individuals to quarantine and self-isolate, people might be at risk of being harmed by their abusers during the period.

    Founder of WARIF, Dr Kemi Da-Silva Ibru, urged all affected adults and caregivers of young children to make use of its 24-hour confidential help line to report any case of sexual abuse.

    Ibru said, “As borders close down in many countries, and governments institute mandatory lock downs and families are sequestered; children and women at risk will be locked in and quarantined with their abusers in very volatile home environments, we envisage an increase in the cases of domestic and sexual violence as abusers now see this as an opportunity to cause harm to these groups.

    “We urge all individuals at risk to please make use of our 24 hours helpline 0809 210 0009 or send messages to our social media platforms on @Warif_ng.”

     

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    Group Tells Nigerians To Report Cases Of Domestic Violence While Observing Stay-at-home Order
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    http://saharareporters.com/2020/03/28/group-tells-nigerians-report-cases-domestic-violence-while-observing-stay-home-order

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  • Condom shortage looms after coronavirus lockdown shuts world’s top producer

    Condom shortage looms after coronavirus lockdown shuts world’s top producer

    Condom shortage looms after coronavirus lockdown shuts world’s top producer 3

    KUALA LUMPUR: A global shortage of condoms is looming, the world’s biggest producer said, after a coronavirus lockdown forced it to shut down production.

    Malaysia’s Karex Bhd makes one in every five condoms globally. It has not produced a single condom from its three Malaysian factories in the past 10 days due to a lockdown imposed by the government to halt the spread of the virus.

    That’s already a shortfall of 100 million condoms, normally marketed internationally by brands such as Durex, supplied to state healthcare systems such as Britain’s NHS or distributed by aid programmes such as the UN Population Fund.

    “We are going to see a global shortage of condoms everywhere, which is going to be scary,” Karex Chief Executive Goh Miah Kiat told Reuters this week.

    “My concern is that for a lot of humanitarian programmes deep down in Africa, the shortage will not just be two weeks or a month. That shortage can run into months.”

    Malaysia is Southeast Asia’s worst affected country, with 2,161 coronavirus infections and 26 deaths. The lockdown is due to remain in place at least until April 14.

    The other major condom-producing countries are China, where the coronavirus originated and led to widespread factory shutdowns, and India and Thailand, which are seeing infections spiking only now.

    Makers of other critical items like medical gloves have also faced hiccups in their operations in Malaysia.

    Goh said Karex was in the process of appealing to the government for an exemption to operate under specific conditions. Malaysia is approving other essential goods producers to operate with half of their workforce.

    “The good thing is that the demand for condoms is still very strong because like it or not, it’s still an essential to have,“ Goh said. “Given that at this point in time people are probably not planning to have children. It’s not the time, with so much uncertainty.” — Reuters

    Condom shortage looms after coronavirus lockdown shuts world’s top producer
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    https://www.thesundaily.my/local/condom-shortage-looms-after-coronavirus-lockdown-shuts-world-s-top-producer-AG2190121

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  • Covid-19: Chow Kit market remains busy, but with close monitoring

    Covid-19: Chow Kit market remains busy, but with close monitoring

    Covid-19: Chow Kit market remains busy, but with close monitoring 4

    KUALA LUMPUR: The implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) has not stopped people from visiting Chow Kit Wholesaler Market here although the authority has limited the number of visitors who can enter the market at a time.

    A check by Bernama found that customers start queueing up patiently lining-up in very early in the morning while monitored by the police.

    Dang Wangi district police chief ACP Mohd Fahmi Visuvanathan Abdullah said as of 10am today, about 700 visitors had already lined up to enter the market, which was allowed to operate from 6am until 1pm.

    The police divided them accordingly into groups of between 30 and 40 and gave them 20 minutes to enter the market to buy essential goods.

    “Customers need to register their names and undergo body temperature screening before they can enter the market. This is to ensure that they complied with the MCO,” he told reporters after monitoring the MCO implementation at the market today.

    He said the police also set-up a special lane for the elderlies.

    However, he regretted that some visitors did not practice one-meter social distancing or were not wearing face masks.

    Mohd Fahmi Visuvanathan also reminded the people not to visit Chow Kit Market after 1pm.

    “Action will be taken to those who refuse to comply,” he said.

    To date, no arrests have been made by the Dang Wangi District Police Headquarters in relation to MCO implementation.

    Meanwhile, several customers at the market described the entry limit as a good measure to break the Covid-19 infection chain.

    A homemaker Aminah Abdullah, 44, said the 20-minute limit to buy necessities would be sufficient if the customers made initial preparations by listing the items to be purchased.

    “I’m a regular customer in this market … so when I came to the market, I already know my way to the items I need,” she said.

    A civil servant, known as Amir, said he visited the market to buy necessities for his family.

    “I came to buy goods in large quantities for my family because I need to go to Johor afterwards. My wife and children stay in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

    A worker in a private sector, Abdullah Sidek, 44, said as the head of his family he is taking over the task of buying groceries from his wife during the MCO period.

    “I didn’t encounter problems because my wife had prepared a good list of items she needed, everything is in this market,” he said. — Bernama

    Covid-19: Chow Kit market remains busy, but with close monitoring
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  • Schistosomiasis elimination: refocusing on snail control to sustain progress

    Schistosomiasis elimination: refocusing on snail control to sustain progress

    Substantial progress has been made during the past decade to prevent and control schistosomiasis (also known as bilharziasis) globally. The disease affects more than 230 million people, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Progress is mainly due to large-scale periodic treatment of affected populations with praziquantel, the only medicine recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) against all forms of schistosomiasis. Regular treatment cures mild symptoms and prevents
    progression to severe, chronic disease.

    “Through progressive scale-up of periodic large-scale treatment
    to control morbidity in many endemic countries, we are closer to
    achieving the minimum target of 75% global coverage of all school‐aged
    children,    ” said Dr Amadou Garba Djirmay, who leads WHO’s global schistosomiasis control programme. “But
    if we want to achieve elimination, we must go a step further to
    introduce snail control in hot spots and in areas targeting elimination.
    This is bound to increase impact and accelerate progress towards
    interruption of transmission    .”

    Expansion of treatment is largely supported by donated praziquantel from Merck KGaA of up to 250 million tablets annually. In 2018, almost 78 million children were treated, representing 63% of all school‐aged children eligible for treatment.

    Transmission: role of snails

    Schistosomiasis is an acute, chronic parasitic disease caused by infection with trematode worms of the genus Schistosoma. It is prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas, especially in poor, rural communities that have little or no access to
    safe drinking‐water and basic sanitation. Infection is transmitted when people suffering from schistosomiasis contaminate freshwater sources when evacuating urine and faeces containing the parasite’s eggs.

    Once an egg comes into contact with fresh water, it releases miracidia (hatchlings) which enter a snail and produce hundreds of cercariae (larvae) daily. The cercariae enter the human body on contact with the skin and develop into adult worms.

    Besides treatment with praziquantel, eliminating snail hosts and improving sanitation are important methods for sustainable prevention of the disease. Dam and irrigation projects are known to be potential sites for outbreaks of the disease. Snail management,
    often achieved through mollusciciding, can help to reduce transmission by eliminating these intermediate snail hosts.

    Vector control

    In 2017, the World Health Assembly – WHO’s decision making body – adopted resolution WHA70.16 on the Global Vector Control
    Response, calling on Member States to develop or adapt national vector control strategies and operational plans. The strategy aims to reduce by at least 40% the incidence of vector borne diseases, including schistosomiasis, by 2025.

    In response, WHO is reinforcing snail control as part of its strategic approach to achieve the target of eliminating schistosomiasis as a public health problem and, ultimately, the goal of elimination of transmission. Snail control will complement mass
    treatment campaigns and sustain the public health impact of this core intervention.

    To facilitate implementation of snail control, in 2019 WHO published on specific, standardized procedures and criteria for efficacy
    testing and evaluation and in 2017 a manual on the use of molluscicides in the field. WHO is also planning to strengthen capacities
    of health staff in medical malacology in order to reinforce snail control activities in countries.

    In the past, molluscicides (particularly niclosamide1 based products) were widely used in schistosomiasis control programmes. For example, in China programmes largely relied on snail control for over 30 years to overcome the disease as a public
    health problem. In other parts of the world, however, snail control programmes were gradually discontinued and competencies faded away.

    “Snail control is a crucial component of the global schistosomiasis elimination strategy,” said Dr Rajpal Yadav, Scientist, WHO Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. “It
    is time we look for new snail control products that are cost–effective
    and of low risk to humans and the environment. Some efforts are being
    made to explore molluscicide compounds from plants, marine algae and
    microorganisms    .”

    An integrated control strategy involving mass treatment with praziquantel, snail control and environmental modification, wider access to sanitation and safe water, economic and environmental development, health education and poverty-alleviation can greatly
    contribute to sustainable control and elimination of schistosomiasis.

    WHO’s new road map on neglected tropical diseases for 2021–2030, due to be launched later this year, advocates enhanced financial and political support to achieve the target of interruption of transmission. Additional research to address gaps,
    develop tools and optimize the impact of existing programmes with snail control will complement the core strategic approach.

    Schistosomiasis: forms of the disease

    There are two major forms of schistosomiasis – intestinal and urogenital.

    Intestinal schistosomiasis usually results in diarrhoea and blood in the stool; enlargement of the liver and of the spleen and portal hypertension are common in advanced cases.

    Urogenital schistosomiasis is characterized by the presence of blood in the urine. Chronic infection results in fibrosis of the bladder and ureter that can evolve to hydronephrosis and create conditions for bladder cancer.

    In women, urogenital schistosomiasis can cause vaginal bleeding, pain during sexual intercourse and nodules in the vulva, a condition now described as female genital schistosomiasis. In men, urogenital schistosomiasis can induce disease in the seminal
    vesicles and prostate.

    1Limitations with the use of formulations based on niclosamide include restrictions on the usage of water immediately after application and temporary toxicity to non-target aquatic organisms including
    fish, amphibians and invertebrates. 

     

        Schistosomiasis elimination: refocusing on snail control to sustain progress
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      • WHO urges countries to ensure the continuity of malaria services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

         

        The COVID-19 pandemic is testing the resilience of robust health systems around the world. Recognizing the heavy toll that malaria exacts on vulnerable populations in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the region’s fragile health infrastructure, WHO underlines the critical importance of sustaining efforts to prevent, detect and treat malaria.

        “As COVID-19 continues its rapid spread, WHO would like to send a clear message to malaria-affected countries in Africa,” said Dr Pedro Alonso, Director of the WHO Global Malaria Programme. “Do not scale back your planned malaria prevention, diagnostic and treatment activities. If someone living in a place with malaria develops a fever, he or she should seek diagnosis and care as soon as possible.”

        Ensuring access to core malaria prevention measures is an important strategy for reducing the strain on health systems; these include vector control measures, such as insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying, as well as chemoprevention for pregnant women and young children (intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy, intermittent preventive treatment in infants and seasonal malaria chemoprevention). Additional special measures could ease the burden on health systems in the context of COVID-19, such as presumptive malaria treatment and mass drug administration.

        Any interventions must consider the importance of both lowering malaria-related mortality and ensuring the safety of communities and health workers. WHO will provide guidance for countries to safely maintain essential health services in the context of the COVID-19 response.

        About COVID-19

        COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Essential information on the COVID-19 pandemic can be found in a dedicated WHO site.

        About malaria

        Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. In 2018, there were an estimated 228 million cases of malaria worldwide and 405 000 malaria-related deaths. For more on malaria, visit: www.who.int/malaria

         

         

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        https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/25-03-2020-who-urges-countries-to-ensure-the-continuity-of-malaria-services-in-the-context-of-the-covid-19-pandemic

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      • World TB Day 2020: It’s Time for solidarity

        World TB Day 2020: It’s Time for solidarity

        At this unique time in history when the world is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes stands in solidarity with governments and communities as they seek to maintain health services
        and continue to address the needs of patients suffering from HIV and tuberculosis (TB). 

        Despite being preventable and treatable, tuberculosis remains the world’s biggest infectious killer and the leading cause of death among people living with HIV (PLHIV), responsible for 32% of the 770 000 lives lost to HIV in 2018. People
        living with HIV are far more vulnerable (nearly 20 times more) to TB infection than people without HIV and are three times more likely to die during TB treatment.  

        While there are proven interventions that reduce TB deaths – such as provision of TB preventive treatment, adoption of novel diagnostics for earlier TB diagnosis and linkage to treatment, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) – we are far behind
        in scaling these up, and diagnostic and treatment gaps remain, with only half of estimated TB cases among PLHIV reaching care in 2018, only half of estimated PLHIV with TB receiving ART, and less than half of PLHIV new on ART initiating TB preventive
        treatment in a subset of countries which reported globally.

        On this World TB Day, WHO highlights two key interventions to reduce unnecessary TB deaths among PLHIV: 

        • (1) provision of TB preventive treatment for all eligible PLHIV; and 
        • (2) increased uptake of newer diagnostic tests such as the lateral flow urine lipoarabinomannan assay (TB-LAM.) 

        As the new Director for the Department of Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes, I support current efforts to continue and to take to scale TB activities. It’s Time for solidarity!

        -Meg Doherty, Director Global HIV, hepatitis and STI Programmes, WHO

        HIV programmes are encouraged to ensure that TB preventive treatment, including shorter WHO-recommended regimens, with updated guidance launched today, are provided to all eligible PLHIV as part of a routine package of care, including provision of ART, and that treatment completion is ensured.   

        In recent months, WHO has also released guidelines for use of a bedside urine TB-LAM test to accelerate earlier TB diagnosis, with significantly expanded eligibility criteria. As this test is “point of care” with the potential for earlier
        TB diagnosis and treatment initiation, HIV programmes should consider these recommendations as they enhance strategies for TB diagnosis among PLHIV, including as part of a routine package of advanced HIV care. 

        It’s Time to urgently scale up TB preventive treatment and TB diagnosis and strengthen referral and linkages to TB treatment at HIV service delivery points in all countries and continue to scale-up ART among PLHIV with TB. This applies to all populations
        at risk, including children, pregnant women and marginalized groups, to ensure no one is left behind.

        WHO calls for continued collaboration in countries across health programmes for harmonized and integrated policies and service delivery, and engagement with communities and other sectors. Unless HIV programmes scale up interventions to close these
        gaps in prevention, diagnosis and treatment both for TB and HIV, countries and their development partners will not meet our common target: a 75% reduction in TB deaths among PLHIV between 2010 and 2020. HIV mortality cannot be reduced without addressing
        the leading cause: tuberculosis.

         

        World TB Day 2020: It’s Time for solidarity
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        https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/24-03-2020-world-tb-day-2020-it-s-time-for-solidarity

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      • The Political Economy Of Coronavirus By Kunle Wizeman Ajayi

        The Political Economy Of Coronavirus By Kunle Wizeman Ajayi

        The Political Economy Of Coronavirus By Kunle Wizeman Ajayi 5

        The Political Economy Of Coronavirus By Kunle Wizeman Ajayi 6


         

        The most powerful person in Aso Rock, Abba Kyari; who is the chief of staff to the president, has tested positive to Covid19. No government official can reach President Buhari without him. There is a ripe suspicion that the kitchen cabinet might have been infected. Likewise in Europe, the most powerful person, Angela Merkel the chancellor of Germany, has been quarantined. While Trump and Boris Johnson took the same path in trying to ignore the pandemic, their governments are in deep crises of the damages and exposures their neglect has caused the citizens.

        As I type, the fear of corona virus is the beginning of real wisdom as governments are now banning even churches and mosques from gathering. The Nigerian federal ministry of health has announced 42 cases so far. And even the mass of working people who have hitherto doubted our thieving class so far, are now more wary and precautionary over their immediate safety without relying on the failed health institutions. People seldom shake hands now. Corona waves na the way to greet now! That corona virus has turned a corruption racket is what will be duly discussed another day. 

        Industries are closing down as Wall Street falls like pack of cards. US President Donald Trump is shouting “cuts” for the working class and bail-outs for industries and big business. Whereas, Socialist presidential aspirant Bernie Sanders is calling for “healthcare for all” as well as pay for all US citizens staying at home during the pandemic days. The globalised trend of the corona virus needs a global understanding and lessons of how the world is being ruled everywhere. The way US rulers have failed to care for the poor and invest in proper and compulsory healthcare for all but private pharmaceutical companies who make healthcare a commercial quantity that only the rich can afford, is the same way Nigerian rulers failed to build hospitals and kept allocating between 4 to 6% budgetary spending on education while them and their children spend billions on medical tourism. Also, Boris Johnson’s UK government is renting “beds at hospitals.” This is unlike Spain that has nationalized its healthcare!

        The price of crude oil has fallen globally. The global stock exchange has crashed as workers can no longer go to work and make great wealth for their casino. Coronavirus has superceded SARS with its speedy spread and effects globally. So the world economic crises have been, for the first time, propelled by a health crisis. What can the Left and the revolutionaries in Nigeria make out of this global crises that could leave no island untouched? 

        Naomi Klein, the author of the classic ‘The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism’ has come up to warn that “if you’re a hard-core free-market economist, you understand that when market fails it lends itself to progressive change much more organically, than it does (when) the kind of deregulatory policies emerge. Political and economic elites understand that moment of crises is their chance to push through their wish list of unpopular policies that further polarize wealth…”

        I argue that while the government in Nigeria has reduced the cruelly expensive cost of petrol by just #20, and there is lipservice to building new hospitals, there is a larger probability of massive corruption as the federal government has already declared #2trillion intervention fund. Why we the working people have to very much care is because the same elements who created the crises (whichever ways) would end up profiting largely from the crises. This just as many military officers and politicians are billionaires courtesy the Boko Haram war.

        The interplay of methods of these corruptive accumulations on one hand, and the trajectory of working class resistances is critically assessed weighing up why and how the working people were at the loosing ends at the 2008/9 global economic crises that made the Central Bank under the Soludo/Sanusi bail-outs policies made the criminal banks even richer than before. Though a few bank MDs and top officers were detained on “hospital beds” and such other “ajebutter” prisons; no bank owner was even questioned. 

        The fact that both the US and Nigeria are rich governments that have bad healthcare policies, discussing social infrastructures as class struggle under this system of “primitive accumulation” needs to be knocked up as perspectives to guide millions who want an end to crises and build another world that would be for all and not a tiny thieving few.    

        A CLASSLESS PANDEMIC

        The corona virus has shown that the gap between the rich and the poor is just an artificial creation. The nature of humans is more communal than competitive. Plenty of the rich mouth the fact that we are all equal, but some are more equal than others. This virus is a threat to all and shows that the world can organize together and defeat any virus that attacks it. Crises like this shows that there is no policy that is pro-rich that can save society. Most of the capitalists who rule our world have been saying that government cannot help all and cater for the needs of majority. They tend to tell us that getting “healthcare for all” is rocket science. Corona virus has proved that all that is wrong!

        Meanwhile, many Nigerians are debating as to the cause of corona virus, and why it has drawn more attentions than malaria that kills about 800 everyday and child mortality that murders about 300 women daily. These debates became rife when Ibrahim Magu; head of the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) asserted that “corona virus is caused by corruption.” His position, while quite misleading, is correct to the point that the virus is actually caused by the greed of man in unsettling the animal and forest lives. Most of the viruses live in the wildest of forests but humans go in and destroy their habitats. These make the virus homeless and have to migrate to live with humans. 

        The corona virus has also made the Nigerian politicians to have no escapist lives again. Most of them used to go abroad for medical tourism. But there is nowhere to run to now! This is why revolutionaries must use this chance to support striking doctors and demand for free, functionally standard and compulsory healthcare for all. We do not want a situation where the ruling class would use state wealth to build defence and cure for corona virus, only for the rich, instead for all. We must avoid repeating case of the last economic meltdown where what we could see is socialism for the rich and leave the poor uncatered for. This is why we must all reject the paltry #20 that was reduced from oil price as well as condemn the full devaluation of the naira. These policies will make the rich eat their cake and have it. Petrol price should be reduced to at least #45 while naira should be strengthened. The time to consider the #RevolutionNow demands of an “economy for the majority” is now! 

        2008/9: A FLASHBACK 

        When the 2008 global economic meltdown stormed Nigeria, the rulers ordered “technocrats” to adopt the Obama measures in bailing out the banks and their thieving managers. After prosecuting five CEOs of Afribank, Oceanic, Finbank, Intercontinental, and Union bank, The CBN went ahead to put #460bn as bail-outs for the banks after recovering just #70bn. The CEOs lost their posts for giving out #700bn loans without collateral. The loans portfolio of the bank, according to CBN, is #2.8tn. The richest guys in the country were involved in this public racket and were never touched. A good instance is Aliko Dangote who had a loan worth $15m with Oceanic Bank but got elected to replace Ndi OKereke as Nigerian Stock Exchange president. The same person has the monopoly of trading in rice, salt, sugar, textiles, and vegetable oil. The same persons who created the crises in the same place got rewarded after the crises. This is what Naomi Klein is warning about. For the rich, socialism is never good for the majority. The rich, in the time of corona virus and other disasters, want bail-outs but never for the working people. Just as Omoyele Sowore noted; “when crises arises, capitalism retires and socialism becomes the messiah!  

        We must start asking for Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) from the federal government. Every Nigerian must each be paid at least #100,000 monthly as the corona virus effect billing. We should also demand a standard hospital per 5 streets with the doctors and nurses paid appropriately! 

        THE TRUMP/BUHARI DISORDER

        President Buhari’s address to Nigerians has failed to address the pandemic. Trump’s tweets are of the same mental disorders like those of the ministers and officials of Buhari’s government.  Trump boasted that the “virus is under total control…The market will take care of itself,” he had to recant after the Dow Jones Industrial closed with its worst one-day decline since 1987; “The market will be very strong as soon as we get rid of the virus.”

        “But even as he was doing so, Trump maintained that he hadn’t said the virus was “under control,” which is something he has most definitely said on many occasions — along with other attempts to play down fears” CNN noted.

        Garba Shehu and other spokespersons of President Buhari have also been speaking from all sides of their mouths. They first downplayed the effect of the virus by revealing that malaria has been killing hundreds…Until they made some allocations of about $1.2trillion to the virus effects. The question remains the goals of the government. Many Nigerians do not trust the same government that has never given as much as 8% budgetary allocation to healthcare since the Buhari regime came into place, just like the PDP governments before it. While the president is one of the most sick, he prefers to betray electoral promises and visit private hospitals in the UK for months instead of building standard public health care. 

        Working people in US,UK, and Nigeria should look beyond their reactionary rulers and make real political demands that will make sure the same rogues who cause the crises don’t come back to claim to be the super heroes of the same crises. The case of Ebola and Lassa in Nigeria are classics in this regard. While Nigeria was lucky to get over the Ebola case with the sacrifice of health officials; Lassa fever has killed thousands so far loosely tackled because rodents most likely cannot enter luxury houses.

        Nigerians should be aware that both Buhari and Trump are exponents of crazy capitalism and prefers to give false answers to real threats and would only be falsely apologetic later. We must understand that the rulers are neither interested in our well being nor our future. Their fear is that the virus should never become for all. They prefer crises for just the masses. But oga corona no mind. This is why despite Trump trying to call it Chinese virus or Buhari trying to boycott addressing the country, nothing matters to the working people than having a healthy society. Arms in arms, we will have to care for one another and defeat the most dangerous virus ever in the history of the world! 

        OPIUMS ON THE CROSS

        Pastors in Nigeria, aside the ban on public and mass gatherings, are seriously on trial! Many a youths are asking what their “God” would do in this time of corona virus to save the followers from untimely deaths. The first pastor to become so fearless had predicted that he would go to China to cure the virus. But by the time the Italian became the first case in view; the pastor got admitted in a hospital for unknown reasons.

        Also, the mosques are closing shop. Even many are contemplating drinking alcohol to help in preventing corona virus. Despite the fact that many a churches and mosques become well attended public places, the belief in better life and a prosperous world without danger have been the egg tacts around the building of these beliefs. Saudi Arabia has stopped religious visitations. Government everywhere is banning all worshipping junctures. If these bans have been summoned by political demands of the left, it couldn’t have sailed through but the struggle is being marshaled by a pandemic. Bernie Sanders was seen as too extreme but most of those pro-establishment strollers must be shitting in their yanshes now!

        Karl Marx was very clear that “religion is the opium of the masses, the soul of the soulless.” The realizations of the fact that the immediacy of the problems of society can only be derailed if the people think that there is an umbrella or belief that can make some magic. With corona now, even the state that employs religion is not apologetic in banning its public activities. Sadly, many priests still in shock as to a possible demarketing have kept on lying to their congregations. A viral video shows a pastor saying “coronavirus cannot enter Nigeria where there is corrosive anointing;” so cocky in ignorance.  Such public ranting must be condemned.

        CONFUSION BREAK BONE; NAIJA HEALTH IN CRISES

        When the deposed emir of Kano, former CBN governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was banned to Awe in Nassarawa State; the town has two (2) doctors to two hundred thousand (200,000) people. Such is the metaphor of health care in Nigeria.  Most doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel have migrated to other climes in an unprecedented brain drain. As Yusuf posited “7 out of 10 Nigerians live on less than $1.25 (~500 Naira) a day and they also live in a country where 70% of health expenditures are out-of-pocket payments. Nineteen years after the Abuja Declaration where African Union states pledged to allocate at least 15% of their annual budget to health, Nigeria continues to default. With over 23,584 public primary health care facilities, 8,290 private primary health care facilities and 200,000 patent and proprietary medicine vendors (PPMVs) in Nigeria, yet the country’s health indices and other health indicators continue to remain abysmal without any significant improvement compared to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

        Citizens are condemned to self-care using several unregulated drugs and African raw herbs. The yearly allocations to health care in the budget never rise beyond 6 and 8%. This is despite the fact that Aisha, wife of President Buhari once publicly complained that Aso rock clinic has no syringe! At the Teaching hospitals, one has to pay heavily to get health care as the state has been practicing health care commercialization. The medical equipments are really not there while there are so poor remunerations of medical personnel. Yet, when Ebola came knocking in 2014, the health workers paid the sacrifices. 

        Corona virus is global and has now halted the medical tourism of the rich class of whom President Buhari is the chief. If not for Covid-19, he would have gone visiting his London doctors for the umpteenth time!  

        The health workers’ unions have been fighting for a better system for years. This has been led by the Joint Health Staffs Union (JOHESU) and the Nigeria Medical Associations (NMA.) JOHESU has led enormous strikes and pickets but the neo-liberal policies of the ruling class keep ignoring these strikes. As I write, doctors in Abuja are on strike. The rulers are now in a quagmire. This is the time for the unions to collaborate with the civil society and revolutionary movements to take up the state and fight for “free health care for all.”

        THE EXAMPLE OF CUBA

        Fidel Castro’s people are the certified global doctors today! 

        A small island at the backyard of the United States of North America; Cuba is a state-capitalist economy led by revolutionary socialists. While the state have yet boomed since 1959 as a result of the prevailing capitalist globe, it has been vociferous on social welfarism especially education, food, health, and housing. This has been the minimum with which the Communist Party has been working on since the revolution. With its third president in charge now; Cuba is the country that is now rescuing the world from the genocide of corona virus. The vessel that is wholly affected by the virus has been shipped to the Cuban shore and Cuba has been treating the patients on board. Italy is receiving about 200 Cuban doctors and nurses as the catholic country leads the population of casualties. The Cuban health statistics shows that 98% is living healthily just as education is 98.5%. 

        Cuba stood by the world on hurricane Katrina; by South Africa against apartheid; by Angola against imperialist Portugal, and now that “God-forsaken communist country” stands by the world with the best of its great medical care against corona virus. This is a lesson that we need to abide by and make the world a socialist island. The current system of “greed and power” is a pandemic. It is ruled by political viruses that live mainly on primitive accumulations of the sweat and blood of the majority. The working class of all lands should unite and fight capitalism to the ruins and replace it with a world led by the people who make the wealth, not those who do nothing but steal the wealth.  

        IN ALL; THIS PANDEMIC WILL FALL

        The struggle for a safer world is in danger of that “common ruins of the contending classes.” Italy, Nigeria, Spain, China, US, and some others have recorded deaths through corona virus. It is currently rumoured that some senators and members of the House of Representatives have contracted the deadly virus. We have 582 deaths in US and 46,145 cases with only 295 recoveries. One death has been recorded in Nigeria with 46 cases recorded. 6,777 are dead out of 63,927 cases in Italy. China has 16,578 dead in 382,570 incidents. Germany has 29,056 with 123 people dead. German chancellor, Angela Merkel has been quarantined. India with over 1 billion population has about 500 cases with no deaths. 

        The Indian case is very peculiar in lessons for Nigeria. Public health care in all tiers is free and subsidized for those below the poverty line. The Indian health sector encompasses 18% of total outpatient care and 44% of total impatient care. Middle and upper class use public health care less than those with a lower standard of living

        The Covid19 pandemic has exposed big countries like Britain, US, China, Nigeria, and others. The pandemic have also exposed capitalism as an idea that is deficient to the mass of working people. The idea does not care for the majority but the thieving minority. The rich continue to be richer while the poor becomes poorer. We need labour and civil society to work together and reconstitute revolutionary relationships to make sure that working people does not be at the receiving end of this pandemic. We must remember that those who destroy the country must not be allowed to continue with their madness after the covid19. We must demand for #FreeHealthCareForAll!

        We must also demand that world-class hospitals are built massively all over the country and we leave the madness of neo-liberalism in the dustbin of ruins. To do these works, we need a movement of the working people dedicated to the revolution that will build a country for all like the Take It Back movement and the Coalition for Revolution (CORE). Socialist organizations like the Socialist Workers and Youth League (SWL) serve as the political tribunes that remind us all on the ideal and alternatives to the rot that is causing pandemics and wars to the world today.

        Capitalist presidents that combine neo-liberalism and fascism are in deep shit today as the covid19 has exposed their inefficiencies and monumental social infrastructural dangers. The health of the world is the safety net to our wealth. Why would we allow those who care about the wealth alone to continue to rule us? Why should we continue to allow those who think of only the individual and never the collective to continue to rule us? When Greta Thunberg was leading the climate change campaigns, Donald Trump was scolding her. Bernie Sanders, Jeremyn Corbyn, Omoyele Sowore, Elvo Morales, Bobbi Wine and other revolutionary change-seeking eggheads have all campaigned for another world; the point is for we the working people and all oppressed, in unity and action, lead #RevolutionNow to get a life warranty of #FreeHealthCareForAll!

        Nigerians should demand for Cost of living allowance (COLA) of at least #100,000 in order to survive as the country is being locked down. We all must observe hand washing regularly; social distancing; avoid touching of faces, and other sophisticated parts of the body. Government should provide water, gloves and hands sanitizers to all. There is no electricity just as there is very poor housing for the majority of the people. We need the majority of empty house in cities and towns to be massively redistributed. Electricity must be renationalized.

        With all unity and actions, we will defeat the yet another genocidal virus. This also tells us that we must choose to build the world for all and not for the few as the threat of grand barbarism stares us all in the face once again. Rosa Luxembourg would be rolling and smiling in her grave as we are condemned to learn from her battle cry: “socialism or barbarism!” 

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      • New WHO recommendations to prevent tuberculosis aim to save millions of lives

        Geneva –  New World Health Organization (WHO) guidance will help countries accelerate efforts to stop people with tuberculosis (TB) infection becoming sick with TB by giving them preventive treatment.

        A quarter of the world‘s population is estimated to be infected with TB bacteria. These people are neither sick nor contagious. However, they are at greater risk of developing TB disease, especially those with weakened immunity. Offering them TB
        preventive treatment will not only protect them from becoming sick but also cut down on the risk of transmission in the community.  

        As we mark World TB Day 2020, the disease remains the world’s top infectious killer. In 2018, 10 million people fell ill with TB worldwide and 1.5 million people lost their lives to this disease.

        “COVID-19 is highlighting just how vulnerable people with lung diseases and weakened immune systems can be,“ said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The world committed to end TB by 2030; improving prevention is key
        to making this happen. Millions of people need to be able to take TB preventive treatment to stop the onset of disease, avert suffering and save lives”.

        Dr Tedros highlighted the importance to continue efforts to tackle longstanding health problems, including TB during global outbreaks such as COVID-19. At the same time, programmes already in place to combat TB and other major infectious diseases
        can be leveraged to make the response to COVID-19 more effective and rapid.

        Although some progress has been made towards targets set at the UN high-level Meeting on TB in 2018, TB preventive treatment has been largely neglected. Global leaders committed to ensuring access to TB preventive treatment to at least 24 million contacts
        of people with active TB and 6 million people living with HIV by 2022.  To date only a fraction of that target has been reached, with countries putting less than 430,000 contacts and 1.8 million people on TB preventive treatment in 2018.

        TB remains the top cause of death among people with HIV. TB preventive treatment works synergistically with antiretroviral therapy to prevent TB and save lives. Reinvigorated efforts by governments, health services, partners, donors and civil society
        will be needed to increase access to TB preventive treatment to the levels targeted.

        The new consolidated guidelines recommend a range of innovative approaches to scale up access to TB preventive treatment:

        • WHO recommends a scale-up of TB preventive treatment among populations at highest risk including household contacts of TB patients, people living with HIV and other people at risk with lowered” immunity or living in crowded settings.
        • WHO recommends an integration of TB preventive treatment services into ongoing case finding efforts for active TB. All household contacts of TB patients and people living with HIV are recommended to be screened
          for active TB. If active TB is ruled out, they should be initiated on TB preventive treatment.
        • WHO recommends that either a tuberculin skin test  or interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) be used to test for TB infection. Both tests are helpful to find people more likely to benefit from TB preventive treatment
          but should not become a barrier to scale-up access. Testing for TB infection is not required before starting TB preventive treatment in people living with HIV, and children under 5 years who are contacts of people with active TB.
        • WHO recommends new shorter options for preventive treatment in addition to the widely used 6 months of daily isoniazid. The shorter options that are now recommended range from a 1 month daily regimen of rifapentine plus isoniazid
          to 3 months weekly rifapentine plus isoniazid, 3 months daily rifampicin plus isoniazid, or 4 months of daily rifampicin alone.

        “As people around the globe come together to commemorate World TB Day, WHO is calling on governments, affected communities, civil society organizations, health-care providers, donors, partners and the industry to unite forces and step up
        the TB response – notably for TB preventive treatment – to ensure no one is left behind,” said Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of WHO’s Global TB Programme. “The new WHO guidance shows the way forward for millions to rapidly
        access new tools and shorter, safer options for preventive treatment. The time for action is now.”

        TB preventive treatment is an affordable intervention that can prevent families from sliding into poverty and preserve the health and economy of whole communities. WHO anticipates that as new and safer drugs come onto the markets, and as prices
        fall, it will become a highly-cost effective way to save millions of lives.

         

        NOTES FOR EDITORS:

        WORK BY WHO AND PARTNERS

        WHO works closely with Member States including the US Government and technical and funding partners such as UNITAID to enhance access to shorter TB preventive treatment regimens. UNITAID-supported projects such as IMPAACT4TB and Cap-TB projects
        enabled by WHO with partners in Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and
        Zimbabwe are leading the way. The new treatment options are also now more affordable, thanks to the significant price drop of rifapentine – a key drug – facilitated recently by UNITAID, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
        and global biopharmaceutical company Sanofi, along with forthcoming arrangements underway with generic manufacturers.

        MORE ABOUT THE GUIDELINES

        The new consolidated WHO guidelines come with an operational handbook to help guide countries step-by-step as they take TB preventive treatment to scale. This includes guidance on how to prioritize and invest from demand creation for TB prevention
        to supervision and monitoring of the programme.

        The guidelines and operational handbook are also accompanied by an innovative mobile application – Prevent TB –to help health-care workers manage TB preventive treatment in their communities. Its online dashboard allows programme
        managers to visualize and monitor data in real time. The application can be customized by countries to suit their specific settings and is currently being adopted in India and Philippines.

        WORLD TB DAY

        The new guidelines and tools are being released ahead of World TB Day. World TB Day is observed on March 24 each year to raise public awareness and understanding about the world’s deadliest infectious killer – TB and its devastating
        health, social and economic impact on people around the world. Under the theme “It’s Time”, the spotlight this year is on urgently accelerating the TB response to save lives and end suffering.

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      • BREAKING: Governor’s Advisory Council To Meet Over Lagos Assembly Crisis

        BREAKING: Governor’s Advisory Council To Meet Over Lagos Assembly Crisis

        BREAKING: Governor’s Advisory Council To Meet Over Lagos Assembly Crisis 7

        BREAKING: Governor’s Advisory Council To Meet Over Lagos Assembly Crisis 8


        The Governor’s Advisory Council is being convened to intervene in the imbroglio that has engulfed the Lagos State House of Assembly. 

        The state Assembly has sacked two principal officers and suspended two other lawmakers indefinitely. 

        The Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, is battling to save his seat after revelation of several financial misconduct perpetuated under him.

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        BREAKING: Governor’s Advisory Council To Meet Over Lagos Assembly Crisis 9

        Corruption

        EXPOSED: Speaker Of Lagos Assembly, Obasa, Awards Contracts To Self Through Company Registered In Son’s Name

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        1 Day Ago


        With reports by SaharaReporters exposing some of the shady deals of the Speaker and his surrogate companies, the panic button was pressed by Obasa. 

        He was reported to have urgently mobilised some members of the GAC to convene the meeting and intervene to save his seat. 

        SaharaReporters had published a report highlighting a list of companies the Speaker had been using to award contracts to himself and launder public funds.

        To avoid a direct linking to himself, Obasa did not use his name to register but used his father, wife and children as shareholders in the company. 

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        BREAKING: Governor’s Advisory Council To Meet Over Lagos Assembly Crisis 10

        Exclusive

        EXCLUSIVE: Lagos Assembly Speaker Breaks Into Offices Of Removed Principal Officers As House Crisis Rages

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        2 Days Ago


        A member of the GAC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the Speaker was alleged to have sent some huge amount of money to a member, Mutiu Are, on Monday evening for distribution among some members of the council. 

        Chairman of the council, which has Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu as member, is Asiwaju Bola  Tinubu. 

        It is suspected that Asiwaju, who has been in self-imposed isolation since his return from London last week, would be in attendance personally.

         

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      • Thermal scanners set up to screen departing passengers at KLIA main terminal

        Thermal scanners set up to screen departing passengers at KLIA main terminal

        Thermal scanners set up to screen departing passengers at KLIA main terminal 11

        KUALA LUMPUR: All passengers departing from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) main terminal will now undergo body temperature screening through the use of thermal scanners placed before the check-in areas.

        The screening for departing passengers runs from today until further notice, said Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), which operates KLIA as well as 38 other airports in the country.

        “This is one of our many efforts to combat the Covid-19 outbreak and ensure the safety of all passengers and the airport community,” MAHB said in its social media postings.

        It said the scanners are placed between the entrance to check-in counters B and C, as well as counters H and I.

        Only departing passengers, staff and crew with a body temperature below 37.5 degrees Celcius are allowed to pass through the screening point into the check-in areas, the airport operator said.

        “No senders and greeters will be allowed into the check-in areas. Exceptions will be given for one guardian of children or passengers needing special assistance,” it said.

        A person who is denied entry needs to inform the respective airline and is recommended to immediately go to the clinic or hospital for a health check, MAHB added. – Bernama

        Thermal scanners set up to screen departing passengers at KLIA main terminal
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