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Showing posts with label against. Show all posts
Showing posts with label against. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Agrifood: Quadripartite welcome political commitment against antimicrobials - NaijaAgroNet

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The Third Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance, hosted in Muscat, Oman, concluded last weekend, where targets to address the global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) challenge were discussed for the first time. 
The conference and its numerical targets for antimicrobial use in the human and animal sectors will pave the way for bold political commitments at the forthcoming UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR in 2024.

Friday, December 6, 2019

UK court rejects Ogoni suit judgment against Shell - NaijaAgroNet

A United Kingdom-based court has dismissed the application by some leaders of Ejamah Ebubu community in Ogoniland to register the judgement of a Nigerian Federal High Court in the country for enforcement, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Claimants had applied to register the judgement to enforce a N183 billion judgment sum, which was the judgement sum and the interest over the spill incident in the community in or about 1969, a spill Shell Petroleum Development Company said arose from third party activities during the Nigerian civil war.

The company also said the spill site had since been remediated.
The claimants recalculated the High Court judgement of N17 billion plus interest to be N183 billion as at January 2019, but admitted to the UK court that the sum was overstated.

The claimants also obtained an order of a Nigerian court to seize and sell the assets of SPDC to satisfy the said judgment, while the matter is still the subject of several proceedings, including pending appeals at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

In the judgement, on Thursday, a copy of which was obtained by NaijaAgroNet, the UK court declined the request for registration of the Nigerian court judgment after finding that SPDC suffered a serious breach of natural justice “through being prevented from presenting its defence to the claim” in Nigeria.

The court also the claimants overstated the judgement sum.
Reacting to the ruling, spokesperson for Shell Nigeria, Bamidele Odugbesan, said: “This spill was caused by third parties during the Nigerian Civil War, a challenging period which resulted in significant damage to oil and gas infrastructure in the region. While SPDC does not accept responsibility for these spills, the affected sites in the Ebubu community were fully remediated.

“We are pleased that the English court has rejected the registration of this judgement for enforcement in the UK. This matter is still the subject of several proceedings in the Nigerian Courts, including pending appeals at the Supreme Court of Nigeria, and it remains our position that no payment is due. It is regrettable that the legal process in this case has focused for so long on procedural issues and not the merits of the case when we have always maintained that we are ready to defend this case based on the available facts.”

Isaac Oyimah/Editor

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Wednesday, July 4, 2018

African leaders unite against malaria, launch ‘Zero Malaria Starts with Me’ - NaijaAgroNet

African leaders have launched the Zero MalariaStarts with Me, a continent-wide campaign co-led by the African Union Commission and the Roll-Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership to End Malaria, to see more people involved in the fight against the disease that kills over 400,000 Africans every year, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Following reports that malaria cases have increased for the first time in more than a decade, Zero Malaria Starts with Me seeks to reignite a society-wide movement to get back on track efforts that contributed to a 60% decline in cases and saved an estimated 7 million lives since 2000, and to help meet the goal of eliminating malaria across Africa by 2030.

The campaign, unveiled Sunday during the AIDS Watch Africa Meeting at the 31st African Union Summit by President Macky Sall of Senegal and King Mswati III of Eswatini and endorsed by 55 (TBC) African Heads of State and Government today, empowers communities to take greater ownership of malaria prevention and care, and to mobilise additional resources for the effort.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Chair of the African Union, says: “The African continent accounts for over 90% of the global malaria burden. It is in this context that we have launched the “Zero Malaria Starts with Me” campaign, a continent-wide public-facing campaign for a malaria-free Africa. The campaign will reignite grassroot movements in which individuals, families, communities, religious leaders, private sector, political leaders, and other members of society pledge to take responsibility in the fight against malaria.”

Inspired by Senegal’s nationwide campaign of the same name launched in 2014, Zero Malaria Starts with Me is now being rolled out across the African continent to encourage all citizens – political, business, community and religious leaders, as well as individuals, families and communities – to make a personal commitment to ending malaria for good.

To date, over 20 African nations have committed to join in supporting the campaign, with presidents of Uganda, Zambia and Mozambique already launching nationwide campaigns that include large-scale bed net distribution drives to establishing high-level national End Malaria Councils and parliamentary groups on malaria. Others, including the First Ladies of Ghana and Niger, have pledged to do more to engage leaders and communities to fight malaria in their countries.

President Macky Sall of Senegal comments: “In my country, malaria has long been a major public health concern threatening the socio-economic development and structural transformation trajectory that has put our country on a firm path to sustainable development. It is through national ownership, shared responsibility and global solidarity that we can defeat malaria for good.”

HM King Mswati III of the Kingdom of Eswatini, Chair of the African Leaders’ Malaria Alliance, says: “This campaign further reinvigorates our commitment to eliminate malaria in Africa as we now call upon all our people at all levels to work with us in ridding our continent of this scourge. I urge all governments to invest more in fighting the disease, however the success of this campaign will depend on partnerships and on collaboration across sectors and amongst our population, for as government, we cannot win this fight against malaria alone.”

The campaign offers simple tools to increase community participation in malaria elimination efforts, keep pressure up on leaders to stay committed to ending the disease, and forge new partnerships that can contribute additional funding that will increase access to treatment, improve diagnosis and prevention against the deadly disease. Campaign resources are provided via a Zero Malaria Starts with Me toolkit available at www.zeromalaria.africa.


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Thursday, November 30, 2017

Tutu fellows write AU, UN against Libya slave exploit

The Archbishop Tutu Fellows have written to the African Heads of State and the international private sector, Civil Society and multilateral organisations on its stand against the Libyan slave exploits, describing it as the ”great stain’ on African soil, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Mimi Kalinda of the African Communications Group of African Leadership Institute (AFLI) called on the leaders of private sector and civil society organisations, policy makers at the United Nations and the African Union and fellow Africans, saying that slavery in Libya is a crime against humanity.

They also said immediate action is required by all stakeholders, including African governments, to put an end to this outrageous practice and hold responsible parties accountable.

AFLI equally said that there are three great stains on humanity; war, genocide and slavery.

They are the great stains not only because they are the fertile soil for many other debasing evils; they are Great Stains because they are assaults and crimes against humanity.

The prevalence of war, genocide and slavery historically, they said, is by no means the measure by which “we as humanity can accept such behavior as normative, then or now.”

Slavery, AFLI said, has spawned intergenerational social and economic disruption to the Continent of Africa and other areas; and has stolen the liberties and lives of people for the commoditization of their bodies against their will.

Further, they said, the slave trade is a crime against humanity, saying in part, “It is abhorrent to humanity. It is monstrous. It is an assault on the dignity of all.
Slavery can and must be stopped.”


Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Monday, May 1, 2017

Nigeria under-funds fight against malnutrition, needs $912m - Experts

Nigeria is currently under-funding its fight against malnutrition as the nation needs $912 million to tackle the scourge, especially of child malnutrition which is presently pillaging the country, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Revealing this to NaijaAgroNet at a two-day Media Dialogue on “Leveraging Resources for Child Malnutrition in Nigeria” held weekend in Enugu, South-East Nigeria, Director of Nutrition at the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, Dr. Chris Osa Isokpunwu, described the situation as a major challenge in the country fight against child malnutrition.

Isokpunwu, who delivered paper on “Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria: What Will It Cost?” lamented that there are currently about 2.5 million severely malnourished children in Nigeria.

The medical expert quoted Federal Ministry of Health figures as showing that not less than $912 million is required to tackle child malnutrition in the country over the next five years if the problem is not to get worse.

He pointed out that the national budget provided only N2.4 million for child nutrition in 2016, while nothing was provided in the 2015 budget and N30 million was provided in 2014 but was not released.

Also, he noted that the budget for child nutrition was created for the first time in Nigeria in 2014, describing child malnutrition as “a silent killer which has to be stopped” in view of its devastating consequences.

In her paper entitled “Child Nutrition Situation in South-East and South-South Zones of Nigeria”, Ngozi Onuora, Nutrition Specialist at the Port Harcourt office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), decried that every single day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-five-year-olds and 145 women of childbearing age as a result of malnutrition.

According to her, this makes the country the second largest contributor to the under-five and maternal mortality rate in the world.

Onuora equally said, there are multiple dimensions of child malnutrition which could co-exist in individuals, households and populations, including stunting, wasting, micronutrients deficiencies, overweight and obesity. “These are all manifestation of under-nutrition,” she said.

NaijaAgroNet gathered from statistics provided at the Media Dialogue by nutrition experts that malnutrition, though a national problem is much worse in the North.
As said by the experts at the dialogue held on Thursday and Friday, April 28 and 29, 2017, in Enugu, the statistics showed that the total number of children affected by malnutrition in the South-East in 2016 was 34,889 while 6,700 deaths were recorded.

Also, NaijaAgroNet gathered that  in the South-South, 86,304 children were affected, out of which 16,700 died, while the South-West had 84,417 cases and 16,300 deaths; North-West 1,594,462 cases and 308,000 deaths; North-Central 43,635 cases with 8,400 deaths; and North-East 695,998 cases and 134,000 deaths.

Malnutrition, experts say, not only contributes to close to 50 per cent of deaths in children under five, but also results in a massive cost for the nation.


The Media Dialogue attracted print, electronic and online journalists from Enugu, Lagos and Abuja. Moderated by Geoffrey Njoku, UNICEF Communication Specialist, and Mrs. Ibiba H. Bello, Head, Child Rights Information Bureau, Federal Ministry of Information, Abuja, the event featured a broad spectrum of experts who explored various relevant themes. They included Dr. Bamidele Omotola, Nutrition Specialist at UNICEF Abuja; Dr. Ken Ozoemena, Social Policy Specialist, UNICEF Enugu Office; and Onche Odeh, a Communication Consultant among others.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE
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Monday, February 20, 2017

Clinical Trial: Sanaria’s PfSPZ-CVac vaccine achieves high-level protection against Malaria

A clinical trial has seen Sanaria’s PfSPZ-CVac vaccine achieving a high level protection against Malaria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

A report by the Nature described the achievement as a complete protection after 10 weeks with three doses of PfSPZ-CVac, investigators from the University of Tübingen noted that all nine subjects (100 per cent) immunized with three doses of Sanaria PfSPZ-CVac malaria vaccine in a recently completed clinical trial were protected against Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

This, NaijaAgroNet gathered was after they were exposed to the disease 10 weeks after their last vaccine dose, according to the Director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine at the University, led by Professor Peter Kremsner.

He explained that PfSPZ-CVac was administered to the nine subjects three times over eight weeks; the research demonstrated the three doses were also safe and effective when administered over just 10 days. Scientists at the Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that assays of the subjects’ cellular immunity correlated with vaccine-induced protection. A team from Antigen Discovery Inc. that studied the antibody responses of the nine protected individuals, identified 22 malaria parasite proteins that could be the targets of protective immune responses.

Sanaria founder and CEO, Stephen L. Hoffman, MD said, “We are extremely encouraged by these findings. Clinical trials of PfSPZ-CVac underway in Germany, the U.S., and Equatorial Guinea, and soon to start in Mali, Ghana, the U.S., and Gabon will lead to an optimized vaccination regimen that we expect to move rapidly into phase 3 clinical trials and licensure. The ability to complete an immunization regimen in 10 days will facilitate the use of PfSPZ-CVac in mass vaccination programs to eliminate the malaria parasite and to prevent malaria in travelers.”

PfSPZ-CVac is composed of live, purified malaria parasites and the antimalarial drug chloroquine. Volunteers in the clinical trial received three 0.5 mL injections of the vaccine by rapid direct venous inoculation. Ten weeks after their last immunization, all nine subjects who received the highest dose of malaria parasites were protected against the injection of live malaria parasites.

The clinical trial included 42 adult volunteers, 21-45 years old. Twenty-seven volunteers received PfSPZ-CVac at varying doses to evaluate alternative dosage regimens. There was no difference in adverse events between volunteers who received the vaccine and those who received the saltwater placebo. They were enrolled, vaccinated and assessed under the direction of Benjamin Mordmüller, MD at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen.

The German Center for Infection Research funded the current trial with additional support from Sanaria. Sanaria receives research support and funding from NIAID, which supported vaccine manufacture for this trial, and multiple other institutions in the United States, Europe, and Africa, most of which participate in the International PfSPZ Consortium and will continue its fund-raising efforts to expand its research and clinical programs.

According to the World Health Organization, African children are hardest hit by malaria. The WHO estimates that in 2015 malaria caused 214M clinical episodes and 438,000 deaths worldwide; others have estimated up to 730,500 malaria deaths in 2015. This enormous morbidity and mortality occurs despite investment of billions of dollars in malaria control efforts. Malaria is also a concern for tourists, diplomats, business travelers, aid workers, industrial workers, and military personnel worldwide.

Professor Ogobara Doumbo, Director of the Bamako Malaria Research Training Center at the University of Bamako, Mali, said, “Those of us in countries where people’s lives are devastated by malaria have been waiting for a highly effective malaria vaccine for decades. We are excited about these new results with PfSPZ-CVac in Germany, and are proud to be able to initiate the first field trials of PfSPZ-based vaccines in Mali, West Africa in collaboration with our colleagues from the Laboratory of Malaria Immunology and Vaccinology, NIAID, NIH and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.”


Also commenting, Professor of Tropical Medicine and Travel Medicine, Dr. Martin Grobusch, who also is the Director of the Center of Tropical Medicine at the University of Amsterdam’s Academic Medical Center, a clinic that cares for more than 16,000 travelers annually, said, “Travelers continue to be at high risk of acquiring malaria. A vaccine like PfSPZ-CVac that provides complete protective immunity for 10 weeks and can be administered in less than two weeks will be an ideal tool for the prevention of malaria in the traveling population.”

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Buhari, 36 governors: ‘Devote 5% of security votes on child malnutrition’

NaijaAgroNet:
The President, Muhammadu Buhari and all the 36 State Governors have been enjoined to devote, at least, five per cent of their security votes to the fight against child malnutrition in Nigeria, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Participants at the a two-day Media Dialogue on Child Malnutrition organized by UNICEF in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture for media practitioners, nutritionists and other stakeholders in Nigeria, in Owerri, Imo State made this call.

For participants, there could be no greater threat to the country than the one posed by severe child malnutrition which puts the lives of over 2.5 million innocent children on the line annually.

They also noted that government at all levels should create a specific budget line for Nutrition and ensure prompt release of funds.

Participants equally urged the government to ensure the availability of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTFs) in every state for urgent interventions in cases of emergency.
In addition, they advocated for government to create enabling environment for local production of RUTFs to minimize cost.

According to participants, with more attention given to the prevention of malnutrition to avoid its irreversible consequences such as stunted growth and poor brain development, it is important to important to see malnutrition as part of security for the larger society through provision of at least 5 per cent withdrawn from the supposed ‘security votes’ which comes in various colour across the country.

To this end, participants pointed out that consumption of bio-fortified foods should be encouraged especially among young mothers and children.

While producers of flour, salt, vegetable oil and sugar should be closely monitored by the various regulatory agencies to ensure they are fortified with vitamin A and iodine.

The participants, further called on corporate bodies and individuals should also endeavour to devote part of their earnings to support the global efforts towards eradication of child malnutrition.

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Sunday, August 10, 2014

56 Signal barracks walk against ebola virus

 Clad in red t-shirts and their camouflage trousers, Nigerian Army personnel at the 56 Signal barracks, Mile 2, Lagos alongside members of mammy trader’s association took the streets to create awareness and campaign against the deadly ebola virus, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The walk from the barracks, as monitored by NaijaAgroNet, took them to all the corners of the living quarters and outside the barracks. The more than two-hour walk culminated in a talk by Captain Nkem Aneke who also facilitated the event.

Addressing army personnel and traders on the symptoms associated with Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), Captain Aneke enjoined them to always report any suspicious case to medical personnel even as she urged families not to hide their relatives who are infected.

She emphasized the need for people to ensure they wash their hands always, the Nigerian Army officer debunked claims that using salt and warm water will go a long way to cure or prevent the deadly diseases if contacted.

“Ebola Virus Disease cannot be contacted through air. It kills the body’s immune system.  It can be contacted through shaking, sleeping with a person who is infected and coming in contact with any of the victim’s fluid be it sweat, blood or sweat and spit. It does not last up to one month in the body before the victim dies.  So, when you notice anybody who has some symptoms that look like symptoms of Ebola disease who does not want to seek medical attention, inform medical personnel. Restrict the way you touch people. Handle money carefully. Avoid eating bush meat and restrict the way you socialise. Use sanitizers to clean your hands always thoroughly,” she advised.

Some of the traders, who spoke to NaijaAgroNet, commended the campaign, saying it should be a continuous process to keep the topic fresh in the minds of residents and traders in and around the barracks.
President General, Mammy Market Traders also known as Baba Magajia, 56 Signal Barracks, Mile 2, Mr Samuel Albert told NaijaAgroNet that the campaign is not only timely but coming at a time many people have little or no information on the disease.

“I am highly impressed and I know this seminar will help everybody in many ways. If it is possible to be doing it periodically, it will be in our own interest. When you talk of about Federal Government (FG), you know they are trying. But it may not reach the grassroots and that is why this authority, organised this seminar,” he applauded.

For the Magajia, Mrs Augustina Ohimite said the seminar was a welcome development, adding that the drama and the talk have deepened their understanding of the deadly disease.

While commending the facilitator and organisers of the campaign, Assistant Magajia Mrs Comfort Alufa noted that what she learnt during the seminar will go a long way to understand how to prevent contacting the virus apart from sharing the information with other people.

Highlights of the campaign include a road walk, drama presentation, demonstration on how to wash the hands thoroughly and distribution of drugs and glucose by the staff of the medical unit.


Chukwudi Obi/ED Ops
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1. Nigerian Army 56 Signal Barracks walking against Ebola virus
2. Captain Nkem Aneke with one of her colleagues
3. Special address during the exercise by a participant.