Experts say 1.6m children die of Pneumonia annually, Sanofi reiterates commitment to Nigeria

NaijaAgroNet:

Experts at the Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia (GCACP) have decried that estimated 155 million children suffer Pneumonia while 1.6 million die annually, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This is coming as Sanofi Nigeria has reiterated its commitment towards the populace and provision of quality healthcare, NaijaAgroNet reports.

GCACP experts also informed NaijaAgroNet that almost all of the estimated 1.6 million child deaths occur in developing countries with most concentrated in seven countries, namely India, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

As said by Head of Public Affairs, Sanofi – Nigeria and Ghana, Oladimeji Agbolade in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet as the world marked World Pneumonia Day in Lagos-Nigeria, noted that Sanofi has strengthened its commitment in the fight against pneumonia with the Pediatric Initiative tagged ‘Healthy Children, Happy Children’ in partnership with the Pediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN).

Speaking on this initiative, Medical Director, Sanofi Nigeria and Ghana, Dr. Fifen Inoussa said, “Pediatrics is a priority for Africa because one child out of four in the world is African and 50 per cent of the worldwide infant mortality occurs on this continent. The Sanofi Pediatric Initiative corresponds to the strong desire to reinforce our commitment to child healthcare.”

For the President, Paediatric Association of Nigeria, Prof. Adebiyi Olowu, Pneumonia is one of the preventable but major causes of child mortality in Nigeria and it is essential that parents, guardians and care givers take essential precautions to ensure good health-seeking behaviour.

He also urged that preventive efforts such as proper nutrition, exclusive breast feeding, hand-washing and routine immunizations be emphasized to avoid pneumonia.

Stressing that pneumonia is a killer Prof Olowu called on government, relevant agencies and stakeholders to make concerted efforts that would significantly improve on the health of children.

Dr. Amina Biobaku of Isalu Hospital, Ogba, Lagos, one of the numerous beneficiaries of the PAN medical education programs on pneumonia supported by Sanofi, testified that the training has positively impacted her clinical practice.

Estelle Dogbo, Product Manager at Sanofi said “The Pediatrics Initiative which adapts healthcare offer to children relies on three commitments. The first commitment is the development of medicines and vaccines offer adapted to pediatric care. The second commitment involves provision of quality medical information and dedicated training to healthcare professionals by way of continual medical education programs in pediatric topics. The third commitment entails the deployment of awareness campaigns to the general public."

@Isaac Oyimah +Remmy Nweke +Naija AgroNet @WorldPneuminiaDay

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Pix: L-R:  Dr. Inoussa Fifen, Medical Director, Sanofi; Dr. Ekanem Ekure, Consultant Paediatrician LUTH, Prof. Adebiyi Olowu, President Paediatric Association of Nigeria; Dr. Dorothy Esangbedo, Consultant Paediatrician, President elect Pan African Society of Paediatrics; Prof. Adegoke Falade, Consultant Paediatrician UCH Ibadan; and Head of Public Affairs, Sanofi, Mr. Agbolade Dimeji during Sanofi  World Pneumonia Day celebration at  Protea Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, recently.

2. L-R: Managing Director, GlaxoSmithKline, Lekan Asuni; Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Ado Muhammad; Chairman Senate Committee on Health, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa; and International Vaccine Access Centre Country Program Lead, Dr. Chizoba Wonodi; during the 2014 World Pneumonia Day which held on Wednesday, 12^th November, at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

Promoting iron beans for healthier diets, African musicians to rescue

NaijaAgroNet:

Rwanda’s top musicians have joined forces with the HealthPlus and government to promote better nutrition and health through a new music video that was released Monday in Kigali, Rwanda, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The music video was subtitled in both English and Kiswahili for easy adoption by the populace, according to NaijaAgroNet findings, depicting iron beans as very nutritious food.

The release NaijaAgroNet gathered formed part of the roadshow to create awareness on the iron beans brand in an effort to cut hungry trend on the continent.

NaijaAgroNet  further gathered that the song, according to press statement by the Africa Press Organisaiton (APO), extoled the nutritional benefits of new high-iron beans that are now available in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda. 

NaijaAgroNet recalled that almost 40 per cent of children in Rwanda suffer from iron deficiency in their diets, which in severe cases, could lower their intelligence quotients (IQs) and learning capacity, resistance to disease, and energy levels.

Experts at the Rwandan Office of HarvestPlus led by Lister Katsvairo, explained to NaijaAgroNet that beans are a traditional staple food and eaten every day and these new iron beans contain 15 per cent more iron than ordinary beans, and could provide women and children with almost half their daily iron needs.

“They also yield twice the harvest of ordinary beans, increasing incomes for farmers,” Katsvairo said.
NaijaAgroNet notes that over 700,000 Rwandan farmers are now growing and eating these nutritious beans, first released by the Rwandan Government in 2011.

"We’ve had tremendous success so far in getting these beans out, but we wanted to reach a much wider audience across the country,” Katsvairo said.

Lead of HarvestPlus which prides itself as a global programme to improve nutrition emphasized that these iron beans are now making their way into urban markets, hence the campaign to increase consumer awareness.

“We worked with Rwanda’s top musicians, who cater to all musical tastes including Afro-pop, rap and R&B. Who better to spread this message of how beans can improve nutrition and health?" Katsvairo asserted.

The campaign, Katsvairo said has taken musicians King James, Miss Jojo, Riderman, Tom Close, and Urban Boyzon a series of roadshows across the country live performance for over 30,000 people, which equally included exhibitions and sales of iron bean seeds.


+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) @HealthPlus @Rwanda +Naija AgroNet
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Agro stakeholders brainstorm on family farming in Africa

NaijaAgroNet:

Stakeholders in the agricultural sector across the continent are brainstorming on the family farmers ability to feed Africa and change the face of the sector, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Forum, NaijaAgroNet gathered is part of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) framework, coordinated by the five regional farmers’ organisations namely the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF), ROPPA (Network of Farmers' and Agricultural Producers' Organisations of West Africa (ROPPA), Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU), Regional Platform of Central African Farmers Organization, (PROPAC), Union Maghrébine et Nord Africaine des Agriculteurs (UMNAGRI) and their continental platform Pan African Farmers’ Organisation (PAFO) together with the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency. 

A press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet by the duo of Benito Eliasi from SACAU and NEPAD’s Mwanja Ng’anjo, stakeholders in the agriculture sector are examining the much bigger role in creating employment to increase disposable income levels and household food security on the continent. 

NaijaAgroNet gathered that participants focus would be on the potential for sustainable economic growth, family farming - Africa’s backbone in agriculture. 

However in order for the women and men at the helm of agriculture to reach their full potential, a coalition of partnerships was required; to bring African agriculture to world class production levels, hence, the partnership with several regional farmers group, between November 10 and 12, 2014 at the Garden Court within the axis of Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. 

NaijaAgroNet further gathered that SACAU is a co-host of the forum that is connected to the United Nations (UN) International Year of Family Farming and the AU Year of Agriculture and Food Security. 

NaijaAgroNet recalls that this is a strong signal that the international community recognizes the important contribution of family farmers to world food security. Noting that in June, African heads of state committed themselves to use agriculture growth to double food productivity, halve poverty and eliminate child under nutrition by 2025 when they came up with the Malabo Declaration following a meeting in Equatorial Guinea.

The role of family farmers on the continent, NaijaAgroNet learnt will be critical in achieving these goals. While the forum would be attended by farmers and representatives of their organisations, high-level government representatives, private sector stakeholders and international role-players and is also open to representatives who work in, with or for African agriculture.

NaijaAgroNet the four thematic areas to be looked into by the different regional farmers’ organisation for the 2014 CAADP Africa Forum including “Climate Change and climate -smart agriculture (SACAU);  Farmers’ Organisations and marketing and trade (EAFF); Mechanisation and family farming (ROPPA); and Family farming and finance (PROPAC). 

+Remmy Nweke  +Naija AgroNet +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +NEPAD/APDEV African Platform for Development Effectiveness +NEPAD Agency +Nepadaprmnigeria @Mwanja Nga'njo

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New study says Orange Maize improves Vitamin A in children

NaijaAgroNet:

 

The latest study by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN)  has established that ‘orange’ vitamin A maize increases vitamin A storage in the body, NaijaAgroNet Reports.

This maize, NaijaAgroNet gathered has been orthodoxly bred as non- Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) to have higher levels of beta-carotene, a naturally occurring plant pigment that the body then converts into vitamin A.

Experts from AJCN affirmed to NaijaAgroNet that lack of sufficient vitamin A blinds up to 500,000 children annually and increases the risk of death from disease (such as diarrhea in children). Thus, Vitamin A deficiency is widely prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa.

NaijaAgroNet also gathered that foods that are good sources of vitamin A, such as orange fruits, dark leafy vegetables, or meat, are not always available, or where they are they could be too expensive in some regions. 

Just as in many African countries, people eat large amounts of staple foods like cassava or maize. 

The efficacy study,  NaijaAgroNet learnt revealed that children from the Eastern Province of Zambia were randomly assigned to three feeding groups and received either white maize, orange maize, or a daily vitamin A supplement. After three months, both groups that received either the orange maize or vitamin A supplements showed significant increases in their total body stores of vitamin A, with no changes observed in the group that received white maize. 

Lead scientist Sherry Tanumihardjo said “we were surprised to find that most of the children in this study already had substantial stores of vitamin A. We attribute this to the success of fortifying sugar with vitamin A, the provision of vitamin A supplements to young children, and perhaps better diets. Yet, despite having adequate vitamin A stores, we still saw this store increase in children as a result of eating the orange maize. So, I’m confident that orange maize would be especially effective in increasing body stores of vitamin A in populations suffering from vitamin A deficiency.” 

Unlike the form of vitamin A found in supplements and fortified foods, Sherry said, the body regulates conversion of beta-carotene into vitamin A, and consuming high levels of beta-carotene is not harmful to health. 

Additionally, Sherry said several orange maize varieties have been released by the governments of Zambia and Nigeria. 

HarvestPlus Country Manager for Zambia, Eliab Simpungwe, stated in a press statement made available to NaijaAgroNet that in Zambia, they provided orange maize to more than 10,000 farming households and is now working with the private sector with the goal of reaching 100,000 farmers by 2015. 

“The orange maize has been embraced by consumers once they have had a chance to taste it. When they also understand the benefits of vitamin A in the diets they are all the more enthusiastic about orange maize”  Simpungwe said.

Pointing out that the orange maize varieties released are also high yielding, disease and virus resistant, and drought tolerant. 

The Zambian Government has officially recognized biofortification, which it includes in the National Food and Nutrition Strategic Plan for Zambia 2011-2015. 

Additionally, the Acting Executive Director of the National Food and Nutrition Commission in Zambia, Musonda Mofu, who was also on the study team, said “there are still many pockets where vitamin A deficiency remains a problem in Zambia. 

"Food-based approaches such as orange maize can provide people—especially women and children—with a good portion of their daily vitamin A needs through nshima or other traditional foods made from maize, that we Zambians eat every day. For us, this is cost-effective and a safe approach to improving nutrition,”  Mofu assured.

+Remmy Nweke @ITRealms @HarvestPlus @AJCN @VitaminA @FAO #FMARD #Nigeria #VitaminA
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