CHALLENGING THE ABUSE OF ENVIRONMENT WITH A FORCE OF EXAMPLE

After a sudden downpour in Akure, Ondo State, yesterday evening, I decided on getting some accessories for my computer before the close of business, suddenly I saw a young woman holding a rake by the gutter along the popular Oba Adesida road, pushing piles of dirt under the culvert. I was shocked, in exclamation, I said, Madam that’s dangerous, that gutter will be blocked and water will flood the whole environment, destroying properties, even lives. She responded, “Na only me go dey pack am? Bcos na my shop near here, every time rain fall them go dey throway dirty for gutter, Environmental people go come dey worry me for here”

Onitsha one of the world's two most polluted cities - WHO Report

The new WHO database of worldwide air pollution measures it in two different ways, and as a result two cities – one in Iran and another in Nigeria – can lay claim to the unenviable title of world’s most polluted city.   John Vidal and Saeed Kamali Dehghan of Guardian (London)  report on  Thursday 12 May 2016 

It all comes down to which minute particles, or particulate matter (PM), in the air are being measured. These particles are between 2.5 and 10 microns in diameter, roughly 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

The coarser PM10s include dust stirred up by cars on roads and the wind, soot from open fires and partially burned carbon from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and wood. The particles are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs.

But the ultra-fine particles known as PM2.5s can only be seen with microscopes and are produced from all kinds of combustion. These are small enough to get from the lungs into the blood supply and are possibly more deadly because they affect the cardiovascular system.

Many cities in developing countries traditionally monitor only PM10s. But increasingly PM2.5 pollution is seen as the best measure of how bad air pollution is for health. Richer countries usually have higher levels of PM 2.5s, while low income countries have higher levels of PM10s. Both, says the WHO, are deadly.

World Malaria Day 2016: “End Malaria for Good"

Today April 25 people around the globe mark the World Malaria Day with various activities. The theme for this year is “End Malaria for Good”.  There is indeed already a sign of this being possible.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a year after the World Health Assembly resolved to eliminate malaria from at least 35 countries by 2030, World Malaria Day report shows this goal, although ambitious, is achievable. 

In 2015, all countries in the WHO European Region reported, for the first time, zero indigenous cases of malaria, down from 90 000 cases in 1995. Outside this region, 8 countries reported zero cases of the disease in 2014: Argentina, Costa Rica, Iraq, Morocco, Oman, Paraguay, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates.

Another 8 countries each tallied fewer than 100 indigenous malaria cases in 2014. And a further 12 countries reported between 100 and 1000 indigenous malaria cases in 2014.

However, despite this seeming success story, about 3.2 billion people (almost half of the world population) are at risk of the disease.  This shows it is not yet hurrah especially in the third world countries.

According to the WHO in Nigeria, about 300,000  children die of  malaria yearly. While the WHO reports a 71% drop in mortality rates for African children under 5 years, they are especially at risk from the disease, with UNICEF naming malaria as a main death cause

Malaria is an infectious disease, caused by the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito. Its symptoms include fever, headache, chills and vomiting, which may be initially hard to diagnose as malaria. According to WHO, if not treated within 24 hours, the disease can turn to severe illness, often leading to death.

Ebola intensifies the struggle to cope with Lassa fever - BBC

The peak season for Lassa fever in West Africa is about to begin. The viral haemorrhagic fever has been largely forgotten in the Ebola crisis, and health workers are warning that they may not have the resources to deal with the disease if cases increase. BBC’s Camila Ruz reports. 

Earth Tribune did a similar story on October 22 after Nigeria was declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO)

At first sight the symptoms of Lassa are identical to Ebola. There can be bleeding, vomiting and fever. But whereas Ebola is a new outbreak, Lassa is a constant presence. Every year it infects from 300,000 to 500,000 people, killing up to 20,000. 

All of the countries worst hit by Ebola are home to Lassa fever. On Friday, Dr Geraldine O'Hara from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) told the BBC that one of her colleagues had died of Lassa despite all efforts to save her. 

 

 

Dr Khan, head of the Lassa fever programme at Kenema Government Hospital Sierra Leone died of Ebola in September.

Nigeria is Free of Ebola but Not of Lassa

On October 20 the day the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Nigeria Ebola-free, another public health issue in the news was the growing cases of Lassa fever in Oyo state, South-west Nigeria.

This is not however restricted to Oyo State. The Minister of State for Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan, had earlier stated at a press briefing in Abuja on October 10 that about 29 million Nigerians are at the risk of Lassa fever, while 26 states are exposed to the disease.

 The coordinator of the Response Team for Outbreak of Diseases and Emergency of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Olusegun Fasina, told journalists  in Ibadan that the number of patients diagnosed with Lassa fever has increased  in the last two months.