Health
Nigeria: 12 Functional COVID-19 Testing Laboratories Confirmed – Health Minister
The Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire has made known that there are 12 functional COVID- 19 testing laboratories, with a capacity to test 1,500 samples daily. He said, to ensure maximum utilization of increased testing capacity, the case definition and testing criteria had been expanded to include not only contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases with fever and respiratory tract symptoms, but also persons with fever and respiratory tract symptoms of unknown cause.
The Minister said this at the Presidential Task Force briefing, today, 15th April, 2020, when he confirmed a total of 373 cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria. He stated that, 99 cases had been discharged and 11 deaths had been recorded in Nigeria. Stating also that, 30 new cases had been reported from 5 states: Lagos 25, Akwa Ibom 1, Edo 1, Kano 1 while the fatality occurred in Lagos.
According to Dr Ehanire, “The advent of community transmission marks the evolution of our initial strictly containment strategy”. He added that, there is need to scale-up risk communication to the public and coordination with the state level COVID -19 response preparedness. The Minister stated also that there is an increased drive to detect cases more rapidly in communities and advised all persons fitting the case definition to wear a mask of any type, isolate themselves from friends and family as they call the national emergency number 112, or the NCDC toll free number 0800 9700 0010, or report to the nearest health facility for referral. “The policy is to detect early, test, and isolate cases as early as possible, he said. Health Minister reminded health workers in both public and private health facilities to maintain a high index of suspension and refer patients with fever and respiratory tract symptoms for COVID-19 testing.
Dr Osagie Ehanire informed that a guideline had been produced by FMOH accreditation committee to ensure that standards are maintained at all COVID-19 isolation and treatment centers across the country. He revealed that there are three levels of isolation centers, isolation 1 is for suspected cases of COVID-19 while awaiting results, this is also used to designate the mandatory quarantine facilities for those returning from abroad with negative results, or those unable to self-isolate at home for 14 days. Isolation 2 is for confirmed COVID-19 cases with mild or moderate symptoms, which need little to no clinical management. Isolation 3 is for confirmed COVID-19 cases with severe or critical symptoms, which need enhanced clinical management or intensive care. He said, in Abuja the designated isolated 3 facilities are University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH) and National Hospital while isolation 2 centers are located in 4 other places.
Speaking further, the Honorable Minister of Health hinted that the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) had issued comprehensive guidance on the use of masks, including improvised and homemade cloth masks or face covering like handkerchiefs or scarves over the mouth and nose which guard against particle emission in conversation , or when coughing or sneezing. He emphasized that the masks be worn as an additional layer of physical protection, where close contact or crowds may not be avoided with certainty, such as market, particularly food vendors and elderly people with pre-existing medical conditions with fragile health status. The Minister urged that the use of masks be used in combination with but not as a substitute for hand washing, physical distancing and good respiratory hygiene as well as sanitizing surfaces. He further stated that the medical grade mask are reserved for patients and health workers who needed them most and reminded also that they be properly washed daily in warm water and dried or ironed.
Dr. Osagie Ehanire said that well published non-medical intervention advisories must be maintained which had been well publicized while fake news must be ignored.
The Minister of Health thanked on the behalf of the Federal Government, the technical support from USCDC and the large donation from the United Nation Agencies of supplies and equipment that included 50 ventilators. He also commended all Nigerians for their sacrifices and understanding “As we work to ensure we defeat COVID-19”, he said.
The West African Society of Parenteral & Enteral Nutrition (WASPEN) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to make clinical malnutrition a national healthcare priority, warning that the crisis is growing but remains largely overlooked in Nigeria’s healthcare system.
WASPEN’s Founder and President, Dr. Teresa Pounds, made this appeal on Monday during a press conference ahead of the 2025 WASPEN Clinical Nutrition Conference, scheduled for June 17–19 in collaboration with the National Hospital Abuja.
Themed “Bridging the Gap: Integrating Hospital and Community Malnutrition Care in Developing Countries,” the event aims to foster solutions for hospital and community malnutrition.
Describing malnutrition as “the skeleton in the hospital’s closet,” Dr. Pounds emphasised the need for urgent awareness, policy reform, and collaboration among healthcare stakeholders to ensure effective hospital nutrition programs.
“Many patients in Nigerian hospitals suffer from inadequate nutritional support, leading to prolonged hospital stays, increased complications, and higher mortality rates. This issue must be addressed at the highest level,” she stated.
The press conference was attended by the management of Genrith Pharmaceuticals Limited, a major partner, led by its CEO, Chief Emmanuel Umenwa.
Call for National Clinical Nutrition Policy
Dr. Pounds, a U.S.-based specialist in critical care nutrition and a board-certified nutrition support pharmacist, urged the government to implement a national policy framework to support specialised clinical nutrition interventions. She stressed the importance of integrating mandatory nutrition screening and intervention into all healthcare facilities.
She also called on the Federal and State Ministries of Health to expand and enforce standardised clinical nutrition policies, ensure hospitals conduct structured nutrition screening for all patients, makes medical nutrition therapy accessible and affordable, and support research and local production of specialised nutritional products.
She further encouraged NAFDAC, NIPRD, pharmaceutical companies, and NGOs to collaborate on research, funding, and product development to improve hospital and community-based nutritional care.
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“We need a national framework that ensures no patient suffers due to a lack of proper nutrition,” the expert stressed.
Conference to Attract Top Medical and Policy Experts
Speaking on the upcoming conference, Dr. Pounds noted that it will bring together leading medical experts, policymakers, and healthcare stakeholders to develop strategies for addressing malnutrition.
Prominent figures expected at the event include Prof. Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health (Special Guest of Honour), Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT (Chief Host), Prof. Muhammad Raji Mahmud, Chief Medical Director, National Hospital Abuja (Host), Prof. Audu Bala, President, Nigerian Medical Association (Keynote Speaker), Pharm. Ibrahim Tanko Ayuba, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (Guest of Honour), and Prof. Salisu Maiwada Abubaka, President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria (Guest of Honour) admiration.
Pre-Conference Activities
Prof. Raji Mahmud, Chief Medical Director of the National Hospital Abuja, represented by the Chairperson of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Pharm. Adesola Clara assured that the hospital has the necessary facilities and expertise to host a successful conference. He emphasised that the hospital is fully prepared for the programme.
Also, the WASPEN Central Planning Committee, led by Mrs. Ghinsel Blessing, revealed that pre-conference activities will include a hands-on training workshop on nutritional kits in hospitals, scheduled for June 16, a health walk to raise awareness about hospital malnutrition, expected to be led by First Lady Sen. Oluremi Tinubu.
With malnutrition posing a silent but deadly threat to healthcare outcomes, WASPEN hopes that the Tinubu administration will take decisive action to integrate nutrition-focused interventions into Nigeria’s health policies.
The 2025 WASPEN Clinical Nutrition Conference is expected to be a game-changer in shaping the future of clinical nutrition in Nigeria and West Africa.
Two US biotech companies say the Food and Drug Administration has cleared them to conduct clinical trials of their gene-edited pig kidneys for human transplants.
United Therapeutics along with another company, eGenesis, have been working since 2021 on experiments implanting pig kidneys into humans: initially brain-dead patients and more recently living recipients.
Advocates hope the approach will help address the severe organ shortage. More than 100,000 people in the United States are awaiting transplants, including over 90,000 in need of kidneys.
United Therapeutics’s approval, announced Monday, allows the company to advance its technology toward a licensed product if the trial succeeds.
The study authorization was hailed as a “significant step forward in our relentless mission to expand the availability of transplantable organs,” by Leigh Peterson, the company’s executive vice president.
The trial will initially enroll six patients with the end-stage renal disease before expanding to as many as 50, United Therapeutics said in a statement. The first transplant is expected in mid-2025.
Meanwhile, rival eGenesis said it had received FDA approval in December for a separate three-patient kidney study.
“The study will evaluate patients with kidney failure who are listed for a transplant but who face a low probability of receiving a deceased donor offer within a five-year timeframe,” the company said.
Xenotransplantation — transplanting organs from one species to another — has been a tantalizing yet elusive goal for science.
Early experiments in primates faltered, but advances in gene editing and immune system management have brought the field closer to reality.
Pigs have emerged as ideal donors: they grow quickly, produce large litters, and are already part of the human food supply.
United Therapeutics said trial patients would be monitored for life, assessing survival rates, kidney function, and the risk of zoonotic infections — diseases that jump from animals to humans.
Currently, there is only one living human recipient of a pig organ: Towana Looney, a 53-year-old from Alabama who received a United Therapeutics kidney on November 25, 2024.
She is also the longest-surviving recipient, having lived with a pig kidney for 71 days as of Tuesday. David Bennett of Maryland received a pig heart in 2022 and survived 60 days.
The Swiss government said Thursday it aimed to overhaul its law on medically-assisted reproduction to legalise egg donations and give broader access to sperm donations.
Currently egg donations are not allowed and only married couples can access sperm donations.
The Swiss parliament has long said it wants to change that, and has asked the government with coming up with a proposal to provide broader access.
A government statement said it had “decided to completely revise the law on medically assisted reproduction in order to adapt it to the current context” and had asked the interior ministry to draft a proposed law by the end of next year.
The government said it wants to legalise egg donations in cases where a woman in a couple is infertile, as a parallel to the already legal use of sperm donations in cases of male sterility.
Bern said its priority was “the protection of donors and the welfare of the child”, stressing that “this protection cannot be guaranteed if parents resort to egg donation abroad”.
The government also said it wanted to expand access to both egg and sperm donation to unmarried couples.
After Switzerland legalised same-sex marriage in 2022, married lesbian couples have also had access to sperm donations.
But the government said the current law barring unmarried couples from access to such medically assisted reproduction was “outdated and no longer corresponds to social reality”.
