Since 2000, child deaths have reduced by nearly half and maternal deaths by over one-third, mostly due to improved access to affordable, quality health services.

“In countries that provide everyone with safe, affordable, high-quality health services, women and babies survive and thrive,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO. “This is the power of universal health coverage.”

Still, the new estimates reveal that 6.2 million children under 15 years died in 2018, and over 290 000 women died due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth in 2017. Of the total child deaths, 5.3 million occurred in the first 5 years, with almost half of these in the first month of life.

Women and newborns are most vulnerable during and immediately after childbirth. An estimated 2.8 million pregnant women and newborns die every year, or 1 every 11 seconds, mostly of preventable causes, the new estimates say.

Children face the highest risk of dying in the first month, especially if they are born too soon or too small, have complications during birth, congenital defects, or contract infections. About a third of these deaths occur within the first day and nearly three quarters in the first week alone.

“Around the world, birth is a joyous occasion. Yet, every 11 seconds, a birth is a family tragedy,” said Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director. “A skilled pair of hands to help mothers and newborns around the time of birth, along with clean water, adequate nutrition, basic medicines and vaccines, can make the difference between life and death. We must do all it takes to invest in universal health coverage to save these precious lives.”

Vast inequalities worldwide

The estimates also show vast inequalities worldwide, with women and children in sub-Saharan Africa facing a substantially higher risk of death than in all other regions.

Levels of maternal deaths are nearly 50 times higher for women in sub-Saharan Africa and their babies are 10 times more likely to die in their first month of life, compared to high-income countries.

In 2018, 1 in 13 children in sub-Saharan Africa died before their fifth birthday– this is 15 times higher than the risk a child faces in Europe, where just 1 in 196 children aged less than 5 die.

Women in sub-Saharan Africa face a 1 in 37 lifetime risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. By comparison, the lifetime risk for a woman in Europe is 1 in 6500. Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia account for around 80% of global maternal and child deaths. Countries in conflict or humanitarian crisis often have weak health systems that prevent women and children from accessing essential lifesaving care.

Progress linked to universal health coverage

The world has made substantial progress in reducing child and maternal mortality. Since 1990, there has been a 56% reduction in deaths of children under 15 years from 14.2 million deaths to 6.2 million in 2018. Countries in Eastern and South-Eastern Asia have made the most progress, with an 80% decline in under-five deaths.

And from 2000 to 2017, the maternal mortality ratio declined by 38%. Southern Asia has made the greatest improvements in maternal survival with a nearly 60% reduction in the maternal mortality ratio since 2000.

Belarus, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Morocco, Mongolia, Rwanda, Timor-Leste and Zambia are some of the countries that have shown substantial progress in reducing child or maternal mortality. Success has been due to political will to improve access to quality health care by investing in the health workforce, introducing free care for pregnant women and children and supporting family planning. Many of these countries focus on primary health care and universal health coverage.

The post More women, children survive today than ever before – Report first appeared on MegaIcon Magazine.

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The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye also informed that the packaging of the falsified Dukoral vaccine displays texts in English and French language.

Adeyeye hinted further that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had quarantined some quantities of the falsified vaccine.

“We are raising this alert to health care providers and the society at large about the existence of falsified Dukoral Oral Cholera vaccine circulating in Bangladesh.

“The WHO Country Office and Health Authorities in Bangladesh have quarantined the 8,000 falsified packs of Dukoral Oral Cholera vaccine so far identified.

“The details of the falsified Dukoral Oral Cholera vaccines identified in Bangladesh are as follows –
Product Name Dukoral Oral Cholera Vaccine/ Vaccin Oral contre le Cholera
Batch Number KV8262B1
Expiry Date 2020-04
Stated Manufacturer Valneva Canada Inc.

“Note that the logo of the manufacturer Crucell is also displayed,” she said.

Also, the NAFDAC boss clarified that the manufacturer of genuine Dukoral Oral Cholera Vaccine was Valneva Sweden AB, formerly Crucell Sweden AB.

“Valneva Sweden AB, the manufacturer of genuine Dukoral Oral Cholera vaccine stated that the combination of the manufacturers, Valneva Canada Inc and Crucell should not exist on any packaging of the vaccine in the market.

“Dukoral Oral Cholera vaccine manufactured by Valneva Canada Inc is not registered by NAFDAC.

“All importers, wholesalers and retailers are implored to desist from illegal importation, distribution and sale of the falsified vaccine,” Adeyeye warned.

She added that surveillance had been strengthened by NAFDAC at all ports of entry to prevent illegal importation of the falsified Dukoral Oral Cholera vaccine from Bangladesh.

“NAFDAC has also heightened surveillance to prevent distribution and sale of the falsified vaccine.

“Health care providers and other members of the public are advised to be vigilant and contact the nearest NAFDAC office with any information on the falsified Dukoral vaccine.

“Anybody in possession of the falsified vaccine should submit it to the nearest NAFDAC office,” she advised.

Adeyeye further urged consumers to report any adverse event related to the use of vaccines to the nearest NAFDAC office via – NAFDAC PRASCOR 20543 (toll free from all Network ) or via pharmacovigilance@nafdac.gov.ng

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https://iso.keq.mybluehost.me/why-there-is-crisis-in-nigeria-gani-adams/

The study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which examined the volume of international transfers of major weapons between 2008 and 2017, showed China’s arms exports represented 5.7 per cent of the world’s share of arms exports between 2013-17 – up by more than a third from the 4.6 per cent recorded between 2008-12.

The report was published a week after China unveiled an 8.1 per cent increase in military spending over a three-year period, although China’s state media defended the rise as proportionate and low, adding that it would not lead to an arms race with the United States.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has dubbed China as a “rival”, and the latest SIPRI report shows how the US has used arms transfers as a foreign policy tool to offset Beijing’s growing influence.

For example, US arms deliveries to India grew by 557 per cent between 2008 and 2017, the year China and India became embroiled in a protracted border dispute over the Doklam region in the Himalayas.

“This development is part of the growing strategic partnership between the two countries under which the USA has begun to supply India with advanced military equipment,” the report said.

The US has also started to increase its security cooperation with Vietnam, which is embroiled in a dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea.

In 2017 it delivered one patrol ship, the USS Morgenthau, to Vietnam – the first major US arms transfer to that country.

Tensions between China and Japan in the East China Sea also saw Japan moving closer to the US, the report said.

It said Tokyo turned to the US for several types of advanced weapons between 2013 and 2017, including the first batches of a total of 42 combat aircraft.

Japan also ordered advanced air and missile defence systems from the US in the same period.

But in cases where US relations with other countries had deteriorated the result was a fall in arms transfers.

For example, the report said that Venezuela, which once relied on the US as its main arms supplier,

had rebuilt its armed forces with weapons from China and Russia after ties with Washington soured following the Hugo Chavez’s election as president in 1999.

As China became increasingly capable of producing its own advanced weapons, its arms exports increased by 38 per cent and its arms imports decreased by 19 per cent in 2013-2017 compared with 2008-2012.

The report showed China delivered major arms to 48 countries in the past five years, with Pakistan topping the list, followed by Bangladesh and Algeria.

https://iso.keq.mybluehost.me/why-there-is-crisis-in-nigeria-gani-adams/

“China was the largest arms supplier to Pakistan in 2008–12 and 2013–17. Although the volume of China’s arms exports to Pakistan remained roughly the same in both periods, its share of Pakistan’s arms imports rose from 45 per cent in 2008–12 to 70 per cent in 2013–17 due to the overall decrease in Pakistan’s arms imports between those periods,” the report stated.

The report also said China’s arms exports to Africa rose by 55 per cent over the period.

Military expert Collin Koh, from the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said higher value military items like warships and fighter jets were the major reason for the rise in China’s arms exports.

“This is most notable in naval sales. For example, submarines to Pakistan and Thailand, and corvettes to Bangladesh and Algeria. Even with land-based systems, China has also made inroads in higher value sales, such as its long-range rocket artillery,” he said.

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