If you have been attending Doctors Health Initiative’s weekly Zoom forum, then this may not be new to you but if you haven’t, you don’t want to miss out on our 2 day Masterclass on fertility awareness based methods. There’s 2 super exciting classes scheduled for Saturday 5th September, 2020 and Saturday 12th September, 2020. Come ready to learn. Here’s the link for registration.
Hand washing has to be one of the most effective means of disease prevention that is grossly underrated. Many communicable diseases, especially those spread via direct contact, can be averted by this single act.
The world is in the middle of a pandemic. The novel Covid-19 virus has been ravaging the earth. It’s nearly six months down the line, and still one of our biggest arsenal against this invisible foe is hand washing.
Although, I’m sure we must have been hearing these since elementary (primary) school; this article would be incomplete without good reasons why we should wash our hands.
Germs are mostly ubiquitous. They can be picked up from anywhere and anything. Our hands, arguably of all the body parts are the most at risk for picking up germs and microbes. They touch so many surfaces throughout the course of the day, as well as other body parts like the face. Hence, they are capable of self-infection and spread of infections to other people. This can be done either by directly touching another person, or by transferring these germs to another surface. From here these germs could be picked up by a different individual. The burden of childhood illnesses (especially gastrointestinal) would be less, if only we taught our children proper hand washing. The world (Africa in particular) still battles antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are prescribed for a lot of diarrhea illnesses, often times unnecessarily. Most of these diseases could have simply been avoided by proper hand washing.
Again, the ongoing pandemic must have exposed us to the proper hand washing techniques but it can’t be overemphasized. Also, whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well. So if we must wash our hands, we might as well just do it the proper way. The WHO has a beautiful pictorial description of the steps. Here they are listed out.
Clean, running water with soap, although the preferred choice may not always be available. Alcohol based hand sanitizers that contain more than 60% alcohol can be used in lieu of hand washing.
Now we have seen yet again how we go about washing our hands, in what scenarios do we employ this?
There are many more, but start with these and you should be on track protecting yourself and your loved ones from deadly infectious diseases.
**Michael Imeh, a DHI volunteer writes from Lagos, Nigeria
22.07.2020
Two news items prompted this post.
I was obviously bored. Lazily scrolling past previous Whatsapp messages on my phone, I came across an online video (I really don’t know how old it was) advertising bitter leaf capsules. Obviously, it wasn’t manufactured in Nigeria or anywhere near Africa. That Africans had for thousands of years used vernonia amygdalina to maintain a healthy lifestyle; and that the ingredients for the capsule were obtained from the tropical regions of Africa, was graciously acknowledged. According to research, bitter leaf can prevent cancer, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure and heart attack. It can reduce bad cholesterol and is helpful in weight control.
Now while I have little love for ‘ofe olugbu’ (please don’t hate me and – yes, I am from that part of the world that uses an ‘L’, not an ‘N’ to spell it, so no apologies), I do wonder if it will be to my benefit to foster a good relationship with this herb (ugh…the bitterness though). I also cannot help but be baffled at how it seems virtually impossible for us to develop or promote or spotlight ‘our own’. ‘Olugbu’ has gone international and the hype did not come from us! A rather naughty friend of mine asked why his brothers/sisters in the East were still dying from diabetes and high blood pressure and cancer.
Another message on my phone reminded me that tomorrow is World Brain Day (never knew there was one) WBD certainly does not celebrate the brightest among us. Instead it has been set aside to increase public awareness and promote advocacy related to brain health. This year, it’s attention is on Parkinson’s Disease – a disease that affects brain function and movement; and is suffered by at least 7 million people in the world. Mohammed Ali struggling with words readily comes to my mind here.
Oh shucks, I guess I was too late in posting…….it’s World Brain Day already!
Ogonna Kanu, writes in from Lagos
16.07.2020
I came across a poem that struck me the first time I read it as a 13 year old in J.S.S 3. It’s been many wars and many years since then but the poignancy of the author’s words still strike me any time I read it again.
After the bomb had fallen
After the last sad cry
When the earth was a burnt out cinder
Drifting across the sky
Came Lucifer, son of the morning
With his fallen angel ban
Silent and swift as a vulture
On a mountain top to stand
And he looked as he stood on the mountain
With his scarlet wings unfurled
At the charnel house of London
And the cities of the world
And he laughed…….
And in that mocking laughter
Across the heavens ran
He cried ‘Look’ to fallen angels
This is the work of man
who was created in the image of God!
– Mary Wilson
There are approximately 70.8 million persons in the world who are either refugees, internally displaced or stateless persons. Of these 25.9 million are under the age of 18. There are over 2 million internally displaced persons in Nigeria. The major causes of displacement around the world are wars and conflicts.
What exactly have we done to ourselves? To the world?
08.07.2020
I recently came across a caption about a traditional ruler in Nigeria decrying the widespread assumption that overpopulation is responsible for poverty. Apparently, the Oluwo of Iwo does not agree. See excerpts from Linda Ikeji’s blog
His comments are definitely issues to ponder.
21.06.2020
The UN marks World Refugee Day on June 20th annually in order to bring global attention to the plight and suffering of children, women and men who flee their homes under threats of persecution, conflict and violence; and celebrates their perseverance, determination and resilience. In celebration, Doctors Health Initiative (DHI) seeks to create awareness on internal displacement in Nigeria.
The internally displaced person in Nigeria faces various challenges:
IDPs will sometimes resort to harmful coping mechanisms for survival. Child labour, early or forced marriage, prostitution, drug abuse, poor nutrition, family separation, petty theft become necessary to survive.
A lot of work needs to be done to tackle these challenges. Government has to play a decisive role in solving the internal displacement dilemma. It needs to firmly tackle the security challenges in the country. Doing so will guarantee that at least half of the displacement issues in Nigeria will be solved. The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Ministry of the Environment, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other related agencies should take the lead in committing to understanding and employing early warning systems. These systems help to detect disasters. The benefit will be an elimination of the haphazard panic- infested solutions and instead strategic, co-ordinated measures taken by government. The formulation and employment of a line of action to help resettle IDPs and help them rebuild their lives is necessary. Government should work with stakeholders in employment, health, housing, education and other sectors to build a mechanism that makes it possible. Nutrition, healthcare, education and security at IDP camps nationwide are begging assessment and a genuine and conscientious effort to improve these conditions. A collaboration between government, NGOs and stakeholders to create awareness on the effects of harmful environmental practices will to an extent, help to curb environmental disasters in the country. The lack of media attention in Nigeria on internal displacement also downplays the magnitude of the problem. Heightened attention will increase awareness on the plight of IDPs and will force government to take some action and hopefully, give due attention to them. It will also increase support from well-meaning individuals and organizations.
With the staggering numbers and obviously growing menace of internal displacement, it is disconcerting that this issue is trivialized. These numbers are real. The persons affected are Nigerians and so are the challenges. Only a dedicated fight will solve the problem.
*This concludes the article
With donations from generous individuals and organizations, DHI has been organizing outreaches to internally displaced persons throughout the nation since 2008. We give foodstuff, essential materials and free health consultations/services during these outreaches. We are constantly in need of donations and volunteers. Would you please join us? Contact details: 0703 255 6691 or 0803 752 5616. For donations – Access Bank, account no. 006 549 6649, account name – Doctors Health Initiative. Visit us at www.dhicares.blog to learn more about what we do.
**Ogonna Kanu, a DHI volunteer, writes from Lagos, Nigeria
20.06.2020
The UN marks World Refugee Day on June 20th annually in order to bring global attention to the plight and suffering of children, women and men who flee their homes under threats of persecution, conflict and violence; and celebrates their perseverance, determination and resilience. In celebration, Doctors Health Initiative (DHI) seeks to create awareness on internal displacement in Nigeria.
Of the 40million IDPs in the world, 12.5million are in Africa and Nigeria accounts for 2million! Between January and June 2020, The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre’s (IDMC) data collated from research efforts of different organizations revealed 28,542 fresh cases of internal displacements in Nigeria. In 2019, the African Union’s bid to find long-term solutions to Africa’s displacement dilemma led to the declaration of 2019 as ‘The Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons.’ An IOM/UN Migration Agency study of the 6 states mostly affected by insurgency in the North uncovered the existence of 1,918,508 IDPs in that region. 79% of the IDP population were women and children. In December 2019, the same study revealed 2,039,092 IDPs in the same region with 80% being women and children. The 6 states where the research was carried out were Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe. Borno state in both years hosted 75% of all IDPs in the region.
Photos of IDP activities in various states over the years – providing health services; training female IDPs in Benin City; IDP Walkathon in Lagos.
IDPs in Nigeria are easily identified as people who have had to leave their villages and towns for fear of insurgency; those who have been forced out of their houses by the effects of erosion, flooding, drought, famine etc; people who have lost their homes to government’s demolition exercises; and communities plagued by pollution and whose inhabitants are compelled to seek safer environments in order to stay healthy and source for livelihood. The squatters in an uncompleted building at the end of the street who had to move when the local government built a set of lock up shops in that space; the family in the swampy part of a yet to be developed area whose wooden shelter got submerged by heavy rain; and the couple staying temporarily with family members because their home was razed down during a communal clash are all IDPs. These persons have become so much part of our everyday lives that we are unaware that they should be categorized as internal displaced persons who are owed a duty by government.
*To be concluded
With donations from generous individuals and organizations, DHI has been organizing outreaches to internally displaced persons throughout the nation since 2008. We give foodstuff, essential materials and free health consultations/services during these outreaches. We are constantly in need of donations and volunteers. Would you please join us? Contact details: 0703 255 6691 or 0803 752 5616. For donations – Access Bank, account no. 006 549 6649, account name – Doctors Health Initiative. Visit us at www.dhicares.blog to learn more about what we do.
**Ogonna Kanu, a DHI volunteer, writes from Lagos, Nigeria
19.06.2020
The UN marks World Refugee Day on June 20th annually in order to bring global attention to the plight and suffering of children, women and men who flee their homes under threats of persecution, conflict and violence; and celebrates their perseverance, determination and resilience. In celebration, Doctors Health Initiative (DHI) seeks to create awareness on internal displacement in Nigeria.
The word refuge comes from the French word meaning ‘hiding place.’ It can be traced to the Latin word, fugere meaning ‘to flee’ and refugium meaning ‘a taking of refuge or a place to flee back to.’ To seek refuge is to look for a safe place or a safe haven. Safety is the key word here. We generally speak of refugees as people fleeing an unsafe environment in search of safety. However, the UN defines them as forcibly displaced persons. A 2018 Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights report presents an interesting definition: “those who are forced to move, within or across borders due to armed conflict, persecution, terrorism, human rights violations and abuses, violence, the adverse effects of climate change, natural disasters, development projects or a combination of these factors”. It further categorizes forcibly displaced persons as asylum seekers, refugees, internally displaced persons and stateless persons. As at today, there are 70.8million forcibly displaced people in the world. Of these, 3.1million are asylum seekers, 25.9million are refugees and 40million are internally displaced persons.
The terms asylum seeker and refugee have become somewhat confusing. A refugee is “someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” Asylum seekers and refugees flee for safety. A refugee’s status is determined by these four main elements: (i) well-founded fear (ii) persecution (iii) reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political party and (iv)not within national borders. An asylum seeker is an intending refugee, whose request for asylum may be turned down if it is determined that his or her circumstances does not meet the criteria outlined above. At the end of 2018, 15.9million refugees (78%) were in protracted displacement situations, meaning they remained displaced for years! 10.1million had been in this situation for less than 20years while 5.8million had been displaced for more than 20years!
Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are “persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized border.” Once an IDP crosses national borders, he or she becomes a refugee. In contrast to refugees, it is the duty of the IDP’s government to ensure that his/her rights as a citizen of the country are upheld. The UN and international organizations only play a complementary role.
*To be concluded
With donations from generous individuals and organizations, DHI has been organizing outreaches to displaced persons throughout the nation since 2008. We give foodstuff, essential materials and free health consultations/services during these outreaches. We are constantly in need of donations and volunteers. Would you please join us? Contact details: 0703 255 6691 or 0803 752 5616. For donations – Access Bank, account no. 006 549 6649, account name – Doctors Health Initiative. Visit us at www.dhicares.blog to learn more about what we do.
**Ogonna Kanu, a DHI volunteer, writes from Lagos, Nigeria
Do you know that there are 40 million internally displaced persons in the world and 12.5 million of them can be found in Africa? ……..and Nigeria accounts for 2 million internally displaced persons?
Who are internally displaced persons or IDPs?
Check right here tomorrow to find out
Who are refugees? Where they are? What challenges do they suffer? World Refugee Day is right around the corner and as we count down to D day, DHI shall be dishing out interesting bits of information to keep you informed. We start with these 5 powerful refugee movies on netflix recommended by humanrightscareers.com:
Please do write in and tell us your favourite! Happy watching!!!!!
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