Video News | Healthcare Innovation in Africa | ANAplus

Africa is battling a number of challenges in healthcare - there are deadly outbreaks of cholera, measles, Ebola, and polio. #NewsByte with Lance Witten explores how Africa is tackling these challenges head-on, with innovative immunisation campaigns and other healthcare innovations.

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HEALTHCARE

This is ANA+, powered by the African News Agency, you’re watching NewsByte, where we give you everything you need to know about Africa, now.

Just the other day, we told you about the innovative ways Africa is rolling out healthcare, specifically when it comes to preventative measures, so today, we’re going to delve a little deeper into it.

Last week, the Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria (ICCON) said it would establish a world-class research and development centre in Abuja to enhance chemical research and development in the country.

The Registrar of the institute, Jwalshik Wilford, made the announcement during the 12th ICCON workshop.

The theme of the workshop was “The Synergistic Relationship Between Chemistry and Pharmacy and its Impact on Advancement in Drugs Development in Nigeria”.

Wilford said that the centre would be known as ICCON Research and Development Centre (IRDC), adding that the project was aimed at changing the narrative in the development of chemical research in Nigeria.

Drug production required the services of chemists and so there was a good reason to ensure that chemistry and pharmacy work together to develop pharmaceutical research in the country, he said.

So, Nigeria is clearly forging ahead with partnerships and developments that will benefit medical research and drug development, which is often a leading factor in the cost of drugs. If we can do the research and development right here in Africa, we coujld bring down the cost of medication, making it more affordable and accessible to all Africans.

Now, when it comes to preventative healthcare, there’s been a few massive immunisation drives on the continent recently. More than a million children were vaccinated against cholera in Democratic Republic of Congo earlier in July, even as the country battles the second-biggest Ebola outbreak in recorded history.

Now, Gombe state in Nigeria is targeting 985 000 children under the age of 5 for immunisation. This will be rolled out over a period of just four days.

It’s scheduled to take place at the end of July into August.

The state’s deputy director of immunisation programmes told the News Agency of Nigeria that they’d already received adequate vaccines for the exercise.

The drive would be targeting polio for the most part, and the healthcare workers have been trained in specific strategies to attract the children, particularly in rural communities where there is still a mistrust of health workers.

Polio was last detected in Gombe in March 2013, and health officials are pleased that the continuing roll-out of polio vaccinations has kept new instances out.

They believe Nigeria is on the verge of eradicating polio completely.

This comes off the back of the World Health Organisation vaccinating 1.2 million people, mostly children, against cholera in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The campaign saw 2 632 vaccinators, recruited mainly from communities, going door-to-door over five days.

There were also mobile clinics set up to ensure maximum coverage. It is the second such campaign in the central region of the DRC, the News Agency of Nigeria reports, with 1 224 331 people vaccinated in 2018.

Cholera, a highly contagious communicable disease, is transmitted via contaminated water or food, which leads to severe dehydration and diarrhoea, and has to be treated immediately to prevent death. In 2019 alone, there have been at least 12 247 cases of cholera in DRC, resulting in 279 deaths.

This immunisation campaign was aimed at preventing cholera from gaining a foothold in the country.

In June, there was a mass cholera immunisation drive in Somalia, during which more than 650 000 people received vaccines.

This is NewsByte on ANA+; we make Africa matter.

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