Connect with us

Musings From Abroad

Diphtheria Outbreak: Red Cross to train 2,000 Nigerian volunteers, calls for support

Published

on

Humanitarian body, the Red Cross Society, has appealed to the Nigerian public for collaboration in its latest campaign against the diphtheria outbreak currently affecting 32 out of 36 Nigerian states.

The National President of the Society, Prince Oluyemisi Adeaga, revealed that Diphtheria outbreak was officially declared in January, with 111 confirmed cases, 22 recorded deaths, and a case fatality rate of 19.8%. He noted that the most affected states were Kano, Yobe, Katsina, Sokoto, and Enugu since the first cases showed up in December 2022 in Lagos and Kano.

Oluyemisi Adeaga, The National President of the Red Cross Society

The lack of active case finding, contact tracing, and vaccinations have resulted in an over 20% fatality rate, making the Red Cross focus on vulnerable populations, including zero-dose children, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems. A zero-dose child os a child that has never been vaccinated.

A recent technical analysis revealed that the outbreak is the worst in ten years, and could get worse without quick intervention. Other factors contributing to its spread include inadequate immunisation campaigns and testing, as well as difficulties getting to impacted areas.

“Through the efforts of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies-Disaster Relief Emergency Fund, we utilised CHF 430,654 (Swiss Francs) in the first round of operation.

“Now, things have changed. The NRCS now recognising that the NEEDS have increased, now seeks to raise CHF 5.4 million (Swiss Francs), which is about $4.736 million, to help it reach more people across 12 of the affected states,” Adeaga stated.

Nigeria’s current diphtheria outbreak has been described as one of the most severe outbreaks of diphtheria in the country in recent years, with resultant morbidity and mortality, especially in children.

As efforts continue to manage the situation, the Red Cross says it plans to provide logistics support to 2,620 vaccination teams in high-dose and hard-to-reach areas for Td and Routine vaccination.

According to Adeaga, the body will also train approximately 2,000 NRCS volunteers to support contact tracing activities and active case finding in partnership with the state surveillance officers and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Diphtheria is a serious infection caused by bacteria that can lead to difficulty in breathing, irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), and even death.

Musings From Abroad

Prince Harry, Meghan treated to street-style dances in Nigeria as their trip winds down

Published

on

On Sunday, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan were treated to street-style dances in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, where they announced a partnership between their Archewell Foundation and the non-profit Giants of Africa, which utilizes sports to empower young people.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are making their first visit to Nigeria, where they were welcomed by the country’s chief of defence staff. The couple watched basketball practice at Ilupeju Senior Grammar School on Lagos Mainland, where Harry participated in ball-bouncing drills and shot a hoop.

“What you guys are doing here at Giants of Africa is truly amazing,” he said. “The power of sport can change lives. It brings people together and creates community and there are no barriers, which is the most important thing.”

The couple watched basketball practice at Ilupeju Senior Grammar School on Lagos Mainland, and Harry stepped on the court for some ball-bouncing drills and to shoot a hoop.

Former Toronto Raptors star Masai Ujiri, president of Giants of Africa, wished Meghan a happy Mother’s Day and said his organization was uniting communities and uplifting young people through sport, especially. Archewell Foundation and Giants of Africa will construct a basketball court in Nigeria’s capital Abuja.

“Talk about full circle again – never did I think we would be able to be here all those years later supporting the expansion of this incredible organization,” she said.
Harry and Meghan were set to round off their Lagos trip by attending a reception for a local charity. The couple live in the United States with their two children after Harry gave up working as a member of the royal family in 2020.

Continue Reading

Musings From Abroad

Binance accuses Nigeria of setting dangerous precedent with detention of its executives

Published

on

After its executives were invited to Nigeria and subsequently arrested as part of a crackdown on cryptocurrencies, the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, warned that the African nation was creating a dangerous precedent.

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, and two of its executives are being tried separately for tax evasion and money laundering, charges that the business is contesting.

CEO Richard Teng declared in a statement that it was time to voice opposition to the imprisonment of a US citizen and head of financial crime compliance at Binance, Tigran Gambaryan.

Former executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British Kenyan who works as a regional manager for Africa, escaped detention in Nigeria last month. While in Nigeria, Anjarwalla and Gambaryan were arrested by the country’s anti-corruption body, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), after arriving on February 26, after which the country banned several websites that traded cryptocurrencies.

In a follow-up meeting on February 26, he stated that the authorities had declared the Binance concerns to be matters of national security and that they wanted the exchange to remove the naira from its site and disclose “granular-level” information on every Nigerian user. After that, Gambaryan and Anjarwalla were taken into custody.

“To invite a company’s mid-level employees for collaborative policy meetings, only to detain them, has set a dangerous new precedent for all companies worldwide,” Teng said, in his strongest comments yet since the case started in February.

“For spurious reasons,” Teng said that Gambaryan had been detained in Nigeria for almost two months. Early in March, Binance declared that it will no longer be accepting any new naira transactions.

“Our hope when we took this drastic step was that our colleagues would be released and Binance could continue to work with the Nigerian government to resolve any further concerns. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen,” said Ten.

He stated that Gambaryan ought to be permitted to return home while Binance and the Nigerian government work out any kinks. “We will continue engagement with Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on resolving potential historic tax liabilities,” he said.

Continue Reading

EDITOR’S PICK

Metro2 hours ago

Chipata youth calls for stronger media protections amid concerns over media independence

Alepha Banda, a programmes officer at the Youth Development Foundation (YDF), says Zambia’s existing laws do not adequately safeguard journalists,...

VenturesNow8 hours ago

Nigeria’s Petroleum Regulator begins bidding round for 12 oil blocks

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission has announced the start of the bidding process for 12 oil blocks recently put...

VenturesNow8 hours ago

Ecobank’s $183 million impairment losses highlight hazards in sovereign bonds

Ecobank, a pan-African banking group, has more than doubled its impairment losses on Ghana’s problematic Eurobonds to $183 million, highlighting...

Metro8 hours ago

Nigeria may need to raise supplementary budget to be able pay minimum wage— IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the Nigerian government may need to raise a supplementary budget to be able to...

Politics9 hours ago

Niger’s Prime Minister claims Benin’s oil export blockage breaches accords

Niger’s Prime Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, has claimed that Benin’s suspension of Niger’s oil shipments, imposed in reaction to...

Tech1 day ago

Cut to undersea cable causes internet disruptions across East, Southern Africa

Internet services across East and Southern Africa have suffered outages following undersea submarine cable cuts on Sunday. According to the...

Culture1 day ago

Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie fires shots at Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Asake in new single ‘Brag’

Ghanaian rapper, Michael Owusu Addo, popularly known as Sarkodie, has sparked a new round of storm after he fired shots...

Sports1 day ago

Tobi Amusan sets world-leading time at Jamaica Athletics Invitational

World 100m hurdle record-holder, Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, was the cynosure of all eyes as she stole the show at...

Metro1 day ago

Aspiring journalist offers insights on media freedom and information access in Zambia

Ireen Mundia, a student journalist, has contributed to the discourse on media freedoms, drawing from her internship experience at Byta...

VenturesNow1 day ago

Nigeria’s antigraft body EFCC to team up with UK prosecutors in ex-minister Diezani’s $2.5bn fraud case

There were indications over the weekend that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) intends to collaborate with UK prosecutors...

Trending