Category: Health & Environment

The Federal Fire Service of Nigeria has unveiled Fire Alert System Application (FASAPP); a mobile app to reduce the response time of firefighters to fire outbreaks in the country.

The Controller-General of the Service, Joseph Anebi, announced this during a workshop and enlightenment programme on ‘Enforcement of Fire Alarms and Extinguishing Equipment Regulation’ in Abuja.

Mr. Joseph Anebi said when fire outbreak occurs, the Fire Alert System Application (FASAPP) mobile app has the capability of informing the fire service and the owner of the building simultaneously.

Continue reading Federal Fire Service Launches Fire Alert System Application (FASAPP) Mobile App

Nigerian team Coating+ have emerged as the Grand Prize winners of the 2018 Thought For Food Challenge, receiving a cash prize of $10,000 USD.

Led by biochemists Albert Kure, Basheer Balogun, Lukman Abdulwahab and Suleiman Alakanse, the Coating+ team has developed a safe coating for fresh foods that extends their shelf life while also providing hard-to-access micronutrients to help tackle hidden hunger. When food is coated with their chitosan/soy protein-based product, fresh produce has been shown to retain its quality for up to three times longer in laboratory trials.

Coating+ is currently undergoing regulatory approval for their product, and are ramping up production capabilities with a leading global nutrition company.

The Thought For Food (TFF) Foundation announced the winning teams of its annual global competition, the Thought For Food Challenge, on July 27th at the TFF Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The TFF teams were evaluated based on their potential for positive social and environmental impact, as well as the scientific and business feasibility of their ideas. The panel of judges which selected the 2018 winners included Cristianne Close (WWF), Teddy Onserio (Open Society Foundation), Peleg Chevion (Blendhub), and Darío Gonzales (Cultivando Futuro).

Continue reading Coating+ Wins 2018 Thought For Food Challenge

The Nigerian Diplomat Travel Guide

The Nigerian Diplomat Travel Guide is an ongoing project towards providing reliable and up-to-date data and information on the status of road travels in Nigeria.

Objectives

The project commenced on PositiveNaija in May 2018 and was transferred to The Nigerian Diplomat with the aim of contributing to the effective planning and risk assessment by travelers within Nigeria as well as serving as a policy-formulation/reforming instrument in securing human lives and improving road infrastructure.

Data Gathering

1. The Guide relies on road travelers within Nigeria in providing their recent travel experiences by completing the 2-minute questionnaire.
2. The Nigerian Diplomat also monitors various relevant sources for information.

Data Analysis

1. An objective weighted approach is used to determine the risk levels of the state of Nigerian roads for travels.

Disclaimer

Results provided serve as an advisory/informational guide and should be used/applied with caution taking into consideration other factors, which might not have been captured in our assessment.

Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has emerged the overall winner of this year’s Entrepreneurship Action and Us, ENACTUS national competition held in Lagos.

The ABU team that participated in the ENACTUS tournament was led by Usman Suleiman Waziri and Paul Onaji, under the supervision of ABU ENACTUS Faculty Adviser, Professor MK Aliyu.

Continue reading ABU Wins 2018 ENACTUS National Competition

Eight (8) Nigerian states have been honored at the 3rd THISDAY Healthcare Policy Dialogue for the provision of basic health services to their people using the Saving One Million Lives Performance for Results (SOMLPforR) programme.

The 3rd THISDAY Healthcare Policy Dialogue held in Abuja focused on addressing issues around provision of healthcare to vulnerable Nigerians.

Continue reading 8 Nigerian States Honored At 3rd THISDAY Healthcare Policy Dialogue

60-year-old Dorcas Olayemi Amusan-Fagborun has been honored with the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) as a community heroine in Bradford community.

Dorcas Olayemi Amusan-Fagborun is the chief executive of Peacemakers International, which supports survivors of domestic violence and abuse.

She has lived in Bradford since 1991, with all her children educated in the city, and was nominated for her services to community cohesion and women and girls’ rights.

Mrs. Dorcas Olayemi Amusan-Fagborun has used her own personal hardship to inspire others and bring a voice to those who would otherwise be silent.

She is a survivor of female genital mutilation (FGM) and her experience has provided the basis for much of her campaigning, culminating in the formation of the Bradford-based Peacemakers International charity.

Across the past 40 years, Mrs. Olayemi Amusan-Fagborun has worked to champion the interests of African and ethnic minority communities in Bradford and beyond. Her influence is said to have been pivotal in Bradford becoming the UK’s second ‘City of FGM Zero Tolerance’.

In her words:

“I have a philosophy that nobody will come to me crying and go back crying. I cannot withstand injustice and it does not matter whom it happens to or who the perpetrator is. Seeing many people suffering unjustly, to me, is disheartening.

FGM is very difficult for survivors, and the community, to talk about. Survivors don’t want to talk about it because there is no specialist support.

The practising community is a big community in the UK, making it not easy to eradicate.

Many parents thought they could do it for their children secretly because of taboos attached to it. Many people still see it as an attack on their culture by the Western World.

[On the award], it’s good for the whole of the city, not just me as an individual.

I will continue to make sure that people I come across reach their full potential regardless of their race or ethnicity.”

Bradford’s community heroes who have dedicated their lives to helping others are among those recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

The recipients form a diverse group consisting of people rewarded for their tireless charity and humanitarian work, their commitment to business, politics, and education, and their role in West Yorkshire’s emergency services.

The honors system recognises people who have made significant contributions to public life and excelled in serving and helping British society.

Others receiving the MBE honors in the list include:

• Professor Vincent Gaffney, of the landscape archaeology department of the University of Bradford, who is recognised for his services to scientific research.
• Chief Superintendent Maboob Hussain, for his services to West Yorkshire Police and his charity work.
• Two public officials serving Calderdale: Councillor Timothy Swift, rewarded for this services to local government and regeneration; and Dominic Furby, a former assistant district commander with West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, who was praised for his charity work.

Society for Family Physicians of Nigeria (SOFPON) and Sevenz Healthcare have launched KompleteCare – a mobile app aimed at reducing patient-waiting time in Nigerian hospitals. KompleteCare, can be accessed at the Google play store using a mobile phone.

Patients in public hospitals in the country spend an average of two hours before they are attended to by a doctor, according to a report.

KompleteCare app was unveiled to the public on May 18 at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, by the Commissioner for Health in the state, Dominic Ukpong, to mark SOFPON’s celebration of the 2018 World Family Doctor’s Day.

SOFPON said the app provides a meeting-point online between doctors and patients where consultation, examination, and drug prescription can take place, and thereby help to reduce the crowd of patients at public hospitals.

Doctors across different parts of the country are welcome to register and use the app and get paid for their services, the group said during its unveiling.

According to SOFPON:

“You’ll have to fill in your MDCN number, it will be confirmed first before you are allowed to log in as a doctor. There’s a place for doctors, and there’s a place also for the patient. The app will direct a patient on the doctor to meet – let’s say a cardiologist.

In the future, the biggest hospital will be on your mobile phone.”

Nene Andem, a consultant family physician at the Emmanuel Hospital, Eket, Akwa Ibom State, and the President of SOFPON, Uyo Zone, stated:

“Doctors sometimes do consultation on phone, and they don’t get paid for this.

With this app, doctors will now be paid for every single consultation they do. If we can get people to key into the app, it will reduce patient-waiting time in the hospitals.”

Also, a doctor at the Department of Family Medicine, UUTH, Daniel Okeke during the 2018 World Family Doctor’s Day celebration stated:

“The common challenge most patients would want to talk about if you ask them, is the waiting time; spending too much time in the hospital.

They say if you go to most of the government-owned hospital, from the time they arrive, to when they have to pay to get their cards, waiting to get their card, waiting to pay money, waiting to see to see a nurse to take their vital signs – blood pressure, weight, temperature and all that – and waiting to see the doctor. You think that ends there! After waiting to see the doctor, you still have to wait again to get some drugs from the pharmacy. And if some investigations were ordered, you have to wait at the place where the results would be collected.

The thing in the mind of most Nigerian patients is that once you are going to a public hospital, you’ll have to clear your schedule for that day. You know when you are going, but you don’t know when you are coming back.”

The celebration also featured a lecture on how family physicians are leading the way in patient care, presented by Etiobong Etukumana, a consultant family physician and the Chairman, Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), UUTH.