Tola Dehinde

In many countries, it is still difficult for women with an illness such as sickle cell to get work. Overall employment levels in countries with a high percentage of people living with sickle cell anaemia, (especially in West Africa) is low. People living with SCD in some parts of the world find it much harder to get work than others. Women living with sickle cell in many countries in Africa have been left trailing far behind their counterparts in developed nations when it comes to having employment.

Sickle cell anaemia is a disease where the normal red blood cells are round but for people living with sickle cell, theirs is the shape of a sickle and hence the name. This means they do not have enough blood in their system. The main symptoms of sickle cell disorder are anaemia and episodes of severe pain. The pain occurs when the red blood cells stick together, causing blockages in the small blood vessels. The sickled red blood cell can stick or clot together at any time, without notice.

I want to talk about the barriers that affect the average woman with sickle cell from getting a job. There are issues such as self-confidence or low self-esteem? How do we as women conquer these emotional self-limiting thoughts? Obstacles to employment can range from emotional, and physical to social. Lack of confidence in their own abilities appeared to be a big barrier, including concerns about how employers might perceive them. This was from the result of a research undertaken about women living with disabilities and employment.

Other attitudinal barriers from disabled applicants can include lack of confidence in applying, having been rejected many times before on declaration of a disability. Or not believing in one’s own abilities, having been brought up in a society that equates “disability” with “not as good as others.” Another is fear of not being offered the appropriate support and being discriminated against.

An additional barrier is insufficient skills in “selling” themselves on paper or in an interview. And there are equally other ones, such as, the extent of a person’s own disability, lack of education or training, lack of transportation, and the need for special features at the job were among the barriers reported. These are just a snapshot of course – there are many more.

I have always been in favour of people pursuing their passion and women, especially women living with the sickle cell being their own boss and being able to fulfill a need in other people’s lives. What does that mean in real terms? Well, American talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, stated, “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”

Below are a few steps to pursuing your passion:

Dream big but start small: Trying to turn your passion into profit can be risky but it is worth it. The good news is that you can minimise the risks by starting small and planning carefully. This to me means if you have been able to raise a lot of capital at the outset, don’t put all the money in the business right away. You will make mistakes and learn from those mistakes and hopefully, still have money to fall back on.

Do research: Ask people questions if you can do so. Get into the habit of doing something towards this passion that you want to do. The more you get into the habit of doing something about it daily, the more the idea grows in you. Don’t rush into starting big. Start small and improve your product.

Break down your big goal into manageable chunks: When turning passion into profit, keep goals small and attainable. Break down your big goal into smaller steps. Take time to plan things out, don’t rush into things.

Focus on your strengths and outsource the rest: The most successful entrepreneurs who turn passion into profit focus on their strengths and find others to help them fill in the gaps. Not only is this an effective business strategy, but people who focus on their strengths are happier, healthier, less stressed, more energetic, confident, engaged, creative and agile, satisfied and experience more meaning at their new start-up.

Start with things you know you are good at: This will help you to be excited about your passion. In any job, there will be bits you like and bits that you don’t fancy at all. Yet, those unfanciful parts of any job still need to be done.

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes: Anyone who starts something from the scratch does not know from the outset how to navigate the whole business. It takes time and perseverance and that is why they say, ‘don’t despise the days of little beginnings.’ Mistakes are bound to happen. But if you take on the suggestions above, hopefully, they will be far and few.

Speak up and out: By this I mean ask questions and let people know what you are planning to do. You never know who would have a solution to your problem. You could be told something that you have not thought of, that would be useful to you. No one knows it all and so getting information and doing your research about what it entails at the start is important.

Ultimately, when we focus on developing our strengths, we learn faster. Remember being your own boss is a long journey, so pace yourself and look after yourself. It will involve a lot of hard work and sleepless nights but when you fulfill your dream, it will be worth it. There will be high and low moments however remain positive and believe in yourself.

If you would like to get in touch with me about this article or about sickle cell, do so, via email: t.dehinde@yahoo.com. And do check out my blog: https://www.dailylivingwithsicklecell.com/ My book on sickle cell – How To Live With Sickle and my other books are available for purchase on www.amazon.com

The following is the list of COVID-19 test centres located in the 20 local government areas of Lagos State:

1. Somolu Local Government – Wright Memorial Primary Health Centre (Emmanuel Street, Somolu)

2. Ifako Ijaiye Local Government – Ifako Mini Stadium (College Road beside Ifako General Hospital)

3. Ojo Local Government – Ojo PHC (1, Rest House, Ojo)

4. Eti-Osa Local Government – Ikota Primary School (Lekki-Epe Expressway)

5. Surulere Local Government – Surulere LG Secretariat (24 Alhaji Masha Road, Surulere)

6. Kosofe Local Government – Ogudu Area Office (By Ogudu Roundabout, Ogudu Road)

7. Amuwo Odofin Local Government – Amuwo Odofin LG Secretariat (41 Road, Festac Town)

8. Ikorodu Local Government – ItaElewa PHC (Oriwu Road, Ikorodu) / Igbogbo PHC (32, Bola Ahmed Way, Igbogbo)

9. Lagos Island Local Government – IganIduganran PHC (151/152 Adeniji Adele Road, Lagos Island)

10. Epe Local Government – Epe PHC (Epe/Ijebu-Ode Expressway bu Oba’s Palace)

11. Lagos Mainland Local Government – Simpson PHC (1, Glover Road, by Simpson Street, Ebute-Meta)

12. Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government – Akere PHC (106, Baale Street, OluwaAkere)

13. Ibeju Lekki Local Government – Awoyaya Mayfair Estate (Beside First Bank)

14. Apapa Local Government – Apapa Iganmu LCDA Secretariat (41, Gaskiya Road, Badia Apapa)

15. Alimosho Local Government – Bola Ahmed Tinubu PHC (Vulcaniser Bus Stop, Egbeda) / Ipaja mini-stadium (Fela Field, Ipaja) / Rauf Aregbesola PHC (1, Powerline Road, Okunola, Mosan-Okunola) / Meiran PHC (1, Meiran Road, Meiran) / Ijegun PHC (30, Kudeyibu Street, Transformer Bus Stop, Old Isolo Road, Ijegun, along Ejigbo Road / Helen Aderonke PHC (Olorunfunmilayo Primary School, OPC junction, Idimu Bus Stop)

16. Oshodi Isolo Local Government – Ajibulu PHC (1, Ajibulu Street, Mafoluku, Oshodi)

17. Ikeja Local Government – Ikeja LG Secretariat (2/3, Obafemi Awolowo Way)

18. Agege Local Government – Sango PHC (2, Balogun Street, Pen Cinema, Agege)

19. Badagry Local Government – Ajara Flagship Health Centre (1, Wande Street, Opp. 100 Shops, Ajara Badagry)

20. Mushin Local Government – Isola Road PHC (Isolo Road, near Zone D Police Command, Mushin / Odi-Olowo LCDA Secretariat (Ilupeju)

Oluwatobiloba Jaiyeola

An Obstetrician and Gynecologist, Dr. Olajumoke Ogunro, says pregnant women should be alert to the rare possibility that they can still conceive while already pregnant.

According to her, while the occurrence referred to as superfetation is rare, science has established that it is possible.

Superfetation is the formation of a second foetus while another foetus is already present in the uterus.

Speaking with PUNCH HealthWise in an interview, Dr. Ogunro who works at the Alpha Assisted Reproductive Klinic, Ikoyi, Lagos, explained that even though it is possible for superfetation to occur, the condition is extremely rare in humans.

She said, “In humans, it is very rare. In fact, in the whole medical literature, what has been recorded is less than 10 cases. It is more common in certain animals like rodents, fishes, kangaroos.”

She stated that the condition occurs when a woman ovulates in two different cycles and releases two different eggs. According to her, these eggs get fertilised and implantation occurs in the uterus.

Ogunro added, “Basically, what happens is that a woman ovulates, she releases her eggs and then the egg gets fertilised and implanted in the uterus, so pregnancy occurs and then in another cycle, she ovulates again, releases the eggs, they get fertilised and implantation occurs for the second time.

“It is extremely rare because the way nature does is that once a woman is pregnant, it’s rare for another pregnancy to occur.

“That is because the pregnancy hormones act as a barrier to prevent another pregnancy and also, the lining of the womb undergoes changes that it is almost impossible for a second pregnancy to occur, however, this rare condition can occur.”

According to the expert, in a case where superfetation occurs, both babies can survive although one would be older than the other.

She further explained the difference between twins and superfetation saying, “With twins, what happens is that they are conceived at the same time, within the same menstrual cycle but with superfetation, it is at different times, one is older than the other.

“What happens is that if one is older than the other, the younger one may be delivered pre-term.

“The younger one has all the challenges in pre-term, challenges such as being born earlier than the due date. It is different from twins because with twins, the conception takes place at the same time but with superfetation, it is two eggs that have been released and fertilised at different times in two different menstrual cycles.”

Ogunro stressed that the condition is extremely rare in humans, so it is not something women should bother or be worried about.

According to a 2017 study, first published in the Journal of Reproduction & Sexual Health, “Superfetation in humans is an extremely rare situation in which a woman becomes pregnant a second time with another younger foetus in the face of an ongoing pregnancy.

“It is claimed to be common in some species of animals but is extremely rare in humans that fewer than 10 cases have been reported in the medical literature. Superfetation is different from the process of twinning or multiple gestations and involves the conception of an additional fetus during an established pregnancy.

“With superfetation, the two fetuses have different gestational ages and due dates.”

The study explained that “after conception occurs in a normal pregnancy, hormones have released that stop further ovulation.

“The lining of the uterus thickens in a way that should prevent a second embryo from attaching itself.

“Finally, the cervix forms a barrier known as the mucus plus, which is designed to protect the developing fetus from microbial infection and serves as an effective barrier to sperm.”

The study carried out in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria, stated that superfetation is so unlikely because “three near-impossible things need to happen in order for it to occur; ovulation must occur while a woman is already pregnant, sperm must somehow make it past the mucus plug, and implantation must occur in a uterus that is no longer prepared for it.

“The odds of all three of them happening are without a doubt extremely small as reflected by the very occasional reports of superfetation in humans in the medical literature.”

Copyright PUNCH

Health officials say they are now investigating unexplained cases of hepatitis in children in four European countries and the US.

Cases of hepatitis, or liver inflammation, have been reported in Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and the US, health officials say.

Last week UK health authorities said they had detected higher than usual cases of the illness among children.

The cause of the illness is not yet known.

The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) did not specify how many cases have been found in the four European countries in total.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) said less than five had been found in Ireland, and three had been found in Spain. It added that the detection of more cases in the coming days was likely.

Investigations into the cause of the illness are ongoing in all of the European countries where cases have been reported, said the ECDC.

In the US, Alabama's public health department said nine cases have been found in children aged one to six years old, with two needing liver transplants.

Investigations into similar cases in other states are taking place, it added.

The UK is where the highest number of cases has been reported - with a total of 74 recorded so far.

Last week the UK Health Security Agency said the usual viruses that cause infectious hepatitis (hepatitis A to E) have not been detected among the cases in the UK.

As a result, investigators are looking at other possible causes, and believe that the common adenovirus could be the cause.

Adenoviruses are a family of viruses that usually cause a range of mild illnesses such as colds, vomiting and diarrhoea.

It did however say that other possible causes of the illness are also being investigated, and it had not ruled out Covid-19. It added that there is no apparent link with Covid-19 vaccines.
What is hepatitis?

It's a broad term used to describe inflammation of the liver.

Usually the result of a viral infection, it can also be caused by exposure to some chemicals, drinking too much alcohol, drugs and certain genetic disorders.

There are five main types of hepatitis caused by specific viruses - known as A, B, C, D and E - but none of those appear to have caused the liver inflammation seen in these children so far.

Some types of hepatitis can pass without any serious problems, while others can be long-lasting.

UK health authorities said parents should be on the lookout for symptoms such as jaundice.

In developing countries – and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa – most primary care services are offered by nurses, not doctors as is the case in developed countries. In addition most of the doctors have no specific training in family medicine or primary care.

South Africa is no exception. But the country has been experimenting with a different approach. Over the past few decades family physicians, specialists in family medicine, have been sent to work in the district health system. The result is that many community health centres and district hospitals now have family physicians. The numbers are still small with on average two family physicians per health district. The country has 52 health districts.

We set out to evaluate how family physicians are contributing to South Africa’s district health system. As part of our study, we looked at the impact of family physicians in district hospitals and community health centres across seven provinces.

While South Africa has better human resources for health than most other African countries, it is still less than comparable middle income countries such as Brazil. South Africa has about 77 doctors for 100,000 people compared to 206 for every 100,000 people in Brazil. And of the available doctors, only about 41% work in the public sector that looks after 80% of the population. Doctors are concentrated in urban areas and coverage varies between provinces. Currently there is about one family physician for every 100,000 people in the country. In the public sector this translates into 0.3 for every 100,000 people. By comparison Brazil has twice as many family physicians.

South Africa’s health needs are considerable because it faces a quadruple burden of disease in the form of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis; maternal and child health problems; non-communicable diseases as well as trauma and violence-related injuries.

We found that South Africa’s family physicians are making a significant contribution to health care. They are improving access to quality care and reduce the need to refer patients elsewhere. This is because they are bringing a more comprehensive set of clinical competencies closer to the community and strengthening the whole health care team.

They also improve the organisation of care for patients and the quality of care for conditions such as HIV, TB, mental health, non-communicable diseases, maternal, child and emergency care. As a result the health and well-being of millions of people who can’t afford medical insurance are being improved. This was confirmed by district hospital managers as well as their co-workers.

And in the context of improving health care in South Africa, our study has underpinned the need for more family physicians to be employed in the public health systems, particularly in isolated areas.
What are family physicians?

Most regions of the world, apart from Africa, have well established postgraduate training programmes in family medicine for their doctors. In some countries, such as the UK, it is now compulsory for general practitioners to have such training. These countries recognise the complexity of assessing and managing undifferentiated health problems in primary care.

In the African context additional competencies are required to work in district hospitals. Unlike general practitioners and medical officers, family physicians complete four years of additional training after their basic degree.

In South Africa, family physicians are a relatively new innovation in the health system. They were only formally recognised in 2007 as specialists in family medicine.

A two-year diploma in family medicine has also recently been created to meet the learning needs of doctors working in the district health system that do not want to specialise.

The additional training makes family physicians expert medical generalists who are not only competent clinicians, but also consultants, capacity builders, leaders of quality improvement and champions of community-oriented primary care.

In the public sector family physicians are employed in district hospitals, often in rural areas where there are no other specialists and significant skills gaps in current service provision. They are also trained to work in primary health care. There they support the multidisciplinary team of medical officers, nurses, community health workers and other allied health workers.
Next steps

For family physicians to really make a difference in the public sector, there should be at least one placed at every district hospital and community health centre in the country. This means that there should initially be 700 family physicians employed in the public sector. Currently there are just over 1,000 family physicians registered in South Africa – but less than a third work in the public sector.

The placement of family physicians in the public sector isn’t always ideal. This is because there’s still confusion in national policy and different interpretations on how best to employ family physicians. Provinces are employing them in different ways – sometimes using them as members of district clinical specialist teams or to fill gaps in the system when they lack clinical managers or other specialists.

But South Africa can’t afford to duck the problem. One of its commitments in the UN’s sustainable development goals is to improve universal health coverage in the country. If this is to become a reality, employing more well-trained family physicians in the country’s district health system is an important step.

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly affected us. It has increased our worries and concerns about physical health. COVID-19 has added to the existing challenges parents face, and has also created greater awareness surrounding the fragility of mental health.

Yet, the second wave has also paved the way for a larger discussion on ways to promote mental well-being.
Cover of Healthy Minds, Healthy Schools
Healthy Minds, Healthy Schools: Strategies for Happy and Successful Learners. (Canadian Scholars' Press)

As a researcher and a clinical psychologist, I lead a research group that investigates how emotion regulation, values and beliefs affect the development and inter-generational transmission of mental or behavioural disorders, and how these problems can impact educational achievement.

The Childhood Anxiety and Regulation of Emotions (C.A.R.E.) research group has developed a school-based program as well as a parenting program, both of which teach core coping skills that have been associated with resilience. Resilience is the capacity for an individual to remain engaged, available and optimistic instead of withdrawn, overwhelmed and defeated when faced with hardship and adversity.

Our research group believes that when parents are aware of their own emotional self-regulation, and when they can find space to structure meaningful family activities that promote mutual bonding, both they and their children are in a better position to learn core coping skills that will benefit individuals and family relationships.
Impact of the pandemic on family life

A recent report by the Australian Human Rights Commission investigated COVID-19-related concerns experienced by children aged five and older and emerging adults from January to April 2020. The report suggested that “mental health concerns resulting from COVID-19” and “impacts on family life” were among the top five concerns endorsed by youth.

Similarly, a July 2020 Statistics Canada report revealed three out of four parents experienced concerns and worries about balancing child care, their child’s schooling and their own professional work irrespective of the child’s age. More than half of parents surveyed reported greater difficulty managing their child’s emotions as well as their own.

The arising parenting challenges surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic may represent an opportune time for us to improve our resilience and model more adaptive strategies and skills. In turn, such skills can promote the development of resilient behaviours in our children.

As the picture below illustrates, not everyone reacts in the same way to a given situation. The ability to manage strong negative emotions and shift our mindset to a more adaptive perspective can be developed at any age. Since our brain is most adept at performing a new task early in life, it’s most beneficial for people to become socialized in these fundamental life skills early. This will help children to become self-regulated, adaptive and thriving adults.

Parental emotions

Findings from our research group’s recent study, conducted with mothers, suggest that parents’ abilities to regulate their own emotions predicted how frequently and effectively they rely on supportive parenting practices. Supportive practices are things like comforting children when they experience negative emotions; engaging in problem-solving strategies aimed at reducing children’s distress; and discussing children’s emotional experiences with them. As such, these results suggest that supportive parenting is associated with children who are better at managing difficult emotions.

We also found that invalidating children’s emotional expression or ignoring or dismissing the child’s emotions contributed to poorer emotion regulation skills in children, and that such less-supportive parenting practices were linked to anxiety in adulthood. When parents themselves match or exceed their child’s emotions, they also offer less adaptive emotional coaching.

Parents may have heard the airplane safety tip to always don one’s own oxygen mask before helping a child: the same applies with emotional regulation. As parents, when we prioritize managing our own stress, tolerating greater uncertainty and engaging in self-care activities like exercise, good sleep hygiene and relaxation, this expands our capacity to respond calmly. This teaches our children that they too can cope and manage stress and related threats.

Supportive parenting is best achieved when a connected, caring and responsive relationship with children is fostered early on. Supportive parenting that builds resilience is comparable to an early investment that grows with time. It is key to create as many early positive and reinforcing experiences as possible.

Failure: An opportunity for growth

Parenting is difficult and striving for perfection is unrealistic and unattainable. We can instead chose to model that mistakes and failures can be a renewed opportunity for growth. Raising resilient children means that we value teaching them self-compassion, gratitude, delayed gratification and self worth to leverage life experiences that facilitate the development of their sense of purpose.

It is as critical for parents to value teaching children these core social emotional skills, just as much as we might encourage them to become expert swimmers or gifted mathematicians.

When supportive parenting and strong family relationships consistently provide opportunities to strengthen coping skills and the ability to regulate emotions, these are also opportunities for children to become skilled at accepting hardship and remaining committed toward achievement. Supportive parental practices contribute to children’s long-term healthy emotional and psychological development.

Parents can help their children develop these key social-emotional abilities in a variety of ways.

    As a first step, parents should evaluate whether their own emotional and psychological needs are met and do their best to find, advocate for or create structures or supports to meet these. In return, they may gain the capacity to model these adaptive behaviours.

    Parents can learn more about core coping skills like emotional regulation. This includes the ability to pay attention to and accept (not judge) our emotions, to label and differentiate emotions. It also means understanding varying levels of emotional intensity, to learn how to tolerate and be open to the experience of distressing emotions and to control our emotions by changing how we think about the situation at hand. Mindfulness and problem solving can also be easily taught through interactive read-along activities and lessons.

    Regardless of a family’s structure, parents can improve family relationships and connectedness. They can do this by dedicating common time for the family members to congregate and bond with one another through activities like meal time, game or movie night and outdoor or sport activities.

    Parents can work on identifying mutual family values through activities like developing a values coat of arms. Identifying mutual values can be useful when seeking to carve out time spent together based on identified commonalities and shared interests.

Adversity creates accidental opportunities to build skills to endure ongoing or future hardship. This is the essence of resilience: accepting that a door has closed behind us, and being optimistic about what awaits. By being more emotionally and mentally grounded as parents, parents can lead collectively stronger families. Let’s stay strong together!

As children head back to school, families are once again facing a September of uncertainty. This worry is compounded by depressive and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents that have doubled in the past 18 months.

Our team has been studying the mental health of children and families since the start of the pandemic to develop strategies that support those who are struggling. Getting kids back in the classroom is an important step. However, we must not forget the well-being of families, as children are most successful when they are jointly supported in both the classroom and at home.

Noticing, validating and managing emotions is an important part of family health and wellness. Emotion coaching is a simple strategy parents can use with their children and loved ones.
How the pandemic got in the way

Our family science research group in southern Ontario has recently published three studies highlighting how the pandemic has interrupted relationships and mental health in children and families. Findings were based on an international sample of 549 families and 1,098 children.
Get your news from people who know what they’re talking about.

We found that pandemic stress falls into one of three categories: economic stress (things like job loss, debt problems), relational stress (showing up, for instance, as more hostility or withdrawal between family members) and pandemic-specific stress (seen in things like being overwhelmed by the news cycle). In other words, many parents are simply too stressed to provide emotionally supportive responses during parenting exchanges. That said, not all families have been affected equally.

Read more: Parenting in a pandemic: How to develop stronger family relationships during COVID-19

Among the parents we studied, we found that women with a history of early life adversity were the most vulnerable to mental health problems. But men with a history of early life adversity were still at greater risk for mental health problems than men without such early adversity.

Parents experiencing mental health challenges creates a ripple effect across the entire family unit. It predicts higher mental health problems in children, psychological distress in parents and parenting challenges.

Even within the same family, one sibling may be struggling more. In a sibling comparison study, forthcoming in the peer-reviewed journal Developmental Psychology, caregivers reported having more parenting challenges over time with the child who had higher levels of anxiety, depression and anger at the start of the pandemic.

This is an important and unique finding since it describes how COVID-19 stress “gets inside the family,” highlighting and widening differences between siblings. This creates an added challenge for parents.

What is emotion coaching?

Emotion coaching is a pattern of communication that emerged from the work of psychologist John Gottman, and has since become embedded in many types of therapy.

That said, it’s not complicated and anyone can do it.

In its simplest form, emotion coaching is a two-step process that parents can use when their child is distressed.

1. Parents first validate the emotion. This requires that they identify the emotion by saying something like: “I understand you might be feeling worried …” and then by explaining the emotion: “… because it’s almost September, because you are worried about what back to school will look like and because you have been home for so long.” This conveys to a child that their feelings make sense, that they are not wrong or bad for feeling the way they do, and that their parent understands them. To remember this step, parents can remind themselves that you’ve got to feel it to heal it.

2. After validating the emotion, parents provide support. This may be emotional support that is comforting, reassuring and hopeful. It could also be a sign of togetherness, in saying something like: “I will be here with you every step of the way this fall.”

Next, practical support can take the form of distraction, redirection, problem-solving or encouragement. If a child is focused on the uncertainty of September, parents may suggest doing a fun activity together. If an adolescent is refusing school, parents could provide encouragement or set limits and reinforce expectations.

The important thing is the order of emotion coaching steps — first a parent helps their child to feel the emotion (validation), and then the parent helps their child to feel better (support).

Not only will emotion coaching help calm the emotional storm in the moment, but it will also teach children how to manage their own emotions in the future.

Society for Family Health (SFH) has said that the best way to achieve the highly desired universal health coverage (UHC) in the country is to key into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The Managing Director, Dr. Omokhudu Idogho, said this yesterday when he led a delegation to Rutam House, Lagos, headquarters of The Guardian.

He disclosed the desire of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) to partner with the media to create more awareness about dangers of unwanted pregnancy among adolescents.

Idogho said: “We work with state and councils in terms of UHC. Therefore, we ask other states who are not involved to key into NHIS.

“SFH is 100 per cent Nigerian organisation. We have been operating in Nigeria for the past 37 years. We are in a new decade and we feel it is a time for us to focus more on UHC for all Nigerians, irrespective of social and financial status. Every individual should have minimum access to quality healthcare.”

According to him, developed countries that made progress are defined with their ability to achieve UHC.

He added, “We need media to up their game in information dissemination about adolescents, especially unmarried ones, because information is key. For instance, we tell the unmarried adolescents to abstain from sexual intercourse to avoid unwanted pregnancy, because if they get pregnant and eventually commit abortion, they will die.

“We also involve mothers in this awareness because most of the adolescents would believe when they hear from their mothers.

“We are very interested in health of the pregnant women, but we are interested in the adolescents because they constitute 27 per cent of our population.”

Every other conversation in the country is all about pregnant woman or the girl child but there is no conversation about the adolescents.”

The dearth of doctors and Nigerians’ penchant for self-medication stoked the campaign for UHC, he explained.

“In Nigeria, we do not have enough doctors and 67 per cent of Nigerians get their healthcare from the chemists or community pharmacists. But we as an organisation, we must make sure that every Nigerian, including those in rural areas, get healthcare coverage.

“There is need to improve and empower healthcare service providers, as this would enhance UHC in Nigeria.”