how nigerian senate fights for our

How the Nigerian Senate fights for our health

Those that follow the Nigerian health scene will be aware of The

National Health Bill that has been with the National Assembly for

close to two years.

There are fundamental problems with the organisation of health care

delivery in Nigeria. One of the most important lapses is that the most

critical aspect of health care delivery; primary health care is left

in the arms of the weakest part of governance in Nigeria (the Local

Government). The Minister of Health, Prof. Adenike Grange has argued

severally that for things to move forward we need to address this

legistlative dilemma.

To quote her...

"....the absence of a National Health Act to back up the National

Health Policy has been a fundamental weakness which needed to be

tackled frontally. This weakness means that there is no health

legislation describing the national health system and defining the

roles and responsibilities of the three tiers of government and

other stakeholders in the system. This has led to confusion,

duplication of functions and sometimes lapses in the performance of

essential public health functions"

This Bill has been lying with the National Assembly for 2 years.

Health care workers in Nigeria have been literally begging lawmakers

to pass the bill. The WHO made it top of the agenda in a recent

meeting with Nigerian Health care Professionals. A Nigerian National

Health Conference (NHC2006) begged for our National assembly to pass

the bill.

,

After all the public hearings retreats and discussions...read the

reaction of YOUR SENATE

.

Today Thisday reports...

The move to have a National Health Bill for Nigeria suffered a setback

in the Senate as the consideration of the report was suspended during

plenary session yesterday.

The bill was read the second time and referred back to the Senate

Committee on Health for the final legislative work before the end of

the last senate tenure in June 2007.

To conclude legislative work on the bill yesterday, the Chairman of

the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello presented

the report as scheduled for consideration in yesterday's Senate Order

Paper.

But the Senate Leader, Senator Teslim Folarin immediately moved a

motion for the report to be suspended until the senate revisits its

standing rule 111.

The motion was seconded by the Deputy Minority Leader, Senator

Olorunnimbe Mamora, who was a member of the Health Committee that

worked on the bill in the last senate.

The rule states: "The Legislative business of the Senate which remains

undetermined at the close of session or the life of the Senate shall

be resumed and proceeded with in the same manner as if the session or

life of the Senate has not ended."

Not even the argument of Senator Obasanjo-Bello that the nation is

in dire need of a National Health Bill and that so much work has

gone into the bill including public hearings, retreats and

discussions with various stakeholders could make the senate change

its mind yesterday

.She said: "The bill before you today is probably the most important

bill on Health that will be passed by this distinguished Senate and

probably the most important health bill passed by the Senate in our

country's history concerning the health of the people."

"The need for this bill arises because the Constitution is silent on

health. Health is not mentioned on either the exclusive or concurrent

list. The only area related to health mentioned is Drugs and Poison on

the exclusive list." She stated.

"Being healthy is mainly preventive medicine, which is why Primary

Health care is important and should be the focus on our health

delivery system. Solidifying primary Healthcare is the only way to

improve health for most Nigerians.

She went on: "Yet on born Nigerians will benefit from the impact of

this bill. It provides funding for Primary Health Care, regulation for

carrying out human clinical trials, regulation for transplanting,

rights of health care workers and patients, division of health

responsibilities of Federal and State Governments among other

2007_12_01_archive

Athletes Harm Others with Performance Enhancing Drugs

Some people think that we should let athletes take

performance-enhancing drugs because they think that these athletes can

only harm themselves and do not harm others. We already know that

anabolic steroids can cause liver damage, heart attacks and strokes,

and that growth hormone causes heart attacks by causing the heart

muscle to outgrow its blood supply. Now a two-year study of former

East German athletes shows that athletes who take these drugs can harm

their children.

In the 1970s and 80s, almost all government sponsored East German

athletes were forced to take anabolic steroids and other

performance-enhancing drugs. A study of 69 children of 52 of these

athletes showed that seven had birth defects and four were mentally

retarded, an unusually high incidence for a group of this size. More

than 25 percent had allergies and 23 percent had asthma. The women

suffered 32 times the normal incidence of miscarriage and stillbirth,

25 percent suffered cancer and 61 percent had therapy for mental

disorders. The study was conducted by Dr. Giselher Spitzer at Humbolt

University in Germany.

Many people are not aware that at this time, there is no test to catch

athletes who take growth hormone. The winner of the 2006 Tour de

France and the leader of the 2007 tour were disqualified for allegedly

taking performance-enhancing drugs. This was just the tip of the

iceberg. Martial Saugy, director of the Swiss Laboratory for Analysis

of Doping in Lausanne, Switzerland, told a Belgian newspaper that 47

of 189 riders raced on blood transfusions or EPO in the 2007 Tour de

2007_04_01_archive

public health ethical issues

wait for it wait for it

Wait for it ... wait for it ...

The worries of Chicago-area mass transit riders, Illinois public

schools and human service providers culminated at the state Capitol

Thursday, but they were all put on hold for seven to 10 days. Gov. Rod

Blagojevich said Thursday night outside of his Statehouse office that

he would announce a short-term plan Friday that would save

Chicago-area mass transit from severe cuts in services and in payroll.

In those seven to 10 days, Blagojevich said he and the legislative

leaders -- three of whom stood next to him Thursday night -- would

urge the Regional Transportation Authority to avoid cutting

Chicagoland mass transit services November 4. He said that's because

he and the Illinois General Assembly could tie up major differences in

the capital program for road and school construction financed by a

gaming expansion. And tying that up would allow for Republicans and

downstate lawmakers to approve a mass transit bill primarily for

Chicago, he said.

He was joined by Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and the two

Republican leaders, Tom Cross in the House and Frank Watson in the

Senate.

Quote Blagojevich: "There's broad consensus among Senate President

Jones, Republican Leader Watson, Republican Leader Cross and myself

that the practical reality is that in order to solve the mass transit

problem long-term for the Chicagoland area, we need an infrastructure,

capital construction program to get the downstate members to vote for

a Chicago issue and to get the Republican members to support a Chicago

issue."

The missing force was House Speaker Michael Madigan, who arrived late

and left early from the leaders' meeting. Afterwards, Madigan said

little other than that the House would wait to hear the governor's

announcement before voting on the mass transit proposal that would

increase the regional sales tax and real estate transfer tax in Cook

County and restructure the governance of the Chicago Transit

Authority.

"We're going to wait to hear from the governor to see if he has

produced more money for another short-term, one-week to 10-day

bailout," Madigan said before walking away.

Downstairs from the leaders' meeting, Chicago Transit Authority

executive director Ron Huberman told a House committee that the agency

can't risk accepting another short-term solution. But that depends on

whether he, as well as the mass transit riders and other service

providers waiting for state money, believe the governor's promise that

everything will fall into place within seven to 10 days.

Jones said the RTA and the CTA officials will testify to a Senate

committee Friday.

Schools held hostage?

One more issue tangled in this mess is state aid payments for public

schools.

School districts across the state are still waiting for increases in

state aid payments promised to them when the legislature approved a

state budget in August. (They've been getting their fiscal year 2007

levels since August.) The piece of legislation needed for the state to

distribute the new money -- including an increase in per-student

spending and an increase in reimbursements for special education

teachers -- is another victim of the political standoff on capital and

mass transit funding.

"Enough is enough." That was the message delivered by state Rep. Roger

Eddy, a Hutsonville Republican, on behalf of fellow House Republicans

and school superintendents earlier Thursday in a Statehouse news

conference.

Without the legislation to release the new money, Eddy said not only

will schools miss out on the promised increased funding, but some

districts actually will lose money. The Illinois State Board of

Education would have to recalculate general state aid payments using

last year's numbers.

"In fact, 726 school districts, as of today, when the calculation is

recalculated, will actually receive less money in state aid payments

beginning with the November 10 payment," Eddy said.

For instance, Jeff Patchett, superintendent of Oblong Community Unit

School District 4 in east central Illinois, said that his district,

which is already on the federal financial warning list, would lose out

on $8,571 in state aid per month without legislative action. If the

legislation to implement the payments were approved, then the

district's state aid payments would increase by more than $21,000 per

month.

Logistically, the House could vote on one "budget implementation bill"

(a.k.a. BIMP) already approved by the Senate. Instead, the House

advanced a new, more comprehensive BIMP bill that Democratic budget

negotiator Rep. Gary Hannig of Litchfield said is more in sync with

the approved budget than the one approved by the Senate month's ago.

The House and Senate are back in session Friday, and the leaders are

us global health workers on lookout for

U.S., global health workers on lookout for deadliest infectious diseases

The United States is joining countries around the world in being on

high alert for some of the globe's most deadly infectious diseases.

Under new International Health Regulations created by the World Health

Organization, the United States is working through its state and local

reporting networks to identify, respond to and share information about

public health emergencies of international concern. The regulations

took effect in the United States July 18.

The regulations call on WHO member countries -- which include the

United States -- to report disease outbreaks and other public health

events that have an international impact. Specifically, the new

regulations add four diseases -- smallpox, polio, severe acute

respiratory syndrome -- to the list of those that must be immediately

reported to WHO.

"Today's world of rapid air travel, international migration, emerging

diseases, threats of terrorism and the potential threat of an

influenza pandemic underscore the importance of the International

Health Regulations," said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services

Mike Leavitt.

The emergence of SARS in 2003 demonstrated "as no previous disease

outbreak ever had" how interconnected the world has become and how

rapidly a new disease can spread, according to WHO. SARS served as a

wake-up call for global health officials, said Margaret Chan, MD, WHO

director-general, but isn't the main concern today.

"Today, the greatest threat to international public health security

would be an influenza pandemic," said Chan in June, when the

International Health Regulations came into force. "The threat of a

pandemic has not receded, but implementation of the (regulations) will

help the world to be better prepared for the possibility of a

pandemic."

posted by APHA Flu Team at 12:33 PM

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