Nigeria's weak health
sector confronts Ebola

Spread of Ebola contained, but
health system is having
trouble dealing with treatable
diseases which kill thousands.

Lagos, Nigeria - When 17- year-old Ibrahim Abbas came
down with a fever in Lagos,
Nigeria's commercial capital,
health providers in over 10
hospitals refused to admit
him. Some feared Ebola, but blood tests showed he had malaria, a curable illness
that kills over 200,000
Nigerians annually , according to Nigeria's latest
Demographic and Health
Survey. Others lacked supplies
needed to treat his severe
form of malaria. He died the
next morning. "He was helpless... He needed
oxygen to enhance his
breathing," Magu Abdul,
Abbas' 27-year-old cousin said,
recounting what happened on
August 22 when the family rushed then-unconscious
Abbas from one hospital to
another. Out of options, they
took Abbas home at midnight
and simply prayed. That
morning, Abdul saw Abbas take his last breath.

Abbas is one of hundreds of
thousands of Nigerians who
die each year from treatable
diseases. Most of these deaths
affect the most vulnerable:
children under five and pregnant women. In 2010, an
estimated 209,000 Nigerians
died of malaria - 32 percent of
global malaria deaths -
according to Nigeria's 2013
Demographic and Health Survey.

Africa's biggest oil producer
and largest economy has one
of the world's highest child
and maternal mortality
rates. In 2012, an estimated
827,000 children under five died, while the reported
maternal mortality rate was
550 per 100,000 live births,
according to UNICEF . Most of Nigeria's childhood
deaths are due to preventable
or curable diseases: mainly
malaria, pneumonia, and
diarrhoea. Primary healthcare,
run by local governments - Nigeria's smallest unit of
government - is tasked with
handling these common
illnesses. The level of care in each centre
varies, but generally, primary
facilities do not have enough
health workers, supplies,
equipment, training, or
transport - including ambulances to take patients
to state or federal
hospitals, says Michael Asuzu,
a public health
and epidemiology professor at
the University of Ibadan. In its five-year 2010 National
Strategic Health Development
Plan, the health ministry acknowledged that "although accountability
problems affect all levels of
government, at the local level
they present a particular
challenge".


http://m.aljazeera.com/se/2014915917268515

Sorry, Nigeria's weak, failed system contained ebola, that's the news. Don't try to add anything else.

Honestly, I'm impressed.

Nigeria made it despite all odds. No one gave us a chance.

.

the useless racist arab television.
when they see nigerian army is winning war on terror, then they stop reporting about bokohoram. when they see nigerian health sector has confronted ebola they started reporting about some shi.t blind people in the north.

only uninformed peeps watch that suc.king station

Am so proud of my country.............NIGERIA!


Even if it is a one time thing.....we did it against all odds.....

There is hope for this country

With God all things are possible we will get to that level

atlwireles: Sorry, Nigeria weak, failed system contained ebola, that's the news. Don't try to add anything else.

Other things added were to prove their assertion. Lol...

God is certainly a Nigerian. Imagine the devastation ebola disease would have caused with our huge population in retrospect and health system on comatose, yet we braze through at a time the doctors were on strike. The outside world were expecting bad report of massive death, but as usual, they are disappointed. The Health Minister deserve special commendation. He has proven that his appointment was not a hoax as such he has risen to the task when he was needed most. This is how these foreigners wishing us evil will continually get disappointed. 2015 will come and go and their predictions will not materialise cos My Nigeria is destined for greatness and not disentegration.

atlwireles: Sorry, Nigeria weak, failed system contained ebola, that's the news. Don't try to add anything else.

They just needed to add one negative news to discredit the stride achieved with the Ebola containment.

Why do d so called developed countries get intimidated wen eva a so called developing country achieves a feat? Just one day AFRICA will recolonise d entire world!

CNN,BBC,Aljazeera etc have to types of news they dish out-real news and baised/watered news.
Unfortunately,85% of their news belong to the later.

#NigeriaWillRiseAgain

I won't say anything

Other than, God bless my Country.

Being in Nigeria and seeing how this foreign media BBC, CNN, ALJAZEERA reports news makes me begin to doubt about what they report in other lands, wars in middle East, African conflicts etc.

I hate any Nigerian company that advertise on these channels, if I had my way they should be black out

I'm not suprised. They did not expect it. They thought it would be a potential bad news for weeks. Sorry to disappoint you guys, you're not getting any bad news item from Nigeria on ebola. Look somewhere else. Always looking for bad news.

If 900,000 child die before 5 Nigeria, then more than 1000 young people die in my hometown(EDE,STATE OF OSUN) every year?.
Maybe they should go and validate their stat.

reedonne: If 900,000 child die before 5 Nigeria, then more than 1000 young people die in my hometown(EDE,STATE OF OSUN) every year?.
Maybe they should go and validate their stat.

Yes, if the residents of Ede make up 0.11% of Nigeria's population and the under-5 mortality rate in Ede is the same as Nigeria's.

buzor: the useless racist arab television.
when they see nigerian army is winning war on terror, then they stop reporting about bokohoram. when they see nigerian health sector has confronted ebola they started reporting about some shi.t blind people in the north.

only uninformed peeps watch that suc.king station

And i thought i was the only one thinking the foreign news agency are agents of Devil?

gsainttrinity:

And i thought i was the only one thinking the foreign news agency are agents of Devil?

xpecially CNN and Aljazeera.

Bunch of delusional folks! CNN and BBC are western propaganda and Al Jazerra has joined Arabian propaganda?? Are we not ashamed that our NTA, which over 50 yrs old cannot compete with Al- Jazerra, which is less than 10 yrs?
We love those media houses when they state that we are the largest economy in Africa? Hate them when state that malaria kills about 300K Nigerians every year.

No be their fort, shebi na we they depreciate ourselve as if our country is totally poor

4Play:

Yes, if the residents of Ede make up 0.11% of Nigeria's population and the under-5 mortality rate in Ede is the same as Nigeria's.

Its official population is 150,000.
But I dont think 5000 under 5 children die every year in this town(or city as you wish to call it.)
Also the official poverty rate for Nigeria doesnt reflect here. Same with malaria related deaths.
I think our goverment need to do LG by LG stats so that they can capture more people at the sametime have credible information about each LG in Nigeria.

walahi since dey born me I neva hear ov anyone who died of malaria. Where these news guys com dey get their stats 4rm whites; painting Africa black since 1603

D oda day Aljazeera was talking about River Blindness I don't really know d name of the village the captured in Kaduna, yu need to see d way dis guyz were just spewing thrash like the level of poverty, No of people it affects and killed yearly. I was just like damn whatz all diz. So River Blindness has become so deadly in 9ja. What I have to add is God Bless NIGERIA.