Dried #Codfish or #Stockfish as many people know it as, is added to many delicacies in Africa and the world over.

Here in Nigeria, Egusi, Ogbono and Vegetable Soup, to mention a few, are not complete without Okporoko or Panla, as we know it.

Ever since I found out that the stockfish from Norway (which produces the highest amount worldwide) imported into developing countries is a different quality from those in advanced countries, I became sceptical about adding that stockfish to my soup. Coupled with the storage process in our market like Oyingbo which makes it all dusty.

Now we can make our own #MadeInNigeria stockfish.

This was made using cleaned raw frozen fish and of course under sanitary conditions.

Three medium-sized fishes broken in bits filled a bowl. We checked the price of equivalent weight in the Market and found that our price is the same as market price inclusive of labour and power. Need to get yours too?

We did snaild and beef too. Good thing is you can either eat it or add to your soup to rehydrate it.
#BuyNigeria
#GrowTheNaira

What is stockfish called in your language?

By now you should have heard of the Dove Body Lotion advert that Facebook banned after a social media outrage that the ad was racist.
The advert showed a black woman turning white after removing her jumper.


The woman in question is Lola Ogunyemi, a male model.



She's signed up with AMCK Models which has established itself as one of the leading players in the fashion industry, having exclusives and campaigns for international labels such as Prada and Givenchy, and editorials in fashion bibles such as Vogue Hommes, GQ, I-D and AnOther Man.



According to their website, AMCK boys are a band of brothers, and family values are at the core of who we are.



She wrote an op-ed for the Guardian U.K. to state that she's not a victim of racism.

Read more:

http://healthjourno.com/2017/10/11/nigerian-woman-on-racist-dove-advert-lola-ogunyemi-is-a-male-model/

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Can you believe that most of the children of 8-9 years in West Africa think fathers rule the household? And boys are smarter than girls? They also suggest that girls should have less schooling than their male peers. This is according to new data released by Save the Children.

The global humanitarian organization, which surveyed boys and girls in the United States and the West African nations of Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire, found that a striking number of young boys – and even many girls – believe fathers rule the household, boys are smarter than girls and girls need less school than boys.

Launched to coincide with International Day of the Girl on Oct. 11, the new data indicates that girls are significantly less valued than their male peers, even in these very different regions and cultures of the world.

In the survey, Save the Children asked fourth graders (8-9 year olds) whether or not they agree with a series of questions about education and power dynamics between males and females.

In the United States, 37 percent of fourth-grade boys believe that boys are smarter than girls, whereas in the districts in Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire where these data were collected, two out of three fourth-grade boys surveyed agreed with this sentiment.

Surprisingly, in both the United States and the sites surveyed in West Africa, more than one in five fourth-grade girls reportedly said they need less school than boys (22 percent in the U.S., 25 percent in Sierra Leone).

These stereotypes carry over to the role women play within their families and communities as well. The overwhelming majority of boys (94 percent) and girls (92 percent) surveyed in Sierra Leone think that the father is in charge of the home, compared with more than one-third of American fourth graders who agree.

In regions of Côte d’Ivoire surveyed as well as across the United States, approximately two-thirds of fourth graders report that moms are more responsible than dads for taking care of the children.



In the United States, the research found that these views not only apply to the home, but also the workplace, with 17 percent of American fourth graders believing a man would make a better boss than a woman.

Read more:


http://healthjourno.com/2017/10/11/internationaldayofthegirlchild-how-can-we-change-the-african-mindset-that-boys-are-better-than-girls/

Condoms are a central part of the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic globally as well as an important tool in Family Planning programmes for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) prevention and prevention of unintended pregnancies.

According to the recent landscape assessment of Nigeria’s condom market (USAID 2017), the market is characterized as a developing one based on market performance, existing use and acceptability of condoms indicators.

There is an overall unmet need in the country with the number of condoms needed to consistently protect 90% of sexual acts from HIV protection and unplanned pregnancy being significantly higher than the actual number of condoms in the market.

The gap between current condom use (587 million) and total need (1.15 billion) to achieve 90% coverage us 564 million condoms annually.

The condom gap, statistics reveal, is not evenly distributed across populations that are at risk.

Couples with one person who is HIV-positive and one who is HIV-negative (sometimes called “serodiscordant” or “mixed serostatus”) have the biggest gap with coverage of only ten percent of need (Out of 95,559,115, only 95,000 get condoms).

On the other hand, unmet Need was notably lower among sex workers who showed a coverage of 93% (266,321,001) of the total estimated condom bed (286,366,668), particularly during commercial sex.

Among couples with multiple sex partners, men who have sex with men (MSM) and individuals using condoms for Family Planning, there were coverage rates of 55%, 57% and 60% respectively.

This highlights the need for targeted distribution. Also, the high condom use among sex workers shows that large numbers of condoms will be required by this group on an ongoing basis to sustain the use of it.


Image: Healthjourno.com


healthjourno.com/2017/09/26/worldcontraceptionday-theres-an-unmet-need-of-564-million-condoms-in-nigeria-annually/

Hi @honeycome, I sent you a Skype request from funmi_ishola. I wonder if this thread is still open and you're recycling already in Nigeria? Cheers.

Hi Nairalanders,

I need someone who can work with me on my website to create and source stories and information on health in Nigeria and Africa at large.

The ideal candidate needs to be able to put together content with minimal grammatical errors and must make sense.

You would need to submit a minimum of 20 stories per day (Monday to Saturday), which could include credible offline and online sources. Each article must be between 150 and 450 words.

Are you the right person?

Please send a sample article of between 150 and 450 words to thehealthjourno@gmail.com

The successful candidate will be expected to resume on Monday, February 6, 2017.

Thank you.

The Food Standards Agency in the United Kingdom says overcooking potatoes and bread can cause cancer and their new campaign, Go For Gold, is aimed at discouraging families from cooking their potatoes into golden brown roasties, as acrylamide has been shown to cause disease in lab rats and mice.

Steve Wearne, the FSA’s director of policy, says: “The majority of people are not aware that acrylamide exists, or that they might be able to reduce their intake.”

The campaign is based on longstanding evidence from animal studies in 2002, but the link is yet to be proved in human studies. Some experts are highlighting that other lifestyle factors pose much greater cancer risks, such as smoking and obesity.

What exactly is the problem with these overcooked starchy foods? Earlier mouse studies identified that high levels of a compound called acrylamide led to an increased risk of cancer.


Acrylamide is what makes bread and potatoes turn golden in colour when fried, baked, toasted or roasted. The compound is formed from simple sugars, such as glucose, reacting with an amino acid, known as asparagine, when these foods are cooked at temperatures above 120 degrees Celsius. Asparagine is found naturally in starchy foods.

If cooked for too long, these foods turn from golden to brown and eventually black. As they do, they produce higher levels of acrylamide, further increasing your cancer risk, as highlighted by the FSA campaign, called "Go for Gold."

The campaign asks people to keep their food golden and not let it cook to those darker colours.
The aim is to increase awareness among the public. Although the research is not new, the agency believes that people remain unaware.

http://healthjourno.com/2017/01/24/foods-can-dangerous-undercooked-reheated/

Not everybody would be willing to leave their partners even after they find out that that partner has tested positive for the HIV virus.

Your safety remains important and here's what you can do to be able to remain sexually active with a partner who has HIV.

There are also details of where you can get free drugs in three states in Nigeria, in the link below.

Stay safe!

HIV/AIDS is a public health problem in Nigeria. About 3.5 million people were living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria at the end of 2011 and several others died due to AIDS-related complications.
The National HIV prevalence is estimated at 4.1%. Nigeria is also the second largest population of people living with HIV globally. About 32% of all HIV-positive babies globally are born in Nigeria. Two out of 17 million orphans and vulnerable children are so because of HIV/AIDS.

What can you do if your partner has tested positive for HIV and you're still negative? Well, you may have to take drugs for the other person's disease and that drug is called PrEP.
What is PrEP? (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis)
PrEp stands for Pre-exposure Prophylaxis. It is the use of anti-HIV drugs by people who do not have HIV but are at very high risk of becoming infected. A single pill is taken once daily, the pill contains two active drugs that are used to treat HIV (Truvada).
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, (PrEP) is a deliberate effort to prevent an uninfected person or partner who is at risk of getting HIV from getting infected.

Who needs PrEP?
Couples in sexual relationships where one partner is infected with HIV and the other is not, need PreP. Examples include bisexual men who have sex with both men and women, heterosexual men and women who do not regularly use condoms with partners of unknown HIV status who are at substantial risk of HIV infection like people who inject drugs or women who have bisexual male partners. PrEP is already in use in many countries to prevent new infections among sexually active couples.
If you’re a married couple, HIV negative and your partner is positive, PreP may be right for you. If you’re in Nigeria, the list below is that of the coordinators. THE TREATMENT IS FREE.

PrEP is NOT for everyone.
Please note that PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is for only people who are at ongoing high risk of HIV infection. But PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) is an option for someone who thinks they have recently been exposed to HIV during sex or through sharing needles and works to prepare drugs.

How well does PrEP work?
Studies have shown that PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by more than 90% when used consistently. When used with other safer sex practices (like condoms), treatment for people living with HIV to reduce the chances of passing it onto others, PrEP can help protect you from getting HIV from an infected partner more effectively.

Is PrEP safe?
In previous studies, no side effects have been observed. PrEP can cause side effects like nausea in some people but these generally subside over time. If you are taking PrEP, tell your healthcare provider about any side effects that are severe or that won’t go away.

Where to go to for free drugs
For now, PrEP can only be accessed through the Nigerian PrEP Project. It is a demonstration study on the use of HIV drugs for the prevention of HIV-1 among married couples; where one partner is HIV+ and the other is HIV-. The project is going on in Cross River, Plateau and Anambra States.
JOS
Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH)
Mrs Babalola-Jacobs Alero B. 08036954417
CALABAR
University of Calabar Teaching Hospital
Dr Promise Adat 08035173003
NNEWI
Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi
Dr Nkiru Ezeama 08123394367
NHVMAS:
07035495804
This project is supported by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, through sponsorship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

http://healthjourno.com/2017/01/09/safe-partner-hiv-youre-negative/#

We have heard and even experienced it sometimes, when choking or coughing someone hits you on the back or you do the same to the choking person.

When first aid courses began being taught to the public, the conventional response to a choking victim was to give them a “back blow” or “back slap”.
While at a course at the American Heart Association for First Aid and CPR yesterday, we learnt that as long as the person is coughing, let them cough it out before you attempt first aid. You can attempt first aid if they signal you to do so (when you see their hand on their throat), or stop breathing/pass out.

You should avoid drinking or eat anything to chase the food down, it could make matters worse. If you can reach in and remove blockage do so or else don’t force it.

In 2006, the American Red Cross reintroduced back blows as the initial response to choking. The approach is called, “five and five.” If five back blows are unsuccessful in clearing the airway, then five abdominal thrusts are used. The rescuer alternates between sets of back blows and abdominal thrusts until the object is cleared. However, the American Heart Association has not reintroduced back blows. They continue to recommend abdominal thrusts as the only response to conscious choking for children and adults.

Just in case you’re wondering what on earth these procedures look like, check out the video below and remember, don’t practice this on people when you’re not sure of what to do.

Read more

http://healthjourno.com/2017/01/03/slapping-back-really-help-choking-emergencies/

So many humans around the world have died battling cancer and we cannot even exhaust the list if we started. This post, however, is in memory of them and a few of the people who are known/popular are listed here . The list will be updated, if you have more people to add.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said about 24.6 million people live with cancer worldwide while about 12.5 percent of all death is attributable to cancer. It further estimates that over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer yearly, while about 80,000 die from the disease.

This brings the consequences of the cancer epidemic to 240 Nigerians every day or 10 Nigerians every hour, dying from cancer. It also means that the country’s cancer death ratio of 4 in 5 affected persons is one of the worst in the whole world.

Here is a profile of known Nigerians who died in the year 2016 after being diagnosed of the disease.

Click below

http://healthjourno.com/2016/12/31/memoriam-nigerians-died-cancer-2016/