13 facts about HIV/AIDS ahead of World AIDS Day
HIV/AIDS remains one of the world's most significant public health challenges.
World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 is used to unite people in the fight against HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus first identified in 1984, to show their support for people living with HIV and commemorate those who have died.
The member countries of the United Nations agreed in September in a new set of global goals to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
Here are some facts about AIDS in 2015 with data from the World Health Organisation, the United Nations children's agency UNICEF, and UNAIDS:
1. Globally about 36.9 million people are living with HIV including 2.6 million children.
2. An estimated 2 million were infected in 2014.
3. An estimated 34 million people have died from HIV or AIDS, including 1.2 million in 2014.
4. The number of adolescent deaths from AIDS has tripled over the last 15 years.
5. AIDS is the number one cause of death among adolescents in Africa and the second among adolescents globally.
6. In sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the highest prevalence, girls account for 7 in 10 new infections among those aged 15-19.
7. At start of 2015, 15 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy compared to 1 million in 2001.
8. Despite widespread availability of HIV testing, only an estimated 51 percent of people with HIV know their status.
9. The global response to HIV has averted 30 million new HIV infections and nearly 8 million deaths since 2000.
10. In 2015, Cuba was the first country declared to have eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
11. 17% of men who have sex with men (MSM) are living with HIV in Nigeria.1 They are the only key affected population that actually experienced a rise in HIV prevalence between 2007 and 2010, now accounting for 10% of all new HIV infections in the country.
12. 3.4 million Nigerians live with HIV
13. Of these, 430,000 are children under 14, according to a recent report of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Nigeria accounts for one third of all new infections among children in the 20 worst hit countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Monday, November 30, 2015
People Who Talk To Themselves Are Geniuses according to Scientist
This came to me as a shock this afternoon when I stumbled on this research report
Scientist Says People Who Talk To Themselves Are Geniuses
Seriously, I see people who talk to them when walking on the road has people that has got some issues either mental, emotional, spiritual or brokolysies pardon me is the science of being broke and not having money in the pocket.
Do you talk to yourself? Don’t get embarrassed admitting it because
science has discovered that those who talk to themselves are actually
geniuses… and not crazy!
Research Background
Psychologist-researcher Gary Lupyan conducted an experiment where 20 volunteers were shown objects, in a supermarket, and were asked to remember them. Half of them were told to repeat the objects, for example, banana, and the other half remained silent. In the end, the result shown that self-directed speech aided people to find the objects faster, by 50 to 100 milliseconds, compared to the silent ones.
“I’ll often mutter to myself when searching for something in the refrigerator or the supermarket shelves,” said Gary Lupyan. This personal experience actually made him conduct this experiment. Lupyan, together with another psychologist, Daniel Swigley, came up with the outcomes that those to talk to oneself are geniuses. Here are the reasons:
It stimulates your memory
When you are talking to yourself, your sensory mechanism gets activated. It gets easier on your memory since you can visualise the word, and you can act accordingly.
It helps stay focused
When you are saying it loud, you stay focused on your task, and it helps you recognise that stuff immediately. Of course, this only helps if you know what the object you are searching looks like. For example, a banana is yellow in colour, and you know how a banana looks like. So when you are saying it loud, your brain immediately pictures the image on your mind. But if you don’t know what banana looks like, then there is no effect of saying it loud.
It helps you clarify your thoughts
Every one of us tends to have various types of thoughts. Most make sense, while the others don’t. Suppose you are furious at someone and you feel like killing that person. Now for this issue you won’t run to a therapist, will you? No, what you do is lock yourself in a room and mutter to yourself. You are letting go off the anger by talking to yourself, the pros and cons of killing that person, and eventually you calm down. This is a silly thought that you have and are unable to share it with any other person. Psychologist Linda Sapadin said, “It helps you clarify your thoughts, tend to what’s important and firm up any decisions you are contemplating.”
Psychologist-researcher Gary Lupyan conducted an experiment where 20 volunteers were shown objects, in a supermarket, and were asked to remember them. Half of them were told to repeat the objects, for example, banana, and the other half remained silent. In the end, the result shown that self-directed speech aided people to find the objects faster, by 50 to 100 milliseconds, compared to the silent ones.
“I’ll often mutter to myself when searching for something in the refrigerator or the supermarket shelves,” said Gary Lupyan. This personal experience actually made him conduct this experiment. Lupyan, together with another psychologist, Daniel Swigley, came up with the outcomes that those to talk to oneself are geniuses. Here are the reasons:
It stimulates your memory
When you are talking to yourself, your sensory mechanism gets activated. It gets easier on your memory since you can visualise the word, and you can act accordingly.
It helps stay focused
When you are saying it loud, you stay focused on your task, and it helps you recognise that stuff immediately. Of course, this only helps if you know what the object you are searching looks like. For example, a banana is yellow in colour, and you know how a banana looks like. So when you are saying it loud, your brain immediately pictures the image on your mind. But if you don’t know what banana looks like, then there is no effect of saying it loud.
It helps you clarify your thoughts
Every one of us tends to have various types of thoughts. Most make sense, while the others don’t. Suppose you are furious at someone and you feel like killing that person. Now for this issue you won’t run to a therapist, will you? No, what you do is lock yourself in a room and mutter to yourself. You are letting go off the anger by talking to yourself, the pros and cons of killing that person, and eventually you calm down. This is a silly thought that you have and are unable to share it with any other person. Psychologist Linda Sapadin said, “It helps you clarify your thoughts, tend to what’s important and firm up any decisions you are contemplating.”
5 Okra Health Benefits
Okra one of my favorite vegetable because of the easiness it gives me when prepared as Okro soup is fast gaining a reputation as a 'super food' for people with or at risk of diabetes or cancer.
Commonly referred to by its biological names Abelmoschus esculentus and Hibiscus esculentus, okra is known to have a positive effect on blood sugar control, among many other health benefits.
Nutritional Value
Okra provides a good source of vitamin C, vitamin A, folacin and other B vitamins plus magnesium, potassium and calcium. It is fat-free, saturated-fat-free, cholesterol-free and low in calories. A substantial source of dietary fiber, okra provides over five grams per three and one-half ounce serving. The extra folate supplied by this vegetable is beneficial to pregnant women.
1. Okra is an Extremely Rich Source of Fiber
It contains both soluble and insoluble fiber. The fiber and the mucilaginous content in Okra provide many important health benefits that are absolutely worth mentioning.
Soluble fiber (mucilage) binds to bile acids in the intestines and inhibits the absorption of cholesterol, as well as metabolic toxins.
In this way it reduces the risk of heart disease and carries harmful toxins out of the body, while lubricating the digestive tract.
The okra fiber helps prevent flatulence and constipation, by absorbing water and ensuring bulk in stools.
The high content of fiber found in okra helps regulate blood sugar levels, by slowing down the intestinal absorption of sugar, and thereby the release of sugar into the system.
The Okra fiber has also an excellent ability to propagate the formation of good bacteria, i.e. probiotics, within the intestines. In this way it contributes to a healthy intestinal tract.
Okra is very efficient in protecting the intestinal membrane, and thereby decreasing the risk of inflammations that can lead to certain forms of cancer, especially colorectal cancer.
2.Okra Helps Lose Weight
Okra contains 35 calories per cup. It has no salt and no saturated fats, and is cholesterol free.
Okra is high in fiber, which helps keep the intestinal tract in good shape and increases the sense of satiety.
Okra is a nutrient rich food that provides our body with numerous vitamins and minerals, without adding any extra calories to our meals. This makes it an excellent food in weight loss diets and programs.
3. low glycemic index:
Okra is a good choice for people with diabetes, as it has a low glycemic index of about 20.
4. Beauty and Welness
Okra helps maintain the skin healthy and smooth, and free of acne and blemishes. It is said that Cleopatra and Yang Guifei loved to eat plenty of okra!
5.Cancer
Thanks to its high concentration of antioxidants, okra can help prevent the formation of cancerous cells.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Omoni Oboli Gives 6 How To Tips For Proper Child Nutrition
Award winning Nollywood star Omoni Oboli believes that Nutrition is very important for everyone, but especially important for children because it is directly linked to all aspects of their growth and development.
Omoni, has taken to her social media pages to drive a campaign of good and proper nutrition for growing children while encouraging mothers to place a high priority on proper child nutrition.
For Omoni, every child has the right to be properly developed in the journey to adulthood; Omoni believes that proper nutrition influences all the facets of a child growth from physical build, to brain development, behaviour and even attention span.
Omoni shares her experience as a caring mother, explaining how she helps her children grow daily, deriving so much joy from it and how she believes all children deserve the same. What she said;
Hello fabulous moms…and dads!
I know a few dads who are primary care givers to their children. We are all on this journey of motherhood or fatherhood and it really never ends. Your kids are still going to call you when they’re fifty (you’ll still be alive then by God’s grace) to ask for some advice or the other. We owe it to them, to do everything in our power to make sure they grow everyday! And kids really grow everyday! I know there are days I woke up to see that one of my sons grew taller overnight!
Today we are talking about how to boost your kids appetite.
One of our fabulous moms asked yesterday and so I decided to share my knowledge on this. Please feel free to leave a comment on your own tips and tricks on this subject. My first son, Tobe, was breastfed for 6 months! After that, he became an extremely picky eater! Simply put, he didn’t eat. We started introducing solids but he just didn’t want food, Period! At a point, we discovered he could stomach custard, so we started feeding him custard but you can’t feed a child with only custard for months! The only saving grace was the milk we fortified the custard with.
Enough about the problem. Let me share some of what I did to get him to start eating.
Before I share, it’s important to note that you must first find out if the lack of appetite is due to an underlying condition. So take your child to see a Doctor to rule out that possibility. Tobe didn’t have any condition, he just didn’t like food so here are some of the things I did…
1. Meal times have to be fun! The environment shouldn’t be rigid. Play your child’s favorite music, buy different colorful dishes and have your child pick their dishes at meal time. Involve them in meal preparations and setting the table for meal time. Make it a happy chore. As much as you can, eat together as a family in a casual setting. Don’t be too strict with table manners. They’ll learn with time.
2. Experiment with different foods to find out what stimulates your child’s appetite. Healthy snacks such as milk and fruits can be given between meals to give them more nutrients but don’t give snacks just before a meal.
3. Don’t store too much unhealthy snacks at home because children can loose their appetite for proper meals if they get too fond of eating unhealthy snacks.
4. I believe an increase in the child’s physical activity helps a great deal in improving appetite because it will stimulate hunger. Riding a bicycle, running around, swimming and other activities are great. If you can, do it with them. At least you can burn some fat in the process or keep fit!
5. Set regular meal times, that way your child’s body gets used to desiring food at certain times. With Tobe, I made sure we had 3 proper meal times and 2 in between snack times.
6. Don’t give up on a particular food the first time you try it and your child rejects it. Keep giving it in small quantities.
I’ve heard it said that you would have to try a particular food 21 times before you conclude that a child doesn’t like that food.
You can also try cooking it differently. Pay attention to the taste. I realised that Tobe didn’t like the ready-made pureed meals. You know the ones in little containers. So I decided to start making my own. I would read the labels and buy the same ingredients. So for instance, a typical meal could be carrots, potatoes, chicken and peas.
I really decided to start blending mine when I tasted one of the store bought ones and said to myself, “no wonder he doesn’t like it.” The food was bland! So I would boil chicken, carrots, potatoes, peas sometimes fish, parsnip, etc and then blend or puree them. As he got older, I started mashing instead of blending until he could eat them boiled. Today, Tobe is a healthy eater and those days of struggling are long gone.
I hope this helps someone. Please feel free to share this post with others and don’t forget to leave your comments. If you have any tips, share as well. We are all here to learn the best ways to make our children GROW EVERYDAY! Keep smiling!
