100,000 Nigerians contact Cancer Yearly – Senate panel

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Dr. Lanre Tejuoso, on Monday said that between 50,000 and N100,000 Nigerians contact cancer annually in the country.

Senator Tejuoso spoke as stakeholders at a one-day public hearing on a Bill for an Act to Establish National Centre for Cancer Research and Treatment in Nigeria expressed concerns over the spread of the disease in the country.

Tejuoso underscored the World Health Organisation (WHO) report that cancer is a major cause of global deaths with seven million being recorded every year and 72 per cent of such deaths occurring in middle income countries such as Nigeria.

He noted that the rate of deaths caused by cancer in the world is about13 per cent.
The Ogun State lawmaker noted that the Cancer Research Centre will foster scientific improvement to cancer prevention, treatment and care and as well co-ordinate and liaise between the wide range of groups and health care providers with an interest in cancer.

Tejuoso listed other objectives of the centre to include making recommendations to the government about cancer policy and priorities; overseeing dedicated budget for research centre; assisting with the implementation of government policies and programmes in cancer control and providing financial assistance out of money appropriated by the National Assembly for research and treatment.
He noted that one out of every eight women expect to be diagnosed of breast or cervical cancer in their lifetime.

According to him, two of every 10 men expect to be diagnosed for prostate, lungs and colorectal cancer.
He said: “It is also well known that the various forms of cancer disease have been more felt in Africa and Nigeria in particular where resources and awareness are not readily available for prevention, diagnose and treatment. This bill seeks to provide for establishment of the National Centre for Cancer Research and Treatment to research into cancer and to provide treatment to patients in Nigeria.”

The Ministry of Health represented by a director in the ministry, Dr. Patience Osinubi, noted that instead of narrowing the handling of cancer disease to establishing a research centre, the bill should embrace a holistic approach to the disease by establishing National Agency for the Control of Cancer.

She also highlighted the need to focus on every area related to the ailment, noting that cancer is treatable if it is detected earlier.

Click here to see how to prevent and protect your self from Cancer and others

China busts 35 restaurants for seasoning food with a drug opium poppy

 (CNN)Dozens of restaurants in China have been busted for serving noodles, hotpot, grilled fish and fried chicken seasoned with possibly addictive opium poppies.

The China Food and Drug Administration said in a statement this week that a total of 35 restaurants were under investigation and five of those had already been prosecuted.

The regulator said the poppy derivatives it detected included morphine and codeine and called on local authorities to step up their monitoring efforts. The additive has been banned since 2013.

Cooks sprinkling powdered poppy on their dishes isn't uncommon in China although it's unclear whether it can make a restaurant's food genuinely addictive.

In 2014, a noodle vendor was detained for 10 days after admitting adding powdered poppy plant to his dishes to keep customers coming back.

The case only came to light after police stopped a vehicle driven by a 26-year-old man and tested him for drugs not long after he had consumed a bowl of the noodles.

Recently, China has been rocked by a number of stomach-churning food safety scandals. The most high-profile case was in 2014 when a supplier was found to have provided tainted meat to McDonalds and other restaurant chains.

Why Nigerians hardly survive cancer – Prof. Okoye

Prof. Ifeoma Okoye is a radiologist at the Radiation Medicine Department at University of Nigeria College of Medicine (UNCM) and University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu. Okoye, who is also the founder of a non-governmental organisation, Breast Without Spot (BWS), in this interview, explains why Nigerians hardly survive cancer. She, however, says the situation could be reversed by eating fresh fruits and vegetables, exercising, monitoring industrial wastes and pollution as well as vehicular and generator emissions.
             Why is cancer rate on the high side now in Nigeria ?

There are many confounding reasons, though the genetic aspect has always been there and you have more genetic modification going on because of triggers like radiation. Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) came up with information to show association between mobile phones and cancer and advised that it is safer to use earphones so that you keep a distance between your phone and yourself. For instance, you can put it on speaker to reduce contact. I mean there are so many other things to show that radiation has actually increased genetic modification resulting in cancer.

WHO, in 2009, made a statement that the main reason for cancer in developing countries is the embrace of the western culture. If we examine that statement of embracing western culture, you look at increased industrialization, increased urbanization, and crowding. And, of course, in industrialization, there is environmental pollution.

There was a study that analyzed the relationship between increasing cancer and increasing age of the population and the population living longer. We look at the contribution of diet, the contribution of urban life style, like sedentary life style, which is contributing to obesity. These factors are shared by urban non-communicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes and premature ageing, which is called degenerative diseases. So, industrialisation increases environmental pollution and, in Nigeria, we have not made any effort in that aspect.

There are so many cars that are not road worthy on our roads, and the fumes that they generate contribute to environmental pollution and nobody is doing anything about that. Our refuse disposal is totally ineffective. There is so much putrefaction going on with much of our refuse hanging around, bringing out all sorts of odour we are all inhaling and then, of course, we cannot overlook the generators. If you go to high density areas where people are living in flats, where people are living very close to each other, the fumes from generator exhausts is just what the people inhale. One of the things they said, after evaluating the factors including the increased utilization of alcohol and oral contraceptives, is that there are viruses that cause cancer.

So when you put everything together, they found out that environmental pollution is actually the highest contributor. So, we are loading our bodies with few radicals from all these things and they get deposited and cause inflammation. If you have pains and take drugs to reduce the tumour load, it will not cure you. But if you are detected early, you will still not be able to achieve cure and most of those ones happen to the younger age group. And the younger age group incidence or prevalence is higher in black population and Nigeria is one of them. And so, that is why we are increasing efforts to have our population understand why, from the time the girl-child develops breast bust, she should start examining herself.

Breast examination
So, here, in Nigeria, our recommendation is that people should start doing breast-self examination as soon as the breast buds come out, monthly.atr
Then clinical breast examination once in a year, the moment you get to the age of 20. And if you have a family history of breast cancer; you should not do only clinical breast examination once in a year or self breast examination monthly, you should also see a doctor and start doing ultra sound test of the breast before the age of 40 and then mammography after 40. Some people may insist that mammography should not be done annually until the age of 55. The same thing goes for cervical screening. And then on prostate cancer for men, you start your screening at the age of 40. Some have even dropped it to 35 because black men are more likely to have prostate cancer than their Caucasian counterpart. And this shows that we need to look at what actually are the contributors and how we can address them.

The World Cancer Research Fund International has been working on it. The body awarded seven new grants for research into the link between diet, nutrition, physical activities and cancer. The grants, awarded as part of our 2014 and 2015 circle fund research around the world, cover a wide range of topics from wearable technology to the Mediterranean diet. The studies will help to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge so that we can better understand cancer prevention and survival. It has been confirmed irrevocably that in red and processed meat has a cancer link.
Then we are using a lot of food enhancers; monosodiumglutamines that have been found to cause cancer. And we usually go to the market to get fresh chickens. Unfortunately, most of these chickens are from poultries that are not well kept. We need more oversight in our food production. Now our complex carbohydrates are very good, they have high fibre. Nigeria is so rich in different forms of legumes to eat instead of these refined carbohydrates which are imported.

What are the options available for cancer?
You have different forms. Depending on the stage it has reached before intervention, it is either to reduce the mass size or take it out completely, especially for the breast cancer. Now, apart from surgical intervention, there is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is drug intervention. It is so expensive that it is unaffordable unless you are very rich. You see a situation where people pay N40,000 every month to N160,000 every six weeks or more. And it is usually for as long as your body can tolerate it. But these days, there are supportive therapies to assist the sufferer to weather the storm of chemotherapy. Then there is radio-therapy. But the story in Nigeria is abysmal.

Whereas we are supposed to have one radio-therapy machine per one million population, according to the International Atomic-Energy Commission, in Nigeria, we have only one functional clinic. Ordinarily, the machine should have a life span of of seven years but this one is 16 years old and recently broke down. And before it broke down, there were over 300 patients waiting because people were coming from all over the country. Nigeria has 105,000 cancer patients that are treated with radiotherapy in a year. Now, let us compare Nigeria with some countries like South Africa. South Africa has 18 clinics and the population is very small; so they have one machine for 1.3 million people while Nigeria has one machine for 180 million people.

Japan has 611 therapy machines at the rate of one machine per 150,000 people. China has 463 units; that works out to one machine to 1.8million people. Actually, a national emergency has been declared concerning cancer in Nigeria. Over 80% of the people leaving Nigeria for medical treatment, are going out because of cancer. If we can increase the facilities for screening for early detection through mobile screening van, that will take the screening to the people where they are located so that they can comply with the screening recommendations, then, we will be getting some result in our efforts to tackle cancer.

Are there side effects for cancer treatment?

Yes. One of the things that have developed over time is immune booster that is able to help your body weather the storm of cancer treatment. In the past, we had chemotherapy drugs that will kill  the normal cells and kill the cancer. But now a lot of therapies have been developed that target the cancer cells more accurately so that it will defeat the side effects that people are talking about because this side effect issue, people use it to deceive patients by telling them that, when they do chemotherapy, they will die very fast. And that is why we have introduced the Go Pink Day Campaign which we started on October 15.

Now, in all that fun of going pink, we reduce the fear associated with cancer and we are sustaining it for the next five years. But as we do that, we need to have corporate alliance so that we do not leave government alone to handle the problem. When you have corporate entities adopt the mobile service for the states, screening for cancer can be taken to the doorsteps of the people. In America, millions of people are living with breast cancer, millions of people are living with cancer because they were detected early.

But here, in Nigeria, you will hear that this person has cancer and the next thing is that he is dead. And we think cancer diagnosis is a death sentence, no; it is a death sentence because of the late detection. If we increase early diagnosis, then cancer will not be synonymous with death and we will increase on the survival rate. I know of women here in Nigeria who came early and they have lived for 40 years and they are still alive. So our target in the next five years is to make history on cancer. If we do that, we will improve on mobility and mortality in Nigeria.

4 Simple Exercises To Help You Get Rid Of Belly Fat

Its always disappointing when your trouser's waist line is being obstructed by a protruding and sometimes sagging stomach. That's because of excess belly fat, and how can you get rid of it?

The names used to acknowledge belly fat are numerous, pot belly, áfor bolombolo (Igbo phrase for balloon stomach), and beer belly. This is a very common situation among the populace. It's actually more common in women than in men, so Madame's take note. We will show our versatility by writing on fitness. Today you will learn about belly fat, it's health risks and the simplest exercises that will help you get rid of that self esteem assassin. Are you with me? Let's go.
 
Here's a little introduction;
Belly fat or abdominal fat is a condition that is characterized by excess fat accumulating in the abdominal area. The name of the fat is Adipose tissue. It is primarily caused by eating too much carbohydrates. And secondarily caused by drinking too much alcohol.
 
There is a big reason to worry about it because of the huge connection between excess belly fat and the risk of getting cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.
It's actually not all that bad because it also secretes a hormone called leptin. This hormone regulates satisfaction from hunger. This is just to show you that belly fat is not bad, you just don't need excess.
 
Before we see the exercises I want us to bear something in mind. It is not possible to loss fat in just one specific area of your body by exercising. You will also lose fat at other regions. And that eating more carbohydrates while exercising won't help you reduce the fat. Proteins and fruits will do. Now let's check them out.
 
1. Walking
Walking is one of the most simplest, commonest and safest exercise. It can help you burn fat in the abdominal region. Of course you might say that you walk often. But if you want to burn calories by walking it should be in a fast paced manner, no matter the distance. Walking also helps the cardiovascular system. It is great for reducing dangerous belly fat around the kidney and liver. Make your walking more fast paced to get better results. If you are worried that your crush might see you "cheetah-walking" you could walk indoors or do it very early in the morning.

2. Swimming
Swimming is an excellent cardiovascular exercise that alleviates the presence of abdominal fat in the tummy. Swimming challenges a lot of your muscles. It also has few risks except for, you know, drowning. Like I said about walking, you should also swim in a fast paced manner to achieve a flat tummy. Your swimming should involve high tempo and strenuous strokes. Here's a bonus, swimming in warm water will help you lose more calories than a cold one. This is basically due to increased metabolism and sweating.


3. Cycling
Cycling is a great exercise. It just doesn't helps you burn calories. It also helps you relax mentally. It involves almost all the muscles of the body. But the area cycling is more effective is your leg muscles. However cycling also reduces belly fat when it is done regularly. Cycling challenges the abdominal muscles by using its force to push the leg.


4. The lying leg raise exercise
This exercise is pretty simple and self explanatory. All you do is, you lie on a flat surface, down on your back with your arms behind your head and you raise your leg one after the other up and down. This exercise will contract your abdominal muscles and groin muscles too. You may feel pain at first but with time and regular practice you will get over it. Another way to do it is to lie on your back, place your two legs together and raise them up. Then have someone push your leg down with force. What you then do is hold your leg before it goes down. Repeat it often.
Thanks for reading. Please comment.

Unripe pawpaw heals ulcers – Nutritionist

A new medical report has revealed how unripe pawpaws while the western world calls it papaya can heal both external and internal ulcers alongside increase your libido when cooked and eaten.

In a recent interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, a Nigerian nutritionist, Aisha Abdullahi, revealed how unripe pawpaw can be very beneficial to those with ulcer.

Mrs. Aisha Abdullahi a Nutritionist with a private hospital, Asokoro Abuja, said on Wednesday that consuming unripe pawpaw aids in the healing of external and internal ulcers.

According to her, unripe pawpaw contains high percentage of papain, which makes it a wonderful food that helps the digestive system function better.

She said explained that unripe pawpaw has numerous benefits due to its high contents in vitamins A, B and C, fibre and protein, among others.

The expert that consuming unripe pawpaw on an empty stomach helps in the digestion of protein, reduces inflammation, improves immune system as well as helps expel bacteria and viruses.

She further noted that unripe pawpaw was an anti-inflammatory supplement which helps in reducing inflammation, including osteoarthritis and asthma, among others.

Other benefits of unripe pawpaw include its richness in antioxidants which helps in the prevention of cholesterol oxidation.

“It also reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes and also binds toxins that cause cancer in the colon.

“Consuming the fruit also helps with digestive problems such as bleeding piles, chronic diarrheoa as well as constipation.

“ Pawpaw consumed in juice form helps reduce inflammation in the lungs especially to those who smoke and those that are exposed to secondhand smoke.

“It is also a remedy for cough, worms, bladder problems, jaundice, gastric fermentation and gastritis.

“The unripe pawpaw in juice form also helps regulate the menstrual cycle especially for those with irregular menstrual cycle,’’ she stated.

Abdullahi further said that boiled unripe pawpaw fruits help in the improvement of potency especially in men.

She also stated that pawpaw leaves was a remedy for people suffering from epilepsy, stomach ache and severe constipation.

She, however, stated that pawpaw has been scientifically proven as a cure for many chronic diseases such as pile, among others.

The nutritionist also stated that pawpaw leaves helps in the treatment of convulsion, malaria, diabetes, stomach ulcer and piles.

Abdullahi enjoined patients suffering from conditions such as diabetes, stomach ulcer as well as gastric ulcer to include pawpaw in their daily foods.

The expert also warned that consuming unripe pawpaw juice may cause allergic reactions to pregnant women, adding that it may induce abortion.

University Of Ibadan Discovers Sickle Cell Treatment

The University of Ibadan (UI), in partnership with two American universities, on Wednesday, announced the discovery of a permanent sickle cell disease treatment.

The cure which was described as less risky and with a potential to help over 5 million Africans living with the disease, was the outcome of a research carried out by UI in alliance with medical experts at the University of Illinois and the University of Loyola, both in Chicago.

Nigeria and other African countries can now heave a sigh of relief as the University of Ibadan in partnership with the University of Illinois, Chicago, USA and University of Loyola, Chicago have discovered a permanent cure for the terminal disease.
The cure of the deadly disease, according to the Professor of Medicine, Victor Gordeuk, who is the Director, Sickle Cell Centre, University of Illinois, Chicago, USA and his colleagues, Prof. Damiano Rondelli, also from the same university and Prof. Bamidele Tayo, University of Loyola, Chicago this new treatment is done through bone marrow transplant and that it is less risky.
This was revealed yesterday at the University College Hospital, Ibadan after a three-day brainstorming session with other experts in the teaching hospital.
Unlike the other conventional method of stem cell transplant which exposes patients to radiation which could cause cancer, first blood and marrow stem cell transplant, BMT, is much more effective.

The experts who were flanked by the Chief Medical Director, UCH, Prof. Temitope Alonge, Dr. Titilola Akingbola, an haematologist and Dr. Foluke Fasola, said this stem cell transplant is a standard procedure for the treatment of many blood cancers in both adult and children.

He said: “With this chemotherapy-free transplant, we are curing adults with sickle cell disease, and we see that their quality of life improves fast within just one month of the transplant.

“About 90 per cent of the approximately 450 patients who have received stem cell transplants for sickle cell disease have been children. Chemotherapy has been considered too risky for adult patients, who are often more weakened than children by the disease.

“Adults with sickle cell disease can now be cured without chemotherapy — the main barrier that has stood in the way for them for so long. Our data provide more support that this therapy is safe and effective and prevents patients from living shortened lives, condemned to pain and progressive complications.”

“In the new procedure, patients receive immuno-suppressive drugs just before the transplant, along with a very low dose of total body irradiation, a treatment much less harsh and with fewer potentially serious side effects than chemotherapy.”

“ Donor cells from a healthy and tissue-matched sibling are transfused into the patient. Stem cells from the donor produce healthy new blood cells in the patient, eventually in sufficient quantity to eliminate symptoms. In many cases, sickle cells can no longer be detected. Patients must continue to take immunosuppressant drugs for at least a year.

The CMD, Prof. Alonge who called for support from government, philanthropists, donour agencies and corporate bodies like banks and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for provision of equipment and completion of the sickle cell centre, described sickle cell as a disease of bone crisis which the patient suffers from head to toe.

He added that Sickle Cell Disease is a genetic disorder due to the presence of an abnormal form of haemoglobin in the red blood cells, called haemoglobin S (Hb S) instead of haemoglobin A (Hb A). Haemoglobin in the red blood cell is responsible for the transportation of oxygen in the body

Nigeria Marks World Polio Day With 2KM Walk In Abuja

It was beautiful and colourful sight to behold has over 5 thousand rotarians, volunteers, celebrities, and guests took a 2km walk from the old parade ground in Abuja yesterday, 24th October to mark the World Polio Day.

The Rotary District Governor Dr Mike Omotosho who addressed the mammoth crowd thanked everyone who took out time to come and support the event and also those that have been in constant support in the course at eradicating of polio in Nigeria, he noted also that the Nigerian experience had shown that battling polio is not only about vaccinations, but also waging a complex war of logistics and winning over the hearts and minds of the people.

 Nigeria has brought the world one major step closer to being polio free.

The event follow later in the evening with the Inter-state Parasoccer Competition.
Rotary Ambassador Sanni Danja who was present at the occasion called on other celebrities in Nigeria to also come out and support this notable course.

HIV positive people who tattoo status near their privates could get over N840,000

Local South African media has reportedly lauded the move as as one of the greatest steps in the history of combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country.

Reports have emerged that confirmed HIV positive South Africans who volunteer to be marked near their genital area with a  tattoo depicting their status, will in addition to free counselling and medication be paid an equivalent of 50 000 Rands (N840,000).

This is reportedly in accordance with a new bill signed by President Jacob Zuma.

Local South African media has reportedly lauded the move as as one of the greatest steps in the history of combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country.

Zuma who has reportedly volunteered to be the first South African citizen to get his HIV status stamped near his genitals, however  announced that only the first 10 million positive people to volunteer to the tattooing would be given the money in form of a funeral expense voucher.

The South African president who faced charges of raping an HIV-positive family friend, and was ridiculed for testifying that he took a shower after sex to lower the risk of infection with HIV said of the bill:

“The mark is to protect those who can’t say no to sex. I mean if you can’t read between the lines you should read between the legs because that’s where the status would be tatted. The choice to be HIV positive is now in your hands or your genitals for that matter…. We also encourage those who had been living with the virus to go to the nearest public hospitals to get their status tatted in”

South Africa has the world’s highest HIV caseload and premature deaths of 300,000 people, and the government which is bent on helping millions of South Africans infected with the deadly virus, distributes life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs to infected people

Popular Musician Ojb's Kidney Reportedly Collapses Again

Popular Nigerian music producer and singer, Babatunde Okungbowa popularly known as OJB is reportedly on admission at the General Hospital, Lagos following a relapse of his kidney ailment.

OJB, who had a successful kidney transplant in India last year, had a relapse two weeks ago, this is according to a report by Yes! International magazine.A source at the hospital who spoke to the magazine said

"The medical experts who attended to OJB at the Lagos Hospital were shocked at the sudden relapse despite last year's successful kidney transplant. They chided him for not going back to India for post-surgery check-ups as specified by the team of Indian doctors in the medical report given to him".

When contacted, his third wife, Korede said

"I don't want to say anything about it unless he talks about it himself. Have you called him? Because I have not seen the story and he has even warned me about it. So please I don't want to have anything to do with it unless he talks about it himself. He warned me and I have to respect and obey my husband" she said

His first wife, Mabel donated one of her kidneys to him last year and he was believed to be doing well until this recent development.