Health

Scientist from Trinity College Dublin has identified the mechanism that enables Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV) to evade being purged by the immune system, paving way for a new curative treatment.

The new research published in EBioMedicine, reveals that HIV targets and immobilize a pathway involving a number of biological molecules that are fundamental in blocking vital activity and clearing infection, illustrating precisely how the virus avoids elimination.

HIV remains a major global health challenge, with over 40 million people infected globally. Whilst people living with the virus have been treated with anti-retroviral therapy for over 30 years, this favoured therapeutic option merely prevents the progression of the disease to AIDS, it doesn’t provide a cure.

The UK says it will announce a new malaria programme worth £50 million in Nigeria that will run until 2024. The UK said it would also provide a £9.2 million of new research funds to develop new triple artemisinin combination treatments. A statement issued by Ready to Beat Malaria, an NGO, said the UK Government had re-affirmed its commitment to spend £500 million a year on malaria through to 2020-21.

The Federal Government has appealed to the striking members of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) to return to work, as their action has worsened the health condition of many patients in dire need of medical attention at different hospitals across the nation.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige made the appeal in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja by Mr Samuel Olowookere, Director of Press in the ministry.

The Russian Central Research Institute of Epidemiology has developed a new gene therapy medicine for people who have the HIV, head of the federal health and epidemic watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said on Wednesday. “The Central Research Institute of Epidemiology, Rospotrebnadzor created a fundamentally new drug for gene therapy, gene prophylactic treatment and molecular vaccination against HIV.

The Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Birnin Kebbi, Dr. Abdullahi Ibrahim on Wednesday said the hospital will provide skeletal services to patients, especially emergency cases. Dr. Ibrahim stated this in Birnin Kebbi while speaking to newsmen on the strike embarked upon by the Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU), which began on Tuesday. He, however, said patients requiring surgery or prolonged medical services would be referred to State and privately owned medical facilities.

The Edo state Chairman of Nigeria Medical Association, Dr Emmanuel Osaigbovo, has lamented that only three hospitals out of the 34 owned by the State Government are functioning. Dr. Osaigbovo stated this on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Benin, the Edo state capital. He listed the functional hospitals as the Central Hospital, Stella Obasanjo Hospital and General Hospital, Auchi.