By Joan Odafe

Prof. Njideka Okubadejo, Nigerias first female neurologist, says one person dies every two minutes from stroke in the Nigeria.

Okubadejo, of the University of Lagos, disclosed this at her Inaugural Lecture at the University in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lecture was titled Strokes of Movement and Trips: Strategic Opportunism as Am Approach to Improve Neurological Care in Africa.

According to her, the estimated stroke mortality rate in Nigeria is between 120 and 240 per 100,000 population.

Extrapolated to our current estimated population of approximately 184 million, according to www.population.gov.ng, this translates to about 281,520 deaths annually, she said.

Okubadejo said a stroke is a medical emergency in which the flow of blood to a portion of the brain stops suddenly.

Brain cells are dependent on oxygen within the blood and without this, start to die after a few minutes, hence the maxim, Time is Brain.

Stroke symptoms reflect the area of the brain that has been injured and although recovery is possible, particularly with early intervention.

Strokes can result in lasting brain damage, long-term disability or even death, she said.

She explained that there were two types of strokes; the Ischaemic, which the blood flow is blocked, and the Haemorrhagic, which the blood vessel breaks open or ruptures, leaking blood and damaging brain cells, due to pressure effect.

The neurologist explained on the sidelines of the lecture that addressing risk factors that cause stroke was the best way of preventing it.

The important thing to note is that some strokes will not give you the opportunity to get to the hospital.

But addressing the risk factors, particularly the strongest factor, hypertension, will reduce the number of people that die from stroke everyday.

If you have hypertension, pay attention to ensuring that your hypertension is treated and that your blood pressure is well controlled, she advised.

The don said that other factors that causes stroke included diabetes mellitus, heart disease and social factors like smoking, drug abuse and heavy alcohol consumption.

Source: NAN

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised the alarm over stunted growth of no fewer than 59 million children in Africa and another 10 million who are overweight.

The UN health agency also warned that Africas attempts to achieve health for all by 2030 could be threatened unless the continent address the twin challenges of under-nutrition and obesity.

Under-nutrition occurs when people do not get enough to eat, resulting in conditions such as wasting, which is when a child becomes dangerously thin.

On the other hand, people who are obese have body fat levels that may impair their health.

The WHO Regional Office for Africa called these two issues the double burden of malnutrition.

Together with diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, they are leading to catastrophic costs for citizens, communities and national healthcare systems across the continent.

The health experts at a WHO meeting in Nairobi, therefore, pressed for action to address the double burden of malnutrition in Africa.

A 2016 study showed an estimated 59 million children in Africa were stunted, which is when a child is too short for their height: another condition caused by under-nutrition.

Additionally, 14 million children suffered from wasting, which the WHO Office said is a strong predictor of mortality among children under five.

Meanwhile, 10 million Africans were overweight, which is nearly double the number from 2000, WHO said.

The UN agency noted the rising cases of malnutrition problem, compared to a 2014 report, which estimated that five per cent of men and 15 per cent of women over 18-years-old were obese.

Dr Felicitas Zawaira, Director of the Family and Reproductive Health Cluster at the WHO Regional Office, stressed the need for healthy diets among African children.

Improving nutrition sustainably requires consideration of how to produce, deliver, and ensure access to healthy diets and essential nutrients, not just greater quantities of food, Zawaira said.

In 2015, Heads of State adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which seek to bring about a more just and equitable world for all people and the planet by 2030.

SDG 3, which focuses on good health and well-being, calls for achieving universal health coverage by this deadline, among other targets.

Tackling all forms of malnutrition for the achievement of universal health coverage and the health-related SDGs requires remedial actions from multiple sectors and on many fronts, Zawaira stated.

Such measures include implementing policies and action to control the marketing and consumption of unhealthy foods, or to promote consumption of healthy foods through taxation and subsidies. (NAN)

Source: NAN

By Ifeanyi Nwoko

In a bid to create awareness for the prevention, early detection and control of cancer, the Founder-President, Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Mrs Toyin Saraki, hosted key stakeholders to a meeting to review the cancer assessment report.

The meeting which held in Abuja brought together Minister of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; the Vice-Chairman Senate Committee on Health, Senator Clifford Odiar; the West Africa Regional Director, Amref, Dr. Sylla Thiam; the Country Director, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson, Mitchelle Akande; among others.

The Rapid Assessment of the Prevention and Control of Cancer in Nigeria report, is a collaborative study undertaken by the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, with support from Amref Health Africa.

Speaking at the vent, Mrs Saraki who is the wife of the President of the Nigerian Senate, told the stakeholders that she was optimistic that the review meeting will proffer solutions that can key into the National Cancer Control Plan.

I want to thank everyone who has made this event possible, and I believe that those of us present can harness our wealth of knowledge to key into the National Cancer Control Plan.

We must teach our people and engage them to stop high risk behaviours, and to be best positioned to detect cancer at the early stage, when it is most cost-effective to treat.

The biggest challenge in development is transforming global goals and national goals into grassroots actions.

I would want to quote Margaret Meade in saying we must never doubt the power of a small group of people united with a common purpose; and our purpose is to prevent cancer, detect cancer, and provide infrastructures to be able to respond to the needs of our people in relation to all types of cancer.

I would like to again thank everyone present; Amref Health Africa for your partnership and the Federal Ministry of Health for giving civil society such a role in taking the traction from what you have begun, she said.

Mrs Saraki who was recently named by Devex as a Global UHC Champion and Global Goodwill Ambassador for the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) urged the stakeholders to come up with recommendations that will help address the problem of cancer in Nigeria.

Also speaking at the opening of the meeting, the Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, said that the government was currently pushing to strengthen the training of cancer-related healthcare workers.

He said that it was the plan of government to improve infrastructure and strengthen service delivery for cancer care, including prevention and palliative care.

We welcome inter-sectoral collaborations, as well as partnerships with local and global stakeholders in order to improve awareness and information on preventive practices, as well as encouraging early diagnosis and management of all cancers, he said.

Dr. Sylla Thiam of Amref, she commended Wellbeing Foundation Africa for carrying out the study, stressing that the timing was very apt considering that the disease has taken a toll on the country.

Source: NAN

Miracle, has won again, emerged winner of the BigBrotherNaija (Double Wahala) final wager challenge.

The lucky BBNiaja housemate, had earlier emerged winner of the seasons Payporte arena games challenge with a prize of N1 million.

He also won the Pepsi Challenge carting away the sum of 1 million naira.

Miracle was again lucky to have won of N200,000 wager allowance after picking the box tagged number two.

Miracle won the cash in a contest with seven other housemates.

They were all instructed by BigBrother to pick a box each labelled 1- 10.

BigBrother, who presented the wager challenge as the simplest of the season, presented housemates with 10 suitcases with gift items in each of the boxes.

BigBrother said one of the suitcases contained a cash reward and instructed housemates not to pick the suitcase containing the cash reward.

He said if any of the housemates picked the suitcase containing the cash reward the housemate wins the cash reward but the house loses the wager.

Housemates were given two minutes to pick and open a box of their choice using the pin code 777.

Miracle picked the box labelled number 2.

Housemates lost the wager for the week while miracle got the N200,000 which was meant to be used as the house final week shopping allowance.

Miracle earlier wins fetched him a year supply of Pepsi products and an all-expense paid trip to Dubai for winning the Pepsi Refresh The Mix challenge.

The housemates were tasked with solving a puzzle which involved making up the missing pieces that will reveal the faces of different Pepsi Dj ambassadors.

Two time Head of House Miracle was the first to unravel the puzzle, revealing the picture of DJ Exclusive, one of the four Pepsi DJ Ambassadors.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Pepsi ambassadors, Dj Spinall and Dj Obi were in the BBNaija house to reveal to miracle his rewards for winning the Pepsi Challenge.

Miracle will travel with Pepsi DJ Ambassadors, DJ Cuppy, DJ Exclusive, DJ Spinall and DJ Obi to the One Africa music festival in June, 2018.

Miracle holds the record for most wins in the Payport arena games with three wins, therefore guaranteeing him another N1 million at the end of the current edition of the reality TV show.

Source: NAN

Singer Beyonce on Monday said she was offering $100,000 in scholarship money to students at four historically African-American colleges and universities in the United States.

The donation cameon the back of her acclaimed two-hour performance at the Coachella music festival,

Beyonces performance at the Coachella festival in the Southern California desert on Saturday was billed as a homage to education and black American culture, featuring a marching band, performance art, choir and dance. She was supported by more than 150 performers on stage.

We honour all institutions of higher learning for maintaining culture and creating environments for optimal learning which expands dreams and the seas of possibilities for students, Ivy McGregor, who administers the singers BeyGood foundation, said in a statement announcing the scholarship.

The more than 100 historically black U.S. colleges and universities were all established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when white-dominated institutions of higher education could bar African American students.

Last year, the 36-year-old singer established a merit scholarship program to support young women.

The Formation singers Coachella performance, which was streamed live on YouTube, was hailed as an unprecedented celebration of black cultural influence in America by NBC News.

Trade publication Variety called Beyonces show, her first in more than a year, a musical, visual and physical triumph.

Beyonce will perform again at Coachella this Saturday and she and her husband, rapper Jay Z, are set to begin a U.S. and European tour together in June.

Source: NAN

Rapper Kendrick Lamar has broken the records by winning the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his album,

He becomes the first non-classical or jazz artist to receive the honour, reported.

The Pulitzer board announced Lamars selection on Monday,calling the 2017 LPa virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African American life.

Last August, Lamar spoke toabout his creative mindset behindThe initial goal was to make a hybrid of my first two commercial albums, he said.

That was our total focus, how to do that sonically, lyrically, through melody and it came out exactly how I heard it in my head. Its all pieces of me. My musicality has been driving me since I was four years old. Its just pieces of me, man, and how I execute it is the ultimate challenge. Going fromtothat shit could have crashed and burned if it wasnt executed right. So I had to be real careful on my subject matter and how I weave in and out of the topics, where it still organically feels like me.

Last year, the Nobel Prize in Literature also crossed over into mainstream pop music,awarding their prestigious medal to Bob Dylan. The singer received a $900,000 prize during a small private ceremony in Stockholm after submitting his speech to the Swedish Academy.

Source: NAN

Hip-hop superstar Drake teased a new album Monday, that he is slating for release in June.

The teaser came as the Canadian star dethroned himself on top of the singles chart.

The Toronto artist posted on Instagram a picture of himself with his back to the camera sporting a jacket that read Scorpion and June 2018.

Drake, who separately put out a picture of a necklace with a scorpion pendant, did not reveal an exact release date or other details.

He has often played with the traditional album format, instead putting out sprawling song collections marketed as mixtapes.

But one consistency in his prodigious output has been commercial achievement.

His song Gods Plan topped the US singles chart for 11 weeks until being dethroned Monday by another of his songs, Nice for What.

His latest song was streamed in the United States more than 60 million times and downloaded 88,000 times in the week through Thursday, tracking service Nielsen Music said.

Drake, 31, has roots as a rapper but has increasingly gone in a pop direction and incorporated the infectious beats of Jamaican dancehall, most notably on his hit One Dance, which is the second most-streamed song ever on Spotify.

Source: NAN

Chris Hemsworth has been enjoying his time with his family after wrapping up his work on Avengers: Infinity War.

However, he doesnt let that keep him from his important job of being one of Earths mightiest heroes.

In a recent tweet, he announces that he has recruited someone who makes the Flash look like hes skateboarding in the sand.

Hemsworth ran into eight-time gold medalist, and probably fastest man alive, Usain Bolt and made the opportunity a lot of fun for fans by turning it into a quick promo for Infinity War.

The pair met at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. If you want no info about Infinity War, stop reading now.

Of course, we dont know what fate befalls Hemsworth in his role as Thor in Infinity War.

We know that his ship seemingly gets destroyed at the start of the film with the Asgardians (and maybe Loki) being slaughtered by Thanos.

Thor will then drift in space until hes picked up by the Guardians of the Galaxy. Weve been told Thor probably has the most screen time outside of Thanos, so itll be interesting to see what he does.

Source: geektyrant.com

Source: NAN

The third edition of African Drum Festival has kicked off with 20 states, 40 African countries, Haiti, Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago participating.

The festival started in Abeokuta in Ogun state in South West Nigeria on Thursday.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said who opened the festival disclosed that Nigeria was planning to incorporate the African Drum Festival into the national calendar of festivals.

The drum festival, an annual event organised by the Ogun government, started in 2016 solely as a Nigerian affair.

However, the festival was expanded in its second edition in 2017 to draw participants from other African and foreign countries.

Mohammed also pledged support of the federal government for the festival, saying that all national media platforms would be made available to create awareness for it.

Muhammed, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the ceremony, noted that the festival had continued to grow better with each edition.

The drum festival keys into the objective of turning the creative industry into a thriving industry, one that provides jobs and promotes the economy, he said.

I will also appeal to the corporate world to partner with Ogun and support this festival by providing the much needed resources to ensure its sustainance.

This festival is important to Africa because it provides us an avenue to showcase our rich cultural heritage as well as an opportunity to preserve the culture for the future heritage.

Some of the royal fathers who attended the programme emphasised the importance of drum in the African culture.

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi noted that drum serves as a veritable instrument of inspiration, mentoring and motivation particularly in the Yoruba culture.

The Nobel Laurette, Prof. Wole Soyinka, who is the consultant to the Ogun government on the festival, is expected to lead legends in a Drum Walk from Kuto to the Olumo rock in Abeokuta.

He is also expected to co-ordinate an international conference with the theme: Drum for Advancement.

Source: NAN

Novak Djokovic needed 10 match points to claim a hard-fought straight-sets victory over the dangerous Borna Coric on Wednesday, setting up a Monte Carlo Masters third-round clash with Dominic Thiem.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion, playing only his fourth tournament since Wimbledon last July after struggling with a right elbow injury, overcame some late nerves to win 7-6 (7/2), 7-5.

Djokovic is working with long-time former coach Marian Vajda for the first time in almost a year after splitting from Andre Agassi, and the 30-year-old has looked rejuvenated in Monaco after early exits in Indian Wells and Miami.

The Serbian will next face Austrian fifth seed Thiem with a possible quarter-final against defending champion Rafael Nadal, who plays Aljaz Bedene later on Wednesday, up for grabs.

The first game set the tone for the rest of the match, with Djokovic eventually holding after nine minutes of bruising baseline rallies that included a missed break point for Coric.

The 21-year-old Croatian also saved a break point in his first service game, but could not fend off Djokovic for long as the two-time Monte Carlo winner moved 3-1 ahead when Coric mishit a smash.

Coric has been in fine form so far this year, reaching the semi-finals at Indian Wells before a run to the last eight in Miami.

And he dug deep to break back thanks to two backhand unforced errors from Djokovic.

But Djokovic was rock solid in a tie-break as Coric became ragged, dumping a simple short ball into the net and firing a backhand long to gift his opponent the first set.

Djokovic was showing the ferocity and accuracy of old in his groundstrokes and he had the better of three straight breaks to take control.

But the 39th-ranked Coric saved two match points on his own serve, before fighting back from 40-0 down as Djokovic struggled to get over the line as he served for the match.

A succession of wild backhands and a tame forehand into the net saw four more match points come and go, before Coric levelled the set at 5-5 as Djokovic blasted wide and long.

He rediscovered his composure, though, to break again and finally complete the job at the 10th time of asking as Coric sent a backhand flying long.

The former world number four, who has struggled over the last year with a right wrist injury, followed up his first-round victory against Tomas Berdych with a solid display on centre court.

Source: NAN