Health

Sudden Death On The Rise, Amidst Economic Hardship

Published

1 week ago

September 10, 2024

The recent sudden death of one of the best Journalists, John Olasunkanmi Oba, the sudden death of Essien Etop Andrew, a Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) deputy controller in charge of finance, administration, and technical services, the untimely death of Akwa Ibom State Police Commissioner, Mr. Waheed Ayilara, the death of Legendary Nigerian singer and actress, Onyeka Onwenu after slumping at the birthday party. Senator Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah; and thousands of unreported untimely and sudden deaths have once again raised the issue of regular health screening by Nigerians.

The grim reality in Nigeria is that many people are still slumping and dying without warning, their lives abruptly cut short by a silent killer they may not even know they have.

THE GLEAMER NEWS looks at the causes and many factors contributing to this numberless untimely death

While death is an inevitable part of life, the sudden and medically- related nature of these deaths raises pressing questions about the prevalence of undiagnosed and poorly managed hypertension in the country.

Recent studies reveal that hypertension is becoming increasingly common in younger populations, and the role of lifestyle factors in the rising cases.

Many Nigerians are today worried about many things. The challenging economy is pushing many to the brink. Now that schools are preparing to resume, many parents are already bothered about school fees and other needs of their children. This is expected, but people must go soft on thinking and ruminating over the problems. Worry and anxiety will only aggravate the situation. We must devise some means to deal with what we cannot change.

According to many medical experts, several predisposing illnesses such as high blood pressure, stress, high blood levels of cholesterol, and high blood sugar may precipitate a sudden death.

In a country where many citizens resort to self-medication to bypass the cost of seeing a medical doctor or a pharmacist, abuse of medications can result in dangerous drug interactions with lethal consequences, particularly among those who have pre-existing medical problems.

Many people who are obese or suffering from ill-managed diabetes can easily fall victim to heart disease and unexpected death.

Heart disease, as experts have pointed out, is the most common cause of an unexpected sudden death in all age groups. It is more prevalent in adults in their 30s and 40s and affects men twice as it does women. Some of the diseases are discovered and treated while the person is alive while, among many others, they may go unnoticed until tragedy occurs. It could also occur because of a wrong diagnosis.

Incidentally, many of these ailments come without warning signs. In the case of sudden cardiac arrest for instance, over half of the victims die without symptoms. When there are signs, they come in the form of a “racing heartbeat or they may feel dizzy, alerting them that a potentially dangerous heart problem has started.” Other symptoms listed include headache, chest discomfort, breathing problems, blurring vision, and convulsion.

As for Adeola Ajibare, a cardiologist at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and a senior lecturer at the University of Lagos College of Medicine in one of his appeals said “Hypertension has become an epidemic in our society and there is a need to nip it in the bud.

Ajibare stressed the importance of both medical check-ups and lifestyle changes to combat hypertension.

“Exercise, reducing salt intake, and avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol consumption are crucial. Weight loss can also significantly lower blood pressure. For those diagnosed with hypertension, consistent medication use is essential to prevent complications.”

Share on Facebook

Health

Proposed GMO Mosquitoes: Africans Advised To Be Wary Of WHO

Published

3 days ago

September 16, 2024

The Gleamer

By Chinasa Obidi

Kenyan Dr Wahome Ngare, the founding Director of Mercy Health Services, Nairobi, Kenya, has advised Africans to be wary of the World Health Organisation, WHO’s proposed introduction of GMO mosquitoes into Africa to eradicate malaria, as well as the malaria vaccine which he says will be made compulsory.”

But malaria is a treatable disease which we have been using our herbal teas to treat, plus we are unaware of the risks such GMO mosquitoes would bring,” he said, calling on Africans to exercise caution in this regard.

He said that while the WHO has done a lot of good things for the continent, it has equally done things that have affected Africa and Africans negatively making him advice African countries to exercise caution.He expressed this warning while addressing Ugandan President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in a trending video.

He gave his reasons for sounding the warning this: “In 2014/2015, WHO brought tetanus eradication campaign in our country; a campaign to eradicate neonatal tetanus.

“The vaccine that was used is a different type of tetanus vaccine that is fertility regulating, where they take tetanus and a hormone called Human Chorionic Conadotropin, and when you inject a woman with that vaccine, she produces antibodies against that hormone and is therefore rendered sterile.

“So we are now seeing an increase in infertility cases amongst young couples who are certified okay when examined, but cannot get children, or couples who are losing three to five pregnancies before they are able to cary any pregnancy to term.

“We were able to expose this through a paper we published, and fortunately in 2017, WHO said Kenya is now free of neonatal tetanus and they left our country.”But they developed this vaccine in an over twenty year period of research from 1972 to 1992 and used that vaccine in South America and possibly many other African countries.

“Responding to this call, Benjamin Amodu, a professor of Phytho-medicine from the Triune Biblical University, USA, who has been at the forefront of advocating for the use of herbal medicine, said Nigerians and Indeed Africans should also evaluate and verify any treatment or vaccine that is given to them before going ahead to use them.

“I think this is a very common view all around . I think we can cooperate with the WHO in most of the things and we can also evaluate to see that is in line with our own aspiration as a country just like the Ugandan and Kenyan doctors did to their president.

“It is a welcome development. We should ensure that whatever is being brought upon us should be well evaluated to see and if there are needs for modification, they should be modified to the interest of who they are introducing the the programme to.

” Even their comment on malaria, I think the WHO should be more open. Irrespective of where whatever treatment or vaccine is coming from, so long as it meets the requirements should be accepted and adopted so we move forward.

“I therefore call on African leaders and people to exercise faith in our God given natural herbs , carry out extensive research and promote it because even diseases for which the cures have eluded modern medicine for decades are being effectively cured with the use of Traditional, Complimentary and Herbal Medicines, TCAM, without any side effects.”

It would be recalled that Prof Amodu’s malaria cure was evaluated by the United Nations and found to be more effective than chloroquine and palaudrine.

Share on Facebook