Health
Niger investigates suspected infectious disease after child’s death
The Niger State government has launched an investigation into a suspected infectious disease following the death of a child and reports that other members of the same family have fallen ill.
The state Director of Public Health, Ibrahim Idris, disclosed this in a statement issued in Minna on Thursday by the Ministry of Information and Orientation.
Mr Idris said the Ministry of Health responded after a father shared videos on social media alleging that a strange illness had affected members of his household.
He said the swift response demonstrated the state’s commitment to protecting residents through prompt public health action.
He said the prompt intervention reflected the commitment of the Governor Umaru Bago-led administration to safeguarding the health and well-being of residents across the state through timely public health responses.
According to him, every unexplained death deserves a thorough investigation, while every suspected outbreak must be treated with urgency to prevent possible transmission and protect public health.
The director said the affected children had been evacuated to a health facility for comprehensive medical evaluation and treatment as health authorities intensified efforts to determine the cause.
He said preliminary clinical findings suggested that the illness might not be a strange disease but one familiar to medical experts, with diphtheria among the conditions being considered.
“At this stage, no definitive conclusion can be made until laboratory investigations are completed,” he said.
“The samples collected will help determine the exact cause of the illness and guide the response.”
Mr Idris said public health officials had commenced contact tracing in the affected community and in the schools attended by the children to identify similar cases and contain any possible transmission.
He advised parents and caregivers to ensure their children completed all recommended routine immunisation schedules, noting that many life-threatening illnesses could be prevented through vaccination.
The director urged residents to seek prompt medical attention whenever unusual symptoms were observed, stressing that early detection and treatment remained critical to disease control efforts.
Also, Junaidu Inuwa, executive director of the Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency (NSPHCDA), said preliminary findings showed the deceased child had received only partial immunisation.
He said some of the surviving children were either partially immunised or had not completed their vaccination schedules, exposing them to vaccine-preventable diseases and associated health complications.
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According to him, the development underscores the critical importance of routine immunisation in protecting children against vaccine-preventable diseases and reducing childhood mortality across communities.
Mr Inuwa said health officials also visited the isolation centre at the General Hospital, where affected family members had been placed on appropriate antibiotic treatment and were receiving care.
He said health authorities would continue to provide timely updates as investigations progressed and would intensify surveillance, contact tracing, and other interventions if the illness was confirmed to be infectious.
He reiterated that complete immunisation remained the safest and most effective protection against vaccine-preventable diseases and urged parents to utilise vaccination services available across the state. (NAN)
State government-owned hospitals in Kwara State are introducing electronic medical records (EMR) to strengthen health information management and modernise public healthcare delivery in the state.
The Executive Secretary of the KW-HMB, Abdulraheem Malik, disclosed this to PREMIUM TIMES in Ilorin, the state capital.
He said the initiative, being implemented through KW-HMB under the HOPE-PHC Project, will see healthcare workers begin training on the system in November.
The digital healthcare programme is expected to reduce reliance on paper-based medical records, improve access to patients’ medical histories and promote continuity of care across public hospitals in the state.
The system is also designed to strengthen administrative efficiency and support evidence-based decision-making in hospital management.
The rollout builds on an earlier hospital digitalisation pilot involving six hospitals and the state government’s ongoing efforts to integrate digital solutions into healthcare service delivery.
The initiative also complements the board’s efforts to strengthen health information management, including the inauguration of its Data Management Committee in August 2026.
The KW-HMB boss, Mr Malik, commended Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for approving the initiative, describing it as an important milestone in the state’s drive towards a more efficient, accountable and technology-driven public healthcare system.
READ ALSO: 30 children rescued from illegal orphanage in Kwara
Mr Malik said the adoption of electronic medical records would strengthen hospital operations, improve patient information management and support more efficient clinical encounters across the state.
He reaffirmed the board’s commitment to working with relevant stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the programme and deliver more responsive, efficient and patient-centred healthcare services to residents.
The staff training scheduled for November is expected to equip healthcare personnel with the skills required to operate the system effectively.
When fully implemented, the initiative is expected to improve the management of patients’ health information and support better coordination of care across Kwara State’s public hospitals.
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Twenty-five art students of the Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), Lagos State, have explored mental health and emotional well-being through art in a workshop aimed at encouraging conversations around mental health.
The two-day Health Story Lab, organised by the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA), Pan-Atlantic University, in collaboration with the Art for Health Initiative (AHI), was held on 2 and 3 October in Lagos.
The programme, titled “What We Carry: Stories of Mental Health and Resilience”, brought together art, public health, mental health and storytelling to help the students explore how creative expression can be used to communicate experiences that may be difficult to discuss openly.
The workshop was held ahead of World Mental Health Day (WMHD), marked annually on 10 October.
Using art to discuss mental health
The students participated in sessions on public health and art, mental health and resilience, creative expression and art for social change.
According to the organisers, the discussions gave the students an opportunity to reflect on issues such as stress, uncertainty, social pressure, family expectations, grief, fear and hope.
The students subsequently developed creative concepts and received feedback from facilitators and their peers.
The students also examined the role of art in health communication during a session led by Olayinka Badmus, a public health strategist. The session explored how creative expression can communicate public health issues and make health conversations more accessible.
Another session, led by psychiatrist and psychotherapist Emmanuel Abayomi, focused on mental health and resilience, while Art Project Lead Temitope Oladeji guided students to express their experiences and emotions through art. The programme also included a museum tour focused on art for social change, led by a museum educator, Charles Udeh.
Solomon Nkwagu, Head of Corporate Communication and Visitors’ Services at YSMA, said the programme showed the potential of art to encourage conversations around public and mental health.
“They began to see the possibility of using their creative voices to start conversations around public and mental health, to tell stories that people can recognise themselves in, and perhaps even to create moments of reflection and healing for others. That shift in perspective was one of the most rewarding parts of the programme,” Mr Nkwagu said.
In her remarks, Chidera Aneke, Founder of AHI, said the initiative was designed to make health communication more participatory, culturally relevant and emotionally engaging.
Ms Aneke said health information could be communicated not only through statistics and clinical information but also through stories, images, symbols, emotions and lived experiences.
“We wanted to create a space where young artists could understand that health is not only communicated through statistics, campaigns or clinical information. It can also be communicated through stories, images, symbols, emotions and lived experiences,” she said.
“Working with the students showed us the possibilities that emerge when artists are given the knowledge, language and space to think about health through their own creative practice.”
Mental health burden
Mental health remains a significant public health concern in Nigeria.
A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of 53 studies involving more than 132,000 people estimated that 7.9 per cent of the general population had experienced suicidal thoughts, while 1.9 per cent had made suicidal plans and 1.3 per cent had attempted suicide.
The researchers said suicidal behaviour was more common among some groups, including adolescents, young people, and pregnant women.
This year’s World Mental Health Day theme is “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is calling for people who have experienced mental health conditions to have a meaningful role in shaping policies, services and decisions that affect them.
“World Mental Health Day is an opportunity to meaningfully engage with people with lived experience (PWLE) of mental health conditions and to recognise their knowledge as a vital form of expertise,” it noted.
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“This year’s campaign calls for their voices to shape the policies, services and decisions that affect their lives.”
From workshop to exhibition
The Yabatech students will develop artworks based on the issues explored during the workshop.
The works are expected to form a micro-exhibition in Lagos in November, giving members of the public an opportunity to engage with mental health and resilience through the perspectives of young artists.
The organisers said the initiative is intended to demonstrate how partnerships between the creative sector, museums and public health practitioners can create new ways of discussing mental health.
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