Tag Archives: Nigeria

Gruesome traditional medical practices in Nigeria

October 21, 2021

Ofor, Joshua Obase-Otumoyi Calabar, Nigeria   Hamar woman with scarification in Turmi, Ethiopia. 2012. Photo by Bernard Gagnon. Via Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0. Among the various traditional practices that victimize women and girls in Nigeria, female genital mutilation (FGM) is the most reprehensible. It consists of removing part or all of the sensitive female genital […]

Aunty Felicia

August 18, 2021

Boma Somiari Port Harcourt, Nigeria   Photo by Liza Summer from Pexels I can’t stand blood. So my goal was to stay as far as I could from hospitals and all they come with. But then change came to me when Aunty Felicia came to my village with a missionary organization that chose medicine and […]

The man who hated hospital

August 11, 2021

Emeka Chibuikem V. Enugu State, Nigeria   Our Beautiful Life. Photo by Yusuff Suleiman. 2018. CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia. An emergency patient was in critical condition. The staff nurse on duty moved swiftly to attend to him. Then she went to the waiting hall to meet with the patient’s family and asked them why […]

A Cold War Vaccine: Albert Sabin, Russia, and the oral polio vaccine

May 11, 2020

James L. Franklin Chicago, Illinois, United States   Albert Sabin (second from left) and Mikhail Chumakov (third from left). Credit: Courtesy Hauck Center for the Albert B. Sabin Archives, Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions, University of Cincinnati Libraries. Fair Use. In the midst of the 2020 Covid–19 pandemic, when […]

Theme

February 24, 2020

HONORING THE WORK OF THE RED CROSS Published on May, 2020 H E K T O R A M A     .   ALL BLOOD RUNS RED Clara Barton The American Red Cross (ARC) is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other disasters. Based on […]

Kokumo: the child will not die again

February 6, 2020

Odia Iyoha Lagos, Nigeria   The Survivor, by Barrister Chikezie Onwumere, (December 2019). Personal Collection. It was 1838 in the ancient town of Ake, the era of the Abikus. The harmattan wind blew with reckless abandon, tinting everything living and non-living along its course. The leaves turned reddish brown from green, the roofs were caked […]

Infertility in Nigeria and the race for parenthood

May 20, 2019

Princewill Udom Port Harcourt, Nigeria   Infertility is a growing problem in Nigeria. In one study, researchers found that female gender-related causes accounted for 42.9% of infertility, in contrast to male causes, which were about half that number.1 Common causes are broadly categorized into genetic, physiological, endocrine, and lifestyle factors. One consequence of this problem […]

Health care in Nigeria

May 8, 2019

Obinna Ejide Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria   Laundry room in Nigerian Hospital. 2006. Photo by Mike Blyth. CC BY 3.0. A brilliant young student at the University of Calabar in Cross Rivers State, Nigeria, died recently during a strike of the doctors at the university teaching hospital. This is not the first time that such […]

Not all heroes wear capes

May 8, 2019

Cross De Idialu Port Harcourt, Nigeria   Symptoms of Ebola. Illustration by Mikael Häggström. August 2, 2014. by Mikael Häggström. August 2, 2014. Public Domain, It was the year 2014, and an unknown deadly disease was eating deep into the western region of the African continent. The first case was said to have occurred on […]

Medicine as we know it

March 20, 2018

Ifediba Nzube Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria    Living Afloat by DoDD Brown, 2014. Port Harcourt, Nigeria In the last episode of one season of Grey’s Anatomy, a cyberterrorist hacks into the network of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and shuts down their cardiac monitors, CT scanners, elevators, and electronic medical records. The hacker demands 5000 […]