Setting the law straight: Tanganyika Law Society & anor v. Tanzania and exhaustion of domestic remedies before the African Court

The rule of exhaustion of domestic remedies is an integral part of the right of individuals to bring international claim against a State. This rule is expressly required in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Protocol of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Nevertheless, as the various types of domestic remedies and the various circumstances in which they are pleaded by respondent States are still unfolding, the jurisprudence of the African Court is understandably at an infantile stage and continues to undergo development and refinement. This short comment examines the view of the African Court, following that of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, that non-judicial remedies are not valid remedies that need to be exhausted before claims are brought before the African Court by individuals. It is argued that this is an unduly wide and indiscriminate proposition that would have the effect of unjustifiably excluding administrative remedies that may have effectively remedied a breach if approached by individuals before coming to the African Court. It was consequently argued that there is need for reconsideration now before the view becomes too entrenched

Improving Environmental Protection in Nigeria: A Reassessment of the Role of Informal Institutions

The success of an approach or strategy for the implementation of legal instruments in one country does not imply that the same approach or strategy would be successful when replicated in another country because there is no ‘one-size-fits-all approach’ to policy implementation. The rationale for the above assertion is that institutions play a major role in the success of any policy. Undoubtedly, institutional approach provides a solid foundation to explore the interplay between formulation of policies and their effective implementation. Therefore, for an environmental policy to be successfully implemented, the institutional peculiarity of the country must be considered. This article explores the role of informal institutions (embedded institutions) in policy implementation focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa with specific focus on Nigeria. It provides theoretical basis for an informal institutional approach in environmental policy implementation. This article suggests that the institutional approach can be extended to environmental protection and management through informal institutions

Mammograms and breast arterial calcifications: looking beyond breast cancer: a preliminary report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To find out the prevalence, clinical and biochemical correlates of Breast Artery Calcification (BAC) in the Nigerian women.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>This is a cross sectional study involving 54 consecutive adult female subjects sent to the Radiology Department of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja-Lagos, Nigeria for screening and diagnostic mammography. The study was carried out for a period of five months.</p> <p>The prevalence of BAC was 20%. Ageing was found to be related to BAC. Cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension, obesity, alcohol ingestion, use of oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy, were not significantly related to the presence of BAC in this study.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study showed that though the presence of BAC in a mammogram is related to age, it may not predict or serve as a significant marker for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in women in our environment.</p

Health workforce and governance: the crisis in Nigeria

Background In Nigeria, several challenges have been reported within the health sector, especially in training, funding, employment, and deployment of the health workforce. We aimed to review recent health workforce crises in the Nigerian health sector to identify key underlying causes and provide recommendations toward preventing and/or managing potential future crises in Nigeria. Methods We conducted a scoping literature search of PubMed to identify studies on health workforce and health governance in Nigeria. A critical analysis, with extended commentary, on recent health workforce crises (2010–2016) and the health system in Nigeria was conducted. Results The Nigerian health system is relatively weak, and there is yet a coordinated response across the country. A number of health workforce crises have been reported in recent times due to several months’ salaries owed, poor welfare, lack of appropriate health facilities and emerging factions among health workers. Poor administration and response across different levels of government have played contributory roles to further internal crises among health workers, with different factions engaged in protracted supremacy challenge. These crises have consequently prevented optimal healthcare delivery to the Nigerian population. Conclusions An encompassing stakeholders’ forum in the Nigerian health sector remain essential. The national health system needs a solid administrative policy foundation that allows coordination of priorities and partnerships in the health workforce and among various stakeholders. It is hoped that this paper may prompt relevant reforms in health workforce and governance in Nigeria toward better health service delivery in the country

Are primary care physicians equipped enough to act as first responders for tooth avulsion injuries?

Background: Prompt and appropriate management of dental trauma has been shown to significantly improve the prognosis of the resulting injuries in numerous cases. Frequently it is other health professionals that provide emergency care following traumatic dental injuries including tooth avulsion. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge of primary care physicians about emergency management of traumatic tooth avulsion (TTA) and their willingness to get training with regards to TTA.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of family physicians/primary care  physicians. The data collection instrument was a selfadministered questionnaire which was distributed to consenting family physicians. The questionnaire elicited information on demographics, knowledge, practice and experience regarding  emergency management of an avulsed tooth as well as self-assessment and need for training with regards to an avulsed tooth by the participants.Results: A total of 62 family physicians/primary care physicians participated in the study. Majority (96.8%) of the respondents knew an avulsed tooth to be a tooth that has been completely dislodged from its socket in the alveolar bone. The best  emergency treatment for an avulsed tooth reported by majority (77.4%) of the  respondents was “refer patient with avulsed tooth to the dentist”. Only 14.5% of the respondents knew that the best emergency treatment for an avulsed tooth was “replant the tooth in its socket”. A vast majority (96.8%) of the respondents was not aware of any protocol for management of an avulsed tooth and 80.6% of the  respondents had no prior training/knowledge on management of an avulsed tooth. Likewise, 91.9% of the respondents thought they were not well informed about emergency management of avulsed teeth with 85.5% of them willing to receive education on management of traumatic dental injuries.Conclusion: Primary care physicians are not equipped enough to act as first  responders for tooth avulsion injuries. There is need for inclusion of management of dental trauma in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical curricula

Awareness and perception of the specialty of family medicine among medical students in a Nigerian medical school

Background: Family Medicine is the medical specialty that provides personalized, continuing, longitudinal and comprehensive health care for the individual, in a holistic manner within the context of his/her family and environment, regardless of age, sex, organ system or disease entity. Due to its comprehensive nature, skill and knowledge content, the World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged the critical importance and positive impact of family medicine in the healthcare delivery system of nations. Despite this acknowledgement, not much recognition seems to have been accorded the specialty in Nigeria. This is evidenced by the very few Nigerian Universities/Schools of Medicine that have either established an academic/undergraduate department of Family Medicine or that offer Family Medicine as a course or area of study in their undergraduate medical curriculum. This poor recognition, along with other challenges confronting the specialty, is  capable of influencing the awareness, knowledge, and perception of Family Medicine by undergraduate medical students. This study evaluated the awareness, knowledge and perception of Family Medicine as a medical specialty among medical students in a Nigerian medical school.Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of undergraduate medical students at the school of medicine, University of Benin. Data entry and analysis was done using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (IBM SPSS version 16).Results: 400 medical students were evaluated in this study. The respondents' age ranged from14-40years with a mean age of 22.01±3.38years. 20% of the students could give a standard definition of family medicine. More than three-quarters (82.8%) of the respondents agreed that family medicine is relevant to health care delivery, while 65.5% felt that family medicine can reduce overall cost of health care. Although 39.0% of the study participants were aware of an academic   department/undergraduate program in family medicine in any Nigerian University, majority (81.5%) of the respondents supported the establishment of an academic department of family medicine. Conclusion: This study concludes that though there is good awareness and   perception of the medical specialty of Family Medicine among undergraduate medical students of the School of Medicine, University of Benin, there is need to improve their knowledge about the specialty through the introduction of Family  Medicine in the undergraduate medical curriculum of the University, backed with the establishment of a department of Family medicine in the University's School of  Medicine

Nigerian Family Physicians' Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and Educational Needs Regarding Oral Cancer

Introduction: Family physicians' role in disease screening and prevention may facilitate significant reduction in the prevalence, morbidity and mortality of oral cancer if properly harnessed.Objective: To determine the Nigeria family physicians knowledge, attitude, practices and educational needs regarding oral cancer.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among family physicians attending the Society of Family Physicians of Nigeria (SOFPON) National Conference in Benin City in November, 2011 using pretested, self-administered questionnaire.Results: Of the 100 distributed questionnaires, 80 of them were filled and returned giving 80% response rate. More than half (51.3%) of the participants attended to patients with oral health problems on the daily-weekly basis. About one-fifth (21.3%) and 70% of the participants exhibited good knowledge about risk factors and clinical features of oral cancer respectively. However only 20% of the participants provide oral examinations to patients aged more than 40 years with less than half (47.1%) of them employing both direct inspection and palpation. A total of 86.3% of the participants opined that they are not well informed about oral cancer and majority (95%) of participants expressed interest in learning about oral cancer. Participants reported varied of mode of learning the dominant preferred modes being seminars, pamphlet and posters.Conclusion: This study revealed that family physicians attend to patients with oral problems but are not adequately informed about oral cancer. The gap in knowledge, shortcomings in practice, educational needs noted should be addressed utilizing the preferred mode of instruction reported by the participants.Keywords: Family physician, oral cancer, knowledge, attitude, practices, educational needs