Ask Emzor’s E-Doctor
This is the first in the series, so feel free to ask more so that they can be compiled in the next. also if you need more clarity on any issue, then feel free to ask. and if we missed your Question, we apologise. Please resend.And where the questions are private, then email eziaharx@yahoo.com Feel free to visit our website www.emzorpharma.com for more Information on our Company and also visit our Blog for regular Health related and wellness articles for your Spriit, Mind and Body.
So there you have them… Your health FAQs answered…
Q; How do I deal with Vaginal itches and discharges and what exactly is the cause?A; If it is whitish and itchy, it is probably Vaginal candidiasis. Good news is antifungal treatment is available as OTCs in most Pharmacies.
Q; What are OTCs and POMs?
A; Both are acronyms for Prescribe Only Medicine, and Over-The-Counter drugs. POMs ideally should not be sold without a Doctors prescription eg Chloroquine while OTCs can be sold without eg Emzor Paracetamol.
Q; How does one prevent himself from a recurrence of typhoid fever and does having it once preclude the possibility of a recurrence?
A; You need to wash vegetables and fruits thoroughly before eating,be watchful about the hygenic standardsf where u eat, avoid eating unpasturized milk and take every febrile illness with abdominal pain seriously if it exceeds 4days
Q; I really do not like taking drugs but with all these many diseases in the air, how do I ensure that my immunity is high enough?s.Sometimes febrile illnesses are misdiagnosed as typhoid fever so take heart and try and live healthy.It is well.
A; You need to eat lots of veggies, fruits and drink up to 8 glasses of water per day and exercise daily. All these will increase your immunity.
Q; So much noise is on about POM s but why do I have to go to the Doctor when I feel the exact same symptoms and I already know that he will prescribe the exact same drugs? I might as well prescribe it myself.
A; There are several angles to these, if the illness is a chronic recurring type and there are few available treatment options, you may then be receiving similar prescription. You may also get your diagnosis from your Doctor and get info about the ailment online. You may also talk to your Doctor about how u feel and let him/her explain the prescription to u. After all these and u are still not satisfied u may consider changing your Doctor but under no circumstance should you engage in self-medication.
Q; I have trouble sleeping and even then whenever I sleep, my body is tuned to waking at 6 Or 7am at the very latest. And no, I do not have trouble thinking about life as I am just 24, I am considering taking some sleeping pills but I fear addiction. What do I do?
A; You need to cultivate healthy habits like no exercise at least 1hr before sleep, avoid drinks containing caffeine or coffee, make sure your bed is comfortable and try and live light i.e. no baggage of unforgiveness or bitterness. If you still have trouble, see your Doctor who would then know whether to prescribe sleeping pills or not. Please do not self medicate on sleeping pills.
Q; I hear that cough and catarrh would go on its own even if I take no drugs. How true is it and how long would it last? Also what are the best treatments for both?A; Yes, as most of these infections are viral and therefore self-limiting and so may last for as shirt as a few days or as much as a few weeks. The initial symptoms are sore throat, malaise followed by cough, then catarrh and resolution of all. If fever occurs and persists, plus breathing difficulties or cough, exceeding 4wks, kindly see your Doctor. Relieving steps include steam inhalation, Emzor Paracetamol tablets, warm lemon tea, warm chicken soup, Emzor vitamin C tabs, and lots of TLC lol…
Q; I have incredible breakouts 2weeks to the start of my period and they last for about 3weeks which means that I have only about a week a month of smooth face. It is really bothering me, what drugs can I take to control it, especially as I have very oily skin.
A; Sorry about that dear. Usually for some, the menstrual cycle comes with some breakout that must be. However the following steps may help reduce it. Skin experts advise that you wash the face twice a day, cleanse, use a toner and followed by a moisturizer. Since u have an oily skin use an oil- control toner and avoid exfoliating often.
Q; I have serious itches after taking a bath or any contact with water, especially rain water. It can get so bad and last as long as one hour and so I cannot even leave the room. What do I do?
A; You may try using water from alternate sources and use quite some disinfectants, and also change your bathing soap. In all, observe the change. However if it persists, you may have to see a Dermatologist as sometimes, it could even be hereditary.
Emzor cares
Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Limited commissioned her customer care service unit on the 1st of March; 2010.This is the first of its kind in the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria. Emzor as usual is blazing the trail and sparking an industry revolution in delivering value to the customer on all fronts, in line with her theme for 2010- Above and beyond the call of duty.
Emzor as a customer-centric organization launched the first E1 link line in Nigeria pharma industry. The E1 line is a line split into over 29 multiple lines on which customers can call Emzor round the clock to have their needs satisfied and their queries answered. The E1 line works with a queque matrix software that enables all customer calls to be taken as soon as there is a free agent. The software allows for all customer details and queries to be catalogued and retrievable for all intents and purposes.
The commissioning was done by the group managing director and chief executive officer -Mrs. Stella Okoli, who thanked God for the achievements so far and commended the Emzor team headed by the Deputy managing director Pharm.Onyeka Onyeibor and the Executive director -Pharm Nkiru Okoro for the great job and reiterated the commitment of Emzor to the delivery of unlimited wellness to all.
She then proceeded to make the first call using the newly installed line to several customers. The line has since become fully operational.
Customer service care line -01-8105555
Fighting Cholera
Today CNN reported that more than 100 people died of cholera in Cameroon. The deaths were said to have occurred in the High North region of northern Cameroon and the Governor stated that more than 600 people have been stricken with cholera, Cameroon Health, a local non-governmental organization, puts the number of sick people at closer to 1,500.
What is Cholera? Cholera is a contagious bacterial disease affecting the intestinal system. Symptoms including intense diarrhea and vomiting, weakness and leg cramps.
How does Cholera kills? The bacteria Vibrio cholerae is found in an infected person’s stools and vomit. It is spread most commonly through contact with a patient (or their waste) and ingesting the bacteria. This can happen when the hands are contaminated and not washed properly prior to eating. The bacteria can also contaminate food or water. When water is infected this can cause and explosive outbreak.
In the intestine, the bacteria creates a toxin that causes diarrhea and vomiting. A patient under treatment can lose more than 50 liters of fluid during a bout of cholera. If treatment is not given in a timely fashion, fatal dehydration can occur. In severe cases this can take only a couple of hours.
Preventing cholera
There is no effective vaccine against cholera. The only way to fight it is by preventing its spread.
• Wash your hands. This may seem simple but studies have shown that a significant number of people don’t wash their hands properly and as such can still transmit diseases like cholera. The US center of disease control recommends this method of hand washing.
Wash Your Hands: The Right Way
When washing hands with soap and water:
• Wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.
• Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub all surfaces.
• Continue rubbing hands for 15-20 seconds. Need a timer? Imagine singing “Happy Birthday” twice through to a friend.
• Rinse hands well under running water.
• Dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer. If possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet.
• Always use soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.
If soap and clean water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub to clean your hands. Alcohol-based hand rubs significantly reduce the number of germs on skin and are fast-acting.
When using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:
• Apply product to the palm of one hand.
• Rub hands together.
• Rub the product over all surfaces of hands and fingers until hands are dry.
• Always wash hands after using the toilet
• Always wash hands before cooking.
• Keep water clean. Do not drink untreated water. Treat water using at least 2 methods: Filtration and boiling or filtration and adding chlorine. (This is a basic overview of water treatment) Keep water containers clean and do not put your hands in drinking or cooking water.
• Cook food thoroughly and eat it while it is hot. Fish and shellfish are a major cause of cholera: only eat them if they are well-cooked. Be careful of raw foods like salads or fruit. Wash vegetables and fruit in treated water before use, or peel them if there is no water. Discourage the habit of several people eating together from a communal food container.
Treating Cholera
Cholera is treatable. The main way it kills is by causing dehydration, therefore the treatment is to replace lost fluid as quickly as possible. Some facilities use oral re-hydration solutions, called ORS. This is a mixture of glucose and electrolytes (such as sodium and potassium). The solution is stirred into a liter of water and provides the correct balance of electrolytes to re-hydrate a cholera patient. It has been said that in global terms, ORS is the most important medical discovery since penicillin.
Some cholera patients cannot keep anything down orally because of the nausea and vomiting so these people should be treated with IV drips. If treatment is proactive and properly addressed then the fatality rate can drop to less than 1%.
For more information on cholera visit http://www.who.int/topics/cholera/en/
Young scientist joins the movement against Malaria
Ify Aniebo is currently a PhD student at the University of Oxford. Professionally she has worked at TDL Genetics, Mediserve, the Cambridge Antibody Technology (Medimmune), Illumina Inc , the Sanger Institute, Cambridge and the Wellcome-Oxford-WHO unit in Thailand and has presented her researhttp://emzorpharma.com/ewellafrica/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=269ch at leading malaria research conferences around the world. She has a BSc in Genetics from Queen Mary, University of London and an MSc in Applied Bio-molecular Technology from the University of Nottingham.
Interview culled from cp-africa.com
cp-africa: As a young girl, what piqued your interest in the sciences and ultimately in studying malaria?
Ify Aniebo: My interest was first sparked after I had suffered multiple infections from the bites of anopheles mosquito during my childhood and adolescent years. I noticed that the drugs administered both for treatment of the infection and for prophylactic use always changed because the parasite had become resistant. I find it both disturbing and fascinating that a disease which has been around for half a billion years still kills millions of people each year. What’s more intriguing is that no efficacious Vaccine has been developed. Malaria was neglected by the international community in the 90s and interest was only taken up a few years ago. There were no grants or funds to study the disease and millions were dying. Today there are some grants available but not as much as is expected. It is also saddening that there aren’t a lot of African scientists leading most malaria research programs considering the fact that it greatly impacts our continent. It is disheartening that most of the funds donated are from foreign organisations. I want to be part of the movement to eradicate malaria and effect a change positively because at the moment Malaria kills more people everyday than HIV/AIDS.
cp-africa: What do you think about the state of the malaria epidemic in Africa and how can African governments work towards greater prevention and treatment techniques especially amongst Africa’s children?
Ify Aniebo: People are still dying especially children but I think efforts are being made to tackle this global burden. I have come to find that majority of the efforts are made by international communities and non-profit organizations. Also there are countries in Africa that have been working very hard with these international organizations such as Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia to name a few. African governments need to include malaria prevention and treatment in their budget instead of waiting for European organizations for help. They need to start distributing insecticide treated nets (ITNs) to all homes in the country especially in homes with children under the age of five. These nets have success stories and really help reduce prevalence. At about £5 per net, each net can save up to 2 children. They need to make drugs available and cheaper for those that cannot afford it. They also need to invest a lot in health education and awareness. Environmental sanitation and water/sewage treatment is something African governments need to improve on because our environment is breeding ground for these mosquitoes. All in all, health care should be taken more seriously.
cp-africa: What are the challenges you face in the medical field as you work towards finding a malaria vaccine?
Ify Aniebo: The parasite has a complicated life cycle split in 2 stages, in human and in mosquito. It has been around for half a billion years now which means it has been evolving since then making it the most difficult organism to understand. That is very challenging. Finding a vaccine is dependent on so many fields within science but the great thing is all these fields work together making it a very exciting experience.
…Only 26, Ify was “the youngest person, the only black person and the only Nigerian in the Wellcome-Oxford-WHO unit in Thailand and in the Malaria Department at the Sanger institute in Cambridge…” NEXT
African women work for clean water
2010 West African Women & Water Training Program from Unseen Pictures on Vimeo.
Emzor Wellness Club
Emzor wellness club is a platform established in schools to reach out and interact with our future leaders in fulfillment of our promise to deliver unlimited wellness and give the children an enhanced educational experience.
OBJECTIVE FOR SETTING UP THE EMZOR WELLNESS CLUB:
This club started 28th November, 2008, with an objective of creating an interface for the company to positively impact on the lives of children, the future leaders .This structure was established in schools to;
* Encourage mass de-worming in schools as a means of improving intellectual capability and wellness in children.
* Create a platform to introduce the children to the Emzor brand at an early age and make ambassadors of Emzor out of them.
* Encourage social activities as part of wellness
The club is positioned as a:
* Wellness/Health club (Enlighten and encourage the concept of total wellness from the cradle)
* An educative Club(Improve intellectual ability)
* Social club(Encourage social activities as an element of total health and wellness)
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS:
* De-Worming Exercise in 25 schools (1600 pupils) in Lagos state
* Children’s Day celebrations in collaboration with Little Saint Orphanage in 2009
* Excursion to Emzor facilities.
* Independence Day celebration in 2009
* Donation of first boxes and display boards to Schools.
* Donation of Drugs to Schools and writing materials like exercise books, pens, colouring sets.
* Emzor Wellness Club word Challenge in Schools.
* Donation of magic boards to 25 schools.
* Donation of mini computers to Emzor wellness club members.
* Donation of desk computers to schools.
* Donation of bicyles to winner of the Grand Finale Quiz competition.Donation of Dictionaries to members of the club.
* Donation of Printers and Scanners to schools.
* Donation of School bags to all members of the club.
The plan for Q1 has been executed; a quiz competition was organized in schools. The objective for organizing this competition is to test intellect and develop a reading culture in them.
Series of competitions were held in zones. Winners from these zones represented their areas at the final. The grand finale of the 2010 quiz competition was held at St. Monica Nursery and Primary School on the 16thof March, 2010 at Ire-Akari estate, Isolo.
Winner of the first quiz competition organized by Emzor Wellness Club was First foundation Schools, Ago, Lagos, Kuyoro Memorial Schools, Ijesha was the First runner School and Comrade Nursery and Primary School, Oke -Afa came third.
“Nigeria: Text messages bolster world’s largest distribution of mosquito nets”
Children in Nigeria’s Kano state receive insecticide-treated bed nets at the launch of a recent malaria prevention campaign. RapidSMS text messaging is supporting the distribution of the nets, which are essential to preventing malaria.
By Geoffrey Njoku and Paula Fedeski – UNICEF. World Malaria Day, 25 April, focused this year on the challenge of achieving universal coverage with essential malaria-control interventions. Here is a story of progress and challenges in one malaria-endemic country, Nigeria.
As communities across the globe commemorate World Malaria Day, UNICEF Nigeria and its partners are bringing a tech-savvy twist to their work in preventing this deadly disease.
This year, Rapid Short Message Service (SMS) text messages across Nigeria are helping to track the distribution of some 63 million mosquito nets – the largest campaign of its kind to date. Read more
Breast and Cervical Cancer screening in Abuja
From April 22nd to the 24th, Stand up to Cancer Naija will be holding a cancer screening event in Abuja.
Stand Up To Cancer Naija a non- profit organization based in Nigeria is conducting a Mass Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening in Abuja. Time is 9:30am to 5pm everyday, at Limi Hospital Behind ICPC/NDIC Central Area Abuja,Nigeria.
This exercise is tagged “Mass Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening”. The cost for the screening is N2,000(two thousand naira) for each woman.
Cancer is one of the most significant killer diseases around the world although in fact, it’s more accurate to say it’s a collection of about 100 similar diseases. Cancer can be cured, but the cure rate depends on which variety the person has, how soon it was diagnosed, and how healthy the person’s body is. Throughout this non-profit organization, we’ll be discussing the most common or best-known forms of cancer, examining their possible causes, risk factors, symptoms, and treatment options. Specifically, each article will address these factors. We invite everyone to join this community to share your connection to cancer. One in two men and one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, but if we stand together to create efficient progress in cancer research, those statistics can change – From Stand up to cancer Naija.
Emzor Facebook Fans Win Prizes in Emzor weekly contests
Mr. Onyeka Onyeibhor, Deputy Managing Director, Emzor Pharmaceuticals and Ms. Lola Otisi, Head of Marketing with Emzor Facebook Contest Winners earlier this week
Emzor Pharmaceuticals for the past three weeks has been running weekly contests on a host of health related issues on its Facebook Page. The Nigerian healthcare firm uses the contests as a means of interacting with consumers and raising awareness on health issues.
The first week’s contest kicked off with a focus on medical myths and truths. Emzor’s Fans interacted extensively, contributing a total of over 100 entries. The winning entry for the kick off week was Ayodeji Agun.
Emzor will be hosting a succession of Facebook contests on its Fan page and will be willing to answer Fans’ questions, provide medical advice and interact with them on a wide range of health issues.
Visit Emzor on Facebook here: facebook.com/emzornigeria