THE ALPHA CLUB’S CHARITY WEEK 2014

BRIEF INTRODUCTION AND PROFILE OF THE ALPHA CLUB
The Alpha Club is a socio-cultural, philanthropic and charitable organisation founded in 1968 in the then University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife with aims and objectives which encompass the breeding of young men into responsible and respectable citizens, acquainting them with charitable works and other activities, which foster peace in our immediate and larger world. Because of her socio-cultural and philanthropic outlook, the club organizes programmes that bring youths together in constructive activities.

OUR PEDIGREE – We pride ourselves as having the best of gentlemen as our Graduate Alphites, patrons and Fellows. Amongst great men that have been rolled out of the stables of Alpha club are: Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, the current president/CEO Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc., who was the Lord Mayor of the club in 1975; Prince Oluseyi Lufadeju, the MD Shelter Initiatives who was social scribe in 1968; Senator Mike Ajeigbo, the MD/CEO Minaj Group of Companies and former Chairman Senate Committee on Judiciary; Mr. Adewale Adeniyi, the former Auditor General of Ondo State, who was the Exchequer of the club in 1971; Mayor (Professor) Dibu Ojerinde, the current Registrar of Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) who was the Lord Mayor in 1973; Prof. Olu Adediran, Dean, Faculty of Law, OAU who was the scribe in 1974; Mayor Araba Oladokun a former Registrar of LAUTECH, Ogbomoso who was the Lord Mayor in 1971; Mayor George Irechukwu, Commissioner of Finance, Imo State who was the Lord Mayor in 1984. Mr. Seye Kehinde, Publisher City People Magazine; Mr. Dele Oduwale, CEO Desh Petroleum and Chicken Lovers Restaurants; other eminent great men make the row call of fellows and patrons- Chief Gabriel Igbienidion (Esama of Benin Kingdom), Chief The Hon. Sir Alex Akinyele (Elder Stateman, former Chairman National Sports Commmission), King Sunny Ade – An Ace musician, Major David Ejoor, former Chief of Army Staff and former Governor of Mid-Western Region. Fellow Ben Omonua, MD BankPHB Asset Management Chief R.A. Williams, Mr. Ademola Adeyinka, Engr. Obi Anadu – G.M. Land and Waters, Muritala Mohammed International Airport- the list goes on. All these eminent personalities are still in contact with the Club. This list is in-exhaustive and as you traverse the country and indeed the world, you will find Alphites in all facets of life, helping to make the society better than they found it.
We are “gentlemen of distinction” with an unyielding belief in the time tested saying that “Some are born great, some achieve greatness while some have greatness thrust upon them” and in humble pursuit of greatness in honour, our philosophy and outlook, the club organizes programmes that bring youths together in constructive activities. As such, one of her programmes is “The Annual Charity Week”.

THE ALPHA CLUB’S CHARITY WEEK

The Charity Week is an entire week of activities organized by the Alpha Club and dedicated to charitable endeavours, the idea is to create awareness, promote and encourage charitable works amongst the staff, students, residents and visitors in the OAU community and its environs.
The programme is also intended to launch the community project series that the club will be embarking upon which is aimed at improving the state of the OAU community through works of Arts, Technology and encouraging research.

The next edition of this customary event tagged “GOODWILL” will be held in October 2014. It will span a whole week as highlighted above and will include free health services, a social event, material / monetary donation, drug donation and a blood donation exercise that will feature the officials of the National Blood Transfusion Service, Ibadan; Family Health International (FHI), and Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Nigeria (GHAIN), one percent, Voluntary Blood Donation initiative (VOBDI) among several others. The event promises to be very exiting and to create an atmosphere where love is shared and the message of charity is sung as morning hymns in the hearts of the citizens.

The events aligned for the charity week are as follows:
Monday- “GOODWILL” talent hunt and raffle draw
Tuesday- Free Bus Ride
Wednesday & Thursday- Blood Donation Exercise
Friday- Jumat service and Visit to a motherless Babies’ Home
Saturday- Alpha Fellowship
Sunday- Thanksgiving at Our lady’s of perpetual light

DETAILS OF EVENTS

MONDAY
“GOODWILL” Talent Hunt and Raffle Draw

The First day of the week is set aside in this year’s charity week for a social event “Talent Hunt and Raffle Draw”. This event is strategically placed so as to publicise the forthcoming blood donation. It is focused on creating a high level of interaction amongst students thereby creating a lasting and enduring awareness in the minds of people for the Blood Donation.
The event will feature a talent hunt whereby registered participants will be allowed to showcase their talents and entertain audience and 3 winners will be picked to given a cash prize of 20,000naira, 15,000naira and 10,000naira for 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
Furthermore, along the line, a raffle draw exercise will take place as interludes at specific times. Participants in the raffle draw would ave purchased a raffle tickets at 100naira only. Lots of prizes like Fridges, microwaves, home theatre systems, goody bags, standing fans will be won during the exercise.

TUESDAY
FREE BUS RIDE
Due to the usual rush which occurs in the early hours of the morning and often after lectures in the afternoon, students often miss out or go late for lectures or end the day in frustration.
During the week, the club would seek to alleviate this problem by providing buses at strategic locations (school gate or halls of residence) to convey students free of charge to and from the school premises for the periods which the rush shall prevail. This also serves publicity purposes for the Charity week as a whole and the blood donation more importantly.

WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
BLOOD DONATION EXERCISE
This is the hallmark of events of the week because of importance of blood in saving lives as many have come to give testimonies. The Alpha Club has, for over 3 decades been organising blood donation to the O.A.U.T.H.C. Ile-Ife and the National Blood Transfusion Service, with 490 pints donated in the last edition and over 2500 pints of blood donated till date. This year the event would be organised by the Alpha Club in conjunction with experts from the National Blood Transfusion Service. Blood donors are given packages which include haematinics to help replenish the donated blood and other complimentary gifts.
BLOOD DONOR PACKAGE
Haematinics – blood capsules, multivitamins,
Glucose
Beverage
Milk
Eggs
T-shirts
Stickers
Other items to be included by your organization & other sponsors.

FRIDAY
JUMAT SERVICE AND VISIT TO THE MOTHERLESS BABIES’ HOME

We conventionally visit the mosque every friday of the charity week to give thanks to Almighty God for a successful week. After this, we set out for a chosen motherless babies’ home in Osun state to give out materials, food stuffs, clothings, etc, some of which would have been gathered before and during the course of the charity week.

SATURDAY
ALPHA FELLOWSHIP

We believe that after a week long of selfless service to humanity, members of the Alpha Club “Alphites” should also relax at some point. So we organize a mini event with our spouses, where we relax and also rejoice with ourselves on the success we have achieved during the week. We also sometimes involve the public in this, a few of our blood donors might be invited during thid event to celebrate with us.

SUNDAY
THANKSGIVING SERVICE AT THE CHURCH
We also after visiting the mosque, visit the Church to praise and thank God for making our charity week a complete success.

twitter.com/tom_olas

facebook.com/tomiwaolasiyan

Africa As Ebola’s Paradise

Its recent outbreak in some West African countries may not have initially been accorded much attention, but today, as a result of the havoc it has so far created and the ease as well as the rapidity of infection, everybody is now on his toes across the globe. Now, Ebola has suddenly assumed the status of the fastest-growing killer virus in the world. And to affirm this horrible and disturbing status, last Friday, health experts declared the Ebola epidemic an international health emergency that requires a coordinated global approach.

At the moment, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and lately, Nigeria are battling the deadly virus, which has defied any known cure. So far, the virus is believed to have infected at least 1,779 people, killing 961 or more, thereby making it the worst outbreak in the four-decade history of tracking the disease. According to the World Health Organisation, WHO, “the possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus, the intensive community and health facility transmission patterns, and the weak health systems in the currently affected and most at-risk countries”.

The history of the disease is well known. Unfortunately, since it was first recognized in 1976, all the 18 outbreaks so far recorded occurred in Africa alone. Ebola may be a native of Africa but now the virus is threatening to go global and, by declaring it an international public health emergency, it shows how seriously WHO is taking the current outbreak. But tough statements, definitely, won’t save lives. Perhaps, what should really worry all of us now as the battle against the virus rages, are the words of Peter Piot, the scientific adventurer who discovered the virus: “We shouldn’t forget that this is a disease of poverty, of dysfunctional health systems and of distrust”.

In 1976, Piot, a 27-year-old medical school graduate training as a clinical microbiologist, undertook a voyage of discovery to the then Zaire, where, out of sheer determination, he ventured into the thick forest in one of the remotest areas of the country and unearthed the disease. Piot is now 65 years old. It’s been 38 years since the first outbreak and the world is now experiencing its worst Ebola epidemic ever. At the last count, the disease has reared its ugly head in four West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Out of these, Nigeria has been least affected, recording fewer deaths. Unlike in the past when the outbreak is confined to only one country, the current situation is unprecedented as the spread of the disease across four countries is making it more complicated to deal with than ever before.

As Piot rightly observed and I agree with him, “this is a disease of poverty, of dysfunctional health systems and of distrust”. The current Ebola’s spread in West Africa is a reminder of the vast development needs that persist in some of the region’s poorest countries despite claim to rapid economic growth and investment. The vast majority of Africans live miserably in slums and squalor. Africa faces endemic poverty, food insecurity and pervasive underdevelopment, with almost all the countries lacking the human, economic and institutional capacities to effectively develop and manage their water resources sustainably. As a result of this, a large number of countries on the continent still face huge challenge in attempting to achieve the United Nations water-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Although the crucial role of water in accomplishing the continent’s development goals is widely recognized, various governments on the African continent seem not to be moved by the appalling living standard of their people both in the urban and rural areas. Thus, clean water becomes a scarce commodity.
/////////////////////////////////
‘Ebola may be a native of Africa but now, the virus is threatening to go global and, by declaring it an international public health emergency, it shows how seriously WHO is taking the current outbreak’
//////////////////////////////////

Besides, Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s poorest and least developed region, with half its population living on less than a dollar a day. About two-thirds of its countries rank among the lowest in the Human Development Index. A recent report by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UNDESA, gave an analysis of data from 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, representing 84% of the region’s population, showing significant differences between the poorest and richest fifths of the population in both rural and urban areas. According to the report, “over 90% of the richest quintile in urban areas use improved water sources, and over 60% have piped water on premises. In rural areas, piped-in water is non-existent in the poorest 40% of households, and less than half of the population use any form of improved source of water”.

The report stated that despite efforts and approaches to extend and sustain water, sanitation and hygiene systems and services continue to suffer leading to different health complications in Africa as a whole, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, thereby causing avoidable deaths. “The water and sanitation position in West/Central Africa is of particular urgency, as the region has the highest under-five mortality rate of all developing regions: 191 child deaths per 1,000 live births”. This is underscored by recurrent outbreaks of cholera in both urban and rural areas, a situation that equally underlines the poor state of this region’s basic living conditions.

This is a serious concern because of the associated massive health burden, as many people who lack basic sanitation engage in unsanitary activities like poor solid waste and waste water disposal, open defecation and other dirty habits. The practice of open defecation that is rampant in Africa is widely believed to be the primary cause of faecal oral transmission of disease with children being the most vulnerable.

As if all these are not enough, there is also rapid and almost uncontrollable population growth and rural-urban migration. Despite the efforts of some Sub-Saharan African countries and cities to expand basic services and improve urban housing conditions, rapid and unplanned urban growth has increased the number of settlements on unstable, disaster-prone and high-risk land where diseases and other phenomena disasters with devastating consequences are prevalent. Among developing regions, Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to have the highest prevalence of urban slums and it is expected to double to around 400 million by 2020. Again, this rising population is driving demand for water and accelerating the degradation of water resources in many countries on the continent.

Africa has joined India and China as the third region of the world to reach a population of 1 billion people, and it is expected to double this by 2050, the UN says. By then, there will be three times as many people living in Africa’s cities, and the continent that had fewer than 500,000 urban dwellers in 1950 may have 1.3 billion. The breakneck transformation of a rural population into a predominantly urban one is neither good nor bad on its own, but the issue is that African countries should plan their cities better, to avoid mega-slums and vast areas of deprivation developing across the continent. This is because, in most slums in Africa, basic amenities like potable water, quick disposal of garbage, sanitation facilities and toilets are not available. People in slums face many battles. Besides poverty, the health situation is very bad.

Since slums are considered illegal, the government feels no obligation to provide water and proper sanitation to slum dwellers. This high density and over-population means viruses and diseases can spread easily and cause epidemics. And when people are ill, there are not enough health services, doctors, nurses and medicines available for them, or even if these are available, people often lack the money to pay.

The sickening living conditions in many African countries may not have attracted much attention from the global community all this while. However, the ravaging Ebola virus that is currently knocking at the doorstep of everybody has, once more, forced global attention on Africa. With the experience of Nigeria, where a Patrick Sawyer, an American-Liberian diplomat, imported Ebola into the country from Liberia, the whole world has suddenly woken up from slumber to the stark reality that the entire global community is at the risk of contacting the deadly virus. What this calls for is the need for global cooperation and strategy to combat the recalcitrant disease. Not rhetoric. Not empty promises!

Source- http://newsdiaryonline.com

twitter.com/tom_olas

facebook.com/tomiwaolasiyan

Kinetosis (motion sickness)

Kinetosis or Motion Sickness is the result of your mind perceiving a movement that doesn’t agree with what your sense of balance (handled by your inner ear) is telling you. Many things might lead to kinetosis, including sudden movements such as those in a roller coaster, a car ride on the mountains, a trip on a boat, or an airplane. Motion sickness can also be caused by the perception of movement…

Motion sickness or kinetosis might be avoided by not riding on that roller coaster or rides, by riding in the front of a car instead of the back, by breathing with calm, or by the use of over the counter motion sickness drugs.

Source;
http://kinetosis.com/

UCH did not perform the first open heart surgery in Nigeria – Dr. Awojobi Oluyombo

In 2008, my teacher and mentor, Prof SA Adebonojo, the pioneer cardiac surgeon at the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan in whose unit I started my residency in 1978, delivered a guest lecture at the 48th annual conference of the West African College of Surgeons titled Development of Open Heart Surgery in West Africa: A Historical Perspective. I was privileged to publish the lecture in 2012.

Prof Adebonojo has given me the permission to put the monogram on the web so as to correct the misinformation in the recent media report. This I have done here.

The outbreak of the Biafra war in 1967 dispersed the cardiothoracic surgical team at UCH, Ibadan and Professor Fabian Udekwu left to establish the cardiothoracic team at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu. He was joined by Professors David Nwafor, HumphreyAnyanwu, and EHC Ihenacho in the department of cardiology.

Professor Fabian Udekwu was a man of vision, mission and determination. As the first fully trained cardiothoracic surgeon in Nigeria, certified by the American Board of Surgery as well as the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, he was competent and ready for what it would take to achieve his mission. He visited the United Kingdom many times to understudy the latest techniques under Sir Magdi Yacoub, a renowned cardiac surgeon in the United Kingdom (UK) and to solicit his assistance for their first open heart surgery at UNTH.

After an extensive preparation, training and assembly of his team, the first open heart surgery was performed at the UNTH, Enugu in January 1974 by Sir Magdi Yacoub from UK, Professors Udekwu, CH Anyanwu, DC Nwafo, BU Umeh, EO Okoroma, HNC Ihenacho, CC Okechukwu and other colleagues. This was followed by 6 other cases.

3 of the 7 patients operated upon between 1974 and 1980 died for an operative mortality of 42.9 per cent (personal communication). By 2000, over 102 cardiac procedures had been performed at UNTH.

Prof S A Adebonojo, a cardiothoracic surgeon, returned to Nigeria in April 1974 with an appointment as lecturer in cardiothoracic surgery at the UCH, to join Professor Grillo in the cardiothoracic unit. We were later joined by Drs. Olu Osinowo and ‘Wole Adebo in the unit.

On December 19, 1978, the first open heart surgery was performed at UCH by a team of Nigerian cardiac surgeons that included Professor Isaac Grillo, Drs Samuel Adebonojo, Olu Osinowo and ’Wole Adebo. The anaesthesiologists were Drs Funsho Akinyemi, and Ekundayo Famewo. The perfusionist was Mr. Osanyituyin and Mrs. Omotosho was one of the operating room nurses.

The UCH procedure was the first open heart surgery performed by a team of ALL Nigerian cardiac surgeons, nurses, perfusionist, anaesthesiologists without on-site assistant from abroad. The patient died intraoperatively due to incorrect preoperative diagnosis of ASD that turned out to be a Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (TAPVR).

The second operation on September 18 1979 was our first successful open heart procedure performed by the same group of Nigerian cardiac surgeons and anaesthesiologists at UCH, Ibadan. Five open heart procedures were performed between 1978 and 1982.

However, the tremendous strain on hospital resources and deteriorating infrastructure, the political atmosphere and military interventions in the country put a big damper on our efforts.