The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC – one of the most-visited natural history museums in the world – has a new exhibition on one of our favorite topics: outbreaks! And this month, we got a chance to check it out. The exhibition, called Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World, shows how…
DRASA Goes to a Smithsonian Museum
Read More
Honoring Health Workers on the Front Lines
We spent the day on Capitol Hill in Washington DC educating US lawmakers and their staff on the tremendous impact frontline health workers have in their communities. DRASA joined the Frontline Health Workers Coalition (FHWC) and other advocates to meet with 9 US Congressional offices, share recommendations for US Congress, and advocate for frontline health…
Balancing for Better: Celebrating Women
What is International Women’s Day? It’s a global day held on 8th March every year to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. This year’s International Women’s Day theme was “Balance for Better” which is a call to action to accelerate gender balance. We joined our friends at Union Bank to celebrate…
Lassa Fever Turns 50 Years Old
Did you know it’s been 50 years since Lassa fever was discovered in northeast Nigeria, in a town called Lassa in Borno State? For this reason, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) organized the Lassa Fever International Conference in Abuja from 16-17 January 2019 to better understand the history, current status, and how our…
Equipping Health Workers to Fight a Deadly Virus: Our FETHA Story
We just spent a week at Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA) in Ebonyi State. What were we doing there? Helping health workers save lives (and save themselves too!) Health workers are often on the frontlines of infectious disease outbreaks. By simply doing their jobs, they are often exposed to patients infected with dangerous diseases, which…
Lagos Gets Prepared with a State of the Art Biobank
The room was full of top professionals ranging from medical doctors, nurses, biomedical and mechanical engineers to nurses, veterinary doctors, laboratory technologists and pharmacists, as we attended the Civic Engagement and Stakeholders’ Meeting on the Lagos State Biosecurity Initiative which was organized by the Lagos State Ministry of Health. So what is the Lagos State…
300 DRASA Ambassadors. 10 Schools. 6 Youth Trainers.
We’re back! 300 Student Ambassadors. 10 Schools. 6 Youth Trainers. School has resumed for another academic year so we’re continuing our DRASA Youth Ambassador program! Who are the DRASA Ambassadors? All students who were selected to be members of the “DRASA Health and Hygiene Club” in their secondary schools are called DRASA Ambassadors. What are…
Chew Bitter Kola: Fake News that Harms Public Health
Chew bitter kola. Drink bleach. Bathe in salt water. Drink salt water. Get nano silver the “magic Ebola drug.” These are just some examples of the kinds of misinformation and fake news that were flying around during Nigeria’s Ebola outbreak. And they were all harmful. Let’s look at the example of drinking salt water. There…
Bringing Healthcare to 250,000 People
Today we attended the opening of the rehabilitated Ikola Primary Health Centre (PHC) by Japanese Ambassador Yutaka Kikuta. The Japanese Embassy collaborated with the local Street2School Initiative on this project. Before this health centre was rehabilitated, more than 250,000 people in the community had no access to healthcare services. Street2School Initiative’s Founder Ms. Tosin Taiwo…
Tuberculosis is the World’s Deadliest Infectious Disease
Did you know that tuberculosis is the world’s deadliest infectious disease? Yet, TB still remains a major public health problem Nigeria, especially as it mostly affects the poorest and most vulnerable people. In fact, Nigeria has the 2nd largest burden of TB in Africa and is among the 10 countries that accounted for 76% of…
Load More