Vital Signs with Chidindu Mmadu-Okoli Chidindu Mmadu-Okoli

Drug abuse is first and most importantly, an issue of public health concern, especially among young people. With several socioeconomic factors which compound to reduce the quality of life in Nigeria, people often settle for cheaper drugs without proper diagnosis. Sometimes drugs are used for the wrong purposes. Other times, doses of drugs like antimicrobials ara not completed by users.

On the 23rd of December, 2020, I decided to engage with an expert who understands the science of how drugs work and are made to help dissect this issue of drug abuse, the process of making certain drugs so that listeners can understand the dangers of abusing common, over-the-counter medicines in Nigeria.

Professor Busayo Olayinka is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Microbiology at the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. We both are 2019 Science Communication Fellows of the African Science Literacy Network. Our conversation is simply out of the passion to see that the people around us make conscious, healthy choices through the safe use of medicines.

Got questions on this episode? Ask or engage with me on Twitter, @iamchidindu or send a mail to chidindu.mo@gmail.com. Do not forget to share this episode with friends and loved ones in your network.

It often starts with a forwarded post on Whatsapp, then it makes its way to Twitter, Facebook and all the other social/online/offline platforms. Just as in the days of the Ebola Virus Disease in 2014, lots of Nigerians still underestimate the harm that unverified news can cause. Fake news with the most salacious clickbait headlines gradually spread like wildfire.  We still have people who believe what is too good to be true. Only a few Nigerians pause to check and verify. Sadly, even when we discover the lies and loopholes and the headline-and-body-of-text discordance in most stories, they would have spread too far for a "media fire service" to contain. With COVID-19, our weakened levels of news and health literacy in Nigeria are gradually revealed. It is no longer news, that we are not just battling and distancing from a pandemic, we are also battling infodemics and distancing from fake news, negatively-inciting clickbait headlines and the after-effects to these narratives.



In this episode of The Vital Signs podcast, I had a mind-blowing conversation with Buchi Onyegbule: a broadcast journalist, former host of The Morning Mojo at WEFM 106.3 Abuja, FCT and currently the Head of African Operations at Narrative4 Inc. In this conversation, Buchi shares very practical lessons and insights on:


Why we have lots of click-bait headlines in the Nigerian news industry
The harm(s) that doctored (health) stories can cause us as a nation.
Practical steps that Nigerians should take to identify fake health news and stories driven by propaganda to incite negative emotions and actions.
The roles of media professionals and media houses in creating credible stories
The various measures that the government can take in ensuring proper news literacy



To connect with Buchi Onyegbule, please reach out on Twitter with the handle @buchionyebule

Got questions? Please tweet at me on @iamchidindu or send a mail with the subject “VSP” or “Vital Signs Podcast” to chidindu.mo@gmail.com.  
Join the community of health providers and health enthusiasts. Beyond The Couch Africa with the link https://bit.ly/beyondthecouchafrica.

Please, do not forget to share with anyone who needs to learn from this.

Today, Monday, the 30th day of March 2020, I had a great time rubbing minds with Obum Mekowulu live from the studios of Alpha Radio 106.5 FM, Nnobi, Anambra State, where we had crucial conversations on Tackling Coronavirus Pandemic In Nigeria: Government and Citizens' Response

My narrative arc was structured around building sustainable healthcare systems and Nigeria's National Action Plan for Health Security.

Thankful to Mr Ebubechukwuzuloke Brown, who had asked that I be engaged in this conversation.

I feel honoured to be sounding this gong of #PreventEpidemicsNaija and highlighting the importance of implementing the #NAPHS strategy document at all levels, for a healthy nation.

Got questions? Please tweet at me on @iamchidindu or send a mail with the subject “VSP” or “Vital Signs Podcast” to chidindu.mo@gmail.com.  
Join the community of health providers and health enthusiasts. Beyond The Couch Africa with the link https://bit.ly/beyondthecouchafrica.

Please, do not forget to share with anyone who needs to learn from this.

We. Keep. Pushing.

What happens when our healthcare givers burn out? Who cares for them? How do they balance life, work and all the demands that come with these in the face of the current Nigerian economy?

This episode, Don’t Die on Duty 2, is a sequel to the last episode Don’t Die on Duty 1, where a physician shared his burn-out story on his call duty. As someone who is in love with solution-based narratives, I did not just want to highlight the issues of burnout experienced by healthcare providers; I also wanted to go further to have conversations with a Stress Management Expert.

Mr Akpe Emmanuel C. is the Founder and Director of Zumalema Biotechnologies, a stress and health management firm in Abuja. He is also a medical laboratory scientist, a serial author, a radio and television analyst on stress management and an internationally sought-after conference speaker on issues around stress and burnouts.

In this episode, he shares:


Why he chose the path of stress management
The most common kinds and underlying causes of stress among Nigerian health care providers
Insights from his books, Office Palaver and The Stress Manager’s Guide for Nigerian health care providers or caregivers who work a 9-to-5. [9-to-5?  Nigerian practitioners now work a “when-you-wake-up-until-when-you-drop-dead” schedule]
Recommendations for employers and human resource managers in the healthcare settings on the need for regulating manhours, monitoring workloads and enforcing periods of rest in the day-to-day work life.
Challenges of younger medical/health colleagues in the hands of senior colleagues. How can older colleagues cooperate with the younger ones, instead of dumping or pushing responsibilities to the younger ones?
Day-to-day life hacks for stress management.

Group/individual stress management program for those who want a work-life balance.

To connect with Mr Emmanuel Akpe, please reach out on Facebook or Telegram.

Got questions? Please tweet at me on @iamchidindu or send a mail with the subject “VSP” or “Vital Signs Podcast” to chidindu.mo@gmail.com.  
Join the community of health providers and health enthusiasts. Beyond The Couch Africa with the link https://bit.ly/beyondthecouchafrica.

Please, do not forget to share with anyone who needs to learn from this.



CREDITS: I am grateful to the VOPE team at BCON Experience for editing this episode. I have been up to a lot lately. 

What happens when the caregiver on duty becomes the patient? Or, worse still, what if the caregiver dies on duty?
This episode of The Vital Signs Podcast takes us back to the story of a young doctor in 2014, employed in a Nigerian military hospital as a house officer, in the face of a 10-day-in-a-row, drop-dead call duty schedule, per rotation, for each house-officer.
With this crazy call-duty roster, he ends up at the accident and emergency (A and E) section of the hospital, in the hands of his brothers, fellow house-officers. The doctor, who under normal circumstances is to be found setting an (Intravenous) IV line on a patient, becomes the one whose vein receives same treatment. Sadly, the demands of work, as well as several other factors, requires that he steps back into duty after spending some time in the A and E.
Dr. Gabriel Onyeka Ibe is a family medicine physician and a registrar-in-training with the St Henles and Knowsley Trust, United Kingdom. He earned his MBBS degree from the University of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria and proceeded to commence his housemanship at Military Hospital Lagos. He further went to work in the Murtala Mohammed Hospital, Kano, Kano and completed his service with the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) in Kano State.
Before his relocation to the United Kingdom, Dr. Ibe worked as a Medical Officer in Paelon Memorial Hospital, Lagos, and also served in a few missions, including as a member of the medical team of the National Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) to Israel.
In This Episode He:

Shares his journey as a caregiver, his burnout and recovery story.
Highlights the underlying causes of physician burnouts, with regards to his experience
Talks about his journey towards finding balance and doing things differently to relieve stress
Shares his daily routine for stress management and coping with the demands of work
Compares the moments and quality of care as a caregiver with that as the patient
Addresses how practitioners can bring their hearts (empathy) to the work that they do, in the face of the work-related pressure
Shares pieces of advice for the (new) house officer, or the medic-in-training?


Got questions? Please tweet at me on @iamchidindu or send a mail with the subject “VSP” or “Vital Signs Podcast” to chidindu.mo@gmail.com.
Join the community of health providers and health enthusiasts. Beyond The Couch Africa with the link https://bit.ly/beyondthecouchafrica. Do not forget to share with anyone who needs to learn from this.

Thirty-three days after I lost my parish priest, Rev. Fr. Dr. Edmund Nwagbala, to a fire explosion accident at St. Peter Claver's Catholic Church, Nnewi Anambra State, Nigeria; I am still unable to find rest. The mixed feelings of anger, sadness and misery have had the better part of me. The newspaper reports claim the cause of explosions to the inverter installations in the parish house. These leave me begging so many questions:

What could have happened?

What could have been done better?

What could we have avoided?

How do we save the next person from this unannounced and in-a-twinkle-of-an-eye agony?

Weeks ago, I began a conversation on the dos and don’ts of home fire accidents with Ugochi Obidiegwu, The Safety Chic. Thereafter, I took another step, by engaging with two engineers who understand the science of inverters and inverter batteries.

Engr Michael Nnamdi Azubuike is a graduate of Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Technology Owerri. He received his solar energy training from solar energy expert/lecturer, Engr. Nathaniel Okey, from the University of Brunswick, Canada. Currently, he is the CEO of General Zuby Projects, a company whose core aim is to carry out structural and solar energy contracts within and outside Nigeria.

Engr. Ewa-Ade Adeyemo earned her bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from the Covenant University, Otta, Ogun State. She is passionate about food and energy development

In this episode, they have addressed:


The science of inverter batteries
Conditions for installing inverter batteries
Factors that cause inverter explosions
The problem with refilling used batteries or fake inverter batteries.
Understanding inverter capacities
The role of circuit breakers, voltage and surge regulators
Who is qualified to fix inverter, in our buildings
The need for a regulatory framework for those who are into solar energy installations
Energy auditing and other requirements for solar installations in residential, commercial and public facilities.
Nigerian weather and our solar panels

You may further engage or work with Engr. Azubuike here on Facebook or WhatsApp.
Also, follow Engr. Adeyemo on Facebook and Instagram.

Got questions? Please tweet at me on @iamchidindu or send a mail with the subject “VSP” or “Vital Signs Podcast” to chidindu.mo@gmail.com.

Join the community of health providers and health enthusiasts. Beyond The Couch Africa with the link https://bit.ly/beyondthecouchafrica. Do not forget to share with anyone who needs to learn from this.