Don’t Let Food Poisoning Ruin Your Yuletide Celebrations!

 By Sylvester Ojenagbon

The world over, a festive season is synonymous with feasting. It is usually a time when kitchens work overtime, and tables overflow with culinary abundance. 

However, for all the joy these lavish meals bring, they also usher in a period of heightened risk for a globally common, yet utterly miserable affliction: food poisoning.

The problem of foodborne illness is common, cutting across continents and development levels.

The World Health Organisation estimates that as many as one in ten people globally fall ill each year from eating contaminated food, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, with children and those in low- and middle-income countries bearing the heaviest burden.

Tackling Antibiotic Abuse: A Call For Action

 By Sylvester Ojenagbon

I sat down recently in a popular community pharmacy, waiting to be attended to. Then came a fairly educated middle-aged man who seemed to be a familiar face to the pharmacist on duty. “Give me that drug I bought that day,” he requested, pointing to a particular medication on the shelf. The pharmacist hesitated for a moment, then asked, “What do you want to use it for?” 

Without thinking about it, the man gave a response I thought was the most ridiculous I had ever heard: he wanted to use it for typhoid, which he did not have at that point. He said he just wanted to take it as a preventive measure since he worked hard and did not want to start having body pains. The pharmacist had to explain to him the dangers of taking antibiotics without a proper diagnosis and prescription. Although the man left without the drug, the pharmacist confided that he was certain he would come back when someone else was on duty or go somewhere else to buy it.