Franklin Ojukwu's Blog

27/12/2024

06/03/2023

Do you know that a person can be infected with hepatitis B but they won't know? Why? Because most people that are newly or chronically infected do not have symptoms. Hence, they go about infecting other people without knowing it, and this puts them at high risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer, as the liver will be deteriorating silently.

Hepatitis B is a deadly liver disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). This disease can be acute - very severe and lasting for a short time, or chronic - persisting for a long time.

To read more, click https://bit.ly/3ZEmnNJ

11/10/2021

"Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the commitment to overcome it. Courage doesn't mean you're not afraid, it means you battle against your fear and confront it.

5 tips for building courage
1. Set scary standards.
2. Allow for failure
3. Reward innovation
4. Pursue the right opportunities
5. Learn to delegate. "

Brad Lomenick

05/07/2020

Sometime last year, someone dear to me complained of intermittent pain and numbness in their thigh. These complaints became regular and disturbing, so I had to do some digging. More so, I was curious to know what was really causing the pain and numbness. I did some research by checking the internet. Then I found out there is a disease called peripheral artery disease (PAD). But how did I know what the person.. Please click on the link below to read more.

Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), Peripheral Vascular Disease, numbness, atherosclerosis, claudication, non-communicable disease.

22/03/2020

7 Essential Habits you should Cultivate if you want to keep your Spouse and your Marriage.

Do you love your spouse? Do you truly want to spend the rest of your life with them? If your answer is yes, then, this article is for you?

What does marriage mean to you? Is it a room you decide to come into and leave at will? Or is it a union you want to be committed to?
The number of divorces that occur daily all over the world is alarming. Sometimes I wonder why people get married today to break up the next day.

Habit #1: Although love is communicated in a number of ways, our words often reflect the conditions of our hearts. For the next day, resolve to say nothing negative to your spouse at all. If the temptation arises, choose not to say anything. It is better to hold your tongue than to say something you will regret. "Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry." James 1:19.

Please visit https://bit.ly/3a9eqa4 to read more

29/02/2020

What is tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It mostly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB), but it can also affect other parts of the body, like the brain, spine, abdomen, breast, te**es etc. When TB affects other organs outside the lungs, it is referred to as extra-pulmonary TB.

How is TB spread?

TB is spread through the air, from person to person. When an individual with TB disease coughs, sneezes or spits, they release the TB germs into the air, and people nearby just need to inhale a few germs to get infected. But nopt everyone infected with TB come down with the disease. They have what we call latent TB infection. Which means they have TB infection, but are not yet ill and cannot transmit the disease. In fact, one-quarter of people in the world have latent TB.

To read more, visit https://franklinojukwu.blogspot.com/2020/02/tuberculosis-is-treatable-and-curable.html?m=1

19/06/2019

Today is the World Sickle Cell day. It is a day set aside for people around the world to understand this terrible disease, increase awareness about it and support sickle cell patients and their families.

Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited red blood cells disorders. People who have sickle cell disease have an abnormal protein in their red blood cells. The disease runs in families, and because of that, couples intending to have children are advised to have genetic testing first.

Early signs and symptoms of sickle cell disease include swelling of the hands and feet; symptoms of anemia, including fatigue, or extreme tiredness; and jaundice. Over time, sickle cell disease can lead to complications such as infections, delayed growth, and episodes of pain, called pain crises. Most children who have sickle cell disease are pain-free between crises, but adolescents and adults may also suffer with chronic, ongoing pain. Over a lifetime, sickle cell disease can harm a patient’s spleen, brain, eyes, lungs, liver, heart, kidneys, p***s, joints, bones, or skin.

Read more on https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/sickle-cell-disease

11/06/2019

10 Reasons why You should Do Regular Physical Exercise.

Physical exercise --- running, jogging, swimming, cycling and stretching, to mention a few, is no doubt a very important part of a person's life. An individual who turns regular physical exercise into a hobby will certainly live a long and healthy life. Here are ten reasons why you need to make a regular physical exercise a habit.

1. Frequent and regular physical exercise helps prevent some diseases such as heart disease, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

2. Physical exercise is important in maintaining physical fitness, healthy weight, strong bones, healthy muscles and joints.

3. Exercise enables your body to function properly, and it also strengthens your immune system.

4. Exercise can make you happy. Research has shown that exercise can improve your mood and decrease feelings of depression, anxiety and stress.

5. If you want to reduce your weight, then do regular physical exercise. Studies have shown that inactivity is a major factor in weight gain and obesity.

6. Physical exercise allows you to relax and sleep well. When you exercise your body, you lose energy; this energy is replenished each time you sleep.

7. Exercise can improve brain function and protect memory and thinking skills. To begin with, it increases your heart rate, which promotes the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain.

8. It can reduce your risk of chronic disease.
Lack of regular physical activity is a primary cause of chronic disease

9. Exercise can be a real energy booster for healthy people, as well as those suffering from various medical conditions.

10. Exercise plays a vital role in building and maintaining strong muscles and bones. Physical activity like weight lifting can stimulate muscle building.

With these few reasons, I hope you will make regular physical exercise second nature.

29/03/2019

A Ghetto is not the Gallows.

The environment that a child lives in does not define the child. He may be born in a ghetto, but the ghetto is not in him. If he had the chance to choose his place of birth, he would pick a place with unimaginable splendour. A ghetto child has as much right as that child that is basking in affluence. Unfortunately, in my "dear country," Nigeria, the ghetto child seems not have any right. What a shameful condition!

In 1990, the then Gov. of Lagos State, Raji Rasaki, demolished Maroko, leaving many people homeless, while some died due to shock. So, in search of a home, in search of solace, the people sojourned to Ikota, a place which at that time was yet to be completed. They settled there anyway. The people lived in rooms with no door, no window. Some had to build bamboo houses, just to put a shelter over their heads. Mosquitoes ravaged them! Believe me, some children fell terribly will as a result of malaria.

As years rolled by, the people lived peacefully, even though they had no electricity, no good road, no pipe-borne water, and no hospital; but they had councillors, Local Govt. chairmen, state governors and presidents. The first time the people of Ikota used electricity was in 1999, through the efforts of the women there.

At the turn of the century, the peace and comfort the people enjoyed began to erode gradually, as all kinds of people started infiltrating the community. This infiltration can not be curtailed because, as in most slum areas or ghettos in Nigeria, anything goes. A ghetto is like a no man's land, where there is no law and order. Should this be the case, where there's a government?

Around 2012 or 2013, the people of Ikota started receiving shocking news about the demolition of the community by the government. Although the news kept coming as a rumour, it gave the people sleepless nights, as most of them do not have the money to live in apartments that they desire. In addition, some say the government plans to remove all the ghettos in Lekki metropolis, as they plan to turn it into a "mega city."

Moving on: around November 2018, some unknown people stormed the community in the middle of the night to mark some structures for destruction. People started asking questions. Who were these people? Who sent them? Was the government aware? Were the Lagos State governor and the commissioner of works and housing aware? Surprisingly, up until now, there are no answers to these questions.

Indeed, 2 weeks later, some people, including some policemen, stormed Ikota through Mobil Road and began to destroy the homes of people, without any feeling of remorse, without any compassion. Some people who had gone to work returned and saw their houses in rubbles. Where in the world are citizens treated this way, and the government shows indifference, the government goes mute?

However, in response to the heartbreaking destruction, some of the youths rose up and repelled the destroyers. Then, everything seemed to return to normal thereafter. But little did the people of Ikota know that the destroyers went back to scheme a better destruction strategy.

Just yesterday, March 28, 2019, the destroyers stormed the community again with a caterpillar, with masked men who had guns and cutlasses. They destroyed more homes than before, attacked more people, leaving some injured and some dead.

Why is this so? Why can't citizens live peacefully in their country, even though they do not have the basic amenities they need? Why have the people not been formally addressed by the LG chairman, commissioner of works and housing or State governor? Are they not aware? I find this hard to believe.

In their own country, Nigerians are treated less than they are treated in developed countries, just because they live in a ghetto. Did they choose this place? I'm sure if they are given the chance to choose where they will live, you will agree with me that they will NEVER choose a ghetto.

To President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Ambode, Commissioner of works and housing in Lagos, the Senator representing this senatorial district, the hose of rep members, I am convinced that the people who live in slums are not less human than those who live in luxury homes! You ALL have to give your people the true dividends of democracy, and save them from the gallows at this crucial moment. Your people are highly exasperated, and insulting their feelings is like pouring salt on a wound.

As I wrap up, may the souls of those who died yesterday rest in peace; and may God grant the families the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss. Amen.

Please read and share this post as a solidarity with the people of Ikota.

23/03/2019

The importance of access to portable clean water cannot be overemphasized. Take a moment to imagine all the things we do with water. We cook with water, wash our clothes with it, bath with it, drink it and so on and so forth.

Water is essential for life. Without it nothing can survive. Water can change lives. It has the power to turn dreams into realities, and poverty into possibility. It also has the power to turn time spent into time saved, when it’s close and not hours away. Water has the power to unlock education, create economic potential, and improve health.

Having known this, why do over 63 million Nigerians still live without access to portable safe water? Who will give us water? The health of the little girl or boy that goes to the stream or well to fetch water every morning before going to school is being affected by this lack of water.

Please visit https://franklinojukwu.blogspot.com/ to read more.