Impact of Climate Change on Food Security in Nigeria

Climate change is brought about by natural as well as man-made factors. Climate change or global warming has negative impact on the global environment. Some of these devastating effects include volcano, landslide, erosion, flooding, drought, pests and diseases. These factors in turn impact on agriculture and consequently threaten food security. This paper therefore is aimed at examining, through literature search, the impact of climate change on food security in Nigeria with a view to making suggestions on strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change on the environment generally and food security in particular. Some of the suggested strategies include: reducing the emission of green house gases by stopping deforestation; use of high yield and disease-tolerant crops and crops adaptable to extreme weather conditions; farmers to cultivate their crops when rains are expected rather than during =planting seasons‘. The paper concludes that the menace of environmental degradation occasioned by climate change has affected agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa in general and Nigeria in particular and must be tackled with all seriousness it deserves.Key words: Climate change, greenhouse gases, food securit

Age and frailty are independently associated with increased COVID-19 mortality and increased care needs in survivors: results of an international multi-centre study

Introduction Increased mortality has been demonstrated in older adults with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but the effect of frailty has been unclear. Methods This multi-centre cohort study involved patients aged 18 years and older hospitalised with COVID-19, using routinely collected data. We used Cox regression analysis to assess the impact of age, frailty and delirium on the risk of inpatient mortality, adjusting for sex, illness severity, inflammation and co-morbidities. We used ordinal logistic regression analysis to assess the impact of age, Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and delirium on risk of increased care requirements on discharge, adjusting for the same variables. Results Data from 5,711 patients from 55 hospitals in 12 countries were included (median age 74, interquartile range [IQR] 54–83; 55.2% male). The risk of death increased independently with increasing age (>80 versus 18–49: hazard ratio [HR] 3.57, confidence interval [CI] 2.54–5.02), frailty (CFS 8 versus 1–3: HR 3.03, CI 2.29–4.00) inflammation, renal disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer, but not delirium. Age, frailty (CFS 7 versus 1–3: odds ratio 7.00, CI 5.27–9.32), delirium, dementia and mental health diagnoses were all associated with increased risk of higher care needs on discharge. The likelihood of adverse outcomes increased across all grades of CFS from 4 to 9. Conclusion Age and frailty are independently associated with adverse outcomes in COVID-19. Risk of increased care needs was also increased in survivors of COVID-19 with frailty or older age

Using Role Play to Teach Overpopulation to Basic Science Students: A Way Forward for Environmental Sustainability

Population is a major source of environmental degradation and it impacts primarily on the environment through the use of natural resources and production of wastes with its attendant health problems. The study examined population growth and overpopulation in Nigeria and its impact on the environment. To achieve environmental sustainability, the paper stressed the need for intensification of environmental education in Nigerian schools using Basic Science at the Junior secondary school level in order to ‘catch them young’. The paper advocated the use of role play, a method seen as one of the best ways to enable pupils in the classroom share in something of the reality of issues in the real world beyond the school, as a good strategy to impact environmental culture into the young ones. By so doing, the children will acquire relevant environmental skills, attitude and interest that will spur them into action towards maintaining a sustainable environment. The paper also made some recommendations on ways to combat environmental degradation among which is that basic science teachers should effectively teach the environmental topics/elements infused into the basic science curriculum to enable students acquire environmental knowledge, skills and attitudes for environmental sustainability.Key words: Environmental sustainability, overpopulation, Basic Science, role-pla