The Federal Ministry of Health has banned the production and importation of codeine as active pharmaceutical ingredient for cough preparations to check substance abuse among Nigerians.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, made the decision known in a statement issued by Mr Olajide Oshundun, Assistant Director of Information in the ministry, in Abuja on Tuesday.

The ban came as Aisha Buhari, wife of the president expressed concern about the addiction rate to the drug, especially in northern Nigeria.

American business magnate Bill Gates, has always been spookily prophetic when it comes to the future of tech. He predicted social media, smart-watches, instant online payments and personal assistants decades before they reached peoples screens and took over many lives.

Now it seems the Microsoft CEO has a grave warning for all concerning healthcare.

Speaking at a discussion about epidemics hosted by the Massachusetts Medical Society and the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday, Gates considered that the next deadly disease that may cause a global pandemic is coming, and that the world is not prepared to face it.

Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has called on organized private sector to also be part of the fight against malaria in Nigeria stressing that the sector plays an integral role in eliminating the terrible disease.

Certainly, companies have been successful in shaping malaria policies; impacting communities via workplace initiatives, product and service innovations, advocacy, research and investment.

The Minister gave this charge yesterday in Lagos at a forum organized by Corporate Alliance on Malaria in Africa (CAMA) as part of programs to mark the world malaria day.

Emzor's action to suspend the production of the drug is coming after one of its sales reps was caught on camera selling codeine illegally.

Emzor pharmaceutical company said it has suspended the production of the extremely addictive drug, codeine cough syrup, which is sending many Nigerian youths to their early graves as well as causing the recent hike of young people in rehabilitation centres and psychiatric homes across the country.

Since the world’s first successful organ transplant in 1954 — a kidney — the discipline has advanced to the point where a wounded soldier could have his penis and scrotum replaced in a groundbreaking operation last month.

A Frenchman recently became the first person to receive a second face transplant after the first failed, and another made history by regrowing skin lost over 95 percent of his body, thanks to a graft from his twin brother.

Transplants are no longer limited to the vital organs: heart, liver, or lungs. Nowadays, people can get a new hand… or even a uterus.

Researchers have revealed on Thursday the invention of a universal antibody drug against HIV and AIDS that can "kill Two birds with one stone".

The research team led by scientists of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), made the disclosure at a news conference.