We all need to be optimistic at one point in time or the other in our lives. Matter of fact, you need optimism to keep you going in whatever you do. While several people have different definitions of optimism, I’d rather be careful to simply say it is the ability to decide not to remain in bad situations. Most times, we are always quick to dismiss pessimists as well tagging them as killers of freaks or perhaps enemies of progress and if you’re a stark optimist, you might as well want to label them as fake friends.

There lies in a truth and a reality in their own positions as well, and I will analyse it in this piece. The mind of the optimist and pessimist runs in different directions, and taking a microscopic look at the different stances, you’d see a connection, and it will also help you scale faster. While I’m so aware nobody or probably a few persons might have analysed something similar to what I’m writing, I have not read any so far which means this is from just mere observations and critical thinking and the moment you see the big picture in the analysis, it can help you accelerate your progress in life or whatever you do.

I believe Nigeria will be a better country and that Africa will be a better continent. This is my optimistic side speaking. At the same time, I do not believe in Nigeria, neither do I believe in the future of Africa being a great continent. It is a 50/50 and before you begin to tell at why I decided to let you know my opinion, I will explain everything clearly in order for you to see why we either need to give up or keep pushing.

I will give a scenario and this is the basis of my point;

Nigeria has about 180 million people and out of these 180 million people, only 11 players are selected to play for the Super Eagles, national football team. Let’s say out of this 180 million citizens, 10 million are qualified to stand a chance to play for the Super Eagles and out of the ten million, only eleven will be picked. This means that you stand an eleven out of ten million chances of playing for the super eagles.

Let’s also say that we have another country whose citizens are just five million and the number of people that stand a chance for their national team is one million. It shows that anyone competing in such a country stands an eleven out of a million people to be qualified to play for the national team. You might want to ask if my analysis makes sense or is needed in the first place.

Yes, it does. This analysis is the boundary of optimism and under ideal condition, once it exceeds such boundary, it is rather safe to be pessimistic in order to keep moving forward. My analogy is quite simple. It simply means that in order for you to be chosen to play for our country’s football team, you need to be as qualified in 11/10 million which is different from the other person at 11/ 1 million.

Most times, we tend to compare countries together, compare people together, compare events together and even compare wishes together without paying attention to the law of probability. We hardly take measurements in whatever we do. I had to raise this so that you will henceforth begin to pay attention to numbers, to metrics. What will this do to you?

1. It will increase your drive: When people compare players together, they basically done wrong neglecting all these factors. Same thing with companies. If you really want to play for the national team, you need to understand you have  11/ 10 million chance unlike 11/ 1 million to match up to being qualified on the same level to enter the national team.

If it requires the person in the country with fewer population 2 hours of training daily to be able to have the strength to match up to be among the eleven, you should understand that you need more than two hours under ideal conditions because you have more people on the line. It is a game of odds.

2. It makes you more optimistic: How weird this is. This is the point if you haven’t gotten me all the while. The moment you understand the odds, you become more optimistic that you can succeed because you begin to get more certain. Now, this doesn’t just apply in football, it applies in every area. Matter of fact, I have used this principle in establishing my companion which keeps me more optimistic and motivated understanding the odds and seeking how I will daily advance to keep myself within the perimeters of success.

I however understand that this is not a one hundred percent principle towards success in whatever endeavor and this is because there’s a dark side called uncertainty or I can say there’s something called luck. In my previous post about the Billionaires Bible, I analyzed how one can know he or she is on a journey to becoming a billionaire. What people were quick to attack me on was on the fact that it wasn’t only depend on the certain part and I quite agree.

Sometimes, you may not have trained up to 1/ 11 million times that a coach just shows interest in you and picks you to play for the national team. Yes, I actually believe in luck. I don’t believe that everyone who succeeds did it all through hard work. There was a moment of luck, of uncertainty. However, like I said, most times, it still depends on the certain part and that means that in order for you to have been spotted by a coach, you must have been a good player so far in many of the cases. In order for your company to have raised that amount in funding, it must have had traction. The moment of luck lies in the fact that even though you had traction, the investor might still have said no but said yes. That’s luck!! That’s uncertainty!!

What should this piece do to you?

It should help you pay attention to metrics first, that is odds before you pay attention to chances. That’s to be on the safer side. This will not only keep you in check, it will help you measure each of your love and help you take the right quantity of effort you need to achieve your goal.

The groundwork for fifth generation technology, better known as 5G is taking unprecedented sweep through the US. With Huawei out of the way, information technology giants, Ericsson is leading the charge. A faster internet future depends so much on 5G, and Ericsson is laying the groundwork to see that it happens as soon as possible.

Towers have been the most challenging aspect of the network establishment, but some climbers have been contacted to install the towers and equip them with 5G network service equipment.

Ericcson who currently has 350, 000 towers across the U.S is expected to expand the numbers to 1 million in the next four years in anticipation of the service subscription boom.

The head of networks at Ericsson North America, Kevin Zvokel, said:

“Towers Climbers are really the backbone behind the network. They climb infrastructures, whether it’s rooftops or major towers, and they actually assemble and construct the equipment on top of these cell towers that we all use every day.”

Jordan Robinson, a tower technician associate and Marine Corps Veteran has already been hired by Ericsson, to install and plant the needed devices in hard to reach areas.

Ericsson said Global data traffic is expected to surge by the end of 2023, by eight times. And 20% of the global population is expected to be covered by 5G, with 1 billion 5G subscriptions, 9 billion mobile subscriptions, and 20 billion connected internet related devices. So there is a real need for more efficient technologies to contain the boom.

Information technology experts have been optimistic and excited that the future of data exchange will become faster when there is technology to transfer data hundreds or a thousand times faster.

The CEO of Dell, Michael Dell, told CNBC: “I think this is going to unlock a wave of innovative and new business models across all sorts of industries.

“The amount of data created, the amount of infrastructure required, and then the need to be able to analyze that data in real time and turn it into useful insights and actions is a tremendous opportunity.”

Another big character who has thrown weight on 5G’s advancement is the U.S president Donald Trump. In a 5G held an event at the White House in April, Trump said that the technology and job it will introduce are not things to be lax about, “it’s a must win.”

The 5G network is expected to provide 3 million jobs among other opportunities in the American labor market. With companies like Verizon planning to expand its 5G market base with 30 more this year, the excitement to take a giant leap from 4G to 5G is real.

Although the Chinese company Huawei claims that the U.S doesn’t use the most 5G advanced technology, Ericsson is trying to refute the claim with the way it’s tackling the most difficult part of the job, setting up the towers.

Huawei was sanctioned due to the security lapses detected on its devices, believed to be deliberately designed to enable Chinese Government surveillance.

The battle against Ebola seems to be getting close to its end with humans claiming victory. Two experimental drugs have become so effective that the virus is no longer considered a “without cure” disease. The experimental drugs, REGN-EB3 and mAb-114, are monoclonal antibodies that are infused intravenously into the blood.

REGN-EB3 is produced by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Tarrytown, New York. The mAb-114 was developed by the National Institute of Health, and the production license was issued to Ridgeback Biotherapeutics of Miami. They have both outperformed other 4 antibodies that were put on trial in November last year, and trumped the viral epidemic to the degree of hope.

According to Newyork Times, Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins normally made by the immune system that clamp onto the outer shells of viral particles, preventing it from entering cells. Scientists concocted the big Y shaped proteins to recognize the specific shapes of invading bacteria and viruses and then recruit the immune cells to attack those pathogens.

The experimental trial involving 499 patients proved more effective than the others previously used starting in 2014, when the disease swept through West Africa. The mortality rate for REGN-EB3 was 29% and mAb-114 was 34%. That leaves a high contrast gap between them and the previous two drugs – Zmapp which had a mortality rate of 49%, and Remdesivir which had 53%.

The new drugs even proved more effective on patients whose cases were treated early. There was a significant drop in mortality rate for the two drugs. For REGN-EB3, it was 6% and for mAb-114, it was 11%. A record that has triggered unprecedented excitement in the medical research world. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Anthony S Fauci, who is also one of the researchers leading the trial said:

“It means we do have now what looks like treatments for a disease which, not too long ago, we really had no therapeutic approach at all.”

Hence, there is resonating difference between now and then that predicts total cure of the disease in the near future.

The high percentage of success recorded in this trial plays another vital role in curbing the future outbreak ebola. Some Congolese villages have not had it cordial with health officials, especially when they are terrified by their own vulnerability. There is rumor that ebola does not exist, that what is happening is more like a biological weapon being tested on African soil. This has led to some concealing their infected family members and attacking medical teams.

They don’t know what to believe, and they don’t know who to trust. A problem that could only be solved by a high rate of success in combating the virus. If about 90% of recorded cases get cured, the people will know what to believe and who to trust.

On August 13 2019, two people cured using the experimental drugs were discharged from a treatment center in Goma, DRC, and were allowed to go back to their families. And it’s a testimony.

The director general of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research (NIBR), Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, who has dedicated his entire adult life fighting ebola, and led the research team that discovered the cure couldn’t hold back his excitement. He said:

“I spent four decades of my life thinking how to treat patients with ebola virus. So this is the achievement of my life.

“From now on, we will no longer say that ebola is incurable.”

The win seems so personal to him because it will change the attitude of his people toward health workers and the virus itself.

“These advances will help save thousands of lives.

“Now we can say that 90% can come out of treatment cured, they will start believing it and developing trust.” He added

Dr. Muyembe was among the team that first discovered ebola in 1976, in DRC (then Zaire). He has since then dedicated his life to finding a cure to the virus. The 77 years old feels fulfilled that his efforts have paid off after so many years, and it has also ignited the hope that the future can reckon with.

The makers of the REGN-EB3 and mAb-114 have promised that the drugs will be made available swiftly in enough quantities.

The focus of this year’s World Health Day is achieving Universal Health Coverage through primary health care. Universal health coverage is WHO’s number one goal. Key to achieving it is ensuring that everyone can obtain the care they need, when they need it, right in the heart of the community. 

Progress is being made in countries in all regions of the world, but I have observed that this is not the case in Nigeria. Millions of Nigerians still do not have access at all to health care. Millions more are forced to choose between healthcare and other daily expenses such as food, clothing and even a home.  

According to the World Health Organization, primary health care is a critical foundation for universal health coverage. It can address the vast majority of people’s health needs throughout their lives. Universal health coverage (UHC) is about ensuring all people can get quality health services, where and when they need them, without suffering financial hardship.

• No one should have to choose between good health and other life necessities.
• UHC is key to people and nations’ health and well-being.
• Everyone can play a part in the path to UHC, by taking part in a UHC conversation.

Too many Nigerians are currently missing out on health coverage;
“Universal” in UHC means “for all”, without discrimination, leaving no one behind. Everyone everywhere has a right to benefit from health services they need without falling into poverty when using them. We must begin to make UHC a priority agenda in Nigeria.

I am calling on the Nigerian Government to take UHC very seriously and provide the very basic healthcare needs of the populace. UHC is everyone’s business, this includes the leaders, health care workers, patient’s etc, and we should all work together and make our voices to be heard.

Here are some facts and figures about the state of UHC today (Source: WHO)

Incurring catastrophic expenses for health care is a global problem. In richer countries in Europe, Latin America and parts of Asia, which have achieved high levels of access to health services, increasing numbers of people are spending at least 10 percent of their household budgets on out-of-pocket health expenses.

UHC means that all people and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. UHC enables everyone to access the services that address the most important causes of disease and death and ensures that the quality of those services is good enough to improve the health of the people who receive them.

UHC is not just about health care and financing the health system of a country. It encompasses all components of the health system: systems and healthcare providers that deliver health services to people, health facilities and communications networks, health technologies, information systems, quality assurance mechanisms and governance and legislation.

Can community health care workers address the Primary healthcare Crises in Nigeria?

‘Community health –care workers know the traditions, cultures and practices of their communities, making them indispensable especially during an outbreak of emergencies’ (WHO).

With the reduction in the number of doctors in Nigeria today, it is high time the health ministry makes use of ad hoc staff to fill in the gap in suitable aspects of primary care provision.

In many developed countries of the world who can boast of a good number of primary health care centers per geographical area/population, they still make use of physician associates, health visitors, advanced nurse practitioners, pharmacist independent prescribers, nurse advisors, and health care assistants etc to fill in the gap.

In Nigeria we do not have enough medical practitioners per population or geographical area. This is the time to train and retrain more community health care workers to help in managing long term conditions, reduction in childhood illnesses due to lack of immunization.

Trained birth attendants will also help reduce maternal mortality and community nursing care will reduce infant mortality.

Studies have been conducted in some developing countries and there is enormous evidence to portray the importance of integrating lay health workers in primary health care force.

I believe this is a step in the right direction if we must provide universal health coverage in Nigeria. 

The systematic integration of community health workers at a large scale could be an effective and a rapidly implementable approach to the current primary care workload crisis we have in Nigeria.

I feel there is a sense of urgency for this; and I’m calling on all stakeholders to work together towards achieving UHC in Nigeria.

Reference: [World Health Day, WHO]