The Fine Army General

Happy birthday to the worlds best Dad. I love my daddy so much and i am so thankful to God and excited he has added another year. He is the best father any girl could ever dream of. He has given me the best in life and still keeps giving me loads more. He is my hero, my mentor, a man i absolutely RESPECT with so much value and integrity. He served his country well and fought in numerous wars including Liberia, Congo and Biafra to name a few. My bad ass daddy...the coolest man i know..and the reason i am who i am...wishing you many more years to come..with so much laughter, love and light.

Love You Daddy..muahhhhhhhh!!!!

Malaria Conference Cambridge

I attended the Malaria conference in Downing college, Cambridge for two days. I was absolutely pleased i did because i learnt a lot. Life of a PhD student is not so bad afterall. There were so many interesting malaria centred talks. From genetics to cell biology, from public health to genomics, from economics of diseases to epigenetics. It was truely an awesome experience.

Speakers came from different parts of the world where they carry out research and it was a lovely networking experience for me. Malaria researchers are really doing a lot to stop the burden of this awful disease and i am very honoured to be a part of them. Downing college in Cambridge is a lovely place. I felt at home being an Oxford student as the inter-collegiate system is the same. Infact the college is reminiscent of my college at Oxford. Although my love for Oxford is undying...Cambridge is also really beautiful.

I saw this lovely cathedral on my way. I have a thing for cathedrals. LOVE!

Downing College, Cambridge. Love the pillars. My bedroom was in this building. I had a snoozefest :)

Malaria Conference at the Howard building

The Downing College quad

 I and a few cool scientists went to a pub called the Eagle. This is where Watson and Crick discussed their lab results that led to the discovery of DNA (the double helix). As you can imagine i was mega excited and took pictures to show that.

The Discovery of DNA..with my reflection hehe

Where Watson and Crick sat probably with  a pint of beer

I met lovely people on this trip and i am happy to be more acquainted with fellow scientists who share the same passion and are dedicated to a very important cause. I look forward to presenting my research on the next trip :)

 xoxo

RIP Chinua Achebe

Today, we lost a great Nigerian visionary. Chinua Achebe has influenced so many great writers all over the world and has touched the lives of many young people in and out of the literary scene. I grew up reading his books and i personally felt i knew him. He was someone i respected dearly mostly because he stood for something, had values and integrity. I particularly loved the fact that he refused a National Honour TWICE. It showed that there were more important things to him than recieving an honour from leaders who have been unimpressive and dubious. He did not compromise his integrity and i respect him for that. He made African literature what it is now and was never afraid to express his opinions or serve his country. He was a man of the people, loved by many. To think he wrote 'things fall apart' at the age of 27 is nothing short of  inspiring.

Here is my best quote:

'One of the truest tests of intergrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised' -Chinua Achebe

And he lived by every word of it. Africa has lost a great man. More importantly, the Igbos have lost a father, a great leader and a visionary.

 RIP Chinualumogu Achebe.

Mirror Mirror

Last weekend was the final fitting of my friends wedding dress. Yay!  I am happy because she finally has a wedding dress she loves and i have been a helpful chief bridesmaid. I also organised her bridal shower with two themes: 'breakfast at tiffany's' for daytime and 'sex and the city' for night time. More information on that later..i hope lol. Anyway i indulged in a little bit of vanity in the bridal shop. Those mirrors were tempting and i just could not resist haha.

Black lace dress: Topshop

Leopard flats: H&M

Fascinator: Zara

Pearls : Vintage shop

xoxo

Love in the time of Sickle cell

In a lot of African countries where sickle cell is endemic, you will find that people who are carriers of sickle cell have love relationships with other carriers and these relationships generally do lead to marriage. A few decades ago, this was attested to scientific ignorance, meaning people didnt understand the scientific basis and devastating outcome of their choices. So couples who fell in love and got married ended up having children with sickle cell trait. Today, with so much scientific knowledge out there, should these issues still exist? I'd say no...but they actually still do.

I heard about a couple who are both AS and are still forging on to get married. Whilst love is a beautiful thing, i dont think people should play russian roullette with their kids lives. Scientifically, If two sickle cell carriers get married (AS and AS), the genotype of their children will be (AA, AS, AS, SS). So, there is a one in four chance of getting an SS child. But if the couple getting married is AS and SS, then 2 out of every 4 kids would have the sickle cell (SS) trait and the gentoypes will be  (AS, AS, SS, SS). All this is based on chance and frankly it doesn't happen in this order. its possible to even have more sickle cell kids than what the scientific crosses suggest.

You will find that in Nigeria, people that get married with this genetic trait fall into two categories. 1) people that have absolutely no clue what sickle cell is and 2) people that base their decisions on having faith and being a christian and believing that God will not let them have an SS child.  The former can be excused especially in rural areas of the country where health information rarely reaches communities, but the latter is inexcusable. This is similar to someone knowing they are HIV positive but decides not to take anti-retroviral drugs based on faith. One thing happens with these patients ..Death!. Whilst having faith is great, we need to be more informed and realistic about certain decisions.

I feel we need to be more responsible in making health decisions especially when it affects out future. Its unfair bringing in children into the world that will end up suffering. In a country where the health system isnt up to par and the economy is so terrible, the cost of taking care of a sickle cell child will be high especially for lower income families. The emotional and mental burden on both the child and members of the family will be very daunting.

So when next you meet someone new, dont forget to ask ''hey, whats your genotype?''.

For more informative health messages like this please visit my health website at www.africanhealthmagazine.com