Prof. Ngozi Njeze, a Radiologist at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, on Saturday said exposing the body to morning sunlight will help prevent Osteoporosis.
Njeze said this during the 208th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), entitled: “There was a Beginning: The Film of Pain and The Pain Of Film”.
She said osteoporosis was a disease that could present with pain especially when there was fracture of a bone anywhere in the body.
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Njeze disclosed that osteoporosis, also known as or osteopenia was an age-related disease with loss of muscle mass which resulted in weakness and body pain, were highly prevalent in the black race.
According to her, it is more prevalent than previously thought.
She added that if one checked around, one could easily count two or three people who fractured their bones without provoked impact.
“This unprovoked fracture is Osteoporosis until proved otherwise using the DXA machine.
“Osteoporosis may also arise from hormonal changes. These hormones coordinate different functions in our body.
“Deficiency of bone healthy nutrients like calcium makes the body draw calcium from the bone where the body stores most of its calcium.Vitamin D deficiency causes poor absorption of calcium and phosphorous.
“Once there are these deficiencies, there will be increased risk of falls and fracture. The prevalence of osteoporosis is one in three for adult females who are above 50 years,” she said.
Njeze said that if there were three women in a room, one of them would have osteoporosis and that one out of five men above 60 years would also suffer from osteoporosis.
“If left untreated, fractures will lead to increased morbidity and mortality and therefore reduced life expectancy.
“As a result of my advocacy programmes on osteoporosis on radio, we are constantly advising our people to maximize the period of morning sunlight to expose our body adequately to sunlight,” she said.
Njeze disclosed that her team had set up the first Fracture Registry in Nigeria at the UNTH for treatment of bone diseases.
She revealed that the registry had put UNTH in the world osteoporosis map as well as all the countries that had Fracture Registries in the map.
According to the radiologist, Enugu, Nigeria is the only one for now and they hoped to expand their services to other centres in the country.
“Based on trainings, bone health advocacy, research, mentorship, among others, I won the International osteoporosis foundation (IOF) Committee of National Societies Medal in 2021.
“In IOF, I was the Vice chair of Regional Advisory Council (RAC) Africa 2022- 2024 and I am also a member of the WHO Bone Health Expert working Group (BOHEG), she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Njeze is currently a member of the board of International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) 2024- 2028.
IOF is the largest organisation that deals with bone and musculoskeletal diseases in the world.
