Background and purpose: Obesity now forms one of the leading public health concerns globally. Several surgical options including sleeve gastrectomy exist for its treatment. Recently, laparoscopic gastric banding has been developed with the aim of providing a laparoscopically placed device that is safe and effective in generating substantial weight loss. The goal of this review is to compare the effectiveness and safety of laparoscopic adjustable silicon gastric banding (LASGB) and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) in the treatment of morbid obesity by reviewing the methods of patient selection, operative time, conversion rate, complications, blood loss, postoperative morbidity and mortality, hospital stay, and quality of life. Material and methods:A systematic literature search was performed using Highwire press, Springer link, Medline, Medscape and Google, and article bibliographies to identify relevant evidence. Included studies must have reported outcome data for more than 40 patients aged 20 years and above with a minimum of one 1-year follow-up. The operating time, complications, blood loss, hospital stay, morbidity and mortality, and quality of life were reviewed. Results:The total number of patients enrolled was 4,519; the specific procedure totals were 3,714 for LAGB and 805 for LSG. The age range of the population studied was 13-79 years for LSG and 18-65 years for LAGB. The sex distribution had a male:female ratio of 1:4 for LAGB and 1:3 for LSG. The overall complication rate in this review varied from 1.7-11. 80% for LSG and 0.2-24% for LAGB. Conclusion:Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy though, forms a safe surgical option for weight loss treatment particularly in the veryvery-obese patients (BMI > 60 kg/m 2 ). LASGB gives satisfactory results and coupled with reversibility and low cost, it is an important tool in the long-term management of patients with morbid obesity.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first identified in December 2019 and declared a pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organization. Countries with advanced technology and huge financial base are finding it difficult to curtail the COVID-19 spread and its attendant morbidity and mortality. Spread of the disease to the African Sub-Region became fearful because poor health-care facilities and manpower needs due to the majorly dilapidated health-care infrastructure, considering the mortality tables from other more advanced nations. To adequately prepare the manpower and avoid strain on the workforce before the incidence of disease peaks, there was a massive re-training of health-care personnel and the workforce routine schedule re-designed. This paper reviews the disease and highlights the challenges in our setting toward combating the coronavirus 2019 disease.

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer in women and a third in men globally. Its mortality is rising with a major contribution from a low- and middle-income countries. We highlight the current trends in the demographics, histopathological patterns and management of colorectal cancer to improve care and prognosis of the disease. A search of PubMed, Hinari, Google Scholar, Directory of Open Access Journals and African Journal Online was made.  Only full articles were reviewed. Most colorectal tumours develop via a multistep process involving a series of histological, morphological and genetic changes that accumulate over time. Clinical features are varied, non-specific and dependent on the site of the tumour and the extent of luminal narrowing caused by the tumour. Colonoscopy is vital in establishing the diagnosis of colorectal cancer as it allows visualization of the colon and permits tumour biopsy. Treatment is both multimodal and multidisciplinary involving surgery, radiation therapy and cytotoxic therapy. The incidence and mortality may be significantly reduced by screening which can either be invasive or non-invasive. The non-invasive uses tumour markers such as guaiac faecal occult blood test or immunohistochemical faecal occult blood test while the invasive tests include the flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy. The burden of colorectal cancer may likely increase due to its current trend and ageing population; deficiency in cancer prevention efforts as a result of lack of government policies, low level of awareness and inadequacy of cancer registries. We advocate collaborative efforts to combat the scourge of the disease.