Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ministry of Education and Sports has allowed schools to operate both day and boarding sections as they reopen for non-candidate classes in a staggered manner. While reopening schools for candidate classes in October last year, the government schools to only operate either as day or …
Read More »Scientists and global health experts had been expecting a new coronavirus for years
Could a universal coronavirus vaccine future-proof our response? COVID-19 SPECIAL FEATURE | Priya Joi | Although the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise, with many still reeling at how drastically the world has changed, scientists and global health experts had been expecting something like this for years. Coronaviruses are notorious for spilling over …
Read More »Researchers want sex workers added to high risk groups for COVID-19 vaccine
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Researchers from Makerere University School of Public Health want the government to include sex workers on the list of people who will get the COVID-19 vaccine. The researchers made their plea during the release of study findings on how communities at the border posts of …
Read More »Why vaccine side effects might be more common in people who’ve already had COVID-19
Minor side effects are a normal sign that the immune system is mounting a protective response following vaccination, although they aren’t universal. COVID-19 SPECIAL FEATURE | Linda Geddes | Tens of millions of people have already been vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, and in the coming months, hundreds of millions more will follow. …
Read More »Food systems need to change to promote healthy food choices
Unhealthy, processed foods are now frequently consumed in low- and middle-income countries including Uganda | RINA SWART, MAKOMA BOPAPE AND TAMRYN FRANK | COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on people with obesity and noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes. The pandemic has underlined the importance of the food environment and …
Read More »Drop in COVID-19 cases is the calm before impending second wave-MOH
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The health ministry has warned that the current drop in COVID-19 numbers is not good news. Health ministry officials say the drop in numbers is just the calm before an impending second wave. As of today, the health ministry has recorded 40,243 cases of the …
Read More »NMS rallies health facilities to follow drugs’ delivery schedules
Medicine availability across the country currently stands at 85 percent with a target of reaching 90 percent within the next 1-2 years | THE INDEPENDENT | The National Medical Stores (NMS) has called upon all government health facilities to submit their medicine requests within the set deadlines according to the …
Read More »STUDY: Adherence to Covid-19 SOPs low at border points
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Key populations operating at borders points to Uganda say that they can’t adhere to the Ministry of Health’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of maintaining a physical distance as protection against COVID-19. According to the World Health Organization, in the wake of COVID-19 everyone is encouraged …
Read More »Development partners call for equal access to Covid-19 vaccine
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Development Partners have called for equity in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. The partners note that underdeveloped countries should not be made to wait longer for the vaccines. They argue that access to the Coronavirus Vaccine is a human rights issue and without the …
Read More »Tanzania’s Finance Minister discharged from Mkapa hospital
Dodoma, Tanzania | THE INDEPENDENT | Tanzanian Finance Minister Philip Mpango is back home, after being discharged from Benjamin Mkapa Hospital in Dodoma where he had been admitted for the past two weeks. “God bless you,” he repeatedly told the doctors and nurses at Mkapa Hospital where he held a …
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