Health

China says virus situation ‘grave’ as Lunar New Year curtailed Wuhan, China | AFP | President Xi Jinping warned Saturday that China faced a “grave situation” as authorities raced to contain a virus that has killed 41 people and caused a drastic scale-back of Lunar New Year celebrations. The world’s most …

Masisi, DR Congo | AFP | In eastern DR Congo, thousands have fled violence to camps in the remote mountain forests where they battle cholera, hunger and misery in a forgotten humanitarian disaster. Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has long struggled with violence from several militia groups, a legacy of the …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Yellow fever vaccination will be included in the routine immunization schedule. According to the Ministry of Health, following the recently declared yellow fever outbreak in the country, government plans to introduce vaccination later this year. The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng says that …

  Beijing, China | AFP | China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken hundreds of people, state media reported Friday. The facility in the central city of Wuhan is expected …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Only 72% of TB patients complete treatment. This is according to Dr Stavia Turyahabwe, the Assistant Commissioner for the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Programme. Turyahabwe says this creates worry as those who don’t complete their doses risk spreading multi-drug resistant TB in addition to …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s ministry of health has declared an outbreak of yellow fever in the districts of  Moyo and Buliisa. Yellow fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes. This outbreak will be the fourth that Uganda has declared in the recent past …

Beijing, China | AFP |  China Friday added a ninth city to a transport ban around the epicentre of a deadly virus, restricting the movement of some 32 million people as authorities scramble to control the disease. Jingzhou, with a population of 6.4 million, said Friday that all services departing …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ugandan health experts have been dispatched to Kigadi district to contain an outbreak of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF). One case of CCHF has been confirmed and four suspects isolated at Kagadi hospital in western Uganda. According to the Uganda Red Cross, a district …

Watching rewires the brain to a more juvenile state | RACHEL ANNE BARR | Pornography has existed throughout recorded history, transforming with the introduction of each new medium. Hundreds of sexually explicit frescoes and sculptures were found in the Mount Vesuvius ruins of Pompeii. Since the advent of the internet, …

  Beijing, China | AFP |  A second central Chinese city is being put on lockdown to help control the spread of a virus epidemic that broke out in neighbouring Wuhan, authorities said Thursday. The train station in Huanggang, which has a population of 7.5 million and is 70 kilometres …