Health

Beijing, China | AFP | Chinese Communist chief Xi Jinping’s ascension to the highest title in the party hierarchy formalises his position as its pre-eminent figure, analysts said, making him the country’s most powerful leader in a generation and inviting comparisons with Mao Zedong. The ruling party’s declaration that Xi …

  Brazil mutant mosquitoes to breed out diseases Piracicaba, Brazil | AFP |  Scientists in Brazil are preparing to release millions of factory-bred mosquitoes in an attempt to wipe out their distant cousins that carry tropical diseases. The insects’ method: have sex and then die. British firm Oxitec says its …

The High Court in Kampala on Wednesday summoned the Attorney General of Government and  National Medical Stores (NMS) to respond to claims that it has continuously withdrawn money from the consolidated fund  to purchase imported  anti-retroviral and anti-malarial drugs from a local manufacturer disguised as locally made. Documents presented to …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | A new treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis patients, that reported a success rate of 82 percent in a study, has been hailed as a “breakthrough” at a medical summit in Britain. The final results were unveiled at this week’s Union World Conference on Lung Health …

Paris, France | AFP | A labelling error and reckless media hype in the 1980s led to unjustly branding a gay airline employee as “Patient Zero” in the US AIDS epidemic, scientific and historical sleuthing detailed Wednesday. The deadly virus, which has claimed more than 650,000 lives in the United …

NMS, Cipla: Fight over pricing could lead to higher costs for patients and the government  “NO ARVs means death.” That shocking but true fact was stated by Joshua Wamboga, the head of the Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organisations (UNASO) in January when Uganda was reeling from a major stock-out …

Slippery slope: the more we lie, the easier it gets Paris, France | AFP | Whether cheating on taxes or one’s lover, the little lies we tell can quickly escalate into big ones, according to a study released Monday that describes dishonesty as a “slippery slope”. Serial untruths, moreover, register …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Heading a football can significantly affect a player’s brain function and memory up to a day, a study by researchers at Scotland’s Stirling University has said. Memory performance was reduced by between 41 percent to 67 percent following heading practice, according to the research, …

INTERVIEW: Humphrey Nabimanya calls himself a social entrepreneur. Apart from hosting a youth show on one of the local TV stations, Nabimanya is a HIV/AIDS activist and a counselor.  “My personal experience and what I witnessed in society created a yearning in me to cause change,” he says. He says …

  Government’s plans to ensure there is a borehole constructed in each village in Uganda should address concerns by activists about the huge burden women and girls face in search of safe drinking water. The reassurance was given by Eng. Joseph Oriono Eyatu, Commissioner for rural water supply and sanitation while …