Stockholm, Sweden | XINHUA | Unlike many other countries that have started to vaccinate people from the age of 12, the Swedish Public Health Agency announced on Tuesday that it has decided to vaccinate the 16-17 year olds, not below, against COVID-19. The agency said that all children aged 16 …
Read More »Italy to lift outdoor face mask mandate
Rome, Italy | XINHUA | As of next week, Italy is preparing to lift the outdoor face mask mandate as the country’s main COVID-19 indicators appear to have stabilized. The decision was confirmed by Health Minister Roberto Speranza on Tuesday after the new Scientific Technical Committee (CTS) advising the …
Read More »Stop hijacking vaccines exports, scientists warn
Nairobi, Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT | Like pirates on high seas, developed nations are curtailing essential supply of COVID-19 vaccines to African nations; with the continent receiving less than 2% of the total 773 million worldwide-administered doses of COVID-19 vaccines. A recent report published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) estimates that …
Read More »COVID-19 second wave
Can we defeat the virus again? COVER STORY | Ronald Musoke | Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the Minister of Health designate believes despite the current wave of deaths from the second wave, Uganda can defeat the COVID-19 pandemic as it did in the first wave – but it will require determined …
Read More »Private businesses rally to rescue Health Sector with oxygen cylinders
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Private Sector Foundation Uganda -PSFU has launched an emergency drive to mobilise its members to lend gas cylinders to health facilities. The umbrella body of private business organizations says this is aimed at supplementing Government efforts to treat the critically ill currently in …
Read More »Family apologizes for attack on COVID-19 burial team
Kasese, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A Family in Kasese district, together with the area COVID-19 task force have apologized to the medical fraternity in Bwera and Kasese for the recent attack on its COVID-19 burial team. The fracas happened in Bunyiswa, Bwera Sub County, during the burial of a …
Read More »Mulago setting up 5th oxygen plant
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Mulago National Referral Hospital has received equipment to set up a fifth oxygen plant to help meet the demand of oxygen as COVID-19 cases in the country increase. The new plant will supplement the amount of oxygen produced by the already existing four plants. According to hospital …
Read More »Steaming against COVID-19
Benefits and dangers of steam inhalation therapy | THE INDEPENDENT | As Uganda battles a brutal second wave of the acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the agent that causes the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), there is still no effective antiviral treatment for the infection. Instead, non-pharmaceutical preventive interventions remain …
Read More »Over 300 initiated on TB preventive therapy in Gulu
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Over 372 people in Gulu have been initiated on the Tuberculosis preventive therapy after getting in contact with TB patients. 158 out of these are children under five years of age while 214 were previously listed for the preventive therapy after getting in contact with …
Read More »People in Africa not donating blood – WHO
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The rate at which people in Africa are donating blood has decreased according to the World Health Organization. Data from the UN health agency shows that blood donations in the region have fallen by 17 percent in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The drop …
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