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 INDEPENDENTÂ |Â Â 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 …
Read More »Rosemary Karuga: An icon of resilience
She embarked on an active art career after clocking more than a century old but became one to reckon with, with paper collages that combine extraordinary detail and charming simplicity. | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | A typical story of a female student of fine art in the early years of Makerere …
Read More »FMD outbreak: 50,000 cows, 15,000 goats vaccinated in Lyantonde
Lyantonde, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | More than 50,000 cows and 15,000 goats have so far been vaccinated in Lyantonde district in a campaign to control the spread of Foot-and-Mouth disease-FMD. This comes about two weeks after the district confirmed the outbreak of the highly contagious FMD in more than 20 …
Read More »Caretakers of sicklers decry high price of hydroxyurea
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Caretakers of sickle cell anemia patients in Gulu district have decried what they call the prohibitive price of hydroxyurea, a drug believed to greatly reduce painful episodes in people with sickle cell. Sickle cell is an inherited blood disorder that causes red blood cells to form …
Read More »COVID-19 vaccination voluntary-MOH
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENTÂ |Â COVID-19 vaccination will be voluntary when vaccination starts in the country, according to the Ministry of Health. The Health Minister. Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng disclosed this at a media briefing on Tuesday evening. According to the Health Ministry, the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine …
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