A new combination drug may have the potential to revolutionise hypertension treatment worldwide, after a clinical trial has declared it safe to use and very effective | THE INDEPENDENT | In a recent clinical trial led by researchers from the George Institute for Global Health — with branches in the …
Read More »HEALTH: Measles and rubella
One disease or two? Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda has conducted a mass measles-rubella and polio vaccination campaign between Oct.16-22. Initially planned to be a five-day mass immunisation campaign but extended to seven days in selected areas, it used up to 20 million doses on the Measles-Rubella (MR) …
Read More »Health Ministry embarks on using peers to lure colleagues to adhere to HIV treatment
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health (MOH) has embarked on a new strategy of using adolescents that are adhering to HIV treatment to lure their peers into taking their medicines without skipping them. This comes amidst complaints by health workers that many adolescents fail to adhere …
Read More »Doctors’ beliefs and treatment
A doctor’s display of confidence in a treatment may make it more effective | THE INDEPENDENT | New research finds that the placebo effect may be socially contagious. In other words, a doctor’s beliefs about whether or not a pain treatment will work can exert a subtle influence on how …
Read More »Uganda has potential to end maternal deaths- Oulanyah
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda has the potential of bringing maternal deaths to zero with commitment from health workers and prompt appearance of mothers in health centres, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah says. According to Oulanyah, if health facilities are supported with sufficient funding and a well-motivated …
Read More »Four years without Sophia
On Monday August 31, 2015, Sophia Koetsier arrives at Entebbe airport in Uganda. She is 21 years old, bright and ambitious, with a great zest for life, about to embark on a new adventure in a faraway country, on a continent she has never been to. That summer she had acquired …
Read More »How illegal substances are smuggled into Butabika Hospital
INVESTIGATION | URN | Butabika National Mental Referral Hospital admits more than 100 people to their Drug and Alcohol Unit On an annual basis. The patients are in most cases battling substance addiction. As part of their treatment, they are kept away from substances that triggered their obsession for a …
Read More »Sh300 million MTN generator rots away at Kamukira Health Centre IV
Kabale, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A generator worth 300 million shillings is wasting away at Kamukira Health Centre IV in Kabale Municipality because of lack of funds to install it. The generator was purchased for the facility in February by Mobile Telecommunication Network-MTN. However, since then, the generator has …
Read More »Vaccine-derived polio virus remains an emergency for Africa-WHO
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The World Health Organisation has cautioned that a Vaccine Derived Polio Virus, remains an emergency for Africa where several children under 15 remain unvaccinated. Vaccine-derived polio spreads mostly where vaccine coverage is low and there is poor sanitation. In this case, a child who is …
Read More »Uganda tasked to remain vigilant to eradicate polio
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Health experts have said Uganda should remain vigilant to interrupt polio transmission. The experts say that no country is safe until the disease is totally eradicated in the world. On Thursday, an independent commission of experts announced that wild polio virus type 3 has been …
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