Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Researchers from half a dozen states in West Africa have joined together in a battle against what one expert calls a root crop “Ebola” — a viral disease that could wreck the region’s staple food and condemn millions to hunger. Their enemy: cassava brown …
Read More »Candidate AIDS vaccine passes key early test
Paris, France | AFP | The near 40-year quest for an AIDS vaccine received a hopeful boost Saturday when scientists announced that a trial drug triggered an immune response in humans and shielded monkeys from infection. Shown to be safe in humans, the candidate vaccine has now advanced to the …
Read More »NBL plan to donate sanitary pads to 1,000 Ugandan pupils annually
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Employees of Uganda’s leading beer brewer Nile Breweries Limited, plans to donate pads to at least 1,000 pupils annually, according to the company’s legal and corporate affairs director, Onapito Ekomoloit. Onapito, who was speaking during the handover of 300 pieces of So Sure …
Read More »New AIDs vaccine trials give hope to scientists
AIDS: Four vaccines reach highest level of testing ever Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | HIV/AIDS prevention researchers at the Medical Researcher Council (MRC) are excited about two upcoming vaccine trials. The two trials; a PrepVac and a mosaic concept study will start in December and January 2019 respectively. The …
Read More »Ebola vaccine arrives in DR Congo amid outbreak
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Thousands of doses of Ebola vaccine arrived Wednesday in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is facing an outbreak of the deadly virus, the health ministry said. Congolese authorities declared the outbreak in the northwest region near Congo-Brazzaville on May 8, and three have …
Read More »MOTORING: Diesel cars lose market
But diesel could see even higher demand kampala, Uganda | MOTORING GURU | You have always eyed the BMW series but could not afford it because, well, it comes at a price. So when you heard of the growing unpopularity of diesel cars in the UK where the BMW is the …
Read More »Why HIV prevalence is 4 times higher among young women than men in Uganda
AFRICAN ARGUMENTS | Alice McCool & Brian Mutebi | In an informal settlement in central Kampala, Yusuf Byaruhanga sits within the faded pastel walls of a school. With his walking stick resting next to his chair, the 63-year-old talks openly about the fact he is HIV-positive. “Most men fear shame, stigma and …
Read More »Adoko Nekyon: Politician of many firsts, dies at 86
Kampala, Uganda | IAN KATUSIIME | Akbar Adoko Nekyon was Uganda’s first minister of Information, Broadcasting, and Tourism in 1962, drew up Uganda’s first National Development Plan, was first president of Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) in 1968, and was the first to proclaim to the world that …
Read More »Ghana fights malarial chemical resistance with new spray
Obuasi, Ghana | AFP | Bismark Owusu moves food and bowls from a bedroom and covers clothes and furniture with a large sheet before mixing a mosquito-killing chemical with water in his spray pack. He then puts on head-to-toe safety gear, straps the pack to his back and methodically sprays …
Read More »Rethinking ban on importing used cars
Gov’t could lose nearly Shs200bn annually; thousands of jobs at risk Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Supporters of a ban on import of cars older than eight years would be much happier if the current law, The Traffic and Road Safety Act, 1998, is amended. But opponents, however, say it …
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