Miami, United States | AFP | In a bid to cut the population of disease-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitos, health officials in Miami are releasing millions of their brethren treated with a bacteria that makes them sterile. “Treat them carefully! You don’t want to hurt them,” said South Miami mayor Philip Stoddard …
Read More »Virtual reality may reduce paranoia in psychotics: study
Paris, France | AFP | Virtual reality-based therapy combined with standard treatment reduced paranoia and anxiety in people with psychotic disorders, scientists reported Friday. In clinical trials involving 116 patients in the Netherlands, virtual reality exercises led to less fraught social interactions, a team wrote in The Lancet Psychiatry. More …
Read More »S.Africa to compensate families of mentally-ill patients
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The South African government will compensate the families of more than 100 mentally-ill patients who died from neglect after they were moved from hospital and placed into unlicenced health facilities. At least 144 psychiatric patients died from hunger and lack of care within months …
Read More »Scientists thwart cancer-spreading compound, in mice
Paris, France | AFP | A common amino acid produced in the human body or absorbed from food can be suppressed to stop breast cancer spread in mice, researchers reported Wednesday. They hope the finding may yield a method to prevent cancer cells spreading from their origins in a woman’s …
Read More »UN in $17-mln appeal for children’s health in post-IS Iraq
Baghdad, Iraq | AFP | The United Nations launched an appeal Wednesday for $17 million to rebuild essential health facilities for children in Iraq after a devastating three-year battle to expel the Islamic State group. The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, said next week’s reconstruction conference for Iraq to be staged …
Read More »At trial, former Uber CEO seeks to fend off conspiracy talk
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Former Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick appeared tense and tentative as he took the witness stand Tuesday seeking to counter allegations that his company stole autonomous driving secrets from former Google car unit Waymo. A key witness in the blockbuster trade secrets case, Kalanick …
Read More »MOTORING: KIA reveals upgraded K5 sedan
Kampala, Uganda | MOTORING GURU | Car maker, Kia has revealed an upgraded K5 sedan in South Korea offering a new look of the new 2018 Optima. Bringing fresh front and rear designs, new alloy wheels and more technology, the facelifted mid-size sedan features a more aggressive front bumper with three-part …
Read More »Thousands of Yemen dialysis patients risk dying: ICRC
Sanaa, Yemen | AFP | Thousands of Yemenis suffering from kidney failure risk dying unless dialysis centres in the war-torn country receive more supplies and their staff are paid, the Red Cross said Tuesday. Yemen’s health sector has been devastated by three years of war between the Saudi-supported government and …
Read More »Nigeria lassa fever death toll now 31: health minister
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Thirty-one people have died from Lassa fever in Nigeria since the start of this year, the health minister said, with cases of the viral disease recorded across the country. Isaac Adewole told reporters in Abuja on Monday that the outbreak was currently “active in 15 …
Read More »‘Panty Condom’ hits Ugandan market
Experts say it is more pleasurable and puts power in the hands of women Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | A new condom said to be more pleasurable is undergoing tests to be used in Uganda. The ‘panty condom’, as it is called, has already been given a greenlight by the …
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