Society catergory

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis declared Monday that all priests would have the right permanently to forgive abortion, seen as a significant outreach by the Catholic Church to women. “I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who …

Windhoek, Namibia | AFP |  The number of HIV-infected people taking anti-retroviral medicine has doubled in just five years, the UN said Monday, while highlighting high infection rates among young African women. A new report by UNAIDS said it was on course to hit a target of 30 million people …

COMMENT: By Moses Mulumba Beyond private sector driven health systems and commoditising the provision of healthcare Experts met this week for the Fourth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in the beautiful Canadian city of Vancouver. This particular symposium theme was built around resilient and responsive health systems for a …

Ask Aline Kabanda the key to Rwanda’s future success, and she will tell you: educating and empowering women, writes Jennifer Mattson. “I like to quote Nelson Mandela, who said, ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,'” says Kabanda, the country director for the …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Sunday brought to a close the Catholic Church’s “Year of Mercy,” shutting the Holy Door at Saint Peter’s after a year in which he raised Mother Teresa to sainthood and took in Syrian Muslim refugees. The Argentine pontiff, who says …

Uganda has joined the rest of the world to mark the World Diabetes Day. Speaking to journalists, Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng said 80% of Ugandans are suffering from diabetes yet unaware. The country is estimated to have more than 500,000 people living with the disease. This makes them …

Paris, France | AFP |  Mustard gas, which a watchdog on Friday said the so-called Islamic State group may have manufactured and used in Syria and Iraq, first terrorised battlefields during World War I. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons also said IS was behind a mustard gas …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | A British girl who died after a terminal illness won the right to have her body frozen in an unprecedented ruling, the High Court said on Friday. The 14-year-old girl from London had written to a judge explaining she wanted a chance to “live …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP |  The World Health Organization on Friday announced in an online press conference that the Zika virus outbreak no longer poses a world public health emergency. “The Zika virus remains a highly significant and long term problem, but it is not any more a public heath …

The Uganda National Laboratories Services (UNLS) and National Tuberculosis (TB) reference Laboratory in Butabika commissioned on Thursday will provide the country with modern tools in the fight against several infectious diseases. According to officials, the Butabika laboratory has new world class infrastructure and will support health practitioners to provide more accurate and faster …