Beijing, China | AFP | As soon as China abandoned its one-child policy a year ago, Zheng Xiaoyu and her husband started trying for a sibling for their nine-year-old son. Their efforts bore fruit with another boy — one of a million extra births this year. “The traditional Chinese thinking …
Read More »Brain surgery in Uganda
Neurosurgeons explain how lack of advanced technology is danger to patients The symptoms are ordinary enough in the initial stages; usually just headache that appears not to respond to treatment. But this soon advances in slightly more severe symptoms such as double vision, seizures, and difficulty in speech. At this …
Read More »Pregnancy changes a woman’s brain: study
Paris, France | AFP | Pregnancy causes “long-lasting” physical changes to a woman’s brain, with significant, but seemingly beneficial, grey matter loss in parts of the crucial organ, a study said. Some alterations lasted at least two years, they reported, but did not appear to erode memory or other mental …
Read More »COMMENT: Universal health in Africa
COMMENT: By Matshidiso Moeti Ghana’s insurance scheme and Ethiopia’s a cadre of health-extension workers prove it is achievable Three years ago, a young boy in rural Guinea fell victim to the Ebola virus. An epidemic soon took hold of West Africa. By the time it was contained, it had killed …
Read More »Moses Matovu’s decades with Afrigo Band
Moses Matovu’s music journey mirrors the history of Uganda’s pop music culture and identity. He has been in Uganda’s music industry for 49 years. He started and continues to manage Afrigo Band in Kampala. Afrigo has a unique sound of Ugandan drumbeats and percussions layered over a synthesised rumba guitar …
Read More »Stained glass art
Dying elsewhere, booming in Uganda St. Peter’s Cathedral in Nsambya in Kampala is imbued with an aura that is unmistakably different from its environment. Upon entering the place, the atmosphere suddenly changes from the uniform bright light outside the edifice to a mild light interior made rich by colours filtering …
Read More »Rwanda rape trials on the big screen
A new documentary takes an in-depth look at the difficulties of prosecuting mass rape in international courts. “The Uncondemned,” in American theaters this December, reviews the landmark case in Rwanda that changed how mass rape could be prosecuted as an act of genocide. PBS NewsHour Weekend’s Ivette Feliciano spoke with …
Read More »Exciting week in gorilla world
When a group of endangered mountain gorillas from the Rwanda side of the Virunga Mountains which had migrated to the DR Congo side returned recently, one group of conservationists was overjoyed – and they showed it in a blog on Dec.5. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, which protects about …
Read More »What vaccines does your child really need?
With new vaccines coming at increasing prices, parents are facing tough choices The numbers of children receiving vaccinations in Uganda is up and the government’s recent move to pass a law criminalising anti-immunisation sentiments appears to be partly behind the surge. The increasing popularity of vaccination has experts like Dr. …
Read More »Arrests over Major Kiggundu’s murder continue
Days after the murder of Maj. Sheikh Muhammad Kiggundu on Nov.26, the police arrested Sheikh Yahya Mwanje, the acting Tabliq Sect leader at Nakasero Mosque for interrogation in connection with the death of the former. Maj Kiggundu was shot dead together with his body guard at Masanafu, a Kampala suburb. …
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