Washington, United States | AFP | The top US public health official resigned Wednesday due to financial conflicts of interest, a day after US media reported she bought tobacco stocks while heading the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A statement from the US Department of Health and Human …
Read More »Togo healthcare workers join strike as protests mount
Lome, Togo | AFP | Togo’s government was facing fresh turbulence on Wednesday as healthcare workers went on strike, joining thousands of demonstrators holding opposition protests on the streets. The two-day nationwide strike was called by the National Union of Hospital Practitioners of Togo (SYNPHOT) who are demanding better equipment …
Read More »Winnie Mandela discharged from hospital
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was discharged from hospital Tuesday after being treated for a kidney ailment, the family of her ex-husband Nelson Mandela said. Madikizela-Mandela, 81, was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital 10 days ago. The struggle veteran, who was persecuted by authorities …
Read More »Why is it so difficult for scientists to discover new drugs?
Over-reliance on and misuse of antibiotics has led to warnings of a future without effective medicines. Kampala, Uganda | AGENCIES | It’s a tale of scientific discovery taught the world over: the serendipitous find of a mould that revolutionised modern medicine. Almost 90 years ago, Alexander Fleming returned from holiday to …
Read More »Under age illicit alcohol consumption increasing, study finds
THIS WEEK: Under age illicit alcohol consumption increasing, study finds Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | 50.8% of the 600 respondents in a study conducted by a Health Communication Organisation – Straight Talk Foundation Uganda agreed to have consumed illicit alcohol, 17% of which were under the age of 18 years. …
Read More »US sees most active flu season since 2009 ‘swine’ pandemic
Miami, United States | AFP | Flu is sweeping the United States, killing at least 37 children as influenza sends the most people nationwide in search of medical care since the 2009 “swine flu” pandemic, US officials said Friday. This year, the most common strain is H3N2, and nearly every …
Read More »Parents initiating teens to drinking a bad idea: study
Paris, France | AFP | Parents who give their teens alcohol, even to teach them how to drink responsibly, are more likely to do harm than good, according to a six-year study in Australia, published Thursday. “Parental provision of alcohol is associated with risk, not with protection,” said lead author Richard …
Read More »100 years after ‘Spanish flu’, new global pandemics feared
Davos, Switzerland | AFP | Ebola, zika, SARS: a century after the “Spanish flu” killed 50 million people, humanity now risks a new wave of deadly diseases, and in today’s globalised world another such pandemic may be unavoidable, experts warned at the Davos summit this week. “Pandemics are becoming a …
Read More »Cholera ‘stabilising’ DR Congo capital: MSF
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | A cholera outbreak in the DR Congo capital Kinshasa is stabilising and moving in a downward trend, the charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Wednesday. The latest outbreak has affected 23 of the 26 provinces in the vast central African country since 2017, with “55,000 …
Read More »House maid jailed for trying to infect boss’ child with HIV/Aids
Kampala, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | A housemaid was sentenced to three years imprisonment on Wednesday for attempting to infect her boss’s two-year-old baby with HIV/AIDS. Jemima Nasifa alias Tumukunde Zainabu a Rwandan, pleaded guilty to the offence of doing a negligent act likely to spread infection or disease, before Kampala’s …
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