Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | In a hustle to find a job, Peter Mubiru was introduced to the garbage world. Today Mubiru earns a living from collecting domestic waste across Kampala. Mubiru’s working day starts at 7 a.m., and unlike others, endures hours of standing at the back of a …
Read More »Germans turn to ‘medibus’ as doctors desert villages
Cornberg, Germany | AFP | For years after the last doctor left the small German village of Weissenborn, 79-year-old former mayor Arno Maeurer had to rely on his car to reach the nearest clinic, as a chronic shortage of practitioners gripped his rural region. But this year a clinic started …
Read More »Bustling Ugandan border town on high alert for Ebola
Mpondwe, Uganda | Michael O’HAGAN – AFP | Stormwater from the peaks of the Rwenzori Mountains swells the muddy Lhubiriha River that marks the often porous border between western Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Less than 70 kilometres (40 miles) away, authorities have already confirmed one case of …
Read More »Electricity is creating new hope in medicine
A radical new approach to treating disease Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | When your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. This saying is particularly apt in medicine where doctors treat nearly every condition–from depression to hypertension–with a pill. If your doctor prescribed you anything other …
Read More »Designer babies
Why what everyone is freaking out about is not likely to happen Kampala, Uganda | A CECILE JW JANSSENS | When Adam Nash was still an embryo, living in a dish in the lab, scientists tested his DNA to make sure it was free of Fanconi anemia, the rare inherited blood …
Read More »Obongi welcomes new district amid health, infrastructure gaps
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah has promised to lend a hand in Obongi County’s efforts to end infrastructure and health challenges ahead of the county’s transition to district status effective July 1st 2019. Oulanyah presided over the annual Obongi day after touring several infrastructural establishments …
Read More »US judge rules Obamacare unconstitutional, Democrats vow to appeal
Washington, United States | AFP | A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that the US health care law known as Obamacare is unconstitutional — a ruling that opposition Democrats vowed to appeal. US District Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed by several Republican state attorneys general and …
Read More »The Septrin controversy
Why those fighting to have the medication might be misguided Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | November 27 marked a twist in months’ long ping- pong between government and people living with HIV over government’s failure to provide the antibiotic drug Cotrimoxazole – septrin as part of the package of treatment …
Read More »Vaccinating against superbugs
By 2050 some 10 million people across the globe could succumb to drug-resistant diseases Kampala, Uganda | SETH BERKLEY & JEREMY FARRAR | Whether you live below the poverty line in the slums of Karachi or work as a banker on Wall Street, drug-resistant “superbugs” are among the gravest threats to …
Read More »EBOLA: South Sudan follows Uganda’s example, to vaccinate health teams
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | South Sudan will vaccinate key health workers against Ebola close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, which faces a new epidemic, the World Health Organization said Monday. The ministry of health’s vaccination campaign, with cooperation from the WHO, will target healthcare and …
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