Why shifting task from doctors to nurses without a policy should end Kampala, Uganda | HENRY ZAKUMUMPA | In the years after the “slim disease” or HIV was first recognised in southwestern Uganda in 1982, access to treatment was for a privileged few. At the time, only a handful of …
Read More »Providing HIV services
Why integrating HIV with non-HIV facilities cannot work Kampala, Uganda | HENRY ZAKUMUMPA | In many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV services are still offered separately within health facilities. These HIV clinics have their own dedicated staff and infrastructure such as waiting areas, a separate patient flow system and they typically …
Read More »Beyond donor dollars for donor
How Uganda is thinking outside the box Kampala, Uganda | HENRY ZAKUMUMPA | Over the last 15 years, there’s been a rapid increase in the number of patients receiving HIV treatment in sub-Saharan Africa. This has largely depended on foreign aid, particularly from global aid organisations such as the U.S. President’s Emergency …
Read More »Tackling the cancer of tobacco
By Henry Zakumumpa Why increasing tobacco taxes can reduce the increasing cases of cancer and heart disease in Uganda Last year four cabinet ministers were reported in the press to be on treatment for diseases of the heart and blood vessels. Sadly, two of these cabinet ministers eventually died from …
Read More »Time to expose the economic parasites
By Henry Zakumumpa How poor African countries unwittingly develop rich western countries About three months ago, the local press was awash with reports of a raging debate in parliament about Uganda’s proposed borrowing from China to build the Karuma hydro power dam. The legislators maintained that this would exhaust Uganda’s …
Read More »Cultures for sale
By Henry Zakumumpa Ugandan cultural expressions are being ‘stolen’, repackaged and sold It was October 2010. President Yoweri Museveni was locked in a presidential election contest with Dr Kizza Besigye. A decisive blow, an event, an endorsement was needed by either camps to turn the tide. Then came the idea …
Read More »Next big fight is on generic pharmaceuticals
By Henry Zakumumpa After winning extension on enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, LDCs are targeting pharmaceuticals 2016 deadline After intensely heated and acrimonious negotiations, The World Trade Organization (WTO) on June 11 agreed an eight-year deadline extension on enforcement of trade marks, patents and copyrights which are largely held by …
Read More »Big pharma problem for HIV/AIDS
By Henry Zakumumpa Thousands of Ugandan lives at stake after generic HIV/AIDS drugs deadline extension snub The lives of thousands of Ugandans enrolled on HIV treatment hang in the balance after an application by poor countries to extend the deadline for manufacture of generic AIDS drugs was rejected by the …
Read More »World No Tobacco Day
By Henry Zakumumpa The tobacco control bill can protect children and young people from tobacco advertising Every year on May 31, the world stops to reflect on the millions of lives lost to tobacco use around the world and the one billion set to lose their lives to tobacco use …
Read More »Chinua Achebe’s passing
By Henry Zakumumpa Before this African literary great, many thought that white men were the ‘owners of words’ It has been a tragic year for African literature thus far. First it was Francis Imbuga. The Kenyan dramatist of the Betrayal in the City fame succumbed to a stroke in Nairobi …
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