To win the fight against malaria, African malaria leaders need the freedom to respond fast, using local knowledge COMMENT | RICHARD KAMWI, KESETE ADMASU, HARALD NUSSER | African malaria experts fear that the World Health Organization’s 2030 malaria targets may not be achieved unless big changes occur in funding and delivery. …
Read More »Malaria kills 200 Ugandans everyday
New Novartis study shows why countries will miss malaria eradication targets despite successful prevention campaigns Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | Malaria figures in Uganda are alarming; with 2017 Ministry of Health statistics showing the disease still claims about 80,000 lives per year, equivalent to an average of 200 people every …
Read More »World Malaria Day: Can Africa get out of the disease trap?
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda and other African countries are being urged to raise local resources towards the fight against malaria. The call, contained in the African Development Bank’s report, comes as Africa joins the recent of the world to commemorate World Malaria Day 2018. The global Malaria day …
Read More »Novartis to inject $100 mn into malaria drug research
Zurich, Switzerland | AFP | Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis on Tuesday announced $100 million of funding over the next five years for research into new treatments for malaria, a mosquito-borne disease with a devastating impact that killed 445,000 people in 2016. There were some 216 million cases of malaria worldwide in …
Read More »Museveni supports Ugandan MPs on new malaria fund
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has castigated laziness in the Ministry of Health, that has seen them focus on ‘conservation’ and not elimination of malaria. “Why then do we have this malaria conservation programme? We can eliminate it. We have been able to eliminate 13 diseases. …
Read More »Kenya pharmacy board investigating batch of antimalarial drug Duo-Cotexcin
Nairobi, Kenya | THE INDEPENDENT | The Kenya Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) is investigating a batch of the antimalarial drug Duo-Cotexcin in the country to ascertain a suspected quality defect. The board confirmed the investigation in a statement, however denying that they had withdrawn the drug from the market. …
Read More »Graft, deprivation sharpen Angola’s malaria outbreak
Luanda, Angola | AFP | Heavy rains, filthy conditions, medicine shortages and endemic corruption have combined to make a lethal malarial cocktail for Angola. Since the start of the year more than 300,000 cases of the disease have been reported across the country, leading to at least a thousand deaths. …
Read More »Who are the 4 Ugandans eyeing Africa’s Prize for Engineering Innovation?
Cape Town, South Africa | THE INDEPENDENT | Four young Ugandans have started a six month training and mentoring programme after they recently made the shortlist of the prestigious Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. The four Ugandans are among 16 talented engineers selected from Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa …
Read More »MALARIA: Free mosquito nets programme for Kampala, Wakiso starts
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health will this month start registering residents of Wakiso and Kampala as it prepares for distribution of free Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLIN) in a nationwide campaign against Malaria. Village Health Teams (VHT) members accompanied by the area Local Council One (LC1s) …
Read More »Malaria breath test promising
Washington, US | MICHELLE ROBERTS | People with malaria give off a distinctive “breath-print” that could be used as a test for the disease, according to American scientists. They had already tried out a crude prototype breathalyser in Africa, a tropical medicine conference heard. The test was reasonably good at detecting …
Read More »