Lack of information and screening affects Retinopathy of Prematurity treatment Mbale, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), a potentially blinding eye disease affecting premature infants, remains a significant healthcare challenge in Uganda. ROP occurs when abnormal blood vessels develop in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back …
Read More »Uganda to launch first breast milk bank
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda is set to get its first breast milk bank. The facility to be hosted by Nsambya hospital will also be the second in East Africa with one in Kenya. The 3.5 Billion Shillings innovation is being mooted as a solution to challenges faced by …
Read More »Gulu hospital opts for Kangaroo care
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Gulu Regional Referral Hospital has opted for a Kangaroo care system for premature babies as the hospital grapples with a lack of enough incubators. Kangaroo care, or skin-to-skin care, is a technique practiced on newborn, usually preterm, infants wherein the infant is held, skin-to-skin, with …
Read More »Lack of incubators at Gulu hospital puts babies at risk
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Gulu Regional Referral Hospital is grappling with a shortage of incubators for premature babies. Currently, the health facility has only five incubators at the neonatal ward with more than 10 premature babies under care. Florence Oyella Otim, the in-charge of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit …
Read More »Steroids can boost survival of preterm babies: WHO
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The results of a new clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine show that dexamethasone–a glucocorticoid used to treat many conditions, including rheumatic problems and severe COVID-19, can boost survival of premature babies when given to pregnant women at risk …
Read More »Kawempe hospital premature babies transferred to Mulago neonatal unit
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Some of the premature babies who had been admitted in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of Kawempe National Referral hospital have been transferred to the Mulago Specialized Maternal and Neonatal hospital. This was revealed in a statement issued on Thursday by the Ministry of …
Read More »New guidelines to treat premature babies launched
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Guidelines to health workers on how to treat premature babies admitted in hospital has been launched. The guidelines among other things include how emergency care is given to underweight babies, counselling to parents, the steps to take in follow up care, which drugs to …
Read More »