By H.E. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of Malawi “I was blind, but now I see.” This is what Vainesi, from Salima District in Central Malawi, said after surgery to treat trachoma. A mother of three, Vainesi had been unable to work or provide for her family once the disease began to affect her eyesight. Vainesi…
I checked in my elderly patient at Mengo hospital at about 1.00pm. The patient was female, elderly and preferred that hospital. I left the hospital at about 9.00 pm in the night after she was admitted and tucked into bed. Her wish was granted. Glad to be treated from Mengo hospital. A week later she…
Indoor Residual Spraying involves coating the walls and other surfaces of a house with a residual insecticide. The insecticide on the walls will kill mosquitoes and other insects that come in contact with these surfaces. IRS usually kills mosquitoes after they have fed if they come to rest on the sprayed surface. IRS thus prevents…
By Charles Brown In Uganda we have around 1,400,000 people living with HIV and estimated HIV prevalence is 5.5% among the general population (15 to 49 years). New HIV infections are at 54,000 a year and 17,000 Aids related deaths (UAC, 2022). The country target is achieving the three 95,95,95. (95 % of the population to know their HIV…
Claire Kirabo, 29 years was admitted to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital Intensive Care Unit, six months into the pandemic on August 18th, 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020, has declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. Kirabo is a mother of two children both below ten years of age and was referred to…
In November last year the Uganda National Academy of Sciences (UNAS) released a report Trust in Our Nation: Building Effective Governance and Partnership Systems for National Development. The report said in Ugandan development context, it is easy to be suspicious and cynical of one another’s motives and behaviours, a situation which is not surprising due to a…
A study titled Mobile Health (mHealth) in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) has been published and addresses one of the key issues that has emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic: digital health equity. Mobile Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries analyzes the potential and challenges associated with the growing use of ubiquitous mobile phones and the ever- increasing…
A bad cough that lasts 3 weeks or longer, pain in the chest, coughing up blood or sputum (phlegm from deep inside the lungs) are some of the symptoms of Tuberculosis. In Napak district, Karamoja region coughing loudly and persistently without stopping resulted in a bullet shot for a TB patient and death. Now, patients suffering…
By Morounfolu Olugbosi As countries around the world—from Kenya to Canada, South Africa to Sweden—relish the prospect of an unofficial transition of COVID-19 from pandemic to endemic and start to ease pandemic-related restrictions, many of us in the tuberculosis (TB) community find it hard to relate. In TB, we know what can happen when a…
You have got to give it up for women in Kyotera district. The fertility rate is over the top. At Kakuuto Health Centre IV in Kyotera district baby deliveries are about six per day which now averages 180 deliveries per month. In 2020 the population of Kyotera district was recorded to be 261,000 people. With…