The Uganda Network on Law, Ethics and HIV/AIDS (UGANET) has sounded the alarm over severe funding shortfalls for HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria in Uganda’s 2025/26 national budget. While the overall health sector budget has nearly doubled from UGX 2.946 trillion to UGX 5.87 trillion, critical disease programs remain heavily dependent on external funding, with…
The HPV vaccine is now reaching millions of girls around the world. Here’s why that matters. 20 June 2025 by Priya Joi Girls sitting in a classroom in Bangladesh. Credit: Gavi/2023/Ashraful Arefin The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is one of the most impactful tools in global health, and protects millions of women from cervical cancer.…
Since the pandemic caused immunisation rates to plunge, diphtheria cases have spiked in Nigeria. Health workers like Maryam Umar are racing to bring the population’s immune defences back up to par. 18 June 2025 by Ekpali Saint On a hot Saturday afternoon in May, Maryam Umar left her small drug store in Bosso Low-Cost, a…
As the world marks 30 years since the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on gender equality, global health leaders have called for urgent action to uphold the health and rights of women and marginalized groups — warning that Universal Health Coverage (UHC) cannot be achieved without addressing persistent gender discrimination and structural inequalities.…
Grand Challenges Nigeria (GCNg) has awarded seed funding to ten pioneering health innovation projects aimed at improving maternal, newborn, and child health across Nigeria. The funding marks the outcome of its inaugural Request for Proposals, titled “Advancing Innovative Solutions for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health.” Following its official launch in November 2024, Grand Challenges Nigeria…
By Steven Enatu Soroti Regional Referral Hospital marked World Sickle Cell Day on Wednesday with a mix of hope, resilience, and pressing calls for greater support for patients living with the inherited blood disorder. While Uganda’s national event took place in Lira, Soroti held its own commemoration attended by medical staff, patients, caregivers, and well-wishers.…
After recording the most infectious mosquito bites globally – estimated at 1,500 per person a year – Uganda’s Apac district is rolling out the malaria vaccine to babies and toddlers. 13 June 2025 by John Agaba Dr James Odongo sat eating greens at a restaurant in Apac district in northern Uganda when his phone rang. The Ministry of Health had…
Making sure all at-risk children can access the vaccine is proving the key to a steeply falling prevalence of the chronic infection. 16 June 2025 by Hudson Kuteesa Two years ago, Clementine*, 32, visited the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK). She was two-and-a-half months pregnant, and hadn’t planned to visit the health facility so…
French pharmaceutical group Pierre Fabre Laboratories has acquired the worldwide rights to two next-generation therapies for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), strengthening its oncology research and development pipeline. Pierre Fabre Laboratories announced today the acquisition of global rights to PFL-721 and PFL-241—formerly STX-721 and STX-241—from Antares Therapeutics, a spin-out of U.S.-based Scorpion Therapeutics. The two…
The Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, has marked World Hypertension Day 2025 by reinforcing its commitment to building health systems capacity for cardiovascular and diabetes care in Africa and beyond. The Foundation is working in partnership with Africa’s First Ladies, ministries of health, medical societies, and academic institutions through its “Nationwide…