SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, attaches to a cellular receptor called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and activation of the farnesoid X receptor increases ACE2 expression. New research published in the Journal of Internal Medicine suggests that a drug that inhibits the farnesoid X receptor and is used to treat liver disease may decrease…
The Japanese Government has donated 7.9 million US Dollars (29.5 billion Shillings) to support refugees and improve food security in the Karamoja sub-region. The donation has been channeled through five United Nations organizations which include United Nations High Commission for Refugees(UNHCR), World Food Program (WFP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Women (UN Women),…
A birth control pill manufactured by a company in China and was banned by the Uganda National drug regulator is even more popular among women in Uganda. Women who use it say the once-a-month use pill is convenient, has less side effects, specifically no bleeding compared to other contraceptives. Its only downside they say is…
The Global Alliance for Vaccine Initiative -GAVI says that about 50,000 children in Uganda have never received a single vaccine dose, and therefore remain unprotected against any killer disease.This also makes it almost impossible to eradicate some diseases from the country. For this reason, Gavi has included Uganda in it’s new initiative, the Zero-Dose learning…
Medical doctors have asked the government to screen private health facilities and allow those that have the prerequisite staff and equipment to recruit graduate doctors into internships. Making the call amidst endless strikes by medical interns over allowances and conditions of work over the years, Dr. Frank Asiimwe Rubabinda, the President of the Association of…
The Ministry of Health has launched a Satellite Laboratory at Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital. The facility, constructed under the Uganda COVID-19 Response and Preparedness Project is expected to improve clinical research at the hospital upon its completion. The construction will cost four billion Shillings while another 1.3 Billion Shillings will be spent on equipping…
As the country continues to wait for the establishment of a National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda, IRA, is moving a step towards responding to the gaps created by the lack of the scheme. For more than 10 years, it has been a back-and-forth situation regarding universal health insurance platform,…
Obstetricians and Gynecologists have joined the push to demand for immediate deployment and payment of medical interns warning government not to demand accountability for women dying in labor when they further delay. Dr. Othiniel Musana, the President of the Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Uganda (AOGU) told URN in an interview that medical…
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have expressed concern over restrictions by global HIV and Hepatitis drugs manufacturer barring other pharmaceutical companies from replicating their medicines to make generics. Speaking to journalists during a press conference on Wednesday, Kenneth Mwehonge, the Executive Director HEPs Uganda said drugs made by Gilead, an American Biopharmaceutical company are too expensive…
Ghana has granted full national licensure to the R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford and manufactured and scaled up by the Serum Institute of India (SII). According to the WHO’s 2022 world malaria report, the disease killed 619,000 people in 2021 – with 96% of those deaths in the WHO African region,…