Two of the four COVID-19 vaccines currently developed in Uganda are reaching the animal trial phase, while one other is one stage away. The vaccines manufactured under the Presidential Scientific Initiative on Epidemics (PRESIDE), an initiative of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni are using different technologies; One is using the ChAdOx1 also known as the Adenovirus-vectored technology, …
Despite being the most ill-planned exercise executed by the Uganda National Expanded Programme on Immunization (UNEPI), the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination is the most expensive campaign carried out in the last ten years, according to officials. In the past four years, Uganda has carried out at least two mass vaccination campaigns including the Measles/Rubella and Polio…
By Malik Fahad in Masaka Health workers plead for more uptake of HIV/Aids prevention measures. Researchers and health workers in greater Masaka region have embarked on a campaign to mobilize people to increase uptake of HIV/AIDS prevention methods. Led by Dr. Jonathan Kitonsa an HIV/AIDS Researcher at Medical Research Center (MRC) Masaka center, says that…
Doctors have warned of an increase in resistance to common antifungal drugs used for the treatment of infections like candidiasis. Drug-resistant tuberculosis is also a growing phenomenon, while malaria parasites also are becoming resistant to once-effective first-line anti-malarial treatments. The World Health Organisation has already warned that over four million Africans a year could die as…
Uganda registered an increase in Female Genital Mutilation cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to reports from the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development. FGM is the deliberate cutting or injuring of genitals to change their appearance often for religious or cultural purposes. In Uganda, FGM is practiced in the districts of Bukwo, Kapchorwa,…
Uganda is to get its first Human Milk Bank also commonly referred to as ‘liquid gold.’ The facility to be hosted at 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 mothers of premature babies…
Study includes more than 2,700 healthcare workers in Delhi, India, who were symptomatic and underwent RT-PCR testing for COVID-19. Findings suggest 50% vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 after two doses of BBV152. This vaccine effectiveness is lower than the vaccine efficacy suggested by Bharat Biotech’s phase 3 randomised control trial results. The authors note several…
First global estimates of impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in 2020 suggests additional 53 million cases of major depressive disorder and 76 million cases of anxiety disorders were due to the pandemic. Women and younger people were the most affected by major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders in 2020. Countries hit hardest…
The fluvoxamine arm of the TOGETHER trial, a randomised adaptive platform trial investigating the efficacy of repurposed treatments for COVID-19 among high-risk Brazilian adult outpatients, is the largest trial of the SSRI fluvoxamine as a COVID-19 treatment to date. Of the 741 participants who were treated in an emergency setting for COVID-19 after receiving fluvoxamine,…
Study of 621 people in the UK with mild COVID-19 infections found that people who received two vaccine doses could still pass the infection on to vaccinated and unvaccinated household members. The analysis found that 25% of vaccinated household contacts tested positive for COVID-19 compared with 38% of unvaccinated household contacts. The infectiousness of vaccinated…