Repealing discriminatory laws against people living with HIV/AIDS saves lives and helps advance the end of the pandemic, says Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of UNAIDS. Byanyima observes that criminalizing laws chase people away from life-saving treatment and need to be removed. This was part of her message as the world marks Zero Discrimination Day,…
There are mixed feelings amongst scientists over complaints from some doctors about the duration of training heart disease specialists, saying that it is too long and pushing away many from specializing in cardiology. Speaking at a meeting attended by experts in heart disease from a number of countries across the world, Dr. Johnson Kansiime, the…
Delays in recommendation of remdesivir for patients with COVID-19 adversely shaped antimicrobial policy in hospitals around the world, preventing patients from receiving timely remdesivir says The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, at the 30th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). Remdesivir is a viral RNA polymerase inhibitor. An individual patient data meta-analysis has added relevant scientific evidence…
Researchers at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) are embarking on a study that could bring to life Uganda’s first vaccine against schistosomiasis, or bilharzia. Dr. Moses Egesa a researcher based in the MRC/UVRI research unit said in an interview on Monday that they will be infecting healthy volunteers with the bilharzia-causing worm to develop…
The Ministry of Health has called for domestic funding for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) as prevention and treatment programs that are entirely being funded by donors are nearly ending. Speaking at a meeting held on Wednesday to mark the World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, which is marked globally in January, Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth…
Uganda’s maternal mortality rating has decreased from 336 mothers per 100,000 live births to 284 women per 100, 000 live births, the Ministry of Health reports. While Uganda has not yet conducted a new health demographic survey, according to Dr Charles Olaro, the Director of Health in charge of Curative Services, the Ministry has been…
Residents in Karamoja sub-region are resorting to eating leaves from wild trees as they burn charcoal for survival as hunger continues to dog their region. The residents say the ongoing drought has worsened the hunger situation forcing them to resort to environmentally degrading activities to survive, hence consuming the tree leaves as they fell for…
Aerosol forecasts from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service show the first large-scale Saharan dust transport of 2023. An episode of a long-range Saharan dust transport has been crossing the Iberian Peninsula and will continue across France towards northern and central Europe in the coming days. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) is tracking the long-range…
A single dose of a low-cost, generic, oral antibiotic called azithromycin, could prevent life threatening sepsis during child birth in up to 2 Million women per year a study shows. In a randomized, placebo-controlled study published in the New global maternal health research on February 9th, 2023, researchers found that a single 2-g oral dose of azithromycin given…
Lira Regional Referral Hospital has received its first microbiology laboratory and equipment to support the investigation of bacterial infections particularly those that have shown resistance to common antibiotics. The hospital, which receives over 1,000 out patient attendances and 100 admissions on a daily basis has been referring its clients to Kampala for advanced tests because…