Health

  What you need to know about posting online about emotional distress | THE INDEPENDENT | “Sadfishing” is when someone solicits attention online by posting something emotional.  There’s no definitive way to tell whether someone is truly in crisis, so any alarming post should be taken seriously, say experts. Is …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  | Treating livestock with human medicine is now known to increase resistance to antibiotics faster than expected in Uganda, medics have warned. Medical and environmental health practitioners say the practice is tipping the scale of resistance towards epidemic proportions in the near future unless stopped, slowed …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  A female minor has sued St Francis Hospital, Nsambya, for negligently causing permanent blindness to her by failing to detect sight complications at the time of her birth. She is seeking a compensation of 120 million Shillings from the hospital, managed under Kampala Archdiocese.   The …

Amuru, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  Residents of Apaa Township in Amuru district are struggling to access health services. It follows the closure of Apaa Health Centre II two years following a heated disputed between Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and residents over ownership of the land hosting the health center. Prior …

A new combination drug may have the potential to revolutionise hypertension treatment worldwide, after a clinical trial has declared it safe to use and very effective | THE INDEPENDENT | In a recent clinical trial led by researchers from the George Institute for Global Health — with branches in the …

One disease or two? Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda has conducted a mass measles-rubella and polio vaccination campaign between Oct.16-22. Initially planned to be a five-day mass immunisation campaign but extended to seven days in selected areas, it used up to 20 million doses on the Measles-Rubella (MR) …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health (MOH) has embarked on a new strategy of using adolescents that are adhering to HIV treatment to lure their peers into taking their medicines without skipping them. This comes amidst complaints by health workers that many adolescents fail to adhere …

A doctor’s display of confidence in a treatment may make it more effective | THE INDEPENDENT | New research finds that the placebo effect may be socially contagious. In other words, a doctor’s beliefs about whether or not a pain treatment will work can exert a subtle influence on how …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  Uganda has the potential of bringing maternal deaths to zero with commitment from health workers and prompt appearance of mothers in health centres, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah says. According to Oulanyah, if health facilities are supported with sufficient funding and a well-motivated …

On Monday August 31, 2015, Sophia Koetsier arrives at Entebbe airport in Uganda. She is 21 years old, bright and ambitious, with a great zest for life, about to embark on a new adventure in a faraway country, on a continent she has never been to.  That summer she had acquired …