Health

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  More than 100 patients escaped from Kenya’s only psychiatric hospital on Monday as doctors and nurses joined a national hospital strike for pay rises. Nairobi Police Commander Japheth Koome told AFP that police had launched an operation to return the patients to the hospital, as …

Rwanda’s Ministry of Health through Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) in partnership with Society for Family Health (SFH) are asking Rwanda women to step forward and test for breast cancer, writes Susan Babijja. Statistics indicate that cases of cancer are increasing being registered at Kigali University Teaching Hospital (CHUK). So far …

Chengalpattu, India | AFP | A small scythe, a crowbar and a bundle of canvas bags are all that Kali and Vedan carry when they venture into the fields of southern India to catch some of the world’s deadliest snakes. Their skills, passed from generation to generation of the Irula …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP |  Nestle has said it has discovered a way to cut the amount of sugar that goes into its Kit Kat, Butterfinger and other candy bars, but without affecting the taste. The Swiss food giant’s scientists say a breakthrough will allow the company to cut sugar …

Uganda’s Minister of State for Health Sarah Opendi has launched new HIV and AIDS treatment guidelines. In the new guidelines, anyone infected with HIV should begin antiretroviral treatment soon after diagnosis. All HIV-infected individuals will now be eligible for antiretroviral treatment regardless of disease stage or CD-4 cell count. The …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | British scientists on Wednesday approved the use of so-called “three-parent baby” fertility treatments, paving the way for the country to become the first in the world to officially introduce the procedures. An independent panel of experts tasked with reviewing the safety of mitochondrial gene …

Moscow, Russia | AFP |  Russia’s HIV infection rate is growing 10 percent a year and over one million Russian have been diagnosed with the disease in nearly three decades, the country’s top AIDS expert said Tuesday. The number of registered cases reached 1,087,339 on September 30, Vadim Pokrovsky, head …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP |  Pope Francis on Wednesday issued a call for “responsible behaviour” to prevent the spread of AIDS without specifying whether that included wearing condoms. The pontiff also issued a fresh call for every sufferer, no matter how poor, to have access to treatment. In …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa on Wednesday begins a major clinical trial of an experimental vaccine against the AIDS virus, which scientists hope could be the “final nail in the coffin” for the disease. More than 30 years of efforts to develop an effective vaccine for HIV …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that nearly half of all people with HIV around the globe do not know they are infected, and called for broader access to at-home testing kits. The UN health agency said that 40 percent of people with the …