How to choose the safest over-the-counter drugs By Leslie Kernisan Q: My 88-year old mother often complains of various aches and pains. What is the safest over-the-counter painkiller for her to take? Aren’t some of them bad for your liver and kidneys? A: Frequent aches and pains are a …
Read More »Gut microbes an early warning for liver disease in non-drinkers: study
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects around a quarter of the adult population in the world Beijing, China | Xinhua | A study by Chinese scientists and their German counterparts has revealed that microbes in one’s gut can be used as risk indicators for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD, in which …
Read More »COVID-19 and death in pregnancy
Study in finds more mothers died in Uganda HEALTH | SARA JERVING | Pregnant women who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa died at higher rates and had more complications than non-pregnant women with similarly severe COVID-19, as well as pregnant women without the disease, according to a …
Read More »5% of nodding syndrome victims battling severe brain damage
Otuke, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Five percent of nodding syndrome victims in Acholi and parts of Lango sub-region have developed severe mental problems, the health minister Dr. Ruth Jane Aceng has revealed. Aceng said the children require urgent rehabilitation noting that they have become a huge burden to their parents …
Read More »HIV prevention: Uganda to benefit from vaginal ring rollout
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda has been selected among the initial beneficiaries of the International Partnerships for Microbicides (IPM), as the developers move to roll out the HIV-preventing vaginal ring in Africa. The flexible vaginal ring which contains Dapivirine, an antiretroviral drug, is inserted in the vagina and left …
Read More »Experts call for mental health program to address suicidal tendencies in youths
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Mental health experts have expressed the need to address suicidal tendencies in youths. In the past six months, there have been reports of youth committing suicide. In March, Brian Wetaka, a former student of Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering who had graduated in 2019, …
Read More »Matt Kayem: Fraud or Creative Genius
The artist pays tribute to luminary Black African scholars and activists like Cheikh Anta Diop, Franz Fanon and Dr. Henri Clarke in his work | DOMINIC MUWANGUZI | Stuck Traveller was a conceptual, quite hypnotic installation that featured in the Kampala Art Biennale 2016 exhibition, that introduced the artist, Matt …
Read More »Why are some painkillers less effective in females?
| THE INDEPENDENT | Male and female bodies are physiologically different in more than one way — from hormone levels to molecular processes. While they may feel similar levels of pain, differing underlying biological processes mean that the same treatment may not work for both. Researchers have been investigating whether …
Read More »The fight to control malaria
Artificial light may become a new weapon | BERNARD COETZEE | The world has not yet won the war against malaria. While the total number of cases has declined from about 81.1 cases per 1,000 population to 59 per 1,000 since 2000, there were still an estimated 240 million cases …
Read More »Foodborne diseases affect 10 pct of world population annually: WHO
Geneva, Switzerland | Xinhua | Globally, foodborne diseases affect one in ten people annually, and the magnitude of the public health burden due to foodborne diseases was comparable to that of malaria or HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The …
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