Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | Some 7,667 people were killed in Mexico in the first quarter of 2018, up 20 percent on the same period last year, making it the most violent year in two decades, government figures showed Sunday. In 2017, the figure stood at 6,406 violent deaths, …
Read More »Antibiotics consumption soars, fueling fears over superbugs
Washington, United States | AFP | Global consumption of antibiotics has soared since the year 2000, stoking calls for new policies to rein in usage — and fueling fears that the worldwide threat posed by drug-resistant superbugs will spiral out of control, researchers say. A study in the Proceedings of …
Read More »COMMENT: Deal with fake drugs
National Drug Authority should handle the issue of counterfeit drugs through monitoring systems and the law COMMENT | MICHAEL WOIRA | The Uganda National Drug Authority and the Ministry of Health need to urgently reexamine the systems and processes they use to examine all drugs that are being sold by public …
Read More »Two blood pressure drugs that could kill you
Kampala, Uganda | HONOR WHITEMAN | High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a major risk factor for heart disease, a leading cause of death. A new study has found that two classes of medication that are commonly used to lower blood pressure could present a death risk all on their …
Read More »Nine suspected FARC dissidents killed in Colombia military operation
Bogota, Colombia | AFP | Nine suspected FARC dissidents were killed Monday in a military operation in southern Colombia, the defense ministry said. The operation was carried out in the municipality of Calamar, in the southern central department of Guaviare, the ministry said on Twitter. Defense minister Luis Carlos Villegas …
Read More »UN drugs body approves controls on deadly opioid
Vienna, AUSTRIA | AFP | A UN’s anti-drug body added carfentanil, a synthetic substance estimated to be thousands of times more potent than morphine, to its list of controlled substances on Wednesday. The US had been pushing for the move, and welcomed the decision the UN’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs’ (CND) …
Read More »Civil Society to petition Parliament over plans to destroy ‘expired drugs’
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A Ministry of Health plan to destroy over 1,200 tons of drugs they say have expired, has met stiff resistance from Ugandan Civil Society. Without giving specifics what particular drugs are to be burnt, Permanent Secretary Diana Atwiine told journalists on Feb.12 that the drugs …
Read More »EXPIRED DRUGS: Who is to blame?
NMS innovates as critics call for improved forecasting drug needs Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | A Feb.12 Ministry of Health announcement that expired drugs to the tune of 1500 tons in stores at 6619 health facilities across the country would be incinerated has incensed many. Critics wonder how such a …
Read More »Uganda’s National Medical stores set to get additional Sh41 billion
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda parliament’s budget committee has started scrutinising a Sh41b additional funding request for the National Medical Stores (NMS) to meet a funding deficit for purchase of essential medicines and health supplies. State minister for finance David Bahati has however faced some tough questioning by …
Read More »Myanmar seizes drugs and equipment worth $7 mn in lab raid
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Myanmar troops seized $7 million worth of narcotics, precursors and equipment in a raid on drug labs in the restive north, the army said Monday, as it continues a war against ethnic rebels accused of profiting from the drug trade. Soldiers and local officials found …
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