Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Since starting treatment five years ago, 50-year-old Alice Chenyika kept her blood pressure under control by adhering to doctors’ strict instructions to take two daily doses of nifedipine. Now Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis has pushed prices up, and the medicine is far beyond her reach …
Read More »Cuba to pull thousands of doctors from Brazil in Bolsonaro row
Havana, Cuba | AFP | Cuba announced Wednesday it will pull thousands of its doctors out of Brazil in response to president-elect Jair Bolsonaro’s “direct, contemptuous and threatening” remarks about its medical aid program. The far-right leader has repeatedly criticized the Communist-run island’s “More Doctors” program — which sends thousands …
Read More »Self-medical tests
Why some are safer than others Kampala, Uganda | GLENDA MARY DAVISON | Recent media reports revealed that digital home pregnancy tests being sold at leading pharmacies in South Africa and the UK were consistently giving false positive results. Both countries acted quickly. The home pregnancy kits, reportedly manufactured by a …
Read More »Fatty foods and alcohol
Why do you crave fatty foods after drinking even when you know it’s a bad combination? Kampala, Uganda | AGENCIES | You know the drill: You’ve been good all week, watching what you eat. So you accept that happy hour invitation from your co-workers to have a few drinks on Friday …
Read More »The wastewater opportunity
Harnessing data, awareness and investment to tackle Africa’s wastewater woes Kampala, Uganda | AGENCIES | With an estimated 56 per cent of Africa’s urban population living in slums, wastewater management on the continent is a problem that needs urgent attention. In the streets of Kibera, one of the world’s largest informal …
Read More »175 dead, over 10,000 affected by Nigeria cholera outbreak
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Suspected cholera cases have jumped in northeast Nigeria where Boko Haram violence has forced tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in crowded camps, the Norwegian Refugee Council said Monday. The humanitarian group said 10,000 people have been affected by the fast-spreading cholera outbreak …
Read More »Pneumonia to kill nearly 11 mn children by 2030, study warns
Paris, France | AFP | Pneumonia will kill nearly 11 million children under five by 2030, experts warned Monday on a global day aimed at raising awareness of the biggest infectious killer of infants worldwide. While in the developed world the severe lung infection mainly affects the elderly, in developing …
Read More »Gabon presidency admits leader Ali Bongo is seriously ill
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s presidency admitted for the first time on Sunday that President Omar Bongo, hospitalised for nearly three weeks in Saudi Arabia, is in a serious condition but said his health is improving. The 59-year-old leader was taken to hospital in the Saudi capital Riyadh on …
Read More »Death toll tops 200 in DR Congo Ebola outbreak
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to more than 200, the health ministry said on Saturday. The ministry said it had recorded 201 deaths from the virus and that 291 cases have been confirmed since …
Read More »WHO chief visits Ebola epicenter in Beni, Uganda on full alert
Kasese, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT & UN NEWS | A significant phase in the battle against the Ebola epidemic in neighbouring Democratic of Congo (DRC) started this week, with a visit of the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) to the epicenter in Beni, and first ever vaccinations locally for …
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