Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | African countries have been urged to strengthen routine immunization and surveillance measures to detect polio outbreaks. The call was made on Wednesday by the World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti in Brazzaville, Congo, as Africa marked a major milestone …
Read More »HEALTH: Burnout at work
Facing the damage of ‘chronic workplace stress’ | MARIA COHUT | In a world where it seems as though the pressure to perform is always on, more and more people are admitting to burnout at work. What is this phenomenon, and how can you cope with it if it happens …
Read More »Global measles cases triple year-on-year
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Measles cases nearly tripled globally during the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2018, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, amid growing concern over public resistance to the vaccine. So far this year, 364,808 measles cases were reported around …
Read More »Poor funding affecting Uganda’s Ebola preparedness plan
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The shortage of funds is affecting Uganda’s Ebola preparedness plan, according to the World Health Organization. Uganda was classified as a priority one country, as a result of its proximity to the area of DRC that is most affected by the latest Ebola outbreak, …
Read More »Drug resistance to first line HIV medication on the rise in Uganda
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Drug resistance to the first line HIV treatment is on the rise in Uganda, according to a report published by the World Health Organization-WHO. Findings from a survey carried out between 2014-2018 show increasing resistance to Efavirenz and Nevirapine, the fine line HIV treatment. The …
Read More »Border friction in DR Congo on anniversary of Ebola outbreak
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | An Ebola epidemic in eastern DR Congo marked its first anniversary on Thursday with two more cases in the densely-populated frontier city of Goma and accusations by Kinshasa that Rwanda had rushed to shutter its border in response to the crisis. The two new cases …
Read More »Breastmilk donation: A wet nurses’ experience with quintuplets
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Noelene Namugwanya had just had her first baby three months ago when her cousin Honoranta Nakato delivered five babies through a Caesarian section at the Women’s Fertility Hospital in Bukoto. On October 19, 2018, her quintuplets had arrived early at only seven months. But, that …
Read More »DR Congo Ebola epidemic widens on eve of first anniversary
Goma, DR Congo | AFP | An epidemic of Ebola in eastern DR Congo sharply widened on Wednesday, the eve of the first anniversary of the outbreak, with the announcement of a death in a major city and the quarantining of 15 people in a province that had previously escaped the …
Read More »Studies find baby foods high in sugar, inappropriately marketed
Brussels, Belgium | THE INDEPENDENT | Two new studies from WHO/Europe show that a high proportion of baby foods are incorrectly marketed as suitable for infants under the age of 6 months, and that many of those foods contain inappropriately high levels of sugar. WHO’s long-standing recommendation states that children …
Read More »WHO applauds Rwanda’s Ebola preparedness efforts
Kigali, Rwanda | THE INDEPENDENT | WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last week commended Rwanda on its ongoing Ebola preparedness efforts and confirmed that no cases of Ebola have been reported from the country to date. “Rwanda has been proactive and engaged in Ebola preparedness at all levels since the …
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