Features catergory

By Flavia Nassaka The National Drug Authority (NDA) has a new executive director; Donna Asiimwe Kusemererwa.  A pharmacist and former director at Joint Medical Stores, she appears keenly aware that she must have rebuilding the image of the authority high on her agenda. Two days before she officially reported at …

By Flavia Nassaka The worst and best in health for the year It wasn’t a good year start for many especially those who stay in the capital Kampala. Having managed to overcome the Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic fevers scare that characterized the world in 2014, Uganda was in February hit …

By Flavia Nassaka Physicians advise us to breathe a little bit slower Has someone ever asked you to take a deep breath? Alternatively, have you ever asked someone to do so? Taking a deep breath is a common relaxation technique used when someone is angry, anxious, tense, or has suffered …

By Flavia Nassaka As world marks AIDS day, the country struggles to fast-track treatment for all On Dec. 01, the world marked this year’s World AIDS Day under the theme:`Fast track-ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030’. A week before the event, a United Nations Agency UNAIDS released a new report …

By Flavia Nassaka The best ways to mark `Movember’ – the prostate awareness month November is every man’s month. It is ‘Movember’ – Prostate cancer awareness month. The Movember Foundation started in 2004 in Melbourne, Australia set aside November as a month of raising awareness for prostate cancer – detection, …

By the Indepenent Team Fact is many of us are preparing to run Uganda’s big Marathon this November or, more accurately, the 10K series of it. Since the 10km run should present few challengers for routine runners, this article targets especially individuals who jump in because – hey, everyone is …

By Flavia Nassaka Doctors say is ten times more deadly than HIV Kenneth Kabagambe, a university graduate, only got to learn about hepatitis B, when a colleague succumbed to the infection.  “The way he was buried scared me. They didn’t allow anybody to get close to the body just as …

By Flavia Nassaka Health sector experts say they pose new challenges The new World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, including requiring that Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs  are provided immediately a patient is diagnosedto be HIV positive, could be difficult to implement, according to health sector experts. Previous WHO guidelines required doctors to …

By the Indepenent Team The Global Nutrition Report 2015 was launched on Oct. 30 as part of celebrations to mark the Africa Day of Food Nutrition and Security. The Independent’s Flavia Nassaka spoke to Mohamed AgBendech, the senior nutrition officer at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United …

By Flavia Nassaka Window dressing without real substance On May 14, Davis Mujimu Majwega was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer called Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL).  A few weeks later, the 18 year old was started on treatment.  Since he is insured, his first medical expenses were taken care …