Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Scores of Zimbabwe nurses on Friday protested in Harare’s central city park after the government dismissed them for striking over low salaries and poor working conditions. The nurses, who wore their white uniforms, demanded the government reverse its decision to fire the majority of the …
Read More »Zimbabwe sacks thousands of striking nurses
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe has fired all nurses who went on strike to demand higher salaries, in a hardline response by the country’s new leadership to growing labour arrest. Several thousand nurses were sacked in a terse statement issued on Tuesday evening by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who …
Read More »Over five million children get polio vaccines in Niger: UN
Niamey, Niger | AFP | More than five million children were vaccinated against polio in Niger last month, the UN said Tuesday, adding that the number was higher than the target. The drive was broadened to include children in refugee camps whose parents had fled the Boko Haram insurgency in …
Read More »UN’s health body urges Hepatitis C offensive
2500, France | AFP | Hepatitis C is easily cured. Yet, about 400,000 people die of the liver disease every year as only a smattering get the medicine they need. On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged governments to attack the problem with more urgency, and more money. Only …
Read More »Alcohol guidelines in many countries may not be safe: study
2500, France | AFP | Recommended limits for safe alcohol consumption are too high in many developed countries and should be lowered to save lives, a study suggested Friday. Regularly drinking more than 100 grammes (3.5 ounces) of alcohol per week — about five or six medium glasses of wine …
Read More »Chinese baby born four years after parents’ death in car crash
Beijing, China | AFP | A surrogate mother has given birth to a baby boy in China four years after his parents died in a car crash, Chinese media reported. The deceased couple was undergoing fertility treatments before the fatal accident in 2013. Their parents fought a drawn-out legal battle …
Read More »New viruses found
Researchers warn Uganda not ready to handle next health emergency Kampala, Uganda | FLAVIA NASSAKA | The government response to the 2017 Marburg virus outbreak in Kween District, eastern Uganda cost Shs5.2billion. Most of that money came from donors. That was one of the revelations made by the Permanent Secretary …
Read More »Loss of wealth bad for health
People who suffer a sharp drop in wealth experience a 50 percent increased risk of dying. Kampala, Uganda | AGENCIES | An analysis involving more than 8,000 Americans found that those who suffered a “negative wealth shock” — defined as losing at least 75 percent of their wealth in two years …
Read More »11 die after drinking bootleg alcohol in Indonesia
Jakarta, Indonesia | AFP | Eleven Indonesians died Sunday and several others are critically ill after drinking bootleg liquor, police said, days after the death of 24 others from illicit alcohol. The latest victims were among 27 people admitted to hospital after sampling homemade alcoholic drinks in Cicalengka district in …
Read More »Schwarzenegger back home after heart surgery: spokesman
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger is back home in Los Angeles and in good spirits after undergoing open heart surgery following complications with a routine operation, his spokesman said on Friday. The 70-year-old “Terminator” and “Predator” star, and former governor of California, was at the …
Read More »
The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price