For years, Uganda’s TB response has relied heavily on symptom-based screening. It is a low-cost approach, but one that experts increasingly describe as blunt and inadequate Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | Uganda’s response to tuberculosis is entering a new and more technologically driven phase. But as health experts …
Read More »TB risk should not depend on where we are born
Several countries in East and Southern Africa—including Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa—remain among the high TB-burden settings globally COMMENT | ALEMNEW DAGNEW | In many high-income countries, even a small number of tuberculosis (TB) diagnoses can generate headlines and prompt a rapid public health response. Recent situations in …
Read More »Uganda’s Silent Epidemic: the Growing Drug Resistance
In the first of a two-part series, experts warn that without urgent action, drug-resistant infections could cause millions of deaths per year NEWS FEATURE | IAN KATUSIIME | A narrow path glides through the slum of Katanga giving visitors a fleeting rhythm of the decades-long settlement that lies between …
Read More »Kasese residents asked to embrace early TB screening
Kasese, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | There are increasing cases of tuberculosis in Kasese district, according to authorities. The authorities highlight poor health-seeking behaviour, por living conditions, alcoholism and cultural practices such as sharing drinks from one vessel. Nason Kisomerya, the Kasese District Supervisor for TB and Leprosy, says the rate …
Read More »Rise in latent TB In Uganda’s Prisons posses major risk to inmates
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s prison system is facing a severe dual burden of tuberculosis and HIV, with infection rates significantly higher than those in the general population. Findings from a study by Makerere University’s School of Public Health indicate that active TB infection in Uganda’s prisons is …
Read More »Solutions to TB and HIV benefit all of us, North and South
Communities in the Kenya’s and Uganda’s shores of Lake Victoria, Copperbelt Province in Zambia, Eastern Cape Province in South Africa, or Enugu State in Nigeria — have this vulnerability ANALYSIS | MONICAH OTIENO | In the west of Kenya, near the shores of Lake Victoria, where I come from, a tuberculosis outbreak is no different …
Read More »TB response under strain
WHO turns to primary care amidst funding crisis Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | The World Health Organisation (WHO) wants tuberculosis TB and lung health services to be integrated into primary healthcare systems as a sustainable solution to maintain essential services. This is as the global fight against TB faces major …
Read More »Masaka Hospital undertakes TB screening over rise in infections
Masaka, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Masaka Regional Referral Hospital is conducting vigorous community screening for tuberculosis-TB due to the persistent increase in infections registered at the facility. Doctor James Eriama, the Masaka Hospital Medical Director, expresses concern about a rare trend of TB infections among the usual patients who …
Read More »To end TB, invest in drug discovery in and for Africa
Continent can transition from its near-total reliance on the global north for pharmaceutical innovations to meet its unique needs COMMENT | KELLY CHIBALE | One hundred and forty-two years after its discovery, Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global public health problem. Despite being preventable and curable, 1.3 million people died from TB …
Read More »Great strides in fighting TB
But reducing poverty is the best way to end this disease INTERVIEW | TOM NYIRENDA & NADINE DREYER | Every year, 10 million people fall ill with tuberculosis. Even though the disease is both preventable and curable, it kills 1.5 million people each year, making it the world’s deadliest infectious disease. …
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