IGIHE

Category: Health

  • Ugandan Doctor Dies of Ebola in Liberia

    Ugandan Doctor Dies of Ebola in Liberia

    {{A Ugandan senior surgeon has succumbed to the Ebola virus in Liberia where he had been working for three years as a health specialist.

    Dr. Samuel Muhumuza Mutoro died on Tuesday at the John F. Kennedy Medical Centre, Liberia’s biggest hospital in Monrovia where he was being treated.

    Muhumuza was a surgeon assigned to Redemption Hospital in New Kru Town on a contract with the Liberian government and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    At the time of his death, Muhumuza is said to have volunteered to treat a colleague who was infected with Ebola, thereby exposing himself to the deadly disease.}}

  • WHO Calls Emergency Talks on Ebola Outbreak

    WHO Calls Emergency Talks on Ebola Outbreak

    {{Health ministers from 11 African countries are meeting in Accra, Ghana, in an attempt to “get a grip” on the deadly and worsening Ebola outbreak.}}

    So far, 763 people have been infected with the virus – and 468 of these have died.

    Most of the cases have been in Guinea where the outbreak started.

    But it has since spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone and is now the biggest and most deadly Ebola outbreak the world has seen, say officials.

    Health officials from those countries, as well as Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, and Uganda will attend the meeting.

    {{‘Get a grip’}}

    The World Health Organization says “drastic” action is needed to stamp out the virus and ensure it does not spread to other countries in the region.

    “We’re hoping to take decisions about how to enhance collaboration and responses [of these countries] so we can get a grip and halt this outbreak,” said WHO spokesman Daniel Epstein

    “We need a strong response, especially along the shared border areas where commercial and social activities continue between Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. That’s unlikely to stop.”

    The WHO says travel restrictions are highly unlikely, and in any case unenforceable. These are porous borders where people travel freely to see family and friends.

    Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected. There is no vaccine or cure. It spreads through contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.

    The way to stop an outbreak is to isolate those who have it and ensure no-one else is exposed. Medical staff are following up on hundreds of people who have had contact with infected patients. They have to be closely monitored for 21 days before they can be given the all clear.

    Ebola is a haemorrhagic fever, which can start suddenly with the onset of high temperature, diarrhoea and vomiting. Some people fight the virus and survive, but most do not. They start bleeding internally and externally and eventually their organs shut down.

    {{Increasing hostility}}

    Understandably, there is a great deal of fear in these communities and that is hindering the international effort to bring the virus under control, say experts.

    The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is working with the World Health Organization and the Guinea Ministry of Health. It has four isolation facilities in Guinea and more than 300 international and local staff.

    “We are seeing an increasing level of hostility borne out of fear in some communities,” said Dr Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations.

    “We can no longer go into a number of villages any more to follow up on people who have been in contact with Ebola patients.”

    The charity says health ministers from affected countries need to urgently improve public understanding of the disease.

    “This requires an important mobilisation of all possible community leaders from bottom to top, because we cannot do this alone”

    “We are now dealing with an extraordinary situation so we need more resources to fight the epidemic and we need extra help to convince communities to change their attitudes towards the virus.”

  • Breast Cancer Linked to Eating Red Meat

    Breast Cancer Linked to Eating Red Meat

    {{Eating a lot of red meat in early adult life may slightly increase the risk of breast cancer.}}

    The news is based on a large US study that looked at the protein dietary intake of almost 90,000 female nurses and their risk of breast cancer over a 20-year period.

    Previous studies have focused on the dietary intake of those in their “midlife” and older populations.

    In this particular study, however, researchers were interested in finding the potential link between diet and breast cancer risk in early adulthood.

    The main finding was that a higher intake of red meat (which included both processed and unprocessed meat) was associated with a 22% increased risk of breast cancer.

    The results suggest that women who chose healthier sources of protein – such as chicken, nuts and lentils – had a decreased risk of breast cancer.

    BBC Newsreports

  • Thousands to Get Free Treatment During Kwibohora20 Army Week

    Thousands to Get Free Treatment During Kwibohora20 Army Week

    {{The Rwanda Military Hospital (RMH) will provide free health care to thousands of Rwandans in Musanze, Gakenke, Burera and Nyabihu districts during Army Week. }}

    This year’s Army Week is part of Kwibohora20 activities marking 20 years since the Rwandan Patriotic Front stopped the Genocide against the Tutsi and liberated Rwanda.

    As part of Army Week, the RMH will treat survivors of the Genocide who still suffer from their wounds.

    This builds on the work already done by the hospital in offering specialised treatment to survivors.

    To date, RMH has covered 16 districts and treated 30,000 genocide survivors. Of these, around 15 have been transferred abroad for services that could not be provided in Rwanda.

    During Army Week, Genocide survivors from Musanze, Gakenke and Burera will be treated at Ruhengeri and Nemba hospitals and specialists will consult those who need further medical care or surgery.

    In these three districts, the target is to treat 1,000 survivors. One thousand Genocide survivors from Nyabihu district will also be offered treatment by RMH specialists. All services will be free of charge.

    Non-surgical and surgical male circumcision as well as HIV counselling and testing will be provided by the Rwanda Military Hospital in Rubavu, Musanze and Burera districts.

    This activity has been organised in partnership with the Society for Family Health and Drew Cares International. The official launch for this activity will take place at 3pm on 24 June 2014 at the Busogo Health Centre.

    The Rwanda Military Hospital will offer free dental and eye care in Musanze and Burera districts. Included in this activity is the provision of cataract surgery at Ruhengeri Hospital.

    Rwanda Defence Force members will take part in Army Week by donating blood to help save the lives of many Rwandans in need of blood transfusions.

    This activity is organised in partnership with the National Blood Transfusion Centre and will officially launch at 9am on 24 June 2014 at the Kanombe Military Barracks in Kigali.

    {{Rwanda Military Hospital Army Week Activities:}}

    17-19 June: Provision of free, non-surgical and surgical male circumcision as well as HIV counselling and testing at the Gisenyi Health Centre in Rubavu District.

    22 June-3 July: Provision of free, non-surgical and surgical circumcision at the Busogo and Muko Health Centres in Musanze District and at the Cyanika Health Center in Burera District.

    22 June-3 July: Provision of free dental and eye care in Musanze and Burera districts.

    23 June-3 July: Rwandan Defence Force members from the Kanombe and Kami Military Barracks to donate blood.

    24 June: Official launch of blood donation by Rwanda Defence Forces personnel at the Kanombe Military Barracks at 9am.

    24 June: Official launch of free, non-surgical and surgical circumcision and HIV counselling and testing at the Busogo Health Centre at 3pm.

    26-29 June: Provision of specialist treatment for genocide survivors in Musanze, Gakenke and Burera districts.

    30 June-3 July: Provision of specialist treatment for genocide survivors in Nyabihu District.

    7 July-11 July: Provision of cataract surgery at the Ruhengeri Hospital.

  • Aid Group Says Ebola In West Africa “Out of Control”

    Aid Group Says Ebola In West Africa “Out of Control”

    {{An Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is out of control and requires massive resources from governments and aid agencies to prevent it from spreading further, medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said on Monday.}}

    The death toll has hit 337 since February, the U.N. World Health Organisation said last week, making it the deadliest outbreak since Ebola first emerged in 1976.

    The disease has not previously occurred in the region and local people remain frightened of it and view health facilities with suspicion. This makes it harder to bring it under control, MSF said in a statement.

    At the same time, MSF said, a lack of understanding has meant people continue to prepare corpses and attend funerals of Ebola victims, leaving them vulnerable to the disease, transmitted by touching victims or through bodily fluids.

    Civil society groups, governments and religious authorities have also failed to acknowledge the scale of the epidemic and as a result few prominent figures are promoting the fight against the disease, the statement said.

    “The epidemic is out of control,” said Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations. “With the appearance of new sites in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, there is a real risk of it spreading to other areas.”

    “Ebola is no longer a public health issue limited to Guinea: it is affecting the whole of West Africa,” said Janssens, urging WHO, affected countries and their neighbours to deploy more resources especially trained medical staff.

    MSF has treated some 470 patients, 215 of them confirmed cases, in specialised centres in the region but the organisation said it had reached the limit of its capacity.

    Patients have been identified in more than 60 locations across the three countries making it harder to curb the outbreak.

    Ebola has a fatality rate of up to 90 percent and there is no vaccine and no known cure.

    The virus initially causes raging fever, headaches, muscle pain, conjunctivitis and weakness, before moving into more severe phases with vomiting, diarrhoea and haemorrhages.

    reuters

  • Death Toll From West Africa Ebola Hits 337 -WHO

    Death Toll From West Africa Ebola Hits 337 -WHO

    {{The death toll from an outbreak of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has hit 337 since February, the U.N. World Health Organisation said on Wednesday, as weak local health services struggle to contain the highly contagious disease.}}

    WHO said 47 new cases and 14 deaths had been reported in the region in the last week alone, despite the dispatch of international experts to help out.

    Guinea remains worst affected, with 264 Ebola-related deaths, the WHO data showed, but the toll in Sierra Leone and Liberia has recently spiked, hitting 49 and 24 respectively.

    WHO has tried to coordinate the regional response but imposing the restrictions needed to control such an infectious disease has proven difficult. WHO said last month an earlier dip in cases masked the seriousness of the outbreak.

    Guinea’s new cases were reported in Gueckedou, a remote southeast region where the outbreak was first confirmed, but also in Boffa, hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the northwest of the capital city Conakry.

    Liberia reported four deaths in its capital Monrovia on Tuesday, the first to be confirmed in the sprawling ramshackle seaside city.

    Sierra Leone’s toll has risen rapidly since it confirmed its first deaths in late May.

    The outbreak has led to some restrictions on flights and trade in the region but international mining firms operating in the three countries say operations have not yet been affected.

    Discovered in 1976 after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ebola has a fatality rate of up to 90% and there is no vaccine and no known cure.

    The virus initially causes raging fever, headaches, muscle pain, conjunctivitis and weakness, before moving into more severe phases of causing vomiting, diarrhoea and haemorrhages.

    agencies

  • Ebola Kills More 10 in Liberia

    Ebola Kills More 10 in Liberia

    {{The Ebola virus has claimed 10 more lives in Liberia, Front Page Africa reported on Monday.}}

    Foreign health workers confirmed to dpa that six of the victims died at a hospital in the Monrovia suburb of New Kru Town, including a nurse.

    Four other deaths, including health workers, were said to have occurred in northern Lofa County during the initial outbreak a few months back, Front Page Africa said.

    Deputy Health Minister Bernice Dahn said on Sunday over 60 Red Cross volunteers are being trained and will be deployed in Monrovia.

    Since the outbreak of Ebola in Liberia from Guinea few months ago, the disease has claimed the lives of about 20 people.

    – SAPA

  • Experts Call for Global Action Against Chronic Diseases

    Experts Call for Global Action Against Chronic Diseases

    {{A three-day East African meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) has drawn a charter calling for global action to inform the fight against chronic diseases.}}

    “We believe that urgent and decisive global action is needed to improve the lives of people living with or at risk of NCDs in the East African Community (EAC),” said Dr William Lumu, the Uganda Non Communicable Disease Alliance (UNCDA) vice chairperson while briefing the media.

    He added that action was not an option but imperative and that the charter is targeted principally at governments, regional institutions and the global community and to inform preparations for the forthcoming United Nations High-Level Review on NCDs in New York from July 10-12 as well as regional bodies and institutions including the EAC, the African Union and the World Health Organisation Africa Regional Office.

    The stakeholder meeting also reviewed the NCD Alliance East Africa Bench-marking Survey draft report which highlights gaps and good practices and provides evidence in the fight against NCDs.

    The report, which is yet to be released, also underlines the increasing burden of NCDs in the region which are being fuelled by increasing vulnerability to risk factors like unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, tobacco use, household air pollution from solid fuels and the underlying social, economic and environmental determinants like urbanisation.

    The meeting brought together a wide range of representatives from governments, NCD alliances, NGOs, academia and the private sector committed to accelerating the response to non-communicable diseases in the EAC countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. It was organised in partnership with the Danish NCD Alliance, the Global NCD Alliance and the universities of South Carolina, Yale and Aarhus.
    NMG

  • Uganda to Start Kidney Transplants

    Uganda to Start Kidney Transplants

    {{Uganda’s main Hospital Mulago has announced its doctors will start conducting the first Kidney transplants and other organs in what has been hailed as a major success in the country’s medical sector.}}

    The doctors have described this as a major breakthrough in the provision of super-specialized health care in Uganda.

    The hospital director, Dr. Baterana Byarugaba said by October, the hospital will carry out its first kidney transplant, beginning with the 65 patients undergoing dialysis.

    The surgeries, according to the director, will be free to all patients once the hospital is fully facilitated by the government.

    In addition, the hospital will be in position to carry out transplants of other organs like the heart and lungs.

    Dr. Byarugaba made the disclosure at a press briefing at the hospital after signing a Memorandum of Understanding with a team of medical specialists and other administrators from Yashoda Hospital, an Indian centre for excellence in kidney and other transplants.

    NV

  • U.S. Renews Support to Rwanda’s Blood Donor Program

    U.S. Renews Support to Rwanda’s Blood Donor Program

    {{The U.S. government, through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has renewed its commitment to supporting Rwanda’s blood donor program on World Blood Donor Day by ensuring there is “Safe Blood for Saving Mothers.”}}

    This year, the U.S. government and Rwanda continue their partnership by helping the Rwanda National Center for Blood Transfusion (NCBT) in the process of applying for certification from the African Society for Blood Transfusion.

    This would ensure the NCBT is certified in having safe, clean, healthy blood in adequate amounts for Rwandans who need it.

    “NCBT is a shining star that provides the safest blood supply in the region,” said Maestro Evans, Acting Country Director for CDC Rwanda. “The U.S. government and CDC are proud to support their mission.”

    This year’s World Blood Donor Day theme in Rwanda is “Safe Blood for Saving Mothers.”

    Since 2005, the US government has given more than $11.3 million to Rwanda’s NCBT to ensure Rwandan hospitals and doctors have the blood supplies they need to keep the country healthy.

    More than half of that support benefits mothers, a group of patients that feels most acutely the need for clean, safe and reliable blood supplies.

    The U.S. Embassy in Kigali also conducts regular blood donor drives among its staff to support Rwanda’s hospitals and clinics.

    According to the World Health Organization, the need for blood and blood products is increasing every year, and many patients requiring life-saving transfusion do not have timely access to safe blood and blood products.

    Regular voluntary unpaid blood donors are the safest source of blood as there are fewer bloodborne infections among these donors than among people who give blood in exchange for money or who donate for family members in emergencies.

    Do you want to donate blood in Rwanda? Call the NCBT at 1011 (toll free in Rwanda) to find out how you can help save a life.