Category: Health

{{Rwanda is at risk of attack by a deadly Marburg disease which has been confirmed in the Ugandan district of Kabale.}}

Five Ugandans have already succumbed to the deadly virus.

Kabale district of Uganda Borders Rwanda. Its also where Katuna Border crossing is located….a major interuction point between Rwanda and Uganda on a daily basis.

Ugandan media has reported that in Kabale District, four members of the same family reportedly died of Marburg disease.

It has also been reported that A case of yellow fever was confirmed in the northern district of Agago.

Uganda health officials have confirmed an outbreak of deadly yellow fever, Marburg and Hepatitis B.

Marburg virus (MARV) causes severe disease in humans and nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever.

Marburg virus was first recognized in 1967, when outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever occurred simultaneously in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany and in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia).

The first people infected had been exposed to African green monkeys or their tissues. In Marburg, the monkeys had been imported for research and to prepare polio vaccine.

{{The University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK) has for long faced a challenge of shortage of oxygen and the lack of a latest technological CT scan (64 slices) for precise imagery diagnostic.}}

“Having a CT scan and Oxygen plant improved health care service delivery in CHUK,” the Medical Director Dr. Martin Nyundo revealed October 9.

‘Before getting the CT Scan, we used to transfer our patients to the King Faisal Hospital but now all diagnostic services are done within our hospital without waste of time and money.

Introduction of CT Scan brought a tremendous change,” said Radiologist Dr. Kalisa Louise.

Dr. Nyundo added that every day around 20 patients need to pass through CT scan for accurate diagnostic.

It is in this regard, the Belgium Development Agency (BTC) through Institutional Support Program to the Conception and Implementation of a Strategic Health Development Plan for Kigali City (PAPSDSK) donated a 64 slices CT scan, X-ray digitalize equipment to handle all diagnostic services and Oxygen production plant to improve health care and service delivery in CHUK.

For the Oxygen power plant , the Medical Director Dr Nyundo furthered saying that the health services of CHUK used to cost approximately Frw 300, 000, 000 per year for oxygen when the hospital buys it from private companies.

“But we are currently spending less due to the donated Oxygen power plant,” explained Dr. Nyundo.

According to the Biomedical Engineer of PAPSDSK, Marc Myszkowski, “it was an urgent concerted need to give a CT Scan to CHUK to facilitate diagnostic services because there was only one hospital of King Faisal with an operational CT scan in the country in 2010”.

He added that as (PAPSDSK) has an objective of improving healthcare of Kigali City, the oxygen production plant was also given to CHUK to handle the instant shortage of oxygen which is highly needed in many hospital departments to the rest district hospitals of Kigali City.

The project of CT scan has taken over 1 million Euros including a three years full maintenance contract while the Oxygen plant is over Euros 400 000.

{{A diet rich in tomatoes may reduce the risk of having a stroke, according to researchers in Finland.}}

They were investigating the impact of lycopene – a bright red chemical found in tomatoes, peppers and water-melons.

A study of 1,031 men, published in the journal Neurology, showed those with the most lycopene in their bloodstream were the least likely to have a stroke.

The Stroke Association called for more research into why lycopene seemed to have this effect.

The levels of lycopene in the blood were assessed at the beginning of the study, which then followed the men for the next 12 years.

They were split into four groups based on the amount of lycopene in their blood.

There were 25 strokes in the 258 men in the low lycopene group and 11 strokes out of the 259 men in the high lycopene group.

The study said the risk of stroke was cut by 55% by having a diet rich in lycopene.

Dr Clare Walton, from the Stroke Association, said: “This study suggests that an antioxidant which is found in foods such as tomatoes, red peppers and water-melons could help to lower our stroke risk.

“However, this research should not deter people from eating other types of fruit and vegetables as they all have health benefits and remain an important part of a staple diet.

BBC

{{Over 28 children with Heart complications were successfully operated and cured by a team of Belgian surgeons who have been in Rwanda since 2006.}}

The surgeons belong to an organisation called Chain Hope Belgium.

The Chain of Hope is an international humanitarian association whose objective is to care for and operate children who were not lucky enough to be born in a country where access to care is guaranteed. Those children suffer from cardiac, orthopaedics, urological, neurological, … malformations.

Murekatete Juliette the mother to Uwase Phiona says her child was operated of a heart complication three months after she was born.

Murekatete says that now Uwase is very healthy and fine.

Dr.Mucumbitsi Joseph a medical practitioner at King Faisal Hospital says that since 2005, four goups of heart specialists have since been formed to deal with heart complications.

He added that this team of experts is able to handle all heart complications without neccessarily physically cutting through the chest.

The Minister of Health Dr. Agnes Binagwaho says that Rwanda has only five heart surgeons.

She, however, says more Rwandans have been sent abroad to study specialised heart surgery and that very soon Rwanda will have enough such doctors to handle all heart cases.

{{By 2015, Malaria vaccine will be made available, researchers revealed at a Malaria Forum concluded in Rwanda capital Kigali.}}

According to Dr. Bernhards Ogutu, Coordinator, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMR), the first ever vaccine against malaria might be available if recommended by the World Health Organisation.

“Multiple types of evidence at national level would be required for an informed policy decision; impact would only be achieved through effective implementation and post-implementation planning” he said.

According to their plan, if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) provides an opinion by2014, and National Regulatory Authorities in individual African countries decide on use in their countries, the vaccine could be available as early as 2015.

Dr Antoinette Ba-Nguz, in charge of Policy and Access in Malaria Vaccine Initiative, said Malaria vaccines are a potential complementary tool for control & elimination and eradication.

“Progress has been made in malaria vaccine research, there is hope for a first-generation vaccine, RTS,S,” she added.

Ba- Nguz added that a timely decision on the vaccine needs early country-level planning, Scale-up current interventions and collect data to inform future decisions.

She continued to mention that early preparation would identify potential bottlenecks, strengthen current malaria and immunization programmes and enable evidence-based decision.

Dr Ogutu said that Malaria Vaccine Initiative will coordinate and/or facilitate processes to define the vaccine(s) required to support the goal of eradication and will accelerate their development through a robust prioritization of its investments and activities.

According to WHO, there are 250 million cases of malaria each year, 86% of which are in sub-Saharan Africa, there are also 800,000 deaths/year, mostly among African children under five years.

There has been a major scaling-up in distribution of malaria control measures particularly since the advent of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

It is unclear what the future will hold for disease burden trends. If political will and funding is maintained, the disease burden could drop; but if, as in the past, funding lapses or clinically significant resistance develops to the main antimalarial drugs and insecticides used then the disease burden may rise again.

{NewTimes}

{{When Fr Francis Limo Riwa took a glass of urine at a facility in China which, he claims, healed his backache, the man of the cloth started treating the human waste as the water of life.}}

But now the Catholic priest’s urine-inspired advocacy has kicked up a controversy in the Kenyan region of Meru, with a medical doctor falling short of calling his pursuit a crackpot’s pastime and his church distancing itself from the bizarre therapy.

But the doctor and the church might as well keep their opinions to themselves.

Every Wednesday morning, a group consisting of mainly members of the Charismatic Union throngs Fr Riwa’s Kieru Prayer House for a praise-and-worship interdenominational mass during which they blend faith healing with healthy doses of fresh morning urine.

Fr Riwa has been holding meetings throughout Tigania West District popularising urine therapy, claiming that it cures all ailments, including HIV and Aids.

The cleric has also opened an institution where villagers can troop in and be taught on the ideal urine to take… and the quantity. Fully equipped with modern computers installed with fast Internet access, the ‘University of the People’, as he calls the prayer house, is stocked with various books on urine therapy where villagers are allowed to browse and study on the said cure free of charge.

Fr Riwa says he learnt of the therapy from a Chinese priest 10 years ago while on a tour of the Asian country, but only took it seriously five months ago after “researching and testing it”.

In his words, a glass of his own urine every morning healed his backache and has helped him manage his weight and stay calm.

“I did not tell anyone (of the therapy) for about 100 days as I engaged in further research,” he told us at his Nchiru home, where he runs the St Francis Children’s Village that cares for orphaned and vulnerable girls and street boys.

{{Cure-all}}

His mother, Francesca Riwa, who lives in the outskirts of Moshi, Tanzania, was among his first patients.

“She had gone to Loliondo and yet was not healed of her arthritis,” he says. “She is now well after taking the therapy.”

Loliondo became famous courtesy of another ‘miracle cure-all’ popularised by Tanzanian pastor Babu Ambilikile Mwasapile, who dominated headlines last year as miles-long convoys headed to his rural village laden with hundreds, even thousands of sick people in desperate need of his one-size-fit-all herbal cure.

Several books, including Your Own Perfect Medicine by Martha Christy, Water Of Life by John Armstrong and The Most Powerful Holistic Therapy by Martin Lara, lie on the tables in Fr Riwa’s library, giving his visitors the academic side of his beliefs.

But not every drop of urine is medicinal, he explains, advising that one has to understand the therapy before taking the first sip.

“It is recommended that you take the first urine when you wake up,” says the 54-year-old cleric who was ordained on October 1, 1983.

“You should allow the first few drops to go through the urethra to clean it up, then tap the middle urine and drain the last few drops as it could contain some impurities. You must have had at least four hours of rest for the urine to be of medicinal value.”

He also recommends a balanced diet with plenty of vegetables and fruits for the urine to have a good effect.

A stickler for good diet and regular exercise, Fr Riwa’s diet must include ‘terere’ (amaranth). He does not take red meat, alcohol or tobacco.

His day begins at 4.30am with a four-kilometre jog before taking a mug of porridge whose contents are about 40 per cent amaranth and 60 per cent millet.

The 700 students at the institution must also take a two-kilometre morning jog — and some optional urine.

“I believe in four pillars; prayers, study, sports and work. One must take control of their body. A good diet is paramount, thus one must eat well. It is recommended that if one is taking urine therapy, they should avoid red meat and instead eat white meat with plenty of vegetables and fruits,” says Fr Riwa while taking us round an expansive farm under amaranth and other vegetables.

{{Cautious approval}}

The priest, however, cautions that urine therapy is not an alternative to conventional medicine, especially when one needs specialised treatment such as surgery.

“I believe in conventional medicine. If one is involved in a car accident, I would not recommend that one takes urine. Same as X-ray when one has a fracture.

Urine therapy should be taken with a lot of care because if one has complicated illness like diabetes, HIV or cancer, it is good to consult a physician” he advises.

So where is proof of the efficacy of urine medication? Look no further than the treatment of the wound after female circumcision, says Fr Riwa. This, he says, demonstrates that urine has some antiseptic qualities.

“Communities that circumcise their girls use urine to clean the wound since it has urea and uric acid, which helps heal the gash. Urine is the most pure fluid from the body. It is ultra-filtered in the kidney and only gets dirty in the urethra.

That is why I urge people to let the first few drops fall to clear it. Urine is rich in minerals and enzymes. If your body is missing some minerals, it will re-absorb it from the urine,” goes his freakish science.

Naturally, this off-the-wall indulgence by the man whose business card describes him as the Diocese of Meru Director of Medical Services has rubbed the Bishop of Meru, Salesius Mugambi, the wrong way.

Bishop Mugambi has publicly denounced the priest’s urine therapy, saying Fr Riwa’s unconventional therapy “does not Many view Bishop Mugambi’s caution as having been informed by the fact that the church is afraid of lawsuits that could originate from a botched pee therapy since it is being administered by a priest while on official duty.

“The faithful wanted the bishop to categorically state the church’s stand because some people have been embarrassed by the priest’s paramedical pursuits. Some priests are also uneasy since Fr Riwa sits in the (See’s) medical board,” say a faithful who did not wish to be named discussing church matters.

But Fr Riwa has been preaching his unique therapy together with the bishop’s principal deputy, Vicar General Basilio Njagi.

The Meru Level 5 Hospital medical superintendent Ben Gatino thinks this urine business is simply laughable.

“If the urine did not help the body while it was being extracted from the blood, then how is it beneficial after it has been eliminated from the body?” he asks.

{{Criticism}}

Because of these criticisms, scores of people from Fr Riwa’s prayer unit have rushed to his defense, testifying how they have been healed of various illnesses.

At the church yard off the Kianjai-Ruiri road last week, scores of worshippers were arriving on foot, boda bodas and matatus for the therapy, saying they had heard lengthy testimonies from “beneficiaries” of the remedy.

John Kirema, a former tour operator from Miathene, says it healed his backache, foot odour, and amoebic dysentery.

“I took urine for 10 days and now the problem is gone. I don’t have to use expensive medicine any more. I can now lift something heavy without a problem,” he said.

Kirema is now one of Fr Riwa’s foot soldiers and has been holding sessions with villagers at different places.

“My phone is always engaged. Initially, I had given out my number and asked people to beep me after which I would call them back,” he says.

“But nowadays I have to hold physical meetings to save on cost of airtime. I also use this prayer forum to talk to the faithful who come here to pray and lay their problems to God.”

Elizabeth Karimi, 29, claims she has been healed of a persistent kidney problem which had forced her to drop out of school.

“I kept on experiencing seizures and was frequently in and out of hospitals. I had to drop out of Makuri Girls’ High School and could not go beyond Form Three due to ill health.

I could not perform easy chores without getting tired and was quickly losing weight. I was spending at least Sh2,000 on treatment per week and I was desperate,” she said at the sidelines of the prayer meeting.

Ms Karimi claims she administered the therapy for 21 days and has never gone back to hospital.

“I heard about the therapy and was desperate. Now I can perform easy tasks,” she says.

Fredrick Mwendwa, the administrator at the children’s village, testifies that he was the first patient to take up the therapy and was healed of amoebic dysentery.

So is drinking urine a form of faith-healing? “Not really,” says Fr Riwa, but stresses that “it is real”.

{NMG}

A new respiratory illness – from the same family as the Sars virus – appears not to spread easily, experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) say.

The WHO said on Friday that it appeared the new virus “cannot be easily transmitted from person to person.”

BBC reports that a man 49, from Qatari with the virus is being treated in the UK. The first person known to have had it, in Saudi Arabia, died.

The Sars virus, which emerged in China in 2002, killed hundreds of people.

Both Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and the new, un-named, virus – as well as the common cold virus – belong to the coronavirus family

But this new virus is different from any coronaviruses previously identified in humans.

Both of the patients known to have had the virus experienced kidney failure.

The WHO said it would continue to monitor the situation but was not recommending any travel restrictions for Saudi Arabia or Qatar.

However it said it was working closely with Saudi authorities in advance of the forthcoming Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

The WHO also announced diagnostic tests were being developed by scientists around the world as quickly as possible.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which monitors disease in the European Union, said initial findings suggested the virus may have originated in animals – diseases known as zoonotic.

Writing in the journal Eurosurveillance, they said: “It is quite probably of zoonotic origin and different in behaviour to Sars.”

{{Despite efforts by the Ministry of Health in ensuring health care, Rwanda’s hospitals are facing the problem of good management of medical equipments due to the gap between Bio-medical engineering Technicians (BMET) and hospital Administrators.}}

On September21st, 2012, Theogene Namahungu the Acting Head of Medical Maintenance Centre (MMC) one of the divisions of Rwanda Bio-Medical Centre, revealed that insufficiency of Bio-Medical Engineers hinder progress in health sector.

He was concluding a workshop on Health Technology Management held in Eastern province.

“Many hospitals have medical equipments that are not in good condition and there is no closer collaboration between hospital technicians and the heads of hospitals in ensuring proper functionality of medical equipments”, said Namahungu.

However, Lambert Ntakirutimana, Head of Maintenance service in Ngarama Hospital located in Gatsibo district, Eastern Province has said that Hospital Administrators do not normally understand job of technicians in hospitals adding that they work in isolation yet they have technical skills to impact on functionality of medical equipment to enable health care of patients.

Ntakirutimana added that the training on Health Technology Management with hospital Administrators will help technicians and hospital administrators to understand the importance of managing medical equipment by working as a team and will enable maximum use of health equipment and timely deliverance of health services.

The Belgium Development Agency (BTC) through Institutional Support Program to the Conception and Implementation of a Strategic Health Development Plan for Kigali City (PAPSDSK) managed the partial fund

and the preparations of the training on Health Technology Management in collaboration with Rwanda Bio-Medical Centre, Engineering World Health ,US NGO and with GIZ, the German Development Agency to make sure that both hospital technicians and hospital administrators manage well medical equipment and prioritise the needs of hospitals and clinical services as standard of health care.

{{A 4-year research study on Malaria in Bugesera district has kicked off to determine why there is high prevalance of the disease in that zone of Rwanda.}}

Bugesera district is among the most affected districts with high malaria cases. The research aims at giving direction on malaria control.

Dr. Claver Kayumba, the Acting Director General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre, says, “This is one of the most affected areas with Malaria. The research will be able to identify how Malaria can be eliminated.

Dr. Kayumba added that despite issuing of mosquito nets and spraying insecticides to kill mosquitoes, “we still have malaria cases. The Research team will identify why and what the way forward should be.”

Fredrick Gatera(PHD student) also on the research team, said that there could be many underlying causes of high malaria prevalence in this area.

Gatera noted that the Area has only one health centre serving over 35 villages which could be one of the factors.

“We want to look at the impact of Community Health Workers (CHW’s) and their delivery of community health services. While they’ve done a good job, there’s need to evaluate their impact and see if they can use them as key first line diagnosis and treatment options since there’s only one health centre in Ruhuha sector.”

The Research team also says, they intends to identify if CHW’s can mobilize community because community involvement is very crucial in disease control.

{Additional Information NewTimes }