Category: Health

The statement released last night also shows that 190 cases have been found out of 16811 sample tests, 359 have recovered while 16 patients are critically ill.

The statement released last night also shows that 190 cases have been found, 359 have recovered while 16 patients are critically ill. The majority of new cases were found in Kigali: 54, Karongi: 34, Kayonza: 17, Nyamagabe: 16 and Nyagatare: 14.

Rwanda confirmed the first COVID-19 patient on 14th March 2020. Since then, 16 811 people have been tested positive out of 926 187 sample tests of whom 10272 have recovered, 3597 are active cases while 226 have succumbed to the virus.

Coronavirus symptoms include coughing, flu, and difficulty in breathing. The virus is said to be transmitted through the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract.

Rwandans are urged to adhere to COVID-19 health guidelines, washing hands frequently using soaps and safe water, wearing face masks and respecting social distancing.

Figures from the World Health organization (WHO) show that Prostate Cancer takes lives of 921 out of 1304 women developing the disease every year in Rwanda.

According to Dr Osvaldo Rodriguez, a Gynecologist at Baho International Hospital who has been at the facility for six years, women rarely go for cancer checkups yet some live with it unknowingly at early stage.

He says, Baho International Hospital applies modern cancer diagnosing using scanning cameras ideally spotting the affected part of the body.

Dr Rodriguez explains that available equipment are particularly used to screen cervical cancer and breast cancer and uses other reliable methods to diagnose other sorts of cancer.

He also highlights major causes of breast and prostate cancer and advises on preventive measures.

“Engaging in sexual relations before the age of 22, doing sex with more than one man or having a husband engaging in sexual relations with other women, poor hygiene and weak immune system are among other causes of cervical cancer,” says Rodriguez.

Contrary to the cervical cancer, Rodriguez reveals that breast cancer is hereditary.

“You have cancer risks if there is a relative who caught or succumbed to cancer. This happens especially in the ages of 40,” he says.

Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth of breast cells. Cancer occurs as a result of mutations, or abnormal changes, in the genes responsible for regulating the growth of cells and keeping them healthy. It attacks both sexes even though men have lower risks of developing breast cancer.

Dr Rodriguez advises women to pay special attention to all body changes that could be a way towards early detection and prevention.

As for prostate cancer, he says, people should rush for checkups to find out if no cancer is developing in their reproductive organs.

“A woman having engaged in sexual relations for the first time should go for prostate cancer screening not later than six months. Moreover, everyone is required to do cancer checkup at least every year to be treated early,” he advises.

“It is unfortunate that few people come for cancer screening yet we have all it takes to help them. The cancer is treated when detected early. They should develop the habit for regular checkups because prevention is better than cure,” added Rodriguez.

The concern was raised on Tuesday as the Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), Dr Gerardine Mukeshimana appeared before parliament explain persistent problems in agriculture.

MP Athanasie Nyiragwaneza observed that they have met farmers running short of seedlings despite the annual approval of the budget to support agriculture which also caters for the provision of fruit tree seeds.

“Funds to make fruit seedlings accessible have been provided but we have been finding people having no seedlings. It took a lot of funds but digging deeper into root causes of the problem we find that some people are not informed,” she said.

Nyiragwaneza revealed that the money to provide seedlings was not delivered to farmers in some areas while others who got the money planted few and used the rest for other purposes.

MP Léonard Ndagijimana reiterated that even few planted seedlings are not properly taken care of.

He pointed out some areas where pests destroyed mango trees without interventions.

“Fruit seedlings are planted but there is no follow up. Why are we discussing to plant more yet existing ones are deteriorating? Mangoes in town, Eastern and Southern Province are affected by diseases and no one is following up. They suffer from diseases of small white insects preventing absorption of nutrients,” he said.

MPs also decried concentration of much effort in exported fruits while there are others in Rwanda that can contribute to eradicate malnutrition.

Minister Mukeshimana explained that a lot was achieved over the past three years increasing the quantity of edible fruits especially avocado, mangoes and Macadamia.

She said that 79, 900 mango trees, 158 512 avocado trees were planted in 2016/2017 adding that 45 488 avocado trees, 124 100 mango trees and 14 000 macadamia trees were planted in 2017/2018.

Dr Mukeshimana attributed the scarcity of fruit trees to high cost of grafted plants.

“Grafted plants are still expensive because it takes time to reach maturity. For instance, an avocado requires at least between 9-12 months while macadamia takes 18 months to have the seedling ready for planting,” she said.

Dr Mukeshimana has however revealed a plan to follow up seedlings for edible fruits and establishing rules for standard nurseries.

She said each family will be mobilized to plant at least three varieties of edible fruits to combat malnutrition. A total of 8 million fruits trees are expected to be planted under this countrywide program within two years.

Figures from MINAGRI indicate that 150,000 avocado trees and 150,000 macadamia trees are expected to be planted in 2019/2020.

According to several researches that have been carried out over time, exercising body diminishes the chances of catching over 20 diseases, including high blood pressure, diabetes, cancers and cardiovascular diseases.​

IGIHE has compiled some of the must-have tools for those who want to enroll in exercising and workouts, or those who are using wrong tools.

{{A bottle of water
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Nearly two thirds of the human body is water; 73% of the heart and mind is water. Water is an essential nutrient that is involved in every function of the body.

Moreover, for anyone who takes part in sports, it is important to have a bottle of water. With runs of an hour or longer, you will benefit from the water for rehydration and feeding the muscles.

You should also know that drinking water is not only for those who take part in sports; your body depends on water to survive. Every cell, tissue, and organ in your body needs water to work properly. Water is needed for overall good health, and as doctors recommend, you should do it at least twice a day

{{Jumping rope
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Another must-have for sportsmen and women is a jumping cord as it is a great calorie-burner and body-strengthener. The rope is easily flexible and portable, so you can easily take it with you as you are going for sports or a gym.

It is an important tool for slimming veins as it warms up the blood and facilitates it to flow around the body easily. Before starting other forms of sports like running, it is better to start by jumping ropes, because it warms the blood and prepares the body for other exercises.

As the Daily Science once stated, jumping rope for 10 minutes is more efficient and effective than running for 8 minutes.

{{Running belts and smartphone holders
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If you like to take part in sports which mainly involves running, cycling, etc; you should have a running belt in your workout kit. This special tool lets you comfortably carry exactly what you need i.e a water bottle.

And while smartphones are undeniably handy to have with you to use running apps to track runs and stream music or podcasts to Bluetooth headphones; keeping them somewhere becomes a problem. So, for a better and comfortable run, you should not forget the smartphone holder that goes with the running belt. Very practical indeed!

{{Yoga mat
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Whether you’re a seasoned sportsman or just a beginner, Yoga mats are essential for a smooth workout. They are comfortable, supportive, and easy to maintain. You will not miss them in gyms, as they prevent you sore muscles in the morning of your post-workouts.

{{Weight lifting gloves
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Weight lifting gloves improve your grip on weights. Hands get sweaty during a workout. When they do, your hands can slip. This can be annoying if you are doing pull ups and keep falling off the bar. It is also dangerous if you are holding heavy weights over your body. Weight lifting gloves make workouts safer

The Chinese food is scheduled to be the next episode of RTV’s food program Foodtube.

The shooting took place at the Chinese embassy in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city.

Chinese Ambassador to Rwanda Rao Hongwei introduced the significance of Chinese cuisine, the culture of Chinese cuisine and explained the reasons why Chinese cuisine are prominent all over the world.

Tao Yukun, the chef of the Chinese embassy, cooked various dishes of Chinese cuisine for the program, including Ginger Chicken, Lamb and Mashed Potatoes, Pickled Kale and Mushroom, Spicy Beef Shreds, Crispy Drumsticks, Chinese Stroganoff, among others. Tao also shared his cooking methods and experience with RTV.

The food program has been introduced for many purposes, including helping people to know exactly about diets and providing tips for people in terms of eating, said Kennedy Munyangeyo, the head of RTV.

RTV’s audience requested for watching Chinese food on the program, said Munyangeyo. There are Chinese restaurants everywhere in Kigali and people want the program to help them cook pure Chinese food at home, he said.

If you don’t already eat cucumbers, well, maybe you will after reading about its health benefits. Take a look at some of them…

1. They are a good source of vitamin B. Since cucumbers contain about 95 percent of water, you get rehydrated when you consume them.

2. Cucumbers make your skin smoother and younger while boosting your hair growth.

3. Cucumbers have been employed in recent years in battles against cancer.

4. It helps in curing hangover.

5. Cucumbers help keep your breathe fresh while preventing bad breath.

6. Cucumbers aid easy digestion and in weight control.

7. Cucumbers reduce blood cholesterol and control blood pressure in the human body.

8. Cucumbers encourage healthy joints and give relief from arthritis and gout pains.

9. They help keep the heart healthy.

10. Just like most fruits, Cucumbers contain vitamin C.

{{Source: elcrema.com}}

In fact, the happiness you get from instant gratification — eating that giant cupcake or buying that fabulous pair of shoes — may have the same physical impact on your genes as depression or stress, according to a groundbreaking study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“I’ve been studying the physical and psychological impact of positive emotion for 20 years, (and) the pattern of results we found with this study completely surprised me,” said the lead author, Barbara Fredrickson.

Fredrickson is a professor of psychology and the principal investigator of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab at the University of North Carolina.

“I’ve known anecdotally that positive emotions impact us on a cellular level, but seeing these results have given us proof that there is a real difference in the kinds of happiness we feel and its potential long-term consequences.”

{{How shopping makes you happy
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The experts divide well-being into two different types: hedonic and eudaimonic. These are fancy words to describe happiness that comes from two different sources.

Hedonic well-being comes from an experience a person seeks out that gives them pleasure. As study co-author Steve Cole describes it, it’s “having lots of positive experiences that come from, say, eating great food or smelling beautiful flowers.”

Eudaimonic well-being is a kind of happiness that comes not from consuming something but from a sustained effort at working toward something bigger than you. In other words, it’s working toward a sense of meaning in your life or contributing to some kind of cause. Think of the happiness you see on the Dalai Lama or Mother Teresa’s face.

While the two kinds of happiness are conceptually different, they can and do influence each other, so it has been hard for scientists to measure which kind has had a greater positive influence on someone’s physical or psychological well-being.

{{9 simple steps to happiness
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Cole, a professor of medicine, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA, studies the biological pathways by which social environments influence gene expression.

“I know what misery looks like on a genetic level,” Cole said. “I can look at white blood cells and see a physical response to stress and misery, but we knew very little about how — if at all — positive psychology gets disseminated to the body. That’s what this study does.”

If you experience misery and stress, your genes react to it. Essentially, there is an increased expression of genes involved in inflammation and a decreased antiviral response. People who are subjected to long periods of stress have white blood cells that make slightly more pro-inflammatory proteins on a constant basis.

Inflammation is the first line of defense against infection, so that would be a very useful kind of protein to have; however, something that causes your body to create inflammation over a sustained amount of time can cause collateral damage to healthy tissue.

Colorado College microbiologist Phoebe Lostroh, who is not affiliated with the study but is familiar with its contents, explains it this way: “The immune system of someone stressed out is not at the normal level of green on the terrorism alert scale. Instead, it’s on yellow or orange, if not all the way on red. So there’s this low level of constant inflammation, which is not healthy.”

{{Use your money to buy happier time}}

Low levels of inflammation can cause exhaustion. They also increase a person’s risk for cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s and can damage various tissues wherever the white blood cells are causing inflammation where they shouldn’t be, Lostroh said.

With this understanding in mind, the scientists in the new study took blood from 80 healthy adults who were screened for the two types of happiness. None of them reported being depressed or stressed.

Scientists extracted the RNA from their blood and took a closer look at the inflammatory and antiviral responses.

The study found that people who experienced the well-being that comes from self-gratification had high inflammation and low antiviral and antibody gene expression, a result similar to what people who are depressed or experience great stress have.

{{With CNN}}

You’re not alone. About 76% of adults may experience some type of hangover after a drinking session, according to a study published in the journal Addiction in 2008.

Hangover symptoms include fatigue, dehydration, a headache or muscle aches, dizziness, shakiness, rapid heartbeat — you get the idea. It’s the worst.

“Just in the previous decade, we are seeing more sophisticated clinical and preclinical research advance our understanding of all that is involved in a hangover,” said Laura Veach, director of specialized counseling intervention services and associate professor at Wake Forest School of Medicine.

“Briefly, we have indications that the immune system and an inflammation response is involved when that hangover alarm goes out, from the central nervous system, when the blood alcohol concentration finally gets to zero,” she said.

“The absence of alcohol in the body at that point is often where the hangover symptoms are at their worst.”
So what can be done to both prevent and treat hangovers? It starts with being mindful of what you’re drinking and eating.
Tips to help prevent a hangover

Of course, the best way to ward off a hangover is to not drink, or to drink in moderation, and to be aware of the risks that come with consuming a lot of alcohol.

“Most of the trauma patients I see on a daily basis, who have alcohol-related traumatic injuries, have not heard of risky drinking guidelines,” Veach said.

Yet some studies suggest that the type of alcohol you consume also may affect the severity of your hangover, albeit slightly, according to a small study published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research in 2009.
Compounds associated with alcohol fermentation, called congeners, are linked to increased hangover symptoms. They are found in larger amounts in dark liquors, such as bourbon and whiskey, than in light-colored liquors, such as vodka or lighter beers. So a darker drink might result in a harsher hangover.

“At least two studies show more severe hangover symptoms occur when drinking liquors with very high congener content, but more research is needed since, for example, not all bourbon whiskey is made in the same process,” Veach said.

“Findings indicate that overall, consuming greater volumes of alcohol are a clear indicator of hangover risks,” she said, adding that simply being aware of the link between hangover risk and drinking greater amounts of alcohol may help mitigate risky drinking patterns and hangovers.

Also, experts recommend not drinking on an empty stomach, which could worsen a hangover.

“Food helps to slow down the rate at which your body absorbs alcohol,” said Dr. Arielle Levitan, a Chicago-based internal medicine physician and co-author of the book “The Vitamin Solution.”

“Eating may provide you with some additional electrolytes and fluids, which will add to your hydration level,” she said. “Alcohol depletes key vitamins and minerals in your body.”

{{Tips to treat a hangover
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Since alcohol can impair your body’s absorption of certain nutrients, heavy drinking has been linked in some studies to a decline in levels of vitamin A, B vitamins, zinc, potassium and other key nutrients — but eating the right foods can play a role in replacing them.

Vitamin A can be found in eggs, meat, fish and orange- and yellow-colored vegetables, such as sweet potatoes. Proteins, such as chicken or fish, contain B vitamins. Asparagus is rich in zinc and a B vitamin called folate.

Animal proteins are a good source of zinc, as well as nuts, whole grains and beans. Avocados or bananas can offer a boost of potassium.

It’s also important to stay hydrated, said Dr. Romy Block, a Chicago-based specialist in endocrine and metabolism medicine who co-authored “The Vitamin Solution.”

“If you wake up with a hangover … drink generous amounts of water right away,” Block said.
The US National Library of Medicine even recommends having a glass of water in between alcoholic drinks for preventing a hangover. In turn, this may help you drink less alcohol and decrease dehydration.

Veach said that having another drink as a hangover remedy is a common misconception.

“Taking that morning-after drink may temporarily delay the hangover, but when the alcohol level again hits zero, the body will react in ways that we label a hangover,” she said.

{{With CNN}}

The UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Mr. Fodé Ndiaye, speaking to journalists after donating blood, stressed the importance of the activity and how it aligns with the mandate of the United Nations in Rwanda.

“Saving lives is part of our mandate. This is why we have dedicated this day to make sure that UN staff donate their blood in order to save the lives of people” Ndiaye said.
In total, 105 UN staff donated blood, which will potentially help save more than three hundred lives.

{{Meeting with One UN resident Coordinator
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The morning of Friday, October 27th, saw UN staff from all agencies in the country gather in the WFP Main Conference Hall to officially meet and interact with the Resident Coordinator, for the first time since he assumed office in July 2017. The mood was jovial all round as the Resident Coordinator began by reciting the message of the UN Secretary General on the occasion to mark the UN Day 2017, and thereafter UN Heads of Agencies took turns explaining to staff what the UN reforms mean and what sort of impact they are expected to have at the country level.

Federation of UN Staff Associations Chairperson Olivia Mukarushema of FAO then spoke on behalf of staff, thanking the Resident Coordinator for making the time to meet all staff and offer them a chance to interact freely.

She also seized the opportunity to make a rallying call to all staff – not just Heads of Agencies and senior managers – to answer to the call for donations to support surviving family members of fallen UN staff, tragically lost during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

She also added that the One UN family should support the Agaciro Development Fund, Rwanda’s sovereign wealth fund, as this is a tangible means of helping Rwandans help themselves.

{{Umuganda }}

The concept of Umuganda originates from a Kinyarwanda word meaning “timber used to construct traditional houses”, and can be translated as ‘coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome’.

This is exactly what transpired on Vuganyana Hill as UN staff mingled freely with scores of residents of the area and managed to plant over 10,000 tree seedlings – all within one morning’s work.

Thereafter, all participants of Umuganda braved intermittent light rain showers to congregate and have a meeting to discuss issues pertinent to the community and latest developments.

Thereafter, the UN Resident Coordinator pledged a donation of $600 on behalf of all UN agencies in Rwanda, which will help pay for “Mutuelles de Sante” – a local health insurance scheme – for 170 of the most vulnerable in society.