KAMPALA - One thousand healthcare workers have received HIV/AIDS training at the Infectious Disease Institute (IDI), makerere University. Trainees completed modules on paediatric HIV/AIDS, mother-to-child HIV transmission and research. The IDI director, Prof Keith McAdam said the trainees are from 23 African countries. IDI is a regional centre for HIV/AIDS treatment and training. It is supported by Pfizer Inc, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others. It is an independent institute of Makerere University.
Elderly assisted
MUKONO - Over 100 sick elderly persons will get medical treatment, the executive director, Reach One Touch One Ministries (ROTOM) Edmund Mugayehwenkyi has said. ROTOM, an NGO, which started two years ago to help elderly people who have no families or many orphans, caters for over 120 senior citizens. Mugayehwenkyi said during the recent ground breaking ceremony that the centre. It is funded by the Colorado Community Church, USA.
Pregnant package
LIRA - UGANDA Red Cross Society has launched a sh30m Mama bag project to support 2,350 pregnant mothers in internally displaced peoples (IDP) camps. The items include soap, cotton wool, razorblades, comb and petroleum jelly for babies were launched on June 29 at Agweng primary school for Orit, Agweng, Ayami and corner Ogur Erute north camps. In Ogwete IDP camp, about 300 pregnant mothers were given kits.
Highest rate of STDs
MBARARA - The district tops in Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) with a prevalence rate of 15% and that is why the Ministry of Health has chosen it to be the pilot for the implementation of out Based Aid, Christine Namayanja, the programme director of Marie Stopes Uganda, said. The project will benefit from a 4.094m Euros (sh8bn) grant that the government got from Germany. Patients will buy vouchers from drug shops and pharmacies at sh1,500 and take the vouchers to selected medical centres where they will get STDs diagnosis and treatment.
Environmental risks
WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION - Preventable environmental hazards from dirty water to toxic substances cause 13 million deaths annually, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said last week. WHO states environmental exposures cause 24% of global disease. Yet childhood killers such as malaria could be averted with improved clean water, better sanitary standards and less use of polluting fuels, according to WHO’s study, Preventing Disease Through Healthy Environments. The report estimated that better environmental management could save four million lives, including two million children under five years who would die from diarrhoea and respiratory diseases.
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