UGANDA LAUNCHES ORAL HIV TEST KITS.

Kampala, UGANDA:

You no longer need to prick your finger or draw blood from your body to test for HIV. Uganda has endorsed a new self-test kit that will enable one test for HIV anywhere outside a health facility.

All you need to do is press the flat pad of a test stick/device firmly against your gum. Thereafter, you will move the test stick along the lower and upper gums once. Then, you will place the test device in a tube and wait for 20 minutes. The gums are rich in antibodies produced by people living with HIV.

The gums of people living with HIV, according to health experts, are rich in antibodies produced by the virus. Antibodies are proteins made by one’s body to attack foreign substances such as viruses and bacteria.

The HIV antibodies are not available in saliva and it is not required for the test, the acting director-general of health services, Dr. Henry Mwebesa, said. This was during an event to endorse the tool at Hotel Protea in Kampala yesterday.

If red lines appear on the test stick, there are high chances you are HIV-positive; whether the second line is faint or not. If only one red line appears, it means you are HIV-negative.

The kit is known as OraQuick. If the test indicates positive results, you are advised to visit a health facility for a confirmatory test before you can be enrolled in antiretroviral therapy (ARVs).

The test should be performed 15 minutes before eating or 20 minutes before using mouth cleaning products. The results should not be read 40 minutes after the test has been performed because they would be invalid. An estimated 1.3 million Ugandans are living with HIV/AIDS. Of these, 1.2 million people are said to be on ARVs.

The health ministry permanent secretary, Dr. Diana Atwine, said she is optimistic the new device will encourage an estimated 100,000 or more HIV-positive Ugandans, who have never tested, to know their serostatus.

Information from the ministry shows that the number of clients seeking HIV-testing services at health facilities is still the lowest among men and adolescents. The HIV prevalence rate is 6.2%, down from 7.3% in 2011.

It is only three months to 2020 when Uganda is expected to bring the HIV/ AIDS epidemic under control. The country also expects to end the disease as a public health threat by 2030.

Social harm ruled out Atwine said the new kit is the only self-test device recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The kit, according to the health ministry, was assessed by WHO on the possibility of its HIV positive results triggering social harm on patients and accuracy, among others, and it passed the test.

That notwithstanding, Atwine said the providers of the device should provide clients with telephone numbers of healthcare professionals they can get in touch with in case they establish they are HIV-positive.

This, she said, will prevent possibilities of the results triggering social harm such as cases of suicide. Mwebesa said the kits currently sold to clients that rely on blood samples for self-tests are fake and contrary to the national HIV testing algorithm. Any HIV test that involves blood samples, he added, should be performed in a health facility by medical personnel.

The OraQuick device is manufactured by a US company, OraSure. Human Diagnostics Uganda Ltd is the local representative of the manufacturer. Cost A single device, meant for one person, costs between sh23,000 and sh25,000 in various pharmacies. However, it is free in public health facilities.

The accuracy of OraQuick device is estimated at 99.6%. The ministry said the devices have been introduced in health facilities in 79 districts, and they will be made available in other local governments soon.

Comments

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,” Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of compl...

MALARIA VACCINE PROVES HIGHLY EFFECTIVE IN BURKINA FASO.

A vaccine against malaria has been shown to be highly effective in trials in Africa, holding out the real possibility of slashing the death toll of a disease that kills 400,000 mostly small children every year. The vaccine, developed by scientists at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, showed up to 77% efficacy in a trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso over 12 months. The hunt for a malaria vaccine has been going on the best part of a century. One, the Mosquirix vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, has been through lengthy clinical trials but is only partially effective, preventing 39% of malaria cases and 29% of severe malaria cases among small children in Africa over four years. It is being piloted by the World Health Organization in parts of Kenya, Ghana and Malawi. The Oxford vaccine is the first to meet the WHO goal of 75% efficacy against the mosquito-borne parasite disease. Larger trials are now beginning, involving 4,800 children in four countries. Prof ...

NAMIBIA VOWS TO GRAB FARMS FROM WHITE FARMERS.

Okahandja, NAMIBIA: Vibrant rows of neatly lined plants grow on a patch once trampled by the cattle of a large commercial farm run by a family of German descent in Namibia. From that 2,400 square-meter rectangle of sand in the northern Otjozondjupa region, Kornelius Hamasab, 69, now produces spinach, onions and tomatoes. Hamasab is among the 16 percent of black Namibians owning arable land in the semi-desert southwest African nation. White Namibians, who are descended from former colonizers Germany and South Africa and make up six percent of the population, own 70 percent of the land. "It doesn't seem right to me," said Hamasab, who acquired his land as compensation five years after the farm downsized into a guesthouse in 2000 and laid off its staff. "The government should do something about it," he added, while his family picked and rinsed collared greens to be sold in the capital Windhoek, 150 kilometers away. Namibia adopted ...

McDONALD MARIGA EXPLAINS WHY HE DUMPS SOCCER FOR POLITICS.

Nairobi, KENYA: McDonald Mariga has announced he has quit active football in a decision that brings down the curtains on a glittering career spanning 16-years. Instead, the 32-year old has joined active politics and is set to contest for the Kibra constituency seat in the forthcoming by-elections in November. He was on Monday evening unveiled as Jubilee Party's candidate for the mini-poll. Earlier on Monday, he had gone to the party's offices in Parklands for the interviews accompanied by dozens of his supporters donning his political party's red and yellow colours t-shirts and waving placards which bore messages supporting his candidature. Former Kenyan international McDonald Mariga with supporters at Jubilee Party headquarters on Sept. 2, 2019. Image: Citizen. "I have retired from football and have decided to go and give back to the community," he told journalists. Son of football great, retired coach and adminis...

4000 ZIMBABWEANS TO GET KENYAN CITIZENSHIP.

Nairobi, KENYA: The dream of recognition for at least 4 000 members of the Zimbabwean community living in Kenya came closer to reality at last as the government began issuing them with birth certificates. For years, the ‘Shonas’, whose forefathers originated from Zimbabwe, have lived in Kenya without legal documents, denying them basic rights including education. While they still do not have identity cards, which would make them legally Kenyans, they celebrated this as a step closer to citizenship. In front of invited guests, a group of women sang a Kikuyu song in praise of those who have made it possible for them to reach this milestone. Nothing unusual about that; only the group are not members of Kenya’s Kikuyu community. They are Shonas whose forefathers originated from Zimbabwe. In 1961, the first members of the Shona community arrived in Kenya as missionaries and settled in the central part of the country without any form of identification. Th...

A MODEL SOLD HER VIRGINITY FOR $3 MILLION TO THE ARABIAN BILLIONAIRE.

A model claims she has auctioned her virginity for nearly $3million (£2.2million) - and says it is a 'dream come true' for her. Giselle, 19, who is based in the US, says she decided to sell her virginity through the notorious German-based website Cinderella Escorts. The agency claims the highest bidder was a businessman from Abu Dhabi, with a bid of 2.5m Euros ($2.9m/£2.2m), while a Hollywood actor was said to have made the second highest bid of 2.4m Euros ($2.8m/£2.1m). Giselle says she will use the money to pay for her college fees, buy a new house, and go traveling around the world. Watch the Video below: The model said: 'I am happy to have decided to sell my virginity through Cinderella Escorts. 'I would never have dreamt that the bid would rise so high and we would have reached 2.5million Euros. This is a dream come true.' Giselle said she was 'shocked' by the outrage against women selling her virginity, describing it as...

THE REASON WHY GRACE MUGABE FILES FOR DIVORCE.

Grace Mugabe files for Divorce after Robert Mugabe resignation – Grace Mugabe Wants Divorce After Mugabe Offered To Send Grace To Exile In Order To Remain As President. Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe Files For Divorce. Zimbabwean First lady, Grace Mugabe is leaving her twenty one year marriage over concerns about her role as an irresponsible former First Lady of Zimbabwe and a bane on the nation’s economy. The world is in shock today after sources close to the Mugabe family confirmed that Grace Mugabe has filed for divorce on Wednesday. The South African born woman has voiced concerns over her role as the former First Lady of Zimbabwe, claiming that it’s about time she enjoys some peaceful life and she is not prepared to be ridiculed for the years ahead, her ostracism and her husband’s resignation as the leader of Zimbabwe have gradually grown into life threatening headache. The South African born woman has voiced concerns over her role as the former First Lady of Zimba...

POPE FRANCIS COMPETES WITH PABLO ESCOBAR FOR REVERENCE.

Medellín (Colombia) (AFP): In her hair salon, Yamile Zapata is taking advantage of Pope Francis's visit to sell key rings with his face on it. But that's not where the real money is in Medellin. Most of the gifts she sells in this Colombian city bear the mustachioed face of its own saint and anti-hero: Pablo Escobar, late boss of the cocaine cartel immortalized in the hit Netflix series "Narcos." While Francis was ministering and teaching as a Jesuit priest in the 1980s, Escobar was killing hundreds of people and trafficking billions of dollars' worth of hard drugs. "Everyone wants a pope souvenir right now. But Pablo sells better," said Zapata, 34, as the city prepared for Francis's open-air papal mass Saturday. Souvenirs with the images of Pope Francis and late Pablo Escobar for sale at a store in Medellin. Francis offered words of sympathy for victims of drug-related violence in the city. But in spite of it all, some in Medellin r...

STUDY SHOWS "DTP VACCINE" KILLS MORE BABIES THAN IT SAVES.

A shocking 2017 study published in Ebiomedicine (a peer-reviewed open access online-only medical journal) reveals that the DTP vaccine kills ten times more babies than it saves. Researcher Søren Wengel Mogensen examined the mortality rates of infants between the ages of 5 and 5 months who were given early vaccinations for DTP (Diptheria-Tetanus-Pertussis) and OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine). They found that there was a 10-fold mortality rate compared to infants who did not receive the vaccine: Results Among 3–5-month-old children, having received DTP (± OPV) was associated with a mortality hazard ratio (HR) of 5.00 (95% CI 1.53–16.3) compared with not-yet-DTP-vaccinated children. Differences in background factors did not explain the effect. The negative effect was particularly strong for children who had received DTP-only and no OPV (HR = 10.0 (2.61–38.6)). All-cause infant mortality after 3 months of age increased after the introduction of these vaccines (HR = 2...

9 BUTCHERIES CLOSED BY SELLING MEAT PRESERVED BY VAMALIN (CHEMICAL FOR PRESERVING DEAD BODIES).

Kampala Capital City Authority law enforcement team have carried out an operation in which two people have been arrested and 9 butcheries closed over poor hygiene and use of toxic chemicals to preserve meat. The operation was carried out this morning in Kalerwe and Ntinda following the several complainants from the public. Peter Kauju the Kcca spokesperson says 9 butcheries were found unhygienic and two people were arrested after they found them with some deadly chemicals believed to be used to preserve dead bodies. Kauju warned that the operation will continue in the entire city to avoid any elements where people are using deadly chemicals to preserve meat. Kauju adds that the two people arrested will appear in court of law. Recently, there was a public outcry after reports came out that meat sellers in Kampala are using Vamalin used to preserve dead bodies in preserving meat. This followed after a pregnant mother recently lost battle in one of the city...

Kioo17 Journal

Search This Blog