Category: Health Care

Facebook says it will no longer allow advertisers to target those 18 and under based on their interests and activity on other sites.

The new policy, which also applies to Instagram and Facebook Messenger, still allows targeting of teens, but only based on age, gender and location.

Cutoff ages may vary by country as Facebook says the new policy will begin in a few weeks.

"We already give people ways to tell us that they would rather not see ads based on their interests or on their activities on other websites and apps, such as through controls within our ad settings,” Facebook said in a statement announcing the new policy. “But we've heard from youth advocates that young people may not be well equipped to make these decisions. We agree with them, which is why we're taking a more precautionary approach in how advertisers can reach young people with ads."

While the new policy might be a win for advocacy groups who said targeting teens posed potential dangers, Facebook said it was going ahead with a plan to create an Instagram for kids.

Attorneys general from 40 states have asked Facebook to scrap the idea.

Facebook says the idea would offer parents more control over their kids’ activity.

Source: Voice of America

European Union leaders said Tuesday that 70% of adult residents have now received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, hitting the target they set for the end of July.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said 57% of all adults in the EU are now fully vaccinated. She said these numbers put Europe among the world leaders.

Von der Leyen said that, after falling behind early in its vaccination program, the EU’s “catch-up process has been very successful — but we need to keep up the effort.”

She said the Delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 “is very dangerous. I therefore call on everyone — who has the opportunity — to be vaccinated. For their own health and to protect others.” She said the EU will continue to provide sufficient volumes of vaccine.

The Reuters news agency reports the EU hopes to have 70% of all adults fully vaccinated by the end of the summer and the current statistics indicate that goal is within reach.

From her Twitter account, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides called on all citizens to “trust the science” and get vaccinated to protect themselves and those around them.

Source: Voice of America

The Batwa community in Kigezi Sub-region are up in arms against the government for not including them among the most vulnerable categories of people to receive Covid-19 relief funds.

Last Friday, the government embarked on disbursing the relief cash that will see the vulnerable people each receive Shs100,000 on their mobile phones.

The government also released the categories of vulnerable people, who include bus/ taxi drivers, conductors, baggage carriers, wheelbarrow pushers, barmen, boda boda riders and teachers and support staff in private schools.

However, this has not gone down well with Batwa communities who accuse government of sidelining them yet they are vulnerable.

Ms Alice Nyamihanda, one of the leaders of the Batwa community in Kisoro District, at the weekend said they had not registered for Covid-19 relief funds yet they live in poor conditions.

Besides, she added, most Batwa do not even own a mobile phone and neither do they have National Identity cards.

"The plight of not owning a mobile phone is common among the Batwa living in Mikingo Village adjacent to Kisoro Magistrate's Court, and government should involve Batwa leaders in such matters," Ms Nyamihanda, who is also the finance director of Kisoro Lay Adventist Development Organisation (KLADO), said.

She added that some Batwa living in Mikingo Village, Kisoro Municipality, did not have water.

"The Batwa, after going for several weeks without water in their donated tanks due to the dry spell in Kisoro since June, decided to use sewage water for survival," Ms Nyamihanda said.

Originally forest dwellers, the estimated 6,200 Batwa, as per the 2014 population and housing census, have been dispossessed of their land by conservation agencies, and cultivators. They now live as squatters on private and public land in the south-western districts of Bundibugyo, Kabale, Kisoro, Rubanda, Kanungu, and Rukungiri.

The executive director of KLADO, Dr David Bakunzi Barere, said their organisation is currently providing basic needs to Batwa in eight sub-counties in Kisoro, which include nutritional support, backyard gardening and house to house medical care as the public health facilities are currently stretched by Covid-19 related cases.

"Currently, we are covering more than 205 households with about 550 members. Since 2020, KLADO has supplied more than 1,000kg of posho and beans to the Batwa as food relief but this is not enough for them as Kisoro has more than 3,000 Batwa that need constant support," he said.

Dr Bakunzi urged the government to intervene and find land and resettle the Batwa so that they can also start fending for themselves.

"Meanwhile the government should think about this group that has not benefitted from almost any of the government projects, most especially in the rural communities," he said.

The district chairperson, Mr Abel Bizimana, said they are yet to see the Gender ministry come to support the Batwa despite the President directing them on the matter.

"They have never come down to study and give government a report. I petitioned the President about this issue when I led a delegation to State House Entebbe a few years ago," he said,

However, the district community development officer, Mr Sam Niyonzima, said the Batwa people in Michingo settlement were last Monday registered to benefit from the Covid-19 relief funds.

"There are other 23 Batwa communities in the rural area that government should support; some are in a despicable state," Mr Niyonzima said.

Mr Bizimana also confirmed that the Batwa are using sewage water because the water system earlier established for them was cut off because of non-payment of bills. He appealed to the government for support.

Source: The Monitor

South Korea recorded a record number of new coronavirus infections for a third straight day, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Saturday.

The country also recorded its highest-ever number of cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, in the 24-hour period ending Friday, with 1,378 infections. The previous record, set Thursday, was 1,316 new COVID-19 cases, the KDCA said.

Overall, South Korea has had 166,722 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,038 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.

To combat the rise in cases, South Korea said, beginning Monday, it would enact its toughest coronavirus controls ever. Those measures include advising people to stay home as much as possible and to limit social gatherings to a total of four people before 6 p.m. and no more than two people after 6 p.m., according to a Reuters report.

The Johns Hopkins Vaccine Tracker said the country of 52 million has administered more than 21 million vaccine doses. The KDCA said 11% of South Korea’s population is completely vaccinated while about 30% have received at least one dose of vaccine.

Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, which is dealing with an outbreak of the delta variant of the coronavirus, recorded its largest rise in new cases of locally acquired infections – with 50 new cases in a 24-hour period, according to Reuters.

Overall, there are now 489 cases of the highly infectious delta variant in the state, which has a population of more than 8 million people. The capital city, Sydney, which has a population of 5 million, is in the third week of a hard lockdown that is set to end July 16.

"The only conclusion we can draw is that things are going to get worse before they get better," state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told a televised briefing on Saturday, according to Reuters. "I think it is pretty clear that unless we reduce that level of people in the community that are infectious, we won't be able to turn things around as quickly as we can or as quickly as we should."

Australia has been largely successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 due to aggressive lockdown efforts, posting just 31,017 total confirmed cases and 910 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. However, it has proved vulnerable to fresh outbreaks due to a slow rollout of its vaccination campaign and confusing requirements involving the two-shot AstraZeneca vaccine, which is the dominant vaccine in its stockpile.

Overall, Australia has administered nearly 9 million doses of vaccine to its population of more than 25 million people, according to Johns Hopkins.

Indonesia also is struggling with a rise in coronavirus cases, including the highly infectious delta variant, and has sought emergency supplies, including oxygen cylinders and ventilators.

"I asked for 100% of oxygen go to medical purposes first, meaning that all industrial allocations must be transferred to medical," Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the government minister in charge of Indonesia’s pandemic response, said. "We are racing against time, we have to work fast."

Overall, Indonesia, the world's fourth-most populous country, has reported more than 2.4 million infections and 64,631 fatalities from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins. Those figures are widely believed to be a vast undercount due to low testing and poor tracing measures, according to an Associated Press report.

Other countries are also seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases related to the delta variant of the coronavirus. The Catalonia region of Spain plans to reimpose coronavirus curbs to slow the outbreak, such as requiring nightclubs to close this weekend and requiring a negative COVID-19 test for people wanting to join outdoor activities involving more than 500 people, according to an Agence France-Presse report Saturday.

"The pandemic has not ended, the new variants are very contagious, and we still have significant segments of the population that are not vaccinated," Patricia Plaja, a spokeswoman for the regional government told a news conference, AFP reported.

Also Saturday, Russia reported 25,082 new coronavirus cases and a record 752 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to Reuters.

Globally, there have been 186 million cases of COVID-19 and more than 4 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. The U.S. leads the world with 33.8 million COVID-19 cases and 606,993 virus-related deaths.

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

Source: Voice of America

NEW YORK - A sealed cartridge of The Legend of Zelda for the old Nintendo NES console has sold for a world record sum of $870,000, auction house Heritage Auctions said in a statement Friday.

The cartridge, dated to 1987, is still in its original packaging and trumps the previous world record sale of a video game -- $660,000 for a 1986 Super Mario Bros cartridge sold in April -- according to the auction house.

The game was the "masterpiece" in a sale of 443 lots that runs until Sunday, Eric Bradley, spokesperson for the Dallas-based company, told AFP.

The auction house has not revealed the identity of the buyer.

Blending adventure, action and exploration in a magical universe, Zelda is one of the most significant titles in the history of video games and one of Nintendo's best-known series.

Retro video games have become increasingly popular with nostalgic collectors in recent years, driving up prices for old-school consoles and cartridges at auctions.

Source: Voice of America

Cabinet has suspended Kampala Capital City Authority's (KCCA) Covid-19 resurgence plan over limited funding.

The revelation was made yesterday by the executive secretary in charge of Finance, Mr John Mary Ssebuwufu, during a council meeting at City Hall.

"We were informed that though the documents had been actually sent to Cabinet, it was resolved that the plan be suspended until Cabinet's position on what amount of money allocated to KCCA is received," Mr Ssebuwufu said.

He noted the suspension was a big blow to their operations as an authority during this critical time of a pandemic.

The city's Covid-19 resurgence plan involves pillars including, among others, coordination and leadership, management of Covid-19 cases, water, sanitation, support to vulnerable communities, and continuity of essential health services.

Apparently, KCCA is grappling with budget deficits and has no money to respond to emergency cases during this pandemic.

The councillor representing Kasubi parish, Mr Jeremiah Mwanje Kaaya, said the absence of a Covid-19 plan for Kampala puts residents at a great risk since the city ranks high in the number of pandemic infections.

"Government should not politicise this issue because our people are getting infected yet there is no emergency plan by the city authority to salvage the situation. The worst thing is that they did not even involve city leaders in the identification of vulnerable people and this makes the situation dire," he said.

Hopeful

But KCCA's head of public and corporate affairs Daniel Nuwabiine said the issue would be resolved.

"The plan has only been put on halt but not rejected due to budget constraints but our technical team is following up the matter and we hope to get feedback soon," he said.

Earlier on, Kampala Resident City Commissioner (RCC) Hood Hussein threatened to suspend the council meeting on grounds that councillors were many hence could trigger the spread of Covid-19.

However, the speaker insisted that council must go on since she had notified all the relevant authorities at City Hall.

Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago said whereas Mr Hussein had proposed virtual meetings for councillors during this pandemic, KCCA has not yet procured equipment like laptops to facilitate the said virtual meetings.

"Whereas I agree that councillors are many to congregate in the chambers, I think the RCC is out of order because this is the right time councillors are supposed to be legislating for their constituents," Mr Lukwago said.

He added: "If the equipment is procured then meetings can be held virtually but as far as I know, there's no equipment yet."

Source: The Monitor

Over the past two weeks since President Museveni announced a virus induced lockdown to contain the surging Covid-19 cases, the number of people testing positive for Covid19 has been dropping.

As of June 5, figures from the ministry of health indicated a fall by more than half of the number of infected persons.

The ministry of health officials also indicated the cumulative number of recoveries had increased from over 52,000 to more than 79,000 over the past two weeks as well as the number of deaths reported per day which has since dropped.

Ministry of health officials have attributed this drop in figures to a number of initiatives that have been put in place, including the general public vigilance to report cases to authorities and health facilities as soon as they are suspected.

Mr Emmanuel Ainebyona, the Ministry of health spokesperson says that there has been a timely testing of people and evacuation of patients who are found positive to the health centers where they are attended to before it is too late.

"It is too early for us to call this a success but there are significant changes so far. Our health workers are doing everything to help the people. The frontline workers are doing their best and that is why there is that kind of change," he said in an interview for this story.

Dr Diana Atwine, the ministry permanent secretary says there has also been a step up in the vaccination of Ugandans by the government, for instance she says Uganda received the first batch of 964,000 AstraZeneca vaccine in March, 2021 and over 800,000 people have since been vaccinated. An additional 175,200 doses arrived in country in June 2021.

"The vaccines from this batch have been delivered to all districts. This will be used to ensure that all health workers and those eligible for their second dose receive the vaccine. We have also installed ICU beds in Mulago NRH and Regional Referral Hospitals of Lira, Jinja, St. Mary's Lacor, Mbale, Entebbe, Kawempe, Mbarara, Soroti, Naguru, Kabale, Hoima, Arua, Bombo, and Fort portal, Moroto, Mubende, and Gulu to support critical COVID cases. The beds available however, can never be enough if we do not control the infection rate, just like we have seen even in countries with stronger health systems. Therefore we advise you all to follow SOPs because critical care is stretched and it should not be you who is the victim of scarcity of beds," She said.

By mid last month there was public outcry over shortage of medical oxygen needed for Covid-19 patients in critical conditions amid surging virus cases.

Health officials indicated that Covid patients take anywhere between 20 to 70 litres of oxygen per day depending on the condition they are in at the time of admission.

However, those that manufacture oxygen, according to reports, can only make up to 27.7 million litres of oxygen per day which appears to be slightly less than half of the current demand.

During this interview, Dr Atwine said the ministry has ensured the installation of oxygen cylinders in all referral hospitals and that the oxygen plants (15Nm3/hr) are now producing about 30 to 48 cylinders of 6800 litres of oxygen per day.

"We are procuring eight more oxygen plants (200Nm3/hr) to boost the existing capacity for Regional Referral Hospitals. Each cylinder will produce over 500 cylinders per day. Similarly, 2 more (250Nm3/hr) plants are being procured for Mulago and Namboole and additional 10,000 oxygen cylinders for mobile distribution. In the same vein, the ministry has acquired 98 type B and type C road ambulances and 3 boat ambulances distributed under a regionally coordinated ambulance service system to all the 14 regions in the country targeting 1 ambulance per health sub district. We are expecting 11more boat ambulances to be delivered next month," Dr Atwine said.

Mr Ainebyoona also indicated that the fall in the figures of the critically ill people has been due to the circulation of information about the SOPs and the wearing of masks.

"Many people have adhered to the education and sensitization that has been shared to them in various forms and it is easy to find more people wearing masks. If the trend in the numbers continues to fall, we shall soon see that the lockdown restrictions are lifted," he said.

Ministry of health figures indicate that last year the government distributed a total of 36,702,048 face masks to Ugandans. Of these, 34,109,085 masks were delivered to 135 Districts for distribution to their communities and 2,592,963 for distribution to school finalists.

"We procured 20 sleeper tents to expand bed capacity for Regional Referral Hospitals for isolation of COVID-19 patients. Of these, two tents were delivered at Soroti, Lira, Gulu, Arua, Hoima, Kabale, Mubende and Fort Portal, and 1 to Entebbe Regional Referral Hospita and 3 allocated to the UPDF medical services. We are also opening the newly constructed Entebbe Isolation Center that has been built for management of such pandemics," Dr Atwine said.

The ministry of health on Wednesday said Uganda's virus cases had risen to 84,979 after 425 more people tested positive for Covid-19.

At least 17 more people have succumbed to Covid-19 as virus deaths on July 5, 2021 rose to 2,012 since March last year when the pandemic was first confirmed in the country.

So far 1,027, 036 vaccine doses have been administered with only 1,367, 622 tests conducted since the outbreak of the pandemic, in a country whose population is above 40 million people.

Since March last year, 57,964 people have recovered from the virus with 1,072 active case admitted to different health facilities around the country.

Source: The Monitor

Officials have said HIV/Aids prevalence is on the rise in urban areas despite the coronavirus induced lockdown.

Mr Robert Wandwasi, the Mbale HIV/Aids focal person, said HIV/Aids infection rate in urban areas now stands at 7.1 per cent while that for rural areas is 5.5 per cent.

Mr Wandwasi attributed the rise in prevalence to the focus on the Covid-19 pandemic, with less attention on other life threatening diseases.

Uganda registered the first case of Covid-19 in March last year. The pandemic has so far left more than 680 people dead and 72,679 people infected.

"Whereas as a country, we had made significant progress in reducing HIV/ Aids infections, this is being reversed because it is being sidelined," he said on Monday.

Mr Wandwasi said Ugandans have also became complacent and are engaging in risk lifestyles, which include having unprotected sex with multiple partners.

"Ugandans have become complacent and as a result, we have reverted to the HIV/Aid risk lifestyles yet 50 per cent of our population do not know how to properly use a condom," he said.

Mr Wandwasi explained that the mushrooming guest houses in the urban areas have also greatly contributed to HIV/ Aids infections, especially among teenagers.

"Most of the residential buildings have been turned into guest houses during this period of lockdown and this requires urgent attention," he said.

According to the 2019 statistics from UAC, the number of people living with HIV/Aids stands at 1.4 million, of whom 1.2 million are on treatment. A total of 38,000 new HIV infections are registered every year, according to UAC.

The figures also show that HIV prevalence is highest among men aged 45-49 years (14 per cent) while that of women in the same age bracket stands at 12.8 per cent. Mr Wandwasi was presenting a paper during a one-day- capacity building workshop for journalists on integration of HIV/Aids and Covid-19 messaging at Pretoria Hotel in Mbale City on Monday.

He also said parents should sensitise children on dangers of early sex and pregnancy. "Most of the parents shy away from talking to their children about the dangers of HIV/Aids scourge and this leaves them vulnerable, especially in the lockdown," he said.

Mr Tom Eti, the coordinator of public sector at UAC, said there is a need for the media to sensitise the masses on both Covid-19 and HIV/Aids.

"The media should send messages on both HIV/Aids and Covid-19 co-currently because at the moment more emphasis has been put on Covid-19,"he said.

Source: The Monitor

KAMPALA, UGANDA - Uganda has reimposed a 42-day lockdown as coronavirus infections surge in the East African country. President Yoweri Museveni said in his Friday night address that he was tired of receiving calls about deaths, but critics say he presented a wish list that would instead worsen the situation for Ugandans.

Earlier Friday, the Health Ministry shared the latest coronavirus figures indicating 1,564 new cases recorded in the previous 24 hours.

This included 42 new deaths, bringing the total to 584. One thousand four active cases have been admitted at health facilities around the country.

After presenting those figures in his national address Friday night, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said Ugandans had been violating an earlier ban on interdistrict travel.

In his speech, Museveni said every village has community health workers who are in touch with families and keep records on the health status of the villages. They know how many people are in the village, how many are pregnant, how many have children, etc.

Private vehicles, other than those operated by essential workers will only be allowed to travel if they have permission from their local village chairman or health worker to transport a patient to hospital.

"All cross-boundary district and intradistrict movement of public transport and by private vehicles or boda bodas is hereby suspended for 42 days starting today," said Museveni. "Why 42 days? Because we know that this virus, once it doesn’t spread in 14 days, it gets out of your body.”

The virus has significantly spread to 108 districts, out of which 20, including Kampala and Wakiso, have been most affected. Museveni noted that the country is experiencing very high hospitalization and death rates for COVID-19 patients among all age groups. He says Ugandans have not been serious and have not adhered to earlier COVID-19 directives.

"I’m getting from all over the place, telephones, telephones, so and so has died, so and so has died. Imagine. And yet we told you," said Museveni. "We told you from March last year, I said you people … And when people listened, we controlled the disease. As such, the curfew time throughout the country is pulled back to 19:00 hours up to 05:30 hours.”

Museveni also noted that the number of severely and critically ill COVID-19 patients has more than doubled, straining the health system, particularly the available oxygen supply. While an average non-COVID-19 patient requires one to two cylinders per day, a severely ill COVID-19 patient needs four to six cylinders per day.

"With the estimated COVID-19 patient increase in the coming weeks, the daily oxygen consumption will rise to 25,000 cylinders per day in one month, unless we change the course. This is nearly a ninefold increase in the overall national oxygen requirement," said Museveni.

The Health Ministry this week indicated that they had secured $7 million from the Global Fund to install seven oxygen plants in the country.

Unlike last year’s distribution of food to vulnerable city dwellers – an effort that did not reach many of the targeted people and spurred complaints about the food -- Ugandans must use the little they have to survive the 42 days this time.

Sarah Birete, who is executive director at Center for Constitutional Governance, criticizes Museveni’s directives, saying they are merely wish lists that will only worsen the already difficult situation for citizens.

"It’s a good thing to do, but with no budget line, with no capacity, no arrangements," said Birete. "The way our systems are normally disorganized, it’s a wish list and it’s going to risk people's lives more. When you look at general limitation constraints on transport. You know people don’t want to engage with the LDUs [local defense units] and the way they treat people. So many people who do not want to be caught up in that fracas are likely to die in silence.”

Ugandans will now have to wait till July 30 to resume normal lives unless the spread of the coronavirus is contained before then.

Source: Voice of America

The Minister of Health, Ms Jane Aceng has said the Wednesday night arrival of 175,200 AstraZeneca vaccines through the Covax project was a timely intervention since the country had run out of vaccines.

"Out of the 964,000 doses received initially, we have vaccinated 869, 915 people which is 90.2 per cent of the vaccines given to us. We have a balance of 94, 085 doses in the form of people vaccinated but with their data not yet entered into the system," she said.

Ms Aceng made the remarks while officially receiving Uganda's third batch of Covid-19 vaccine doses donated by the French government at the National Medical Stores (NMS) on in Entebbe, June 17.

"The pandemic has spread to the entire country. The number of admissions and death are very high. We are in a state that needs all hands to come together to address the pandemic," she said.

Ms Aceng said the vaccination program will use strategic campaigns to attract people to get inoculated.

The French Ambassador to Uganda H.E Jules-Armand Aniambossou said 129 countries have so far received more than 81.3 million doses of vaccines through Covax.

"This represents nearly 24 million doses delivered to 44 African countries. As French president Emmanuel Macron has stated on numerous occasions, international solidarity of developed economies must be present to effectively fight the pandemic," he said.

Mr Aniambossou restated President Macron's promise for France to donate at least 30 million doses of various vaccines by the end of 2021.

"These French donations to Covax are part of team Europe's broader effort to support this mechanism where 100 million doses of European vaccines will be shared this year to ensure concrete vaccine solidarity on an international level. Beyond the vaccination, we are also committed to providing oxygen to this country," he said.

UNICEF country representative, Dr Munir Safieldin said the second shipment of 175,200 doses is an addition to the first 864, 000 doses that Uganda received in June- followed by 100,000 doses as a donation from India.

"Hopefully we shall meet again in early August for the planned scheduled arrival of a third shipment of 688,800 doses from the Covax facility," she revealed.

The head of emergency department WHO Dr Alex Chimbaru said the vaccines received will go a long way in addressing the challenges brought by the low numbers of Covid Vaccines.

The General Manager, National Medical Stores (NMS) Moses Kamabare said the vaccines will be distributed to different health centers across the country starting on Friday.

Source: The Monitor