The population of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is ageing rapidly due to improved childhood survival and declining overall fertility. True, the total population share of older adults ( 60 years or more) will remain lower in the SSA region than in other parts of the globe, it is projected – rising from 5% to just under 8% by 2050.  However, the absol...

In Uganda, a compulsory one-year internship placement at the end of five long years of medical school is long awaited. The internship placement at a hospital offers recent medical graduates an opportunity to practice the skills acquired over the five years education under supervision of a senior doctor. This compulsory placement is to groom the ...

The phenomenon of a misnomer, whereby a wrong or inaccurate name or designation is assigned or used, has long been known. Well, at least in the medical field. As a person from a tropical country I will not hesitate to use this phenomenon, to start this conversation with the example of malaria. Well, malaria came to be known so because ancient It...

Catholics make up 24% and 45% of the Kenyan and Ugandan populations respectively. Recently the two East African neighbours were honoured by a visit from the Pontiff, on his first African visit (25-29 November) – the last leg of his brief African journey was Central African Republic (30 November). In this blog I will just focus on the pope’s vi...

Between the years 2000 and 2001, Uganda experienced an Ebola outbreak in three of its districts. This outbreak was then considered to be the largest on record, infecting over 425 people. Of course, the mortality and morbidity rates of this outbreak have since been dwarfed by the more recent outbreak  in West Africa. Ebola epidemics can be quite...