Quality chemicals to produce new AIDS drug

Quality Chemicals Industrial Limited (QCIL), Uganda’s only pharmaceutical producing plant based in Luzira is to start producing Duomune, a new antiretroviral drug.

Duomune, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) is indicated in combination with at least one other antiretroviral medication for the treatment of the HIV infection. It is a fixed dose combination of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and lamivudine. The recommended dose of Duomune is one tablet, taken orally, once daily. In order to optimise the absorption of tenofovir, it is recommended that Duomune be taken with food.

 “The new drug is going to reduce the burden of taking ARVs many times a day as it will be taken only once,” Samuel Opio, the plant’s pharmacist said in an interview.

WHO recommends Duomune as a first line treatment for HIV infections in infected adults over 18 years of age. The drug is not recommended for use in children and adolescents below 18 years due to insufficient data on safety and efficacy.

Emmanuel Katongole, the executive director Quality Chemicals says production is due to begin in three months after National Drug Authority (NDA) approved of the drug and production procedure.

The cost of Duomune’s monthly dose is yet to be established.

Meanwhile, the anti corruption coalition wants government to take action against quality chemicals for breach of contract and inflating the prices of ARVs and anti malarials sold to government.

Cissy Kagaba the executive director Anti corruption coalition alleges that Quality Chemicals has breached the agreement to manufacture all drugs here as only 16% is manufactured and the rest imported. She adds that in order to fulfil its contracts for the drugs, Quality Chemical started importing Cipla's ACT Lumartem, an antimalarial therapy instead of producing it.

 “According to the 2011 IGG report, Quality Chemicals has been acting as a middleman for government to purchase drugs abroad but instead they have inflated prices causing a shs. 44 billion loss,” Kagaba said.

However Katongole has dismissed the allegations saying they are false and aim at spoiling the company’s image.

Microsoft initiative to empower Africa with new technology

Microsoft Corporation has introduced the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative, a new effort through which the company will actively engage in Africa's economic development to improve its global competitiveness.

"The Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative is built on the dual beliefs that technology can accelerate growth for Africa and can also accelerate technology for the world," said Fernando de Sousa, General Manager, Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative in a statement that was sent to the Observer.

 "We want to empower African youth, entrepreneurs, developers, business and civic leaders to turn great ideas into a reality that can help their community, their country, the continent and beyond."

By 2016, the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative plans to have distributed millions of smart devices to African youths, bring one million African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) online, up-skill 100,000 members of Africa's existing workforce and help an additional 100,000 recent graduates develop skills for employability.

In a move to empower SMEs, Microsoft announced a new online hub through which African SMEs will have access to free, relevant products and services from Microsoft and other partners. The hub will aggregate the available services which can help them expand their business locally and find new business opportunities.

“As a "welcome offer," Microsoft will provide free domain registration for the period of one year and free tools for qualifying SMEs interested in creating a professional web presence,” Fernando de Sousa said.

The hub is expected to open in April initially in South Africa and Morocco and will expand to other African markets over time.

As a first critical step toward increasing the adoption of smart devices, Microsoft and Huawei are introducing the Huawei 4Afrika - a full functionality Windows Phone 8 which will come pre-loaded with select applications designed for Africa. The phone will initially be available in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa later this month.

The Huawei 4Afrika phone, which is the first in what will be a series of smart devices designed "4Afrika," is targeting university students, developers and first-time smart phone users to ensure that they have affordable access to best-in-class technology to enable them to connect, collaborate, and access markets and opportunities online. To accelerate capacity building and skills development, Microsoft has established the Afrika Academy, an education platform leveraging both online and offline learning tools.

Training through the Afrika Academy will be made available starting in March freely to recent higher education graduates, government leaders and the Microsoft partner community.

Meanwhile, Microsoft also announced the deployment of a pilot project with the Kenyan Ministry of Information and Communications and Kenyan Internet Service Provider, Indigo Telecom Ltd. to deliver low-cost, high-speed, wireless broadband and create new opportunities for commerce, education, healthcare, and delivery of government services across Kenya.

Microsoft hopes to implement similar pilots in East and Southern Africa in the coming months to further explore the commercial feasibility of white space technologies.

Government, civil society unite for enactment of a tobacco law

The Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Non Communicable Diseases (PFNCD) together with ministry of Health is in the process of securing a certificate of financial implications from Ministry of Finance in a bid to have the Anti-Tobacco bill passed into law.

This was revealed during the official launch of the Public Awareness and Advocacy Campaign against tobacco yesterday. The launch that was marked with a match from ministry of health to Chogm gardens opposite parliament was held under the theme, ‘tobacco is addictive, harms health and kills; say no to tobacco!’

“We need this certificate so that we are able to table the bill in parliament, have it debated on and consented by the president so that it becomes a comprehensive and operational law in Uganda,” Hon. Benny Namugwanya Bugembe, PFNCD’s chairperson said.

Uganda is party to the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first healthy treaty which requires that countries put in place mechanisms to address the devastating health, socio economic and environmental effects of tobacco under its Article 5.3. 

The bill that was moved last year by Kinkizi East MP, Chris Baryomunsi proposes increase on the tax of tobacco products, prohibition of the sale and importation of duty free tobacco products, ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship and the ban of selling tobacco products to minors among others.  

It also proposes the establishment of a tobacco control committee under the office of the Prime minister with the Ministry of Health as the Secretariat. When enacted into law, it will be called the Tobacco Control Act and shall serve as an amendment to the Tobacco Control and Marketing Act of 1967 and the National Environment (Control of smoking in public places) Regulations of 2004.

“The passing of the bill into law should have happened last December but did not because of the prioritization of the oil bill and the death of Nebanda which overshadowed it. But we are ready to have a tobacco law because it is today that we help save lives for the better future or never!”Hon. Namugwanya said.

As a means to realizing this goal, Uganda has drafted a tobacco control policy to address tobacco consumption and production.

“Government, under this policy is proposing to routinely raise taxes so that the retail price of tobacco products is high enough and unaffordable for minors and reduce on tobacco use among adults,” said Hon. Sarah Achieng Opendi, the minister of state for primary health care. 

In view of protecting people from secondhand smoke, the government is proposing to amend the existing legislation on exposure to second hand tobacco smoke in order to make to complaint to the FCTC guidelines to achieve 100% smoke free public places. Failure to abide by government laws will lead to closure of such places.

Achieng added that when the bill is passed into law, government shall undertake a comprehensive ban of all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship including corporate social responsibility by the tobacco industry.

Major stakeholders targeted for the campaign include ministries of trade, tourism, agriculture, health and local government and civil society organizations. Ministry of agriculture will be in charge of overseeing the implementation of alternative livelihoods for tobacco growers. For example in Yumbe and Zombo districts, some farmers have destroyed their tobacco farms and replaced it with growing food crops.

Fear of arrest abets child sacrifice - report

According to a report titled, ‘Child Sacrifice and the Mutilation of Children in Uganda’ by Humane Africa, most people are reluctant to report incidents of child sacrifice to the police for fear of being arrested.

The research, conducted in 25 communities in south and south-eastern Uganda last year, indicates that most interviewees’ are afraid of violence during interrogation.  

The report cites a witness in Wakiso district, who hesitated to report a child murder to the police after discovering a headless body last year.

“I hope you won’t take me to the police but I think it is the traditional healers,” he said.  

“I will tell you but don’t take me as a suspect at the police,” said another interviewee, who had witnessed the body of a five-year-old girl without her genitalia and tongue.

According to Simon Fellows, the Director of Humane Africa, a UK-registered charity working in Africa to prevent social harms connected with witchcraft and child sacrifice, this fear of imprisonment comes at the cost of hiding the vice.

The police homicide department reported nine cases of child mutilation and four cases of adults being mutilated between January and November 2012. During the four-month period from June to September 2012, four cases were officially reported throughout Uganda.

“This figure is in stark contrast to the 20 mutilations which occurred in the same period in the 25 communities where this research was based,” Fellows said during the launch of the report in Kampala yesterday.

However, Noa Sserunjoji, the police spokesman for the southern region, dismisses the claims that people who report the cases are arrested.

Instead, he says, people don’t report these cases for fear of tarnishing of the names of the perpetrators who are ‘rich people’. Sserunjoji adds that others are also afraid that the witchcraft will turn against them if they report the case.

The researchers looked at Kiryandongo, Masindi, Wakiso, Mayuge, Jinja, Mukono, Kalungu, Buikwe and Masaka districts. The research shows that people mutilate children to evade poverty and frustration due to a strong belief in the effectiveness of the use of body parts such as blood and tissue in traditional medicine.

In one of the interviews recorded with a believer in child mutilation, the interviewee said, “When I wanted to get rid of bed wetting, I was given the genitalia of a young boy which I tied around my knickers for two days and it worked for me,” the interviewee said. This interviewee added that although she felt guilty that a child was mutilated to help her resolve her problem, she would support the vice if the need arose again, as body parts are stronger than herbs.

The research indicates that the tongue and genitalia are the commonly mutilated parts. Also females between the age of three and 18 are most at risk of mutilation.

The research was conducted in partnership with the British High Commission, Makerere University, The Norwegian Embassy in Uganda, Save the Children, Empower and Care Organization and Kyampisi Child Care.

Stop torture of children-Kadaga urges

RACHEAL NINSIIMA

Hon Rebecca Kadaga, Uganda’s speaker of parliament has advised headteachers and parents to stop the torture of children if they are to succeed. Her advice was based on the premise that there is a growing trend of school children waking up early in order to beat the 7:00AM deadline of arrival time at school, studying long hours and being made to carry heavy books to school. 

In fact, a study conducted by researchers in the Department of Anatomy at Makerere University’s College of Health Sciences on the effect of heavy school bags among 532 school pupils indicated that 88.2% of them reported having body pain especially in the neck shoulders and upper back, with lower back pain affecting close to 39% of them.

This research also established that 30.8% of the pupils who were included in the study carried school bags which were way too heavy for their weight; more than the recommended limit of 10% of their body weights.

“During our days, things like waking up at 5AM to go to school were never there. However, these days, on top of waking up early, children, even those in nursery are loaded with homework yet they return from school late,” Kadaga said while officiating at the opening of St. Catherine Junior School in Namugongo last week.

She added that parents and headteachers remain the best advocates for safety promotion of the health of children. Kadaga also urged headteachers to include vocational lessons on the school’s curriculum in order to make a child’s education holistic and for parents to embrace Universal Primary Education (UPE).

“There was a lot of human resource wastage in the past when women were made to stay at home but UPE has made it simpler for all people to access free education and parents need to recognize its value and embrace it,” she said.

The newly opened school consists of a nursery and day care section and parents will part with shs 500,000 for their children to access education in the school.

ninsiima@observer.ug