Author: alphyjuma

Uganda is currently in a partial country wide lockdown; corona virus has been unforgiving with no house holds in Uganda that hasn’t been affected by the pandemic. Uganda first announced its first lock down in March 2020, with public, private transport and individual movements being restricted. The second a 42-day lockdown was announced in mid June 2021 and much like in March last year people living with HIV are stuck in their homes and unable to visit their preferred health facilities to get their medication and refills.Due to the widespread HIV stigma, patients frequently seek health care services at facilities…

Following the outbreak of the Covid 19 Pandemic that affected business world over and interrupted the education sector of approximately 15 million learners in Uganda, Government took drastic measures to close all educational institutions of learning to curtail the spread of the virus which took a toll on the education sector and teachers’ fraternity. During the first lock down in March 2020, government thought of various interventions to help teachers out especially those working for private institutions to have and maintain a livelihood. he two-time nationwide lockdown announced by Government in March 2020 and June 2021 due to an upsurge…

By Joseph Maina Persons with disabilities (PWDs) face multiple challenges when trying to access conventional toilet facilities. This is because most of them are designed for people without physical challenges. Due to the mobility challenge, the structure poses difficulties for physically challenged persons. With this in mind, an entrepreneur from Kajiado County, Kenya, has developed a user-friendly toilet that specifically caters to the needs of PWDs. Sylvia Nyaga is the brains behind the Utulav toilet, designed to provide safe and hygienic ablutions to persons with physical disabilities. “Most persons with disabilities cannot use a normal toilet,”Nyaga told Science Africa. “There…

By Vanessa Akoth The versatility of plastic material in the society today makes it a largely produced packaging commodity around the world, with Kenya’s daily plastic consumption being estimated to 0.03kg per person, according to Kenya National Guidance for plastic pollution hotspotting and shaping action report. Exceeding a total population of 4 million, as established in 2019 Census by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Nairobi is a haven of more plastic waste than any other urban city in the country. Nairobi’s plastic annual plastic waste totals to an average of 143,123 tons, closely followed by Nakuru, Mombasa and Kisumu, producing…

By Steven Nsamaza; Angel Nsanzimana is seated with a group of adolescent mothers soothing her one-year old baby but the insistent cries of the child forces her to start breasting so she can carry-on her conversation with the group. Nsanzimana, 19, carries her baby every time when coming to join her colleagues because she doesn’t have anyone to leave help her baby with. She juggles between her tailoring classes and caring for the baby and this is also the same when she goes back home. Everyone in the group has almost a similar story like that of Nsanzimana, getting pregnant…

By Aimable Twahirwa; Rwanda is using drones to spray anti-Malaria pesticides in different regions where the mosquito-borne disease prevalence remains among the highest. Living in a wetland area, Alphonsine Mukakarangwa, a female farmer from Bugesera district, is now pinning hopes on drone spray technology, expecting that it may save her family from the severe malaria. “It’s easy to get an impression of the way drones spraying solutions are changing our daily lives, malaria is no longer a biggest concern here,” the mother of five says. Despite huge progress in fighting malaria, the disease remains the main cause of sickness and death in Rwanda, which…

By Jejje Muhinde; At seven sharp on a Monday morning, Elie Nizeyimana dressed in a visible green with reflecting stripes bib is standing at the main entrance of the University of Rwanda’s College of Education in Rukara, a small village in Eastern Rwanda. Nizeyimana glances back and forth at everyone coming into the university campus, he stands there to make sure everyone is wearing a facemask, clean hands with water or sanitizer and take temperature tests before entering. The 24-year-old is one of the 30 college youth volunteers at this campus who have been assigned to remind and advice people…

By James Rwema; I am pretty sure we could have lost this baby, if this community health worker hadn’t shown up,” Verene Mukamusoni, a 28 years-old young mother from Karama a remote rural village in Nyagatare, a district from Eastern Rwanda says, a smile sweeping her face. Mukamusoni was in her routine farming activities when she noticed a bloody mucus discharge and water breaking before notifying a nearby health care provider using an established SMS system. Just after receiving the SMS, the medical staff at neighboring Ngarama hospital (East) started to trace the pregnant mother to her home. By the…

By Steven Nsamaza; Before the introduction of big buses with the capacity to transport large volumes of passengers as a move to reduce air pollution in Kigali city, Furaha Mukamusonera, a housewife from Muhima a suburb of Kigali city has always been anxious about whether she should send her 5-year-old daughter to school. Most of the time in this urban area of the Rwandan capital city Kigali, visibility is poor as smog — a combination of emissions from neighboring businesses, vehicle exhausts, reacting with sunlight — has settled over the city, surpassing dangerous levels. With a population density of 4,403 residents per square…

By Peter Oliver Ochieng For 10 years now, Fred Masinde has practiced tomato and water melon farming in his farm at Pinnacle area, Kanduyi Constituency in Bungoma County. He rotates the two crops each planting season in order to reap maximum benefits.Initially, he grew maize and sugarcane but stopped after registering a string of loses, eventually settling on tomatoes and melons. “I started with selling clothes at the Bungoma market. I then ventured into farming starting with sugarcane, before I moved onto maize but stopped due to poor prices,” said Mr. Masinde. He does his farming on an acre piece…