Testing for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases has become easier in Uganda following the invention of a machine that will be able to test people to see whether they are HIV positive in the comfort of their homes.

The new home test kit (you may read machine), also codenamed OraQuick was recently invented in the US but it has already reached Ugandaand East Africain general.

The kit detects the presence of HIV in saliva collected using a mouth swab. Now this dilutes the claims some scientists have been making that one can not contract HIV from saliva. The test kit was designed to return a result within 20 to 40 minutes.

The new test kit machine was manufactured by Orasure, a Pennsylvania-based lead maker of oral fluid diagnostic and collection devices but it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The home test kit is considered by scientists and researchers to be one of the great innovations in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Dr. Joshua Musinguzi, the HIV/AIDS control programme manager in the ministry of health says that the home test kit is a good product because it does not need blood specimen.
Walakira Nyanzi

Ultimate Media

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 The candidature of leader of opposition, Nandala Mafabi, former army commander Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu and Tororo municipality MP, Geoffrey Ekanya for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party Presidency heralds a new dawn in Uganda’s politics, call it a litmus test for both FDC as a political party and the country (Uganda) at large.

The candidature of Muntu and group is shaping up nicely and awakening deep seated anigmas in Uganda’s political trajectory.

Should Muntu win the race to replace Col. Kiiza Besigye as party president, a lot in Uganda’s (or FDC) politics will definitely change. Slightly abrasive, Muntu is witty, smart, quick and decisive a character many politicians hate to have preferring to appease everyone and in the end doing far less than their abilities.

Yes FDC delegates will have to make a choice between Muntu, Nandala and Ekyanya, where they will not gamble on a leader who will be rejected by the common man.

Winning any elective political seat in Uganda and across the world is about numbers. But the critics of Muntu argue that he would have been better but he doesn’t have Ugandan origins. Muntu is a Rwandese.

When you visit FDC head offices today, it is as if the race is between Muntu and Nandala. The party members claim that both candidates are too good and they have equally contributed towards the development of the party, so the onus is on them to choose the best party president.

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We have heard that the Uganda Aids Commission has started visits to the government offices to carry out HIV/AIDS testing and voluntary counseling. The sources at Statehouse told us that the commission officials visited them on Wednesday and carried out voluntary counseling and HIV testing on them.

Sources told us that over 200 officials at statehouse tested for AIDS and were also given condoms. According to sources, many of the people who tested for HIV at statehouse were found negative and scores of others HIV positive.

The HIV positive rate in Uganda is currently very low, although there is need for the government of Uganda to sensitize Ugandans that AIDS still exist and spreads.

We are told that the commission last month also distributed condoms to some of the officials in the ministry of education and sports and Uganda Peoples Defence Forces.

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Target group: Master’s degree, Bachelor’s degree

Purpose: Study, Research

Field of study: Architecture and town planning

Countries: All

Value and purpose of grant: 5 scholarships of € 10.000 each

Grant award Period: 1 year

The Berlage Institute Scholarship is aimed at excellent 1st. year Berlage Institute participants who will be continuing their studies in the 2nd. year postgraduate program at the Berlage Institute.

Scholarship Requirements for Eligibility:

The Berlage participant must have obtained excellent results in the Berlage Institute’s 1st. year program and in previous studies/work. Furthermore they must be proficient in English.

Applications must include:

• application form
• updated cv
• a portfolio including Berlage projects
• an ielts/toefl test with the required test scores Send applications to the Program Manager at: Berlage Institute, att. M.v.d. Burgh, Botersloot 25, 3011 HE Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Email: vanderburgh [at] berlage-institute.nl

For more information and application materials, see: Berlage Institute Scholarships Website

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LLM scholarships at Kings College London: The School of Law awards LLM scholarships annually, to overseas students.

The scholarship is for the full tuition fee.

Entry requirements:

The basic requirement for admission is a recognised first degree in law (or a degree with substantial law content) of at least an upper second-class honours standard or an equivalent recognised overseas qualification.

English language requirements:

These are the basic English language requirements for students whose first language is not English.

(i) TOEFL: a minimum score of 267 in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) plus 5.0 in the essay rating or 630 in the paper-based test plus 5.0 in the TWE (Test of Written English). Our institution code for direct mailing of results is 0394 and the department code is 03; or

(ii) IELTS: a minimum score of 7.5 in the International English Language Test plus 7.0 in the written component.

General Enquiries: Tel: +44 (0) 20 7836 5454. Email: ceu[at]kcl.ac.uk

Postal Address: King’s College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS.

For more information see; LLM scholarships at Kings College London Website

Study LLM scholarships at Kings College London

LLM scholarships at Kings College London: The School of Law awards LLM scholarships annually, to overseas students.

The scholarship is for the full tuition fee.

Entry requirements:

The basic requirement for admission is a recognised first degree in law (or a degree with substantial law content) of at least an upper second-class honours standard or an equivalent recognised overseas qualification.

English language requirements:

These are the basic English language requirements for students whose first language is not English.

(i) TOEFL: a minimum score of 267 in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) plus 5.0 in the essay rating or 630 in the paper-based test plus 5.0 in the TWE (Test of Written English). Our institution code for direct mailing of results is 0394 and the department code is 03; or

(ii) IELTS: a minimum score of 7.5 in the International English Language Test plus 7.0 in the written component.

General Enquiries: Tel: +44 (0) 20 7836 5454. Email: ceu[at]kcl.ac.uk

Postal Address: King’s College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS.

For more information see; LLM scholarships at Kings College London Website

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Uganda being a religious country, its leaders have no smiles for people who deal in pornographic materials and the people who molest girls.

On Wednesday the court in Uganda fined the Turkish national, Emin Baro, the 53-year-old man who was on Monday sentenced to two years in jail at Luzira Maximum security prison after pleading guilty to computer misuse and possessing child pornographic materials.

Emin Baro was fined 6 million shillings. But he was not released. It is said the judiciary wanted to have a test of Uganda’s jails. So he will be released on Thursday, March 29. Baro came to Uganda as a tourist six years back but he started sexually abusing girls below 10 years old.

Ultimate Media

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The East African countries of Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have resolved  to build the state of art forensic police centre in Uganda’s capital city Kampala. The centre is expected to handle investigation challenges in East African Community.

The sources in East African Community told our journalist that Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania accepted yesterday that Uganda has the capacity to manage the forensic centre.

The Mult million US dollar forensic centre will be built in Naguru, a Kampala hill. The centre will handle DNA, ballistics (handles bombs and land mines), and toxicology (test done on poison victims).

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Leukemia or cancer of the blood starts when abnormal cells fail to protect the body against diseases because the cells are defective. The cancer progresses and it interferes with the production of cells.

Dr. Peter Barongo, an oncologist (cancer specialist) in Kampala says that the signs of leukemia include body weakness, pain in the long bones, loss of weight, low appetite,  and fatigue.

Other signs are bleeding from the gums and under the skin, sweating at night, frequent fevers, infections which do not respond to medication, abdominal swelling caused by the swelling of the spleen and visual blurring.

The commonest form of leukemia is acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This is the leukemia where the bone marrow makes too many white blood cells. To diagnose for leukemia the blood and bone marrow tests have to be carried out and once the patient presents with leukemia symptoms, a thin film test has to be done on him/her to ascertain the number of immature white blood cells. Bone marrow tests are free at Mulago Hospital according to Dr. Barongo.

By Walakira Nyanzi

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Master of Water Resources Engineering Scholarships: The Master programme of Water Resources Engineering is a two-year study programme with a total study load of 120 ECTS, equally spread over the 2 years.

First year consists of courses in:

Advanced Mathematics for Water Engineering, Statistics for Water Engineering, Irrigation Agronomy, Aquatic Ecology, Hydraulics, Surface Hydrology, Groundwater Hydrology, and water Quality Assessment, Monitoring and Treatment; and workshops in Hydrological Data Processing and GIS, and Hydrological Measurements and Remote Sensing.

Second year courses:

Consists of a common core of 2 courses (Systems Approach to Water Management, and Social, Political, Institutional, Economic and Environmental Aspects of Water Resources), an integrated project design (arid or humid case) and a Master thesis.

In addition, the student selects three optional courses from the following list: Surface Water Modelling, Groundwater Modelling, River Modelling, Urban Hydrology and Hydraulics, Soil Water Modelling, Irrigation Design and Management, Advanced Aquatic Ecology, and any course relevant to water resources engineering, subject to approval by the Programme Committee.

Admission requirements:

• Applicants should hold a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (civil engineering, bioscience engineering, environmental engineering, or any other equivalent engineering degree) or Sciences (biology, geography, geology, etc).
• Applicants not belonging to a member country of the European Higher Education Council should hold a Bachelor’s degree from a four-year university programme with a minimum grade of second class upper division.
• Holders of a Master degree equivalent to the two-year Master degrees awarded by the Faculties of Engineering and Bioscience Engineering at K.U.Leuven or the Faculty of Engineering at the V.U.B. may be directly admitted to the second year. The equivalence of foreign degrees is evaluated on an individual basis.
• Good command of spoken and written English (applicants of non-native speaking English countries should have a TOEFL score on the written test of at least 550; 213 on the computer-based (CBT) test; 79-80 on the internet based (IBT) test or an equivalent language test).

For more information and application, see: Master of Water Resources Engineering Scholarships Website

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Application to US Universities and Colleges: American universities are diverse and the education sector is enormous. Application to US universities and colleges is a complex process.

If you are thinking about going to the United States to study, begin your preparations at one year before the date you plan to begin your studies.

The academic year in US universities begins in August/September and ends in May/June. There are over 3,000 accredited colleges and universities in the United States.

Many universities have more than 20,000 students. Some small colleges have fewer than 1,000 students. Courses vary from two-year associate degrees to research-based doctoral programs.

To make an application:

• Pick up to five colleges or universities
• Contact these institutions and ask an international student application packet.
• Register for the required admission tests.The deadline for registration of most tests is normally six weeks before the test. It can take up to a month for the colleges/universities of your choice to receive your results.
• Undergraduates are required to take Test of English as a foreign language (TOEFL) and sometimes the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Graduate students may need to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). These need to be taken before October of the preceding year.
• From the application pack, you receive; select about three universities/colleges. Make applications to these universities by October and latest December of the year preceding that which you wish to begin your studies. Be sure to check the deadlines applicable for the individual university/college.

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