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WHO says Ebola appears contained in Goma, but flares in other parts of Congo

By
Agencies
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BUTEMBO, CONGO - JULY 27: A healthcare member inoculates a man for Ebola suspicion to take precautions against the disease in Butembo, Democratic Republic of the Congo on July 27, 2019. (Photo by JC Wenga/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
 

 

Ebola appears to be under control in the border city of Goma in DR-Congo but it has flared in other parts of the country, where aid workers are combating insecurity and disinformation on social media, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

The latest infections include the mysterious case of a woman in her 70s with no known history of travel or visitors, said Dr. Michael Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies department.

The woman, in the remote village of Pinga in the northeast of Democratic Republic of Congo, may have caught the deadly haemorrhagic fever by eating bushmeat or from another animal source, he said.

Nearly 3,000 cases have been confirmed, including 1,965 deaths, since the outbreak began a year ago, the second biggest toll in the disease’s history, the latest figures show.

“Over the last couple of weeks we have seen worrying extensions of the disease…we have had a cluster of cases in Mwenga, to the south of Bukavu, we have a case in Pinga – which is very difficult and inaccessible area to the northeast of Goma,” Ryan told a news conference.

The case in Pinga, announced earlier this week by the health ministry, is in a militia-controlled territory of Walikale, hundreds of kilometres from where previous cases near the border with Uganda and Rwanda occurred.

“The challenge is this case has no apparent epidemiologic links to other cases or no recent travel outside or visitors from outside,” Ryan said.

“We obviously need to ensure that we haven’t had another spillover from the forest or from a zoonotic or animal source. That is currently under investigation and there is further testing going on and genetic sequencing,” he said.

Goma, a lakeside city of nearly 2 million people on the Rwandan border, has been on high alert for weeks after a gold miner with a large family contaminated several people before dying himself last month.

There are currently no cases in Goma, where four cases have been recorded, without further spread, Ryan said.

“We haven’t seen secondary transmission in Goma – and it represents a huge credit to the teams on the ground in a city the size of Goma that we are approaching the end of the observation period for all of the contacts with no evidence of further transmission within the metropolitan area,” he said.

Monitoring of 232 contacts of infected people will end in coming days, he said.

A vaccine and two experimental drugs, which have showed survival rates of as much as 90% in a clinical trial, are effective tools, but face some opposition, he said.

“There are negative social media campaigns, people who have tried to convince populations that the vaccine is used to infect you and the therapeutics are used to finish you off,” Ryan said.

 

 
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USPA and Standard Chartered Bank give Shs18m facelift to Mulago casualty ward

By
Our Reporter
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UPSA President, Patrick Kanyomozi (right) with the Standard Chartered Bank Head of Corporate Affairs,Brand&Marketing Regina Mukiri (left) and the Head of the accident&casualty unit at Mulago Hospital Dr Alexander Bangirana(middle) shortly before we started the renovation of the casualty ward as part of the USPA Road Safety Campaign 2019.

 

 

Uganda Sports Press Association (USPA) in partnership with Standard Chartered Bank under the Road Safety Campaign 2019 have given painted the casualty ward at Mulago National Referral Hospital at the cost of Shs18 million contributed by the bank.

The painting of the casualty ward is one of the week-long road safety campaign initiatives organised by the sports journalists in memory of colleagues who perished in a road accident. The activities are being held under the theme, “Look out for Each other”.

While delivering her remarks Regina Mukiri, the Head of Corporate Affairs Brand and Marketing Standard Chartered Bank stated:

“Standard Chartered encourages employees to help their local communities develop, as part of the bank’s overall sustainability strategy and to help us live our brand “Here for good”. She said the bank’s employees are all entitled to three- days paid leave to commit their time and skills to the causes that the bank support supports, ‘allowing us to make a collective difference as well as the causes we are personally passionate about.”

“As a bank we are very happy to partner with USPA to paint the Mulago casualty ward as part of the 2019 road safety campaign initiative. I also want to appreciate Mulago Hospital for supporting us implement this initiative. I am glad we chose to support this particular initiative this year as touring this casualty ward and is sobering, and a much-needed wakeup call on how much more we all need to do to curb road carnage,” she said.

She urged other stakeholders and organisations to support the hospital and to fight road carnage. “I believe that If everyone makes a small contribution, the cumulative effect will make a significant difference and we shall have saved lives and prevented several other societal challenges,” she said.

The USPA president, Patrick Kanyomozi expressed gratitude to Standard Chartered Bank, Mulago Hospital and the employees of the Bank who came out to volunteer and participate in the painting for their generosity.

While delivering his remarks Mr. Kanyomozi said: “I want to once again appreciate the contribution of Shs 18 million that the bank is investing in painting inside and outside the Mulago Casualty Ward as part of this year’s Annual Road Safety campaign.”

“I also want to thank the management of Mulago Hospital for their receptiveness, responsiveness and support of this initiative. The involvement of Bank in the USPA road safety campaign over the past 12 years is very commendable,” he said.

He said Standard Chartered Bank has had tremendous impact upon the communities not just in this initiative but also in several others and that USPA is pleased to associate with the bank.

“Your consistent support to the sports fraternity is appreciated and will always be a remembered. It is our hope that you will continue to have a positive influence on our society through initiatives that such as these,” he said.

Prominent journalists with The New Vision and another with The Monitor, were on August 27, 2001 killed after their vehicle collided head-on with a pick-up truck near Lugazi. Kenneth Matovu, Simon Peter Ekarot and Leo Kabunga were all sports journalists with The New Vision while Francis Batte was Monitor’s deputy sports editor.

In May 1998, two Monitor journalists, died in a crash in Moroto in a motor rally debut.

The road safety campaign is supported by Standard Chartered Bank, City Tyres, UNRA, NCS, and KCCA FC.

 

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Standard Chartered Bank, international consultancy launch Shs300m programme to support youth entrepreneurship

By
George Mangula
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The CEO of Stanchart Albert Saltson, the ED PSFU Gideon Badagawa and Director Challenges Uganda Neil Fleming at the launch of the Futuremakers programme
 

 

 

Standard Chartered Bank in partnership with Challenges Uganda has today launched a 6-month youth employability programme under its Futuremakers initiative valued at Shs300 million. The “Youth-to-Work” initiative which has been unveiled at Kampala Serena Hotel to over 100 guests will benefit 40 young and enthusiastic out of university youths with an opportunity to work with Small and Medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kampala.

The objective of the Youth to Work programme is to position and equip young people with skills and opportunities to create economic and employment changes across the economy for sustainable and measurable impact. In this regard, the young people will become implementers of change, rather than standalone programme beneficiaries.

Through a 3-month training the youth will be able to develop & refine their skills, work with inspiring entrepreneurs, acquire Level 5 certificate from the Chartered Management Institute and help drive business performance of an SME. For the candidates to be eligible for the Youth-to-work programme they will be required to be graduates from any academic background, be 21-30 years or 21-35 for persons with disability, be Ugandan nationals, attend an assessment day, have some experience, skills or aptitude for business and entrepreneurship.

Challenges Group Director Neil Fleming while addressing the guests at the launch said:

“We are taking Challenges’ considerable experience of delivering development and business-growth projects, combining it with our on-the-ground knowledge and networks in Kampala and the UK to provide an initiative that will help 40 firms and young people directly, while also acting as a catalyst for wider growth within Kampala’s business community and supporting hundreds of university students. Each of these young adults will also be provided additional training so they can then take their knowledge, experience and new-found expertise and share it with hundreds of other ambitious young Ugandans who will be entering the labour market in the years ahead.”

 

 

Neil argued that; “Uganda, like many other African countries, is facing a crisis in regards youth unemployment. An estimated 200 million young people are either unemployed or in vulnerable employment globally. In Uganda, about 65% of the country’s unemployed population are aged between 18 and 30. Thankfully the global community is at last moving past the failed model of hand-outs. Challenges has long understood that entrepreneurship, effective management and job creation are critical to growing prosperity of individuals and communities. The Youth at Work pilot is about building a business ecosystem where enterprises and talented young people can thrive, and where innovation and prosperity can grow. Our expertise in delivery is critical to this.”

While unveiling the technical aspects of the programme, Vivian Achan the Challenges Uganda Business Development Manager said: “The Challenges Uganda and Standard Chartered’s Youth to Work programme will take 40 young adults and provide them with key management consultancy training, then position them in one of 40 small and growing businesses. Once in post, they will provide strategic business development services, with the aim of improving performance. For some of the SMEs, this would enable them to become investment-ready and lead to further expansion, which in turn would better enable job creation. The programmes activities will also reach hundreds of university students and enterprise ecosystems.”

Vivian added: “This is a fantastic partnership with Standard Chartered that has great benefits for the successful youths and the small businesses where they will be placed over the 3 months period. Some of the benefits for the 40 SMEs that will register on the Challenges Website to participate in this programme will include; Enterprises will receive on-site business development and investment readiness support, the junior associates will receive accredited business management training from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), Enterprises will be supported to grow their peer-networks and in strengthening their ecosystem. Furthermore, enterprise staff skills will be enhanced through training, they will receive access to senior mentors from Uganda and the UK to provide expert input into their businesses, and lastly, enterprises will receive support to their business leaders to enable them to identify personal barriers and strengths to growing their companies and help them maintain momentum and motivation to improve. We’re all looking forward to delivering this brilliant and far-reaching project on behalf of Standard Chartered.”

The CEO of Standard Chartered Albert Saltson while delivering his remarks, said: “we are very excited to launch the “Futuremakers by Standard Chartered” programme, a new initiative that will tackle inequality and promote greater economic inclusion for young people in our communities. The programme aims to empower the next generation to learn, earn and grow through programmes focused on three pillars – education, employability and entrepreneurship.Under Futuremakers, we will expand Goal, our education programme to empower girls and young women, and develop new programmes focused on employability and entrepreneurship with a continued emphasis on financial education.”

Albert continued alleging that; “The Youth to Work Programme we are unveiling here today in partnership with Challenges Uganda is part of Futuremakers by Standard Chartered programme that aims to raise $50million by 2023 to tackle inequality and increase economic inclusion for young people who are out of work or live in low-income poverty. Our ambition is that this initiative will enable disadvantaged young people – especially girls and the visually impaired – to gain new skills and expertise to improve their chances of getting a job or starting their own business.”

The Youth to work programme aims is to solve one of the country’s most pressing social issue affecting young people that is unemployment. It will offer young professionals with a unique opportunity to undertake an initial 3-month consultancy placement in an SME where they will assess the enterprise’s strengths and areas for development, develop action plans to help them improve, support the enterprise leadership teams to deliver the action plans, deliver network strengthening activities among others.

 

 
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Umeme scoops top award in South Africa

By
Isaiah Mwebaze
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African enterprises are excelling in their efforts to establish intelligent enterprise capabilities and take advantage of the immense opportunities of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

This was one of the key outcomes at the 2019 SAP Quality Awards, which were held in Johannesburg and which recognized some of Africa’s most innovative public and private sector SAP customers.

Uganda’s electricity distributor Umeme Ltd was one of the top winners, bringing home a gold accolade in the Fast Delivery category.

Their Chief Information Officer Roger Bentley said shortly after the award: “This was a business project, not an IT project, and it has supported the business by introducing completely new functionality. This project was such a success that, for our next phase, we will simply try to repeat the success of this first phase.”

According to Nazia Pillay, Head of Active Quality Management for Africa at SAP Africa, this year’s nominees represented one of the strongest fields yet in the awards’ 15-year history.

“All entries underwent stringent assessment and were judged according to our ten principles of quality. The high standards on display point to a bright future for technology-driven organisations operating in Africa.”

Other winners were: Standard Bank South Africa, which took Gold in the Business Transformation category; the City of Cape Town, which took top honours for Innovation; and Discovery Group, which claimed Gold in the newly-introduced Success Factors category.

The SAP Quality Awards were established in 2005 as a means of recognizing companies that have excelled in their use of SAP technologies to achieve digital transformation against a number of key metrics. This year, a total of 19 organizations from West, East and Southern Africa were recognized for their outstanding results across a number of successful implementations.

SAP has supported thousands of innovative African enterprises since its first office on the continent was established in Johannesburg in 1982.

Today, the company works with more than 1800 customers across Africa, collaborating with 500 partners in 20 countries to help local enterprises, governments, SMEs and NGOs build Intelligent Enterprise capabilities and claim the benefits of the 21st-century digital economy.

“This year, we added a new category for outstanding projects using SAP Success Factors to recognize African enterprises’ efforts in the on-going global talent war,” said Pillay.

“Judging by the quality of submissions in the new category, African enterprises are making great strides toward attracting and retaining the continent’s growing talent pool, one that is expected to be the world’s largest in the coming decades.”

Kammy Sing, Head of HR Operations at Discovery Group, said the implementation team worked seamlessly with the Discovery team.

“Most importantly, they understood what our end-goal was: to build the best people capabilities by combining data, skills and technology to attract and retain the best talent.”

Dawn Msibi, Manager: ERP Support Centre at the City of Cape Town said: “Well done to the implementation team, who integrated the value of our assets, the cost of work done and the scheduling of the work to create a single view that has empowered the City of Cape Town to improve service delivery to its citizens.”

Karuna Kuni, SAP Platform Manager at Standard Bank, said: “Together with our partners including SAP, we took on a big undertaking with this project. Without their help and support, and that of our executive sponsors, we would not have been able to achieve this success in such a short space of time.”

Pillay adds: “What set these projects apart was the extent of business value achieved through each implementation, their time to value, how well they employed change management throughout and to what extent the implementations have achieved business readiness. The fact that we’ve nearly doubled our winners’ list compared to last year only reasserts the level of quality inherent in this year’s group of nominees.”

According to Cathy Smith, Managing Director at SAP Africa, the quality of entries points to a bright future for Africa’s public and private sectors.

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution will create enormous opportunity – at the same time, it brings immense challenges.

“Encouragingly, African public and private sector leaders are taking up the challenge and are deploying technology in innovative and ground-breaking ways to solve problems and future-proof their business strategies. We look forward to continuing our close collaboration with customers and partners in the years ahead.”

The full winners’ list consists of:

Fast Delivery:

*             Umeme Limited (Gold)

*             MWEB (Silver)

*             Dangote (Silver)

*             Mukwano (Bronze)

*             Builders Warehouse (Finalist)

 

Business Transformation:

*             Standard Bank SA Limited (Gold)

*             RCL Foods (Silver)

*             Rossing Uranium Limited (Bronze)

*             Britehouse (Finalist)

*             Delta State (Finalist)

*             Rural Electrification Authority (Finalist)

 

Innovation:

*             City of Cape Town (Gold)

*             The Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (Silver)

*             Sodiam (Bronze)

*             KCB Group (Finalist)

 

SuccessFactors (new):

*             Discovery Group (Gold)

*             AECI (Silver)

*             Liberty Group (Bronze)

*             PG Group (Finalist)

 

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Panicky MTN executives summoned before COSASE over alleged massive tax evasion

By
George Mangula
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Mr. Wim Vanhellaputte speaking at a past event.
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Japan, UN agency to construct training centre in Luwero for handling heavy equipment

By
George Mangula
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Officials exchanging signed documents
 

The Government of Japan has provided 262 million Japanese Yen (about US$ 2.4 million) grant to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as an implementing partner, to construct a training center in Luwero to boost the capacity of heavy equipment operators in Uganda.

The training center aims to empower and train 50 Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) construction equipment instructors; 360 MoWT and local district government construction equipment operators and 80 young Ugandans seeking employment in the industry.

The training center, when completed, will ensure that the training of equipment operators’ efficiencies is optimised and are continuous, thus resulting in the sustainable utilisation of the heavy equipment. UNIDO’s has significant experience in heavy duty/construction equipment, which expertise will be provided in the implementation of this project.

The project will also involve expertise from Japan to establish a new training curriculum and capacity for road construction management and methods, in close collaboration with the project partners like Komatsu Ltd., and the Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports.

The government has in the recent past procured units of road construction/maintenance equipment that has been distributed to District Local governments across the country. There is therefore a need to match the investment in road machinery with an equivalent investment in human resources to operate the equipment. UNIDO has the much-needed expertise in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

The project will support the Uganda Vision 2040 and in particular focus on bridging the skills gap so that building, maintaining and improving the country’s road infrastructure can be done by skilled Ugandans.

The signing ceremony was attended by project partners, representatives from the Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Ministry of Education and Sports, and Foreign Affairs.

 
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New project to help Uganda boost exports to South Korea

By
Our Reporter
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Uganda coffee

 

 

 

Uganda and South Korea have commenced a project aimed at increasing and diversifying the former’s exports to the latter, which is in line with the National Development Plan II and the National Export Development Strategy.

The 12-year project, dubbed, ‘Market-Linked Korea’, is funded by Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Trust Fund (KOAFEC) to the tune of US$ 500,000.

Through the project, Uganda is expected to grow its exports to South Korea especially coffee, tea and spices and olive trees among others.

John Lwere of Uganda Export Promotions Board (UEPB), market-focused studies will be done on behalf of the local exporters to identify high potential sectors, market entry requirements and trends, and most importantly potential customers.

“This information will be shared with exporters interested in this market,” said Lwere.

He notes that through the export readiness program and business development support component, UEPB will assess interested exporters for readiness to export to South Korea.

“Export –ready companies will be linked to potential buyers. Others will be supported depending on the identified need and available resources,” said Lwere.

Under the project, UEPB will work closely with the exporters to ensure that prospective buyer has all information necessary to make a buying decision including addressing all buyer needs.

The agency and stakeholders also organize a Sales Mission to South Korea where a tailored itinerary of appointments with interested buyers, the shipment of samples, assistance with inland travel and logistics to the meeting places will be done.

UEPB will further provide aftercare services to exporters to ensure that they fulfil export orders and for continuous in-market support.

Uganda and South Korea have had a cordial relationship and diplomatic relations since 2014. Uganda exported to Korea goods worth US$ 1.34 million in 2016, US$ 0.21 million in 2017and US$1.03 million in 2018. Imports from Korea were; US$0.46 million in 2016, US$0.69 million in 2017 and US$0.86 million in 2018.

Uganda’s Major exports to Korea are mainly agricultural products such as coffee, tea and spices; and live trees and other plant bulbs.

Specifically, coffee exports were; US$ 1.34 milllion, US$ 0.21 million and US$ 0.56 million in 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively, Tea and spices were; US$ 0.004 million and US$ 0.17 million in 2017 and 2018 respectively, while Live trees and other plant bulbs were; US$ 0.004M and US$ 0.001million in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Uganda majorly imports from Korea items such as; bulldozers, graders, excavators, levellers, machines and other mechanical appliances, laboratory equipment, automatic data processing machines, office machines, pharmaceuticals.

The project, MarketLinked Korea, will assist all Ugandan producers and exporters of products with potential market in South Korea. But the products must be compliant with the minimum standards, health and safety requirements.

Also export trading companies that are recognized by or with strong and demonstrable linkages, that have a good business track record, already exporting or deemed export-ready through the export readiness assessment will be eligible to participate.

“Exporters with the capacity to address product and production issues promptly, as may be required by the market, interest groups such as PWD, producers groups that are well organized and duly registered to do business are encouraged to participate,” said Lwere.

While launching the project at Golf Course Hotel Kampala, Uganda’s State Minister for Trade, Michael Werikhe said they will as well market and export other products where Uganda have potential to export like cereals, fish and fish products, edible fruits and nuts, meat and edible meat offal, among others.

“However, the major challenge Uganda is still facing is exporting mostly bulky, low value or with minimum value addition, while we import high-value products from Korea,” said Werikhe.

He said Uganda has proposed a number of Strategies to grow trade between Uganda and South Korea like attracting investments to boost production, holding trade fairs in South Korea, preferential treatment for our exports to Korea, capacity building / Development Assistance in Quality Assurance, private Sector to Private Sector engagement and contract farming.

He said that the Government of Uganda strongly wishes to encourage contract farming between South Korean Companies and Ugandan farmers involved in the production of agricultural products such as; Coffee, tea and spices, among others so as to boost quantity and quality of such products.

Werikhe said the Government of Uganda has invested in new power generation plants and by 2020, the Annual National Power Generation Capacity of Electricity will be about 2,600 Megawatts. This expanded power generation capacity will foster industrialization.

 

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AfDB concerned as Intra-African trade drop 14.4 %

By
Our Reporter
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ADB President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina

 

 

Intra-African trade declined to 14.4 per cent in 2018, with the continental countries trading more with the Asia, according to a review by the African Development Bank (AfDB)

The Annual Development Effectiveness Review 2019, indicates the activity was low against a 2015 baseline of 14.6 per cent and a target for 2018 at 17 per cent. The trade is expected to reach 25 per cent in 2025.

AfDB said non-tariff barriers and a lack of political goodwill to address the challenges impede progress.

It also cites poor infrastructure in roads and energy transmission lines constructed or rehabilitated to enhance cross-border trade.

“Intra-Africa trade could grow by up to 15 per cent if the bilateral tariffs that are applied today in Africa are eliminated and the rules of origin kept simple and transparent,” AfDB said.

The bank points to barriers that could restrain the African regional economic integration that was given a boost in March 2018 with the established African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The AfCFTA is projected to increase intra-African trade by 52 per cent by 2022. Kenya ratified the deal.

AfCFTA became operational in July after meeting the ratification threshold from other 22 countries.

“By committing countries to remove tariffs on 90 per cent of goods, liberalising tariffs on services and addressing other non-tariff barriers, AfCFTA is expected to significantly increase the value of intra-Africa trade and investment,” notes the report.

According to the bank, barriers such as cost of trading across borders remains high, more than Sh245,000 (at $2384), after falling slightly in 2017.

According to AfDB, the countries are making initiatives to complement AfCFTA including boosting protocol on the free movement of persons, right to residence and right to establishment and the single African air transport market.

However, trade has declined over time especially in low-income countries from 22.6 per cent in 2015 to 20.4 per cent in 2018.

By comparison, inter-regional trade in Asia accounts for 59 per cent of total trade.

The report however reported a significant rise in Africa-to-Africa Investment.

The bank reports that cross-border investments reached $12 billion in 2018, up from $2 billion in 2010.

Nairobi has been reported as among other cities Johannesburg, Casablanca, Cairo and Lagos as the most significant sources and recipients of intra-Africa investment.

 

 

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KFC introduces mac & cheese bowls: The fan-favorite side dish is now a main meal

By
Agencies
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The new bowls
 

 

Kentucky Fried Chicken have announced the addition of a new menu item that will have mac & cheese fans rejoicing! Introducing Mac & Cheese Bowls – a cheesy twist on KFC’s popular Famous Bowls – available as part of KFC’s US$5 Fill Up line up in participating restaurants nationwide starting August 26.

Crafted as a main dish, Mac & Cheese Bowls combine KFC’s rich and creamy mac and cheese, topped with crispy popcorn chicken, and sprinkled with a three-cheese blend. Those who love heat can kick it up a notch with a Spicy Mac & Cheese Bowl with KFC’s Nashville Hot sauce.

“Mac and Cheese has a cult-like following, and bowl food is a trend that isn’t going away anytime soon,” said Andrea Zahumensky, KFC U.S. CMO. “So, it made perfect sense to call up a favorite side dish to the big leagues, in a way that only we could, with Mac and Cheese Bowls.”

To give a sneak peek into how the KFC Mac & Cheese Bowls come together, KFC partnered with food critic and host of OMKalen, Kalen Allen, to hilariously provide Colonel-worthy commentary during his exclusive first taste and review of the new menu combination. You can check out the video here.

“My reaction said it all! KFC’s new Mac & Cheese Bowl is ridiculously good and if you watch my shows, everyone knows how I feel about unseasoned or flavorless food, so I wouldn’t be saying this if it wasn’t true,” said Kalen Allen. “The combination of KFC’s mac and cheese, popcorn chicken, and then sprinkled with MORE cheese is Kalen approved.”

Arriving just in time for “back to school” season, the new Mac & Cheese Bowl $5 Fill Up comes complete with a medium drink and chocolate chip cookie. It’s an abundant, convenient, filling and affordable meal that’s a perfect grab-n-go dinner (or lunch!) for the whole family for just $5 (price and participation may vary; tax extra). In addition to Mac & Cheese Bowls, KFC offers a full line up of $5 Fill Ups, featuring KFC’s world famous fried chicken, Pot Pies and Famous Bowls.

 

 

 

 
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UNBS maintains ban on cosmetics containing mercury and hydroquinone

By
Geoffery Serugo
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Dr. Ben-Manyindo, UNBS Executive Director.
 

 

The Uganda National Bureau of standards (UNBS) has maintained the ban on cosmetics that contain mercury and hydroquinone.

Hydroquinone and Mercury are common active ingredient that are found in a number of skin care products. These ingredients are designed specifically to lighten or bleach the skin.

In 2016, UNBS banned the manufacture, importation and sale of cosmetics that contain mercury and hydroquinone.

The ban was effected after UNBS tested some cosmetics and were found to contain mercury exceeding the level permitted by the UNBS standards (US EAS 377-1:2013), while others contained potent ingredients like hydroquinone.

Hydroquinone has been banned in many countries like Japan, the European Union and Australia.

Research has established that hydroquinone is a carcinogenic or a cancer causing chemical (yamaguchi et al, 1989). Hydroquinone has also been linked to the medical condition known as ochronosis in which the skin becomes dark and thick.

Studies also report that mercury is a “toxic heavy metal” that can lead to rashes, skin discoloration and blotching. Long-term exposure to high levels of mercury can also cause damage to the kidneys, as well as digestive and nervous systems and other vital organs.

Cosmetics are governed by a number of compulsory Uganda Standards including Uganda standard (US EAS 377-1:2013, which state that there shall not be any hydroquinone or mercury in cosmetics to be used for skin applications.

The standard however states that two percent hydroquinone is permissible for cosmetics to be used on hair.

UNBS would like to inform the public that cosmetics containing hydroquinone on the market have been smuggled into the country through various porous borders but are not cleared by UNBS as alleged by the public.

UNBS also advises the public to be cautious when purchasing cosmetic products from the market. It is advisable to buy such products from reliable and reputable sources such as registered pharmacies or established retail stores. We would like to urge the public to report cases of substandard products on the market.

 
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