BACKGROUND: Sickle cell anaemia is a common global life-threatening haematological disorder. Most affected births occur in sub-Saharan Africa where children usually go undiagnosed and die early in life. Uganda's national sickle cell screening programme was developed in response to a 2014 sickle cell surveillance study that documented a high disease prevalenceOBJECTIVE: This study describes the temporal and financial aspects of Uganda's 2014-2019 sickle cell screening programmeMETHODS: National sickle cell screening data from Uganda's Central Public Health Laboratories were used to calculate turn-around times (TATs) from sample collection to delivery, testing, and result reporting for blood samples collected from February 2014 to March 2019. The parameters affecting specific TATs were assessed. The exact programme expenditures were analysed to determine cost per test and per positive sickle cell disease case detectedRESULTS: A total of 278 651 samples were analysed. The median TAT from sample collection to laboratory receipt was 8 days (interquartile range [IQR]: 6-12), receipt to testing was 3 days (IQR: 1-7), and testing to result reporting was 6 days (IQR: 3-12). Altogether, the sample continuum averaged 16 days (IQR: 11-24). Lower level healthcare facilities were associated with longer sample delivery TATs. Calendar months (January and December) and larger sample volumes impacted testing and result reporting TATs. The cost per test was $4.46 (United States dollars [USD]) and $483.74 USD per positive case detectedCONCLUSION: Uganda's sickle cell screening programme is efficient and cost-effective. Universal newborn screening is the best strategy for detecting sickle cell anaemia in Uganda

In this work, electrocoagulation (EC) was used to treat meat industry (frigorific) wastewater. Effects of EC process variables such as distance between electrodes and potential on the removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD), were examined. Two factors with three levels response surface design coupled with response surface methodology (RSM) were employed to optimize the EC process variables. Second order polynomial models were developed for the responses and three dimensional (3D) response surface plots were used to study the interactive effects of the process variables on the EC efficiency. Experimental results showed that EC treatment, using a potential of 40 V and electrodes with a 3 cm gap between them, presented a COD removal of over 90% for the meat industry wastewater.