While COVID exposed the urgency of ensuring that Africa can manufacture vaccines, the current mpox and cholera outbreaks have painfully underscored the continent’s vulnerability. African countries affected by mpox are dependent on vaccine donations from wealthy countries, while a dire global shortage of cholera vaccines has forced the World Health Organization (WHO) to advise countries […] Continue reading ->
The mpox outbreak – characterised by the all-too-familiar lack of vaccines for Africa – provided added impetus to the global negotiations for a pandemic agreement, which resumed at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva on Monday. Ethiopia, speaking for Africa, said that mpox, recently declared a public health emergency of international concern, “calls […] Continue reading ->
Pregnant women with disabilities in Malawi face a myriad of challenges, despite several policies and an Act stipulating the need to respect disability rights, including in health service provision. BLANTYRE, Malawi – When Lynes Manduwa miscarried, nurses in the gynaecology ward at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) ganged up and confronted her husband. “They confronted […] Continue reading ->
Now that the first mpox vaccines have arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) courtesy of a European Union donation, the challenge is to ensure that they get to where they are needed most. This includes war-torn eastern DRC, camps of displaced people in North and South Kivu, and the immediate family members of […] Continue reading ->
Fundamental policy changes aimed at fixing India’s seemingly intractable air pollution health crisis were suggested at the India Clean Air Summit (ICAS) held in Bengaluru recently. Among the dozens of presentations by air quality scientists and officials, five key elements emerged for policy action that can speed up the reduction of air pollutants. These involve: […] Continue reading ->
Climate change, wildfires and air pollution are locked in a deadly cycle threatening human health, ecosystems and agriculture worldwide, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Thursday. The WMO sounded the alarm in its latest bulletin on air quality and climate, the fourth such publication this year. With a special focus on wildfires, the report […] Continue reading ->
UN agencies have vaccinated more than 187,000 children against polio in central Gaza over the past three days, which was more than expected, The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing on Wednesday. The vaccination drive, aimed at children up to 10 years of age, continues in southern Gaza […] Continue reading ->
When policymakers, advocates, diplomats, and practitioners come together this month at the UN General Assembly, drug-resistant superbugs will be on everyone’s mind. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the phenomenon where bacteria and other infectious agents no longer respond to treatments, will be the topic of a UN High-Level Meeting on 26 September to discuss this serious and […] Continue reading ->
How many children worldwide have been orphaned by the death of their father due to cancer? This is one of the pressing questions researchers will aim to answer and that is a topic amongst the abstracts at this month’s World Cancer Congress. The study, conducted by the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), […] Continue reading ->
While more countries are concerned about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) than a decade ago, many are reluctant to commit to a specific target to reduce the overuse of animal antibiotics as they negotiate a political declaration ahead of the United Nations high-level meeting on AMR. The zero draft of the declaration issued on 20 May proposed […] Continue reading ->