While the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the epicentre of mpox, has yet to get a single vaccine dose despite battling large outbreaks since 2022, a flurry of activity last week aims to finally change this. Last Friday, UNICEF announced it had issued an emergency tender for the procurement of mpox vaccines. Usually, the […] Continue reading ->
KABUL, Afghanistan — On Kabul’s eastern outskirts, far from the bustling city centre, lies what locals call “the camp of addicts.” The Avicenna Drug Treatment Center, a massive compound enclosed by towering concrete walls, looms over the Afghan capital. Within its gates, Afghans face forced rehabilitation in the Taliban’s escalating war on drug addiction, a […] Continue reading ->
Japan issued a rare Level 4 evacuation advisory for its southern island, Kyushu, affecting 3.7 million residents as Typhoon Shanshan made landfall on Thursday. The storm is the strongest to hit the country this year, and has caused widespread power cuts as well as floods. Level 4 is the country’s second-highest alert level. In Bangladesh, […] Continue reading ->
Nigeria, accounting for just 1% of Africa’s confirmed mpox cases, has become the first African country to receive a vaccine shipment outside a clinical trial. This week, Nigeria received 10,000 doses of Jynneos, a vaccine manufactured by Bavarian Nordic and donated by the United States government. “We are pleased to receive this modest initial donation […] Continue reading ->
BREAKING: A massive polio vaccine campaign targeting some 640,000 Gaza children is now set to begin on Sunday, 1 September, with agreement by Israel for a three-day humanitarian pause in fighting, a senior WHO official said on Thursday. A second round of the campaign for the two dose vaccine is planned three weeks later. “We […] Continue reading ->
Tanzania’s Dr Faustine Ndugulile has been nominated as the next Regional Director for the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region, defeating more experienced WHO insiders in a closely contested race. Ndugulile secured 25 of the 46 votes at the WHO Africa regional conference in the Republic of Congo, defeating Dr Ibrahima Socé Fall (proposed by […] Continue reading ->
Hong Kong and London topped the list of 50 cities ranked for their efforts to prevent and address cardiovascular diseases – while Kathmandu and Cairo languished at the bottom. The City Heartbeat Index is a first-of-its-kind initiative of the World Heart Federation (WHF), a Geneva-based non-profit that works on cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. CVD is […] Continue reading ->
The government of Japan is preparing to send donations of mpox vaccines to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicentre of the global outbreak, according to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The Japan-based KM Biologics makes LC16, the only mpox vaccine currently licensed for children. This is essential for […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) will decide on whether to issue an emergency use listing (EUL) for an mpox vaccine within three weeks after its manufacturer supplied the global body with all the required information last Friday, Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of the WHO Africa regional conference on Monday. The WHO […] Continue reading ->
New Delhi’s decades-old regime to control vehicular pollution, including a heavy reliance by commercial vehicles on compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel, has been challenged by a new study by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). The report upends the narrative the that CNG is a ‘clean’ fuel, pointing to its high level of health-damaging […] Continue reading ->