US Consolidates Efforts to Address Pandemics, HIV and Other Global Health Threats into Single Bureau

02/08/2023 Kerry Cullinan

The US has consolidated its efforts to address global health threats into a single structure, the Bureau of Global Heath Security and Diplomacy, which was launched on Monday. Renowned Cameroonian health expert Dr John Nkengasong, appointed last year to lead the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), leads the new structure and will […] Continue reading ->

Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Safest for Older People

02/08/2023 Megha Kaveri

Older adults vaccinated with Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine were 15% less likely to be infected with COVID-19 than those vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech’s, according to a peer-reviewed study, published in JAMA Network on Wednesday. The study was based on observational data from 6.3 million adults, almost 60% women and 86.5% White, with an average age of 76 […] Continue reading ->

Africa’s High Cancer Deaths Can Be Addressed by Improved Access to Key Medicines

01/08/2023 Kerry Cullinan

Africa has one of the highest cancer death rates in the world, yet this could be markedly improved by better access to treatments already widely available in high-income countries for the continent’s biggest killers – breast, cervical, lung and prostate cancers and Kaposi sarcoma. This is according to a recent study by the Botswana-Rutgers Partnership […] Continue reading ->

Are The Three Pandemic Negotiations Bringing a Safer World Closer?

31/07/2023 Kerry Cullinan

While July saw a crush of global pandemic-related meetings – some joint and some clashing – to accommodate tight schedules and northern summer holidays, achieving a pandemic-proof world is still a long way off. The two pandemic negotiations underway at the World Health Organization (WHO) have held individual and joint meetings over the past few […] Continue reading ->

While Anti-Smoking Policies Cover 70% of Global Population, Taxation is Under-Utilised

31/07/2023 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Some 5.6 billion people – 71% of the world’s population – are now covered by at least one tobacco protection policy adopted by their national governments, according to a new World Health Organization (WHO) report published today. That is five times more people than were protected in 2007, when the comprehensive set of anti-smoking policies, […] Continue reading ->

Equitable Drug Access and Finance Are Looming Issues in Talks on International Health Regulations

28/07/2023 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

The thorny and unresolved issues of how to incorporate health equity measures and supportive finance for low and middle income countries into revisions of the WHO International Health Regulations (IHR), are set to be two key items on the agenda of an IHR negotiating body when talks resume again in early October. This was one […] Continue reading ->

World Needs to Dramatically Scale Up Hepatitis Testing and Treatment

28/07/2023 Mandi Smallhorne

Viral hepatitis could become a more lethal killer than malaria, tuberculosis and HIV combined by 2040, if current trends in undetected infection and treatment continue, warned the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday, World Hepatitis Day. In observance of the day, WHO launched a call, under the title “One life, one liver”, to scale up […] Continue reading ->

July Likely to be Hottest Month Ever Recorded

27/07/2023 Disha Shetty

July 2023 may have experienced temperatures last seen in prehistoric times, as climate scientists confirm that once rare heatwaves are now routine events. Record heatwaves have been seen this year from the US to India, and according to the latest analysis, this July may be the hottest ever recorded. Dr Karsten Haustein, a climate scientist […] Continue reading ->

The Cost of a Single COVID-Infected Health Worker

27/07/2023 Kerry Cullinan

A single healthcare worker infected with COVID-19 cost the Kenyan economy over $33,000 – around 18 times the country’s per capita GDP. This is according to a new report on the economic cost of COVID-19 infections among healthcare workers in Eswatini, Colombia, Kenya and South Africa (the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape) during the […] Continue reading ->

Climate Change Lawsuits Surge as Global Temperatures Hurtle Towards Levels Far Above 1.5°C

27/07/2023 Stefan Anderson

The number of climate cases taken to court has more than doubled in the last five years, as people and communities turn to the legal system to hold governments and corporations accountable for their inaction on climate change, according to a new Global Climate Litigation Report, published Thursday by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and […] Continue reading ->