The European Parliament has been challenged to amend a proposed law to enable countries outside the European Union (EU) to benefit from medical products produced under compulsory licences during crises. The proposed regulation aims to ensure that, “during specific crises or emergencies”, the EU can issue a compulsory licence to enable the production of certain […] Continue reading ->
COPENHAGEN – In Lebanon, international donors are supporting a network of public primary health care centers to test for diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), offering treatment equally to Lebanese nationals and Syrian refugees who are unlikely to return anytime soon to their war-torn homeland. In Kenya, a new national insurance law aims to make […] Continue reading ->
The sixth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNAE-6) ended last Friday in Nairobi, Kenya with the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration affirming member states’ commitment to slowing climate change, protecting biodiversity, and creating a pollution-free world. The assembly, which attracted over 5,600 delegates from 190 countries, also adopted 15 resolutions covering a range of issues including […] Continue reading ->
Text-based negotiations on a pandemic agreement will finally start at the next meeting of the intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) on 18 March, with the draft negotiating text due to be circulated to World Health Organization (WHO) member states by this Friday, 8 March. This follows an intense two weeks of the eighth round of INB […] Continue reading ->
Over 400 million people with hearing loss could benefit from hearing devices. However, less than 20% of those people actually get hearing aids. That’s one of the findings cited in new World Health Organisation guidelines on improving access to hearing care, published Friday, just ahead of World Hearing Day. “Unaddressed hearing loss is a global […] Continue reading ->
WASHINGTON, DC – When US Senator Amy Klobuchar’s father, the late Jim Klobuchar, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, the noted Minnesota newspaper columnist gradually stopped recognizing her – although he retained “a kind of savoir faire” to the very end with words, jokes and storytelling based on the decades of “lines enmeshed in his memory,” […] Continue reading ->
The private sector “must be held accountable for the health impacts of their products”, warned the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) amid news that obesity has quadrupled in children and more than doubled in adults since 1990. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was speaking ahead of the release of a huge global obesity study […] Continue reading ->
The overall benefits of COVID-19 vaccines far outweigh potential risks, according to a recent study of 99 million vaccinated people – despite a number of misleading and sensational reports about the study. The study, published in the journal Vaccine in mid-February, aimed to get more precise estimates of the risk of adverse events following vaccination. […] Continue reading ->
Ghana’s Parliament unanimously passed one of the world’s most draconian anti-LGBTIQ Bills on Wednesday, including a mandatory three-year prison sentence for a person who simply “identifies” as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer. Anyone funding an LGBTIQ organisation also faces five years in prison, while LGBTIQ “advocacy” involving children will result in a 10-year […] Continue reading ->
Outbreaks of measles have affected parts of the United States, coinciding with the lowest child immunisation rates the country has seen in 10 years, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By 22 February, 35 measles cases had been reported by 15 states, namely Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, […] Continue reading ->