A historic window of opportunity to eradicate polio could be slipping away, World Health Organization (WHO) Europe leaders warned at a press conference marking World Polio Day on Monday. Since the 1980s, global polio cases have fallen by 99.9% and if polio were to be eradicated, it would join smallpox as only the second disease […] Continue reading ->
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers’ Network (DCVMN) have thrown their weight behind the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) proposal to improve access to vaccines in future pandemics. The proposal, known as the Berlin Declaration, outlines how the pharmaceutical industry would reserve an allocation of real-time production of […] Continue reading ->
Hospitals in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince face the threat of shutting down if fuel supplies for diesel power generators and vital medical supplies aren’t made available soon, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned Friday. “We will not be able to operate our medical facilities for more than a few weeks if we do not have access […] Continue reading ->
With more cholera outbreaks overstretching the world’s limited vaccine supply, WHO recommends temporarily suspending the standard two-dose regimen to vaccinate more people. Meanwhile, Africa aims to re-energize its COVID-19 vaccine rollout, despite steady decline in public turnout for vaccination. A shortage in the global supply of cholera vaccines has forced the World Health Organization to […] Continue reading ->
BERLIN – Nearly 20 years ago, Ricardo Baptista Leite began his work as a young medical doctor in an infectious disease ward in Portugal – an experience that changed his life. “I met patients who couldn’t make it to the hospital because they couldn’t afford public transportation,” he said. “I diagnosed patients infected with multi […] Continue reading ->
A precedent-setting agreement to permit an expensive cancer drug to be produced more affordably by generic manufacturers has been signed between the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and pharmaceutical company Novartis, enabling much wider access to a medicine that treats a rare blood cancer. Nilotinib is a twice-daily oral medication used to treat chronic myeloid leukaemia […] Continue reading ->
“The bottom line is that our food environment is deeply unhealthy. And unless we change that, millions of people will suffer from avoidable illness and die early from preventable death,” Dr Tom Frieden, CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, told the World Health Summit in Berlin. “Voluntary changes are much less likely to result in […] Continue reading ->
For “Nundy,” a mother of two living in South Africa’s Khayelitsha township, going to the doctor more than once a year is not an option. She would have to pay 50% of her total household income in a month in order to see a doctor, so she saves up all of her medical questions and […] Continue reading ->
A shortage of cholera vaccines and a number of outbreaks have prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to advise countries to administer single doses of the vaccine instead of the usual two doses. So far, 29 countries have reported cholera outbreaks, with Haiti, Syria and Malawi dealing with large outbreaks. The standard preventive approach to […] Continue reading ->
Common cancers that can be treated successfully when they’re detected early – breast, cervical, colorectal and prostate – are causing high mortality in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) because of a lack of screening and treatment, Dr Cary Adams, CEO of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), told a press conference at the start […] Continue reading ->