MONTREAL – Ninety countries will benefit from a voluntary licensing agreement announced on Thursday that will enable generic companies to produce a long-acting injectable antiretroviral, cabotegravir (CAB-LA), to protect people from HIV infection. CAB-LA’s manufacturer, UK pharmaceutical company ViiV, has given the license to the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) for patents in least-developed, low-income, lower-middle-income […] Continue reading ->
UNGA decision comes on the heels of an about-face by coal-promoting US Senator Joe Manchin, to support the inclusion of a climate mitigation package as part of President Joe Biden’s flagship domestic spending package, potentially enabling its passage after months of deadlock. As regions as diverse as Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas scorched under […] Continue reading ->
MONTREAL – Progress against HIV has slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic as donors pull back, countries test and treat fewer people and miss key targets, UNAIDS revealed on Wednesday. “Progress in prevention and treatment is faltering around the world, putting millions of people in grave danger. Eastern Europe and central Asia, Latin America, and […] Continue reading ->
MONTREAL – South Africa is home to the biggest community of people with HIV, but more of its citizens are now dying of diabetes than HIV and the country is grappling with how to integrate treatment for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) into HIV care. This is something that all African countries with large communities of people […] Continue reading ->
The Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, was the epicenter of the early outbreaks of SARS-CoV2, a new, peer-reviewed study asserts, following its examination of early COVID-19 cases in the region and environmental samples originating from the market. The study, published by Science Magazine, reinforces the theory that the emergence of SARS-COV2 occurred via […] Continue reading ->
About 10% of people with Monkeypox require hospitalization and children are at the highest risk of severe disease, says WHO. Meanwhile, there are only about 1 million doses of the EMA and US FDA-approved MVA-BN vaccine readily available today across the globe – but that vaccine is also untested against monkeypox at large scale. The […] Continue reading ->
MONTREAL – A fourth person has been “cured” of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant for leukaemia at the City of Hope Hospital in the US. The 66-year-old man, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1988, has been in remission 17 months after stopping antiretroviral therapy (ART) following a stem cell transplant for leukaemia. […] Continue reading ->
Sally Agallo Kwenda’s first baby only lived for two days. She fell pregnant again almost immediately but her second son was born prematurely and died soon afterwards. Shortly after his death, she learnt that she had AIDS. Some years later, after struggling with depression and grief, Kwenda was diagnosed with stage two cervical cancer – […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge, has asked the 53 countries in the WHO region to “act with urgency” in halting the Monkeypox emergency that has hit the region hardest – noting that “vaccines alone won’t end the outbreak”. Kluge’s statement Tuesday followed Saturday’s declaration by WHO of a global public health emergency over […] Continue reading ->
In a global first – over 25,000 people in South Sudan have been vaccinated in the world’s first mass vaccination campaign to contain an outbreak of hepatitis E, a disease especially fatal for pregnant women. The outbreak occurred in Bentiu, the largest internally displaced persons camp in South Sudan. Outbreaks of hepatitis E have been […] Continue reading ->