The world remains fixated on getting new TB vaccines. But expanding the circle of progress on shorter TB regimes, and more early detection, may be more important to overcoming setbacks of the COVID pandemic, says one expert on World TB Day. IBADAN, Nigeria – The Government Chest Hospital in the city’s Jericho neighborhood is regarded […] Continue reading ->
Even while other parts of the world see upticks, or in the case of Asia, huge spikes in COVID-19 cases, an increasing number of African countries are scaling back COVID-19 surveillance and quarantine measures – a trend that the World Health Organization finds worrisome in the continent that still has the lowest rates of vaccination […] Continue reading ->
The flu shots that are being administered in the United States, as well as elsewhere in the northern hemisphere, are not reducing the risk of catching the dominant strain of the influenza virus (H3N2) that is circulating this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a March edition of its Morbidity and […] Continue reading ->
A month after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, almost 10 million people have been displaced, 64 attacks on health facilities have been verified – and the situation is set to worsen. This was the grim assessment of World Health Organization (WHO) officials briefing the media on Wednesday. “Nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s population […] Continue reading ->
More than a million people could die of Omicron in China unless it takes action to boost its elderly population with a Western COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new analysis by Airfinity. The analysis shows that, although China vaccinated 80% of its population over the age of 60, Chinese people have low protection because its […] Continue reading ->
In the outskirts of Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, just beyond where paved roads transition to dirt, an undiagnosed polio infection paralysed a three-year-old girl. From one day to the next, the child’s life was changed forever. Among Africa’s public health community, we had looked at our successes against wild poliovirus as a cause for optimism. In […] Continue reading ->
As global water experts meet at the World Water Forum in Senegal this week, large swathes of Africa are facing famine as severe droughts prevail in the Horn of Africa and large parts of southern Africa. “Harvests are ruined, livestock is dying and families are bearing the consequences of increasingly frequent climate extremes,” according to […] Continue reading ->
Speaking in her car from an undisclosed location somewhere in war-torn Ukraine, Yana Teerleva, head of TB in the country’s Ministry of Health, lamented the destruction that she is witnessing every day in hospitals and clinics – including the shelling of three huge dispensaries where the country had stockpiled sufficient TB medications for the remainder […] Continue reading ->
The weekend of 12-13 March was a glorious time to be in the Swiss mountain resort of Villars-sur-Ollon post-pandemic. Special Olympics Switzerland had organized the regional games sporting competition with skiing, bowling, tennis and boccia, drawing dozens of keen athletes and supporters. My son joined the other 46 skiers and snowboarders from the region to […] Continue reading ->
There have been 52 attacks on Ukrainian health facilities in the past 25 days, more than two every day, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Meanwhile, the health of fleeing refugees, their impact on the health services of neighbouring countries, and the fate of Ukraine’s tuberculosis patients are foremost on healthcare providers’ minds. “In […] Continue reading ->