Despite death threats from rebel Chechens and Russian forces, Dr Khassan Baiev saved and treated countless lives from both sides of the Chechen wars. He did not waver from what he considered was his ethical duty as a doctor, and yet he was targeted and punished for his actions. His story, and the stories of […] Continue reading ->
The way in which WHO is financed is “fundamentally rotten” with excessive financial dependence on just a handful of rich countries and a few private donors. But Germany’s deputy head of global health in the Ministry of Health, Björn Kümmel, is hopeful that WHO member states may turn course in coming months – and reclaim […] Continue reading ->
There has been a substantial increase in COVID-19 vaccine deliveries to Africa in the past four weeks, with around 20 million doses arriving every week at present – but only six countries out of 54 African countries will reach the global target of vaccinating 40% of their population by the end of this year. This […] Continue reading ->
Shortly after the release of research showing reduced efficacy of the two-jab Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine against Omicron infection, but better protection with boosters, the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned that more research is still needed to draw definite conclusions about vaccine strategies in the face of the new variant wave. A South African study released […] Continue reading ->
The newly constituted African Medicines Agency (AMA) will be key in assisting the African Union (AU) to achieve its aim of producing 60% of vaccines on its own soil by 2040. This emerged at a two-day meeting of the Partnership for Africa Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) hosted by Rwanda this week. The PAVM was set up […] Continue reading ->
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has set up a new global initiative to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination efforts, called the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access (Global VAX), the agency announced on Monday Global Vax’s aim according to USAID, is to “get COVID-19 shots into arms and enhance international coordination to identify and rapidly overcome […] Continue reading ->
The African Union has made steady progress to manufacture vaccines on the continent, but this is a complicated, expensive endeavour that required long-term commitment, Big Pharma companies warned. Welcoming delegates to the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) reportback six months after it was set up, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said building pharmaceutical manufacturing […] Continue reading ->
As new malaria cases have increased as a result of COVID-19 and key global targets have been missed by miles, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for new approaches and tools to better implement the current ones in place in the 2021 WHO Malaria Report released on Monday. In 2020, the global malaria case […] Continue reading ->
Now that the World Health Assembly Special Session has overwhelmingly resolved to negotiate a “pandemic accord”, the urgent work of producing a workable plan to tackle future pandemics begins. This was the view of speakers – most of whom have been integrally involved in “pandemic accord” discussions – addressing an event convened by the Global […] Continue reading ->
Following the detection of the newest WHO COVID-19 variant of concern, Omicron, in Canada and Brazil, and most recently, the US, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has urged countries to “redouble their surveillance efforts in the region, warning that it is likely that the new variant will likely be circulating in other parts of […] Continue reading ->