A new treatment has been approved for gonorrhoea, a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that is increasingly developing resistance to all current antibiotics. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of zoliflodacin to treat uncomplicated gonorrhoea on Friday, following the publication in The Lancet of the results of a phase 3 trial of […] Continue reading ->
In Spain last winter, something remarkable happened: paediatric wards fell silent. “Hospitals were empty, and nobody could believe it,” said Dr Javier Díez-Domingo, director of the Vaccine Research Centre in Valencia. After the country introduced monoclonal antibodies against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) for every infant, RSV-related hospitalisations dropped by 83%. Thousands of healthy babies stayed […] Continue reading ->
The Indian government claims that farm fires in Punjab, which contribute significantly to air pollution, were reduced by 90% during the autumn season of harvest and crop-waste disposal – historically a factor in sending heavy clouds of air pollution drifting around northern India in late October and November. But in this Earth Chakra podcast, Health […] Continue reading ->
The World Food Programme (WFP) is warning of a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian emergency in Sudan on Friday, with conditions in the besieged city of El Fasher in Sudan’s Darfour region described as “beyond horrific.” Speaking at a briefing to UN reporters in Geneva, Ross Smith, WFP’s Director of Emergency Preparedness, said “anywhere between 70 and […] Continue reading ->
Following eleven hours of intense negotiations overnight, the European Union (EU) clinched a landmark agreement on the most significant pharma reform of its medicines market in over 20 years on Thursday. Reached in the final moments of the Danish EU Presidency’s mandate, the deal aims to strike a critical balance stimulating pharma innovation, particularly for […] Continue reading ->
Avnee Singh, 25, from Punjab in northern India, begins each morning the same way: by opening an AI chatbot. For the past year, this digital companion has become her closest confidant, a space where she empties her thoughts about family tensions, work anxieties and, above all, the intense loneliness that followed the end of her […] Continue reading ->
Kenya’s High Court suspended the implementation of the country’s Memorandum of Understanding with the United States on Thursday after two separate court challenges by the Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK) and local Senator Okiya Omtatah. COFEK argues that the agreement contravenes Kenya’s Data Protection Act, Digital Health Act, Health Act, and new data regulations that […] Continue reading ->
A new WHO review has reaffirmed that childhood vaccines don’t cause autism, based on an examination of more than 25 years of studies scoping for possible linkages. There is no causal link, either, between vaccines containing preservatives such as thimerosal or aluminium and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the review by the Global Advisory Committee on […] Continue reading ->
The movie “Belén”, Argentina’s submission for the 2026 Oscars, tells the story of a 26-year-old woman who suffered a miscarriage in a hospital in Tucuman province in 2014 and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2016 after being convicted of procuring an illegal abortion. Her case sparked a nationwide campaign to decriminalize abortion, […] Continue reading ->
Global leaders pledged US$ 1.9 billion to advance polio eradication on Monday, including a new $1.2 billion commitment by the Gates Foundation. The pledges, made on the margins of Abu Dhabi Finance Week, reduce the remaining budget gap for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) to just $440 million through 2029. That’s in comparison by […] Continue reading ->