New COVID-19 cases reached record worldwide peaks in the United States over the weekend,  hitting 98,583 new cases on Friday – as debates over management of the pandemic also fueled intense political duels in the last, heated days of campaigning between US President Donald Trump and his Democratic Party contender, Joseph Biden.  Hospitalizations were also […] Continue reading ->
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, board chair of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, on Wednesday was named as the favored candidate to be the next World Trade Organization director-general  – after a months-long WTO campaign process and in a decisive moment of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as the United States came out in favor of the Republic of Korea’s […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Summit, one of global health’s premier policy conferences got underway today in the shadow of an escalating COVID-19 case surge across Europe. The surge saw WHS sessions shift to an all-virtual platform – after organizers were forced to shelve initial plans for limited in-person participation in Berlin, where the annual conference co-hosted […] Continue reading ->
The United States Food and Drug Administration decision Thursday to approve Gilead Science’s Remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment failed to consider the results of the recent WHO “Solidarity Trial”  – which found no measurable benefits for the drug’s use – because the pharma company failed to include the study in its FDA submission for approval,  […] Continue reading ->
As the northern hemisphere enters winter, “COVID-19 cases are accelerating, particularly in Europe and North America,” said WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking at a Monday press briefing.  In words that echoed warnings from European officials last week, Dr Tedros and WHO’s health emergencies team stressed that governments need to double down on […] Continue reading ->
Genetically modified mosquitoes could be an innovative tool to combat vector-borne diseases and eliminate malaria, says a new WHO position statement. Genetically modified mosquitoes are designed to suppress mosquito populations and reduce their susceptibility to infection and their ability to transmit disease-carrying pathogens. WHO announced their support for the continued investigation into genetically modified mosquitoes as […] Continue reading ->
Two more experimental COVID-19 drugs, including the much-touted Remdesivir, appear to have fallen by the wayside, failing to show significant reductions in mortality among seriously ill patients. Interim results on Remdesivir and three other drug treatments being studied as part of the WHO Solidarity Therapeutics Trial, the world’s largest randomized controlled trial of COVID-19 drugs, […] Continue reading ->
A significant surge in COVID-19 cases is currently taking place across Europe, something that Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, described as the “fall/winter surge” in a press briefing Thursday. Europe has reported its highest weekly number of COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, with nearly 700,000 cases.  Even though mortality rates […] Continue reading ->