The World Health Organization issued new guidelines for the treatment of multi drug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis on Wednesday, prioritizing for the first time an all-oral treatment regimen. The new treatment recommends replacing the painful injectable drugs that patients had to endure under previous treatment guidelines with a shorter course of oral bedaquiline – one of only […] Continue reading ->
A new plan to dramatically accelerate global efforts to end tuberculosis, one of the world’s deadliest and oldest known infectious diseases, was launched Tuesday by the Stop TB Partnership in Jakarta. The fully-costed plan is based on commitments made at a 2018 United Nations High-Level Meeting on Ending TB (UNHLM) to reduce TB deaths by […] Continue reading ->
Measles deaths are on the rise for the second year in a row, killing more than 140,000 people worldwide in 2018 according to estimates released Thursday by the World Health Organization and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Also on Thursday, a massive measles vaccination campaign was announced in North Kivu, […] Continue reading ->
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance approved on Thursday an investment of US$178 million over the next five years to establish a global stockpile of 500,000 doses of Ebola vaccines that have been “pre-qualified” by the World Health Organization – WHO’s quality seal of approval that also makes vaccines and drugs eligible for preferential terms of purchase […] Continue reading ->
Global progress against malaria continued to plateau in 2018 for the third year in a row, and the disease hit young children and pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa the hardest, according to the World Malaria Report 2019 released by the World Health Organization on Wednesday. Despite stalled progress at the global level, however, four new […] Continue reading ->
For the second year running, some 37 organizations have launched a week-long mini campaign to raise awareness and promote action against falsified and substandard medicines. This year’s annual Fight the Fakes week aims to mobilize the public and international global health community to speak up more assertively about the growing threat of fake or substandard […] Continue reading ->
African leaders, scientists, and activists are mobilizing to address the scientific, political, and social challenges inherent to ending the HIV epidemic. That was the key message as the 20th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) kicked off on Monday in Kigali, Rwanda under the theme, “AIDS-free Africa: Innovation, Community and Political Leadership.” […] Continue reading ->
WHO and its partners have evacuated Ebola response workers in the Biakato Mines Area of the Democratic Republic of Congo following two deadly attacks on Wednesday night that left 4 Congolese staff dead, and 6 staff wounded – including a WHO staff member. The scale back of the Ebola response raises the possibility of a […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization has issued new HIV testing recommendations to help countries expand treatment coverage and reach the estimated 8.1 million people living with HIV who have not yet been diagnosed. The WHO guidelines were released on Wednesday ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1 and the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually […] Continue reading ->
The lower house of the French parliament has approved a milestone requirement that pharmaceutical companies must disclose the amount of public funding that was used in the research and development of new medicines entering the national market, as well as allowing those contributions to be factored into negotiations over final drug pricing. After being initially […] Continue reading ->