Unsafe food causes 1.5 million deaths and 866 million illnesses each year – a burden similar to tuberculosis, according to World Health Organization (WHO) research published in The Lancet this week. The research assessed 42 major foodborne hazards – including bacteria, viruses, parasites and chemicals – from 194 countries between 2000 and 2021.  Foodborne diseases […] Continue reading ->
Tobacco companies have helped to engineer ultra-processed food (UPF) and scale up the industry, developing and distributing addictive products that are driving obesity, cancer, dementia and chronic diseases like diabetes.  This is according to one of the most comprehensive reviews of the drivers and impact of UFP, published in the American Journal of Public Health […] Continue reading ->
Three investigational vaccine candidates for the Ebola Bundibugyo virus are being “urgently accelerated towards clinical trials”, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced on Monday. There are no licensed vaccines for the Bundibugyo virus, and none are in clinical development. This is the strain of Ebola currently driving the outbreak in the Democratic Republic […] Continue reading ->
The recent hantavirus outbreak triggered a wave of disinformation along similar lines to the COVID-19 pandemic: the virus was “fake”, “deliberately engineered”, and could be “cured” by Ivermectin. In the past week, furious community members have attacked and torched tents housing Ebola patients at Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director General has called for an immediate ceasefire in the eastern DRC to enable officials to address the outbreak of a particularly deadly strain of Ebola, warning that stopping transmission “depends entirely on humanitarian access”. The DRC’s Ituri province, the heart of the Ebola Bundibugyo virus outbreak, is facing “a […] Continue reading ->
Afrigen Biologics, the South African facility that developed an mRNA vaccine from scratch during COVID-19, has become the first African facility to be certified to manufacture investigational biological products for Phase I and II clinical trials. The facility celebrated receiving its Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification for its mRNA facility in Cape Town from the […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Executive Board (EB) decided on Monday that the first forum for candidates aspiring to become the next Director General will be held on 18 November, where they will face questions from member states. Meanwhile, some of Africa’s poorest countries will play a decisive role in choosing the next DG, thanks […] Continue reading ->
Liver disease, social media harms and health taxes dominated the World Health Assembly’s (WHA) discussion on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on Thursday. For the first time, countries resolved to include steatotic liver disease (SLD), which is closely linked to obesity and diabetes, into NCD plans.  Formerly known as fatty liver disease, SLD  affects an estimated 1.7 […] Continue reading ->