Côte d’Ivoire became the first country to roll out the new R21/Matrix-M vaccine with the first child vaccinated in Abidjan on Monday. The vaccine, co-developed by the University of Oxford and Serum Institute of India (SII), was granted prequalification status by the World Health Organization (WHO) in December last year. This follows the approval of […] Continue reading ->
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio signed into law the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act last week, introducing a penalty of at least 15 years and a fine of around $4,000 for any man who marries a girl under 18. The law also prohibits cohabiting with a child, and fines for anyone arranging, aiding or […] Continue reading ->
Hurricane Beryl, which has destroyed homes and infrastructure in large parts of the eastern Caribbean, is the first first-ever Category 4 hurricane recorded in the region in June – and a portend of devastating changes in weather patterns. It also underscores the need for urgent international assistance to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to strengthen […] Continue reading ->
While a vaccine exists to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer, over 20 therapeutic HPV vaccine candidates are currently in development. These therapeutic vaccines aim to “boost the body’s immune response so that it can either fight and clear high-risk strains of the virus or abnormal ‘precancerous’ cells,” according to the […] Continue reading ->
UNAIDS has welcomed the recent ruling by Namibia’s High Court that its laws prohibiting same-sex acts between men are unconstitutional as they unfairly discriminate against gay men. Namibian citizen Friedel Dausab, supported by the Human Dignity Trust, sought to have laws prohibiting sodomy and “unnatural sex acts” and sections of the Immigration Control Act and […] Continue reading ->