The government of Colombia has issued its first-ever compulsory license to enable access to generic versions of the key HIV medicine dolutegravir, without permission from the patent owner, ViiV Healthcare. Dolutegravir is recommended as part of the preferred first-line antiretroviral treatment regimen for people living with HIV, including during pregnancy, as per the guidance of […] Continue reading ->
The World Bank aims to support countries to deliver “quality, affordable health services” to 1.5 billion people by 2030, it announced during its ‘spring’ meeting in Washington this week. It will expand its current focus from maternal and child health to include “coverage throughout a person’s lifetime, including non-communicable diseases”; hard-to-reach areas, including remote villages, […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a new technical report including updated terminology to describe pathogens that are transmitted through the air, following “an extensive, multi-year, collaborative effort”. It follows confusion and contestation between scientists during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the “varying terminologies” and  “gaps in common understanding”, said the WHO. These “contributed […] Continue reading ->
“This is probably the most hopeful time in my professional life and the scariest time,” Dr Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization (WHO) Deputy Director General and head of Health Emergencies, told a high-level Geneva audience on Wednesday. “Hopeful” because there is the possibility of reaching a global agreement on how to tackle future pandemics […] Continue reading ->
The latest draft of the pandemic agreement, while deferring many operational issues, keeps equity hopes alive in many aspects – including by cementing in-principle agreements on a pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS) system, a global supply chain and logistics network and geographically diverse “capacities and institutions” for research and development. READ: WHO Pandemic Agreement draft_16 […] Continue reading ->
“Disappointed” is how the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention phrased its response to pharmaceutical company Moderna “pausing” its Kenyan mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility.  Moderna’s decision is yet another example of how complex it is to kickstart vaccine manufacturing on the continent – an essential component to safeguard Africans against future pandemics on the […] Continue reading ->
The new Deputy Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) is Dr Mike Ryan, who will assume the position alongside his current post as the executive director of Health Emergencies, Preparedness and Response. Ryan, who succeeds Zsuzsanna Jakab, who retired in February, assumed the position on 1 April according to an internal staff communique […] Continue reading ->