Mayors and other municipal officials should develop “urban heat maps” to identify and protect those most vulnerable to high temperatures, World Health Organization (WHO) official Maria Neira urged on Wednesday. Many people in urban areas stifling under heat waves cannot afford cooling systems while conditions for outdoor workers not protected by legislation have become dangerous, […] Continue reading ->
The World Bank’s decision to suspend new public loans to Uganda after the country passed its Anti-Homosexuality Act in March should serve as a warning to other countries contemplating passing similar discriminatory laws, according to human rights activists.  “Other countries considering similarly discriminatory laws should take notice of the World Bank’s decision and the negative […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued new standing recommendations for COVID-19 for member states, now that the virus outbreak is no longer classified as a pandemic. The recommendations are seven-fold, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus told a media briefing on Wednesday. “First, all countries should update their national COVID-19 programmes using the WHO […] Continue reading ->
The US has consolidated its efforts to address global health threats into a single structure, the Bureau of Global Heath Security and Diplomacy, which was launched on Monday. Renowned Cameroonian health expert Dr John Nkengasong, appointed last year to lead the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), leads the new structure and will […] Continue reading ->
A single healthcare worker infected with COVID-19 cost the Kenyan economy over $33,000 – around 18 times the country’s per capita GDP. This is according to a new report on the economic cost of COVID-19 infections among healthcare workers in Eswatini, Colombia, Kenya and South Africa (the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape) during the […] Continue reading ->
High cost has prevented some cancer drugs from being included in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) updated Essential Medicines List (EML) and Essential Medicines for List Children (EMLc) released on Wednesday. These include “patented, highly-priced” treatments for lung and breast cancer. “With the cancer medicines, we are facing now an issue where we have a […] Continue reading ->