Tanzania declared the end of its Marburg Virus Disease outbreak on Friday, two months after the outbreak was first detected in the north-western Kagera region.  Nine cases (eight confirmed and one probable) and six deaths were recorded in the outbreak, which was declared on 21 March after laboratory analysis confirmed that the cause of deaths […] Continue reading ->
Two different court challenges of Uganda’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill have been launched over the past week. The first involves 10 Ugandans and a human rights organisation, which have petitioned the country’s Constitutional Court to prevent the Anti-Homosexuality Act signed into law on Monday from being implemented. According to the petition, the law is unconstitutional as […] Continue reading ->
Lisa McClennon has been appointed Director of Internal Oversight Services (IOS), the office in charge of investigating all misconduct including sexual abuse and fraud, at the World Health Organization (WHO), the global body’s Executive Board heard on Wednesday. McClennon has been IOS Head of Investigations since November 2021, and led investigations into the sex abuse […] Continue reading ->
There has been swift and widespread reaction to Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which introduces severe punishment for homosexuality including the death penalty, being signed into law by that country’s president on Monday. US President Joe Biden called for its “immediate repeal”, describing it as “a tragic violation of universal human rights—one that is not worthy of […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA – The global will to ensure that COVID-19 is a “never-again” pandemic is dissipating fast, according to many delegates attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) and its plethora of side events – threatening initiatives such as local manufacturing of vaccines. Jeremy Farrar, the newly appointed Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO), reminded […] Continue reading ->
New global guidelines to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were finally passed by the World Health Assembly on Friday afternoon after a mammoth day-and-a-half of member states’ inputs. The guidelines update the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “Best Buys” published in 2017 and focus on the four key risk factors for NCDs – tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diet […] Continue reading ->
An impossibly long list of member states lined up to address universal health coverage (UHC) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) at the World Health Assembly on Thursday afternoon, indicating the centrality of these issues for countries. There was near-universal support for primary health services to be the backbone of UHC, with disease prevention as the other […] Continue reading ->
 GENEVA – Global health conversations are much deeper at present because everyone has been affected by COVID-19 – and this opens up the possibility of building an “all-of-society” approach before the next pandemic, said Sylvie Brand, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention. “We have seen during this pandemic […] Continue reading ->