More newborn babies with sepsis are dying because their infections are not responding to the usual antibiotics, according to the biggest global study on the subject yet. The study’s sponsor, the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), is now designing an interventional trial to identify better treatment regimens. to combat rising resistance. GARDP’s study, […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – As the health sector celebrates World Immunisation Week, one of the most pressing related problems is Africa’s almost total dependence on imported vaccines –  something that predates, but was highlighted by, the COVID-19 pandemic.   But addressing this dependence will mean dismantling the ‘charity’ model that has underpinned many of Africa’s immunisation programmes […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – A new partnership between African scientists and pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J), aimed at finding solutions to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), was launched in South Africa on Monday. The J&J Satellite Center for Global Health Discovery, housed at the University of Cape Town (UCT)’s Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Center, will […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended Paxlovid, the antiviral medicine produced by Pfizer, for patients with COVID-19 at high risk of developing severe disease – but it is concerned about limited access to the life-saving medicine. Friday’s WHO recommendation is aimed at “patients with non-severe COVID-19 who are at highest risk of developing severe […] Continue reading ->
Only 10 of Africa’s 54 countries have vaccinated more than a third of their citizens, although the continent has administered over two-thirds of the vaccine doses it has procured. The top 10 vaccinators are Seychelles (81%), Mauritius (76%), Rwanda (64%), Morocco (63%),  Cape Verde (55%), Botswana (54%), Tunisia (53%), Mozambique (43%), São Tomé and Príncipe […] Continue reading ->
Getting medical supplies and equipment to those Ukrainians who need it as fighting intensifies is one of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) biggest concerns, according to WHO Europe spokesperson, Bhanu Bhatnagar on Tuesday. “An increase in fighting could further threaten our supply chains in and out of affected areas.,” said Bhatnagar, who is currently in […] Continue reading ->