Plummeting vaccination rates have fueled a historic and prolonged wave of measles in the US – with the Pan American Health Organization expected to revoke the country’s elimination status it enjoyed since 2000. Experts told Health Policy Watch that the shifting vaccination landscape and persistent cases globally have fueled the worst outbreak since 1991. WASHINGTON […] Continue reading ->
The SEAHEARTS initiative in WHO’s South-East Asia Region offers an outstanding example of how we can build health systems that address diabetes and other related conditions – worth special attention on World Diabetes Day, as we grapple with the growing number of people worldwide living with the condition. When 64-year-old Wangmo from Pemagatshel District in […] Continue reading ->
At a laboratory in Cameroon, technicians receive sputum samples from people suspected of having tuberculosis (TB). Until recently, each person’s sample required a separate test cartridge to detect the bacteria that causes TB. But when cartridges become scarce, the country’s National TB Program found a way to make existing resources go further: testing samples from […] Continue reading ->
November’s US midterm elections swept Democrats into power in both the House and Senate, marking a shift in congressional leadership on key health policies. This comes as a former Trump administration official and a founder of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement accused the administration of catering to industry interests over the health of […] Continue reading ->
A painkiller designed by artificial intelligence that beat morphine in animal tests; a “biological age” score on a government app. Smart-ring makers fighting each other in court while signing deals with the same health department. At its Future Health Summit, Abu Dhabi showed how hard it is to bet on the business of ageing, and […] Continue reading ->
WHO has greenlighted Phase 2/3 trials for two brand new vaccine candidates that specifically target the Ebola Bundibugyo virus species ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo. Actual trials could forseeably commence “within three to four weeks” – as soon as DRC regulators issue their own approval, said WHO’s Science Director Meg Doherty, at a Wednesday […] Continue reading ->
In the late 1990s, doctors treating sleeping sickness, a parasitic disease spread by tsetse flies that is almost always fatal without treatment, still relied on melarsoprol, an arsenic-based drug that killed roughly one patient in 20. One patient given melarsoprol in 2003 later recalled the injection “felt like fire” being injected into his veins, turning […] Continue reading ->
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first generic version of lenacapavir, the highly effective twice-yearly injection to prevent HIV, developed by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories based in India. Dr Reddy’s was one of six pharmaceutical manufacturers that was granted a non-exclusive, royalty-free voluntary licensing agreement from Gilead, which developed lenacapavir. The agreement, […] Continue reading ->
Returning to lead the Global Fund, Mark Dybul argues that the future of global health lies with domestic health systems, not agency mergers in Geneva. Evoking the founding ambition of the early 2000s, the incoming executive director explains how the Accra Reset and US bilateral aid can align under unified national plans – and how […] Continue reading ->
Who will steer the World Health Organization through its next chapter? Explore Health Policy Watch’s daily series examining the platforms, records, and institutional hurdles facing each contender for WHO Director-General, continuing today with Budi Gunadi Sadikin. Access all candidate profiles on our dedicated election site. Indonesia’s nomination of its Health Minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, for […] Continue reading ->