Discussion about non-communicable diseases (NCDs) opened a Pandora’s Box of problems at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) executive board meeting on Wednesday. Not a single country is on track to achieve all nine voluntary global NCD targets for 2025, according to the Director-General’s report, which appealed to member countries for input on how they can […] Continue reading ->
WHO has released a novel set of guidelines on the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence (AI) in large multi-modal models (LMMs), a type of generative AI frequently used in healthcare. The guidelines include 40 recommendations for governments as well as other actors, such as technology companies and health care providers. Based on 2021 WHO […] Continue reading ->
“It’s not just about people with disabilities, this is about all of us,” stresses Pascal Bijleveld, the CEO of ATscale Global Partnership, an organization established in 2018 to advocate for assistive technologies (AT) access, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The first-ever global campaign to expand access, ‘Unlock the Everyday’, was launched on Tuesday at […] Continue reading ->
The first clinical trial of a vaccine for Nipah, a deadly communicable disease mostly found in South-East Asia, is about to start, the Oxford Vaccine Group announced. Despite 25 years of outbreaks and its WHO status of a priority disease, there is no treatment or vaccine for Nipah up to this date.  “This vaccine trial […] Continue reading ->
Pakistan Senator Dr Sania Nishtar  has been appointed new CEO of the global vaccine alliance, Gavi, and will take up the position on 18 March. This follows the previous appointee, Dr Muhammad Pate, pulling out last June – six weeks before he was due to take office, in order to serve as health minister of […] Continue reading ->
Cabo Verde was certified as malaria-free on Friday by the World Health Organization (WHO), only the third African country to have achieved this milestone. The country, an archipelago of 10 islands off the West African coast near Senegal, joins 43 countries including African countries Mauritius and Algeria in eliminating malaria.  Its last indigenous malaria case […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has added the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine to its list of ‘prequalified’ vaccines, paving the way for bulk procurement and mass deployment of the new vaccine across malaria-endemic countries by UNICEF and other global health agencies. The prequalification of the world’s second malaria vaccine, developed by Oxford University and manufactured by […] Continue reading ->
The court challenge to Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, one of the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world, began in Kampala on Monday before five Constitutional Court judges. The Act, which was passed by an overwhelming majority of Members of Parliament in May, includes penalties such as a life sentence for same-sex acts between consenting adults, 10 […] Continue reading ->