Pakistan Becomes First Country To Add Typhoid Vaccine To National Immunization Programme

15/11/2019 Editorial team

Pakistan became the first country in the world to introduce the typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) into its routine immunization program on Friday. The government of Pakistan is launching the national vaccine with a campaign in Sindh Province, which has already been deploying the vaccine on an emergency basis since April 2019 to tackle an ongoing […] Continue reading ->

Time For A New Deal For Medicine; EPHA Forum Challenges Status Quo On Medicines Policy

14/11/2019 Grace Ren

The debate around drug price transparency was a highlight of the 4th Forum on Access to Medicines in Europe, hosted by the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) Thursday. The forum focused its discussions around cancer therapies, medicines shortages, and transparency around R&D costs. “It is high time to challenge the status quo on medicines policy […] Continue reading ->

Access To Medicines Postponed; UHC, NTDs & Intellectual Property Feature In Next WHO Executive Board Agenda

14/11/2019 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

WHO’s agenda for the next Executive Board (EB) meeting, scheduled for 3-8 February 2020, will see discussions grouped for the first time ever around the three key pillars of the WHO Global Plan of Work for 2019-2023, including expanding health and wellbeing, protection from health emergencies, and universal health coverage to one billion more people. […] Continue reading ->

WHO & UNICEF Co-Host First Conference On Child And Adolescent Mental Health

11/11/2019 Grace Ren

With rates of self-harm, suicide and anxiety among children and young people growing around the world, UNICEF and the World Health Organization hosted the first ever “Leading Minds” Conference to tackle adolescent mental health on November 7-9. The forum highlighted the growing recognition of mental health as a global health problem, and follows moves made […] Continue reading ->

Violence Against Ebola Responders Plagues Outbreak Response As Case Counts Plateau

08/11/2019 Grace Ren

The number of Ebola cases per week has plateaued at a low, but consistent, count of 19 per week in the past 21 days, but the violent death of a radio journalist who had won acclaim for his Ebola outreach work has responders remaining vigilant. One Ebola case was also detected this week at a […] Continue reading ->

World Health Organization And Sudan Ministry of Health Scale Up Response To Cholera Outbreak

06/11/2019 Grace Ren

As a cholera outbreak inches closer to Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum, the Sudanese Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization are scaling up the response. Two cholera cases were confirmed in the district of Khartoum State on October 19. As of Monday, November 3, the Ministry of Health had reported 332 suspected cases […] Continue reading ->

Civil Society Pressures French Leaders To Adopt Transparency Amendments

06/11/2019 Grace Ren

A coalition of over 40 personalities – from doctors and economists to actors and health access activists – released an open letter Tuesday calling on the French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn to support a series of amendments to the French Social Security Budget Bill for 2020 providing for […] Continue reading ->

Challenges & Opportunities Of Cutting-Edge Health Technologies Discussed At WTO-WHO-WIPO Symposium

31/10/2019 Grace Ren

Cutting-edge health technologies – such as gene editing therapies for cancer – have the potential to save lives, and the international intellectual property system should be leveraged to drive innovation and bring those therapies to people who need them, said the leaders of global health, trade and intellectual property agencies at a Trilateral Symposium on […] Continue reading ->

Chile Pulls Out Of Hosting COP25 Climate Conference Amid Massive Protests

30/10/2019 Editorial team

Chile pulled out of hosting the COP25 Climate Change Conference on Wednesday, following two weeks of protests in the hosting city of Santiago. The announcement throws preparations for the conference, scheduled for December, into disarray for the second time, after Brazil withdrew its request to host the 2019 conference late last year. It casts a […] Continue reading ->

WHO Launches Digital Health Action Plan To Guide Expert Group’s Work

25/10/2019 Grace Ren

The World Health Organization has launched a plan to accelerate the use of digital technologies to meet global public health needs, following the first-ever meeting of a WHO Technical Advisory Group on digital health. “All governments are facing increasing demands to provide health services to their citizens, and many digital technologies offer solutions to help meet […] Continue reading ->