The Delta variant is finding fertile ground to spread – and claim lives – around the Middle East and North Africa. The New Humanitarian, a nonprofit newsroom covering crises around the world, provides a snapshot of COVID-19 across the region. After months of relative calm, COVID-19 has again been coursing through much of the Middle […] Continue reading ->
The long-delayed 2020 edition of the Tokyo summer Olympics opened Friday against the sober backdrop of soaring COVID infection rates, but with plenty of pomp and ceremony nonetheless – including a massive fireworks display and an aerial show of drones resembling planet earth hovering above Olympic Stadium, while John Lennon’s “Imagine” echoed across the night […] Continue reading ->
KAMPALA – Refugees in Uganda have had their rations slashed as aid agencies face a 70% shortfall in resources to support the largest refugee population in Africa. The World Food Programme (WFP) needs a total of US$220 million this year for refugees but has received only 30% of this so far, according to WFP Uganda […] Continue reading ->
PUNE – For two weeks now Sijo Raju, along with a group of 20 young men and women, have been fielding calls from family members looking for oxygen cylinders, ventilator beds and ambulances. Finding a match can take a few hours as India’s overwhelmed health system and front-line healthcare workers try desperately to provide a […] Continue reading ->
A new appeal about the course of the SARS-CoV2 virus hunt, penned by an international group of scientists, urges WHO member states to seize the moment of the upcoming World Health Assembly to adopt a much tougher mandate, with more rigorous scientific measures, to get to the truth of whether the SARS-CoV2 virus first infected […] Continue reading ->
More than a year into the world’s largest global health emergency, health diplomats have fought hard to ensure that every country across the globe secures access to lifesaving coronavirus health products, including vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics. That has not happened yet, given that 80% of countries that are now rolling out vaccines are either high-income […] Continue reading ->
TEL AVIV- New data on over 500,000 Israelis who have been fully vaccinated with two Pfizer jabs shows the vaccine is 93% effective – with no deaths and only 4 severe cases for people who are a week or more after receiving the second dose. Out of the 523,000 fully vaccinated people studied, 544 were […] Continue reading ->
Jerusalem – The huge neon sign over the city’s football stadium flashed over the highway and into the night. “Jerusalem is vaccinating” – it proclaimed. Across from the stadium, in a giant Arena that in normal times hosts conferences and trade shows, a steady stream of older people – some in wheelchairs, moving with walkers […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – A new antiretroviral drug was supposed to be a game-changer for South Africa, which has one of the largest HIV-positive populations in the world. The drug, dolutegravir, was cheap, had few side effects, and – most importantly – it suppressed the virus quickly. But after a few months on the treatment, many […] Continue reading ->
First in a Series: While COVID continues to cast a long shadow over our everyday lives, from Baku, Azerbaijan to Bogota, Columbia, there are also countless examples of how cities and communities have mobilized to respond to the social and economic fallout from the pandemic – building new forms of cooperation that also promote a […] Continue reading ->