Global Health Diplomacy In The COVID-19 Era – Can Failure Usher In A New Era of Success?

22/02/2021 Svĕt Lustig Vijay

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 ->

Vaccine Bellweather – Israel Sees Light At End Of Pandemic Tunnel With Big Downturn In Over-60 IIlness

12/02/2021 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

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 ->

While Europe Celebrates – Israel & Bahrain Vaccinate

30/12/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

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 ->

This Research Centre Wants Your Liver – If You’re From Africa

23/12/2020 Kerry Cullinan

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 ->

World Cities Day – Global Cooperation Amidst Pandemic Promotes Sustainable, Resilient Health

29/10/2020 Raisa Santos

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 ->

Most Countries Still Have ‘Long Way To Go’ On Tobacco Control In Public Places & Taxation

29/09/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay

As fresh data reveals that tobacco products kill over 2 million people a year through coronary heart disease, tobacco control advocates are more determined than ever to protect the world against a product that kills half its users, not only from heart attacks but stroke, lung cancer and other diseases as well. Comprehensive, but simple […] Continue reading ->

Keeping The Body Ticking And The Mind Alive During The Pandemic

17/05/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay

This weekend, over 16 million people from all over the globe came together for the WHO’s third Walk the Talk: The Health for All Challenge. The two-day virtual event began Saturday in the Philippines and concluded on Sunday, with a 5-hour jam-packed virtual programme broadcast from Geneva – and boasting a vibrant range of physical […] Continue reading ->

Testing For Coronavirus – Can Latin America and Africa Build Upon The Asian Model?

25/03/2020 Svĕt Lustig Vijay & Elaine Ruth Fletcher

In normal times, Diego Zapata, undersecretary in the City of Medellin’s Mobility Department, worries about how to advance better public transit systems, cycling and pedestrian networks – to get more people moving around the city. But recently, he and his boss Carlos Cadena began supporting the City’s Health Department in its scramble to reduce travel […] Continue reading ->

Going ‘Virtual’ In Global Health – Practices Are Changing Fast – But At An Uneven Pace

12/03/2020 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

As the COVID-19 crisis seeps into financial markets, corporate board rooms, and global health systems, there may be one silver lining in an otherwise dark cloud. The 21st century era of digital health, virtual meetings and teleworking is upon us. Countries as far-flung as the Republic of Korea, Israel and even some forward-looking US health […] Continue reading ->

COVID-19: Well-Rehearsed Singaporeans Take New Disease Risk In Stride

14/02/2020 Jade Lee

SINGAPORE – Last Saturday, a day after Singapore raised its disease outbreak response alert for COVID-19 from yellow to orange as the first cases of local transmission of the virus were confirmed, supermarkets found themselves besieged by customers piling carts full of instant noodles, rice and toilet paper, among other essentials. “As there are now […] Continue reading ->