On the occasion of World Immunization Week, influential global health figures share lessons learned in the global fight against two age-old diseases, malaria and polio – and more recently, COVID-19 – and how we should tackle existing and future pandemics. While COVID-19 surprised and shocked the world, it should not have. For decades, infectious […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – As the health sector celebrates World Immunisation Week, one of the most pressing related problems is Africa’s almost total dependence on imported vaccines – something that predates, but was highlighted by, the COVID-19 pandemic. But addressing this dependence will mean dismantling the ‘charity’ model that has underpinned many of Africa’s immunisation programmes […] Continue reading ->
More than two years after the novel coronavirus erupted into a global pandemic, the world is beginning to settle into a new normal. COVID-19 changed how we live and work in ways that will continue long after the pandemic subsides. Digital and automation technologies are here to stay, work is done remotely, and shopping and […] Continue reading ->
The Global South has been subjugated to the world economic order for centuries. This isn’t news to us. But the COVID-19 pandemic has started one of the most acute chapters in this story as, for over two years, we have witnessed our people dying en masse. In response to this unsustainable yet critical situation, countries […] Continue reading ->
In the outskirts of Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, just beyond where paved roads transition to dirt, an undiagnosed polio infection paralysed a three-year-old girl. From one day to the next, the child’s life was changed forever. Among Africa’s public health community, we had looked at our successes against wild poliovirus as a cause for optimism. In […] Continue reading ->
The weekend of 12-13 March was a glorious time to be in the Swiss mountain resort of Villars-sur-Ollon post-pandemic. Special Olympics Switzerland had organized the regional games sporting competition with skiing, bowling, tennis and boccia, drawing dozens of keen athletes and supporters. My son joined the other 46 skiers and snowboarders from the region to […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed 6 million people so far, but the next pandemic threat could emerge unnecessarily from pathogen resistance to life-saving antibiotics and other anti-microbial drugs. What steps do we need to take now to head off this growing threat? For decades, antibiotics have been hailed as “wonder drugs” for their ability to […] Continue reading ->
The applause has long ceased – while the ongoing pressures of the pandemic have left long-term scars on the physical, moral and mental health of the world’s nurses. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, governments need to offer better solutions. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic, and the world […] Continue reading ->
Two years after the COVID-19 pandemic started, the leaders of the European Union (EU) and African Union (AU) met in Brussels. By then, six million people including 200,000 healthcare workers had died. Yet only one in five healthcare workers in Africa had been vaccinated. This is not good enough. The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines was […] Continue reading ->
The past 10 days have seen a flurry of new US initiatives to meet the World Health Organizations target of vaccinating 70% of the global population – including a new Global Action Plan; involvement of PEPFAR networks to strengthen health system response; and most recently, a special US thrust in Nigeria, the continent’s most populous nation. […] Continue reading ->