Although a draft pandemic agreement may take weeks or months longer to conclude, there are moves underfoot to try to quickly wrap up negotiations and get final member state sign-off on amendments to the 2005-era WHO International Health Regulations  (IHR) at the this week’s World Health Assembly (WHA), said the co-chair of the working group […] Continue reading ->
Almost 70% of the 4.2 million deaths attributed to ambient (outdoor) air pollution in 2019 were caused by cardiovascular diseases, notably ischaemic heart disease (1.9 million deaths) and stroke (900,000 deaths), according to a new report by the World Heart Federation (WHF). The report highlights the outsized impacts air pollution is having on the worldwide […] Continue reading ->
A last ditch effort of WHO member states to finish negotiations on a pandemic accord has failed to yield agreement ahead of next week’s World Health Assembly (WHA) – with key articles in the draft text still unresolved including the thorny formula for global sharing of vaccines and medicines during international health emergencies. As of […] Continue reading ->
In December 2021, as the COVID pandemic continued to rage, WHO Member States established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to draft an international agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR). The outcome of the negotiations is to be presented at the 77th World Health Assembly, which will meet next week in Geneva. Over the […] Continue reading ->
During the COVID-19 pandemic, therapeutic development took a backseat to vaccines – a potentially disastrous gamble had vaccines not been found. In future pandemics, therapeutics and vaccines should be treated equally – particularly as COVID-19 treatment options remain expensive and mostly only available in high-income countries, speakers told at a webinar this week hosted by […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – Moderna tried to extract a huge price for its COVID-19 vaccine from the South African government at the height of the pandemic, according to the local NGO, Health Justice Initiative (HJI), in revelations made public this week. The US-based pharma company wanted to charge $42 per vaccine in mid-2021 when vaccines were […] Continue reading ->
Senior WHO officials sounded a cautiously optimistic note Tuesday about the prospects for WHO member states to somehow wrap up down-to-the-wire negotiations on a landmark Pandemic Accord in time to submit a final agreement to the World Health Assembly, which begins next Monday, 27 May. Meanwhile, they heralded the milestone agreement “in principle” to amend […] Continue reading ->