Access to universal healthcare remains a global challenge and even more pressing in the African region. While African-based researchers, scientists and innovators have the capability to make significant contributions towards building homegrown solutions, the continent lacks adequate financial investment in innovative pharmaceutical research and development (R&D). To achieve the African Union’s Agenda 2063 for a […] Continue reading ->
Fifty years into the world “war on drugs”, the drugs are winning. Global levels of drug use and production, as well as drug-related deaths and incarcerations, are at all-time highs. Leading proponents of drug-policy reform who have gathered at the International Harm Reduction Conference in Melbourne this week say the evidence is in that it […] Continue reading ->
Two weeks after a Texas judge stirred controversy by banning a popular US abortion pill, WHO’s Director General has explicitly re-affirmed the organization’s support for abortion rights, stating that “women should always have the right to choose when it comes to their bodies and their health”. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ comments came just a day […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – The most advanced biomedical research centre on the African continent has opened in South Africa, boasting state-of-the-art research and training facilities. Stellenbosch University’s Biomedical Research Institute (BMRI) houses over 500 researchers who are examining the genetic and biomolecular basis for diseases afflicting Africans – including Professor Tuilo De Oliveira, renowned for decoding […] Continue reading ->
Nearly a year after his appointment to a second term as WHO’s Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has finished a revamp of his senior leadership team – keeping key loyalists in place, while adding new faces that are a clear nod to powerful member states such as China, France and Japan. But the new team […] Continue reading ->
A South African group that promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories claims to have issued a high court application to challenge the authorisation of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine by the country’s health minister and regulatory authority – but the health department has not been served with any legal papers. In a recent publicity drive, the Freedom Alliance […] Continue reading ->
CEOs from the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies issued a call to G7 leaders on Friday to oppose the inclusion of intellectual property rights waivers and pathogen benefit sharing in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic treaty. In meetings with Japanese Prime Minister and chair of next month’s G7 summit Fumio Kishida this week, a delegation […] Continue reading ->
The US Justice Department and Danco Laboratories, the manufacturer of the abortion pill mifepristone, turned to the country’s Supreme Court on Friday to overturn the limits set on access to the drug by lower courts. This follows a partly unsuccessful appeal by the two parties for the stay of a ruling last week by Texas […] Continue reading ->
When governments invest in drug research and development (R&D) with pharmaceutical companies, they should ensure upfront that these drugs are affordable and widely available – and a global pandemic accord needs to provide high-level guidance on how to do this. This is the view of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), a non-profit group […] Continue reading ->
A Chinese woman has become the world’s first person to die from the H3N8 strain of bird flu, the World Health Organization reported. No human-to-human transmission appears to have occurred, and the risk of the virus spreading is considered to be “low”, officials said. The 56-year-old woman from China’s southern Guangdong province is the third […] Continue reading ->
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