The approval of the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine candidate last week in the United Kingdom is stoking fears that the global rollout of vaccines to fight the pandemic could also stimulate a counter-pandemic of fake online cures as well as criminal attempts to sabotage or interrupt vaccine supply chains.  To counter the growing threat, a […] Continue reading ->
Information about COVID-19 has been viewed online more than 270 billion times globally since February, with a large proportion deliberately misleading, misinforming, or lying to readers. But a new ‘infodemic’ response alliance, launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa, is hoped to improve scientific literacy among the general public, as countries […] Continue reading ->
As the first vaccination campaign for COVID-19 could begin as early as next week, following the UK’s approval Pfizer and BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine, the World Health Organisation (WHO) technical advisory group (TAG) has published a series of guidelines and behavioural insights to improve vaccine acceptance and uptake across all populations. The report, published on Friday, […] Continue reading ->
The economic benefits to the economies of ten high income countries being asked to support the equitable, worldwide distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests would be 12 times the costs, a new report has found. The study, undertaken by the global political risk research firm Eurasia Group, on behalf of the Bill and Melinda […] Continue reading ->
The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs voted on Wednesday to remove cannabis and cannabis-derived substances from its “Schedule IV” list of the world’s most dangerous narcotics. The move comes nearly two years after the WHO recommended to the UN Secretary General that cannabis and cannabis resin be removed from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention […] Continue reading ->
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, a cutting edge mRNA technology produced jointly with the German firm BioNTech, was authorized for use on Wednesday by the United Kingdom – making it the vaccine the first to be rolled out for commercial public use as early as next week.  The vaccine was authorised Wednesday morning for emergency use by […] Continue reading ->
Ibadan. While this year’s media coverage of the HIV epidemic has largely focused on COVID-related disruptions of services, deeper running trends and attitudes that stigmatize people found to be HIV-positive need greater attention, said US Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy, Ambassador Deborah Birx, in a special media briefing on the […] Continue reading ->