A sweeping World Health Organization report on Climate and Health, published just ahead of a critical Glasgow climate conference (COP 26) that begins 31 October, has declared that “the burning of fossil fuels is killing us” – the bluntest denunciation to date by the global health agency of societies’ fossil fuel addiction. “Climate change is […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) has recommended that people over the age of 60 who received the Chinese Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines, should get a third shot – possibly with another vaccine. “The use of a heterologous platforms vaccine for the additional dose may also be considered based on […] Continue reading ->
Brazil’s official death toll from COVID-19 reached 600,000 late Friday, the second-highest in the world after the US – and a leading epidemiologist blames the Bolsonaro administration for deliberately spreading the virus to achieve “herd immunity”. “Brazil’s federal government put in place a deliberate policy of exposing the population to the pandemic,” according to Cesar […] Continue reading ->
The hoarding of more than 870 million excess doses of COVID-19 vaccines in just 10 high-income countries is likely to deprive hundreds of millions of healthcare workers and vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries of the opportunity to get even a first vaccine dose, according to a new report by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). […] Continue reading ->
Long months of pandemic lockdown have only exacerbated the harms due to alcohol experienced by billions of people worldwide. Now, WHO is in the process of developing a new alcohol action plan, in an effort to re-energize a stagnant process and overcome a “lost decade” of little progress on alcohol policies. Can it make a […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that is possible to get 70% of the world vaccinated against COVID-19 by June – but only if wealthy countries redirect their doses and orders to poorer countries that are lagging behind. Eleven billion vaccines are needed to reach the 70% target, said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus […] Continue reading ->
Discussions over a controversial World Trade Organization waiver on intellectual property related to COVID vaccines, treatments and other tools, have become more “constructive” said a senior WTO spokesman on Thursday, in a press briefing on the first day of the WTO’s two-day General Council meeting. There has been a “subtle shifting in the direction of […] Continue reading ->
Moderna should work through the Partnership for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM) if it wants to invest in vaccine production on the continent, according to the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The company announced on Thursday that it plans to invest $500-million in a “state-of-the-art mRNA facility” in Africa that can produce […] Continue reading ->
Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Haiti were the only three member countries of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) that failed to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) target of vaccinating 10% of their populations against COVID-19 by the end of September. Around 37% of people in Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated against […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has given the go-ahead for children to get the first-ever malaria vaccine in areas where there is a high to moderate risk of infection. The vaccine, known as RTS,S, is the first to have been approved against a parasitic disease. It has been tested on 800,000 children in Ghana, Kenya […] Continue reading ->