Climate change poses an even greater threat to public health than the COVID-19 pandemic – and needs to be treated with equal urgency, Jagan Chapagain, Secretary-General of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told a virtual news conference on Tuesday. He was speaking at Tuesday’s launch of the IFRC’s […] Continue reading ->
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test for self-testing at home and that provides rapid results. The Lucira COVID-19 All-In-One Test Kit is a molecular-based single use test that is intended to detect the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19. “While COVID-19 diagnostic […] Continue reading ->
The world’s 27 million nurses and midwives – who comprise 60% of the health workforce – are not only excluded from the health system’s corridors of power, but also have faced new levels of censure and reprisal during the COVID-19 pandemic when they protested dangerous or abusive working conditions, said expert panel members at the […] Continue reading ->
Médecins Sans Frontières. As the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to derail the global response to tuberculosis (TB), Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called on governments to accelerate testing, treatment, and prevention for TB, and called on donors to provide the financial support needed to ensure increased access to new medical tools for diagnosing and treating […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic, while devastating, has also created an opportunity for “patients to stand up, educate themselves well and build their expertise,” says Karen Alparce-Villanueva, a board member of the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO). She was speaking at a session of the Geneva Health Forum that focused on “Patients as Co-creators and disseminators […] Continue reading ->
Many Geneva-based health agencies have worked together for years to improve global access to diagnostics and treatment, but the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated much closer collaboration and speedier decision-making. This is according to experts from the WHO co-sponsored  “ACT Accelerator” medicine access partnership – including UNITAID, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), and the […] Continue reading ->
A mix of strong national measures and international cooperation is needed to solve the COVID-19 pandemic – and the Geneva Health Forum (GHF), which opened on Monday, is showcasing examples of both, said Switzerland’s Foreign Affairs head Ignazio Cassis and Harsh Vardhan, Indian Minister of Health, speaking at the opening session of the three-day event (16-19 […] Continue reading ->