The Results Report published by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria last week illustrates how COVID-19 has pushed us off track in significant ways – particularly with respect to access to tuberculosis (TB) and HIV diagnoses and treatment. But at the same time, there is better news with respect to the battle […] Continue reading ->
Iconic places across the world will be lit up in orange on World Patient Safety Day on Friday to highlight the global campaign to reduce preventable deaths in childbirth and pregnancy and deliver safe maternal and newborn care. The International Alliance of Patients’ Organisation (IAPO), which I lead, and the alliance we are a member […] Continue reading ->
Africa has the highest entrepreneurship rate in the world, yet greater financial resources are needed to ensure that innovation can be implemented to strengthen health systems and the welfare of health workers, said panellists at an innovation award ceremony on Thursday. The Africa Young Innovators for Health Award, co-organised by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical […] Continue reading ->
Countries with high COVID-19 vaccination rates have pre-purchased over two billion excess vaccine doses, limiting the supplies available for low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). This emerged from a meeting on Thursday between the heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization – the multilateral Task Force – […] Continue reading ->
For a long time, the World Health Organization (WHO) has experienced immense financial stress resulting in numerous debates on how to remedy its economic woes. A working group set up earlier this year has been tasked with finding long-term solutions. Each year the representatives of some 194 countries make demands on what work should be […] Continue reading ->
More than 140 former heads of state and Nobel laureates have called on the three candidates in line to be the next German chancellor to declare themselves in favour of waiving intellectual property on COVID-19 vaccines and transferring vaccine technologies. Germany is leading the European Commission’s refusal to accept the so-called TRIPS waiver proposal put […] Continue reading ->
Pressure is mounting on US President Joe Biden to provide global leadership to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines in the face of the European Commission’s refusal to support a waiver on intellectual property rights. Biden is expected to host a global leaders’ summit on COVID-19 alongside the United Nations General Assembly next week, and […] Continue reading ->
After months of frustrated efforts to unlock global vaccine supplies for the African continent, WHO and African Union leaders are now pinning their hopes on US President Joe Biden’s reported plan to call heads of state to a “Global Pandemic Summit” on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, which opened today, as a […] Continue reading ->
The 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) opens today (Tuesday 14 September). The UN’s roots lie in determination that the horrors of World War II – millions of lives lost, economic devastation and genocide – should never happen again. This year’s General Assembly session is considering multiple global catastrophes, from climate change […] Continue reading ->
The current COVID-19 vaccines are effective enough against severe disease in the general population that boosters are “not appropriate” even for the Delta variant, according to an expert review by an international group of scientists from the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and international universities. The review, which looked […] Continue reading ->