Healthcare professionals, and particularly community health workers who have been the backbone of local and national health systems during the COVID crisis, are also unsung ‘first responders’ to the massive mental health fallout from the pandemic, now and going forward. That is the central theme of a webinar panel on ‘COVID-19 and Frontline Workers’, Wednesday, 30th […] Continue reading ->
In a first-ever tripartite meeting this year, the heads of the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), have agreed to step up their collaboration on tools and resources for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was the first formal tripartite meeting since Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was […] Continue reading ->
A “terrible third wave” of the COVID-19 pandemic is now hitting Africa in full force – with about 20 of the continent’s 54 countries experiencing particularly sharp rises in new infections, African Centers for Disease Control director, John Nkengasong told Health Policy Watch at a press briefing on Thursday. Per-capita rates of new SARS-CoV2 cases […] Continue reading ->
Patients who had liver transplants or those with advanced liver fibrosis may not be adequately protected against COVID-19 after two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in light of the findings of a new study presented Wednesday on the opening day of the International Liver Congress(ILC) 2021. Presenting abstracts from the soon-to-be-released study on Wednesday, Dr […] Continue reading ->
Michel Sidibé, Special Envoy of the African Union and Minister of Health of Mali has high hopes that 15 African countries will have finally ratified the African Medicines Agency (AMA) Treaty in time for the 35th African Union (AU) Summit, scheduled for early 2022. Fifteen is the magic number of countries that must ratify the […] Continue reading ->
Government action against the threat of “superbugs” in most of the world’s leading economies gets a score of less than 50%, according to a new AMR Preparedness Index, released today by a global coalition committed to fighting current trends. Great Britain, the United States, Germany and France rated highest on a score of 1-100 in […] Continue reading ->
As the board of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance is set to meet this Wednesday and Thursday, the COVAX global vaccine facility – a cornerstone of the global health sector response on vaccine access – is coming under increased fire for its shortcomings. A bitter opinion piece by Médecins Sans Frontières, published today, has called for […] Continue reading ->
A new initiative by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization(WHO) on Tuesday aims to help countries to promote healthier school environments – including nutritious school lunches, opportunities for more physical activity, and mental health support – for 1.9 billion school-aged children and adolescents worldwide. An estimated 365 […] Continue reading ->
The Ebola outbreak in Guinea which claimed 12 lives and infected 12 people has officially been declared over, more than four months after the deadly virus broke out in the West African country. Guinean health authorities declared the outbreak on 14 February 2021 after three cases were detected in Gouecke, a rural community in the […] Continue reading ->
Proposals to incorporate some 40 new medications in WHO’s Essential Medicines List – from complex cancer treatments to new medicines for hepatitis C and rabies – will be examined over the coming two weeks by the EML Expert Committee. The Committee, which kicked off its deliberations on Monday with a public hearing, also will consider […] Continue reading ->