A 3-month long lockdown could lead to an additional 1.4 million TB deaths and an additional 6.3 million cases over the next five years – if existing tuberculosis services are put on a prolonged hold, reports a new study by the Stop TB Partnership, which estimated the global impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on TB. The […] Continue reading ->
From a small and modest gathering of booths and stands in 2006, the Geneva Health Forum has grown into an international event with a strong array of scientific sessions. Although the GHF was forced to postpone its eighth annual conference, from March to 16-18 November due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that has not prevented the […] Continue reading ->
A new report published Wednesday provides guidance to African governments on how to use data to chart a way out of COVID-19 lockdowns. Concerns that the economic impact of stringent stay-at-home orders may become too tough to bear for families has some African countries considering adapting or easing public health restrictions. Some 69% of people […] Continue reading ->
Research into traditional medicines for COVID-19 should be welcomed, so long as it is held to the same standards as research into other drug candidates, the World Health Organization Africa Regional Office expressed in a statement issued Monday. The diplomatically-framed WHO statement came after widespread media coverage of Madagascar’s president and other African leaders over […] Continue reading ->
Women’s and children’s health advocates have lauded a landmark move by Sudan to finally criminalize the practice of female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) – punishing perpetrators for up to 3 years in prison to ward them off the crime. Last Thursday, Sudan’s National Council for Child Welfare endorsed a long-awaited amendment to Criminal Law […] Continue reading ->
In a mild statement touching on a politically wired issue, World Health Organization Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the agency would step up its investigations of the original animal source of the SARS CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. His comment came in response to a recommendation of the WHO Emergency Committee that met […] Continue reading ->
Reducing new cases of malaria among pregnant women remains one of the key challenges on the road to malaria elimination – a goal that was celebrated last week, on World Malaria Day, 25 April. Although malaria deaths fell by nearly a quarter between 2010 and 2018, pregnant women remain among the groups most at risk […] Continue reading ->
COVID-19 deaths per capita are twice as high in The Bronx, New York City’s poorest and most racially diverse borough, as compared to the predominantly white and more affluent borough of Manhattan, reported a new study published in JAMA on Wednesday. The study’s findings draw out the potentially stark differences in the way the virus […] Continue reading ->
Routine vaccine campaigns, suspended worldwide in the wake of COVID-19 lockdowns, must be resumed immediately or else some countries could face a big surge in deaths from other preventable diseases, said Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance. Speaking at a press briefing Thursday, Berkley warned that routine immunizations for other infectious diseases such […] Continue reading ->
Preliminary results of a clinical trial released by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that in patients who received remdesivir recovered faster than those who did not receive the treatment. The largest trial to date, which followed 1063 patients, found that patients who received the drug recovered on average 4 days earlier than […] Continue reading ->