Global leaders pledged US$2.6 billion to the global fight to eradicate polio at the Reaching the Last Mile (RLM) forum in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, just one day ahead of World Children’s Day. The commitment fulfills part of the first phase of funding requested by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to finance their 2019 – […] Continue reading ->
Efforts to eliminate river blindness, a debilitating parasitic disease that causes vision loss in 1.15 million people, may be threatened by another infection known as African eye worm, according to a modelling study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. While the World Health Organization has set a target to eliminate river blindness in most African countries […] Continue reading ->
Italy’s former Undersecretary of State for Health, Armando Bartolazzi, discusses the implications of recent moves to replace the head of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), based on political considerations of the a new Health Minister. “Health is a Political Choice” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros in his keynote session at the World Health Summit, […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization and African Union have signed a sweeping Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on improving access to medicines, strengthening epidemic preparedness, and expanding universal health coverage across the African continent. These are the three main pillars of the MOU signed Monday by the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and African Union Chair […] Continue reading ->
Millions of sanitation workers in the developing world are forced to work in toxic conditions, coming into direct contact with human waste and toxic chemicals, with little to no pay or legal protections. Sanitation workers provide essential public services, yet are often the most marginalized, poor, and discriminated against members of society. These are the […] Continue reading ->
Pakistan became the first country in the world to introduce the typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) into its routine immunization program on Friday. The government of Pakistan is launching the national vaccine with a campaign in Sindh Province, which has already been deploying the vaccine on an emergency basis since April 2019 to tackle an ongoing […] Continue reading ->
The debate around drug price transparency was a highlight of the 4th Forum on Access to Medicines in Europe, hosted by the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) Thursday. The forum focused its discussions around cancer therapies, medicines shortages, and transparency around R&D costs. “It is high time to challenge the status quo on medicines policy […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s agenda for the next Executive Board (EB) meeting, scheduled for 3-8 February 2020, will see discussions grouped for the first time ever around the three key pillars of the WHO Global Plan of Work for 2019-2023, including expanding health and wellbeing, protection from health emergencies, and universal health coverage to one billion more people. […] Continue reading ->
Nairobi, Kenya – The US has thrown considerable weight behind opponents of the Nairobi Summit on Population and Development (ICPD25), saying it will only support family planning programmes that offer alternatives to abortions. The statement by Valerie Huber, the US special representative for global women’s health, on the Summit’s closing day, added fuel to the […] Continue reading ->
The world is experiencing a record-breaking surge in wildfires, downward trends in crop production, unprecedented heat waves, and a rise in infectious diseases as a result of the unabated pace of climate change – affecting the health and safety of hundreds of millions of people worldwide. However, dramatic action now could still keep the global […] Continue reading ->