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 ->
Proponents of a sweeping World Trade Organization ‘waiver’ on intellectual property rights for all COVID-19 treatments, tests and vaccines face an uphill battle to reach consensus on a text ahead of a WTO General Council meeting scheduled for 27-28 July. This is despite the recent agreement of the initiative’s opponents, including the European Union, Korea, […] Continue reading ->
Before the G7 leaders sat down on Friday afternoon in Cornwall to discuss how to “build back better” a world devastated by COVID-19, UK Prime Minister and summit host Boris Johnson challenged the Group to accept a target of providing one billion doses to developing countries. But the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a network of over […] Continue reading ->
A $50-billion plan to end the COVID-19 pandemic developed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), would generate an additional $9 trillion in global economic returns by 2025, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Tuesday. The plan is supported by the World Bank Group, World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and […] Continue reading ->
Just days before the World Health Assembly opens, the United States still appears to be stalling on an initiative led by some of its major European allies, to move ahead decisively on proposals for a “Pandemic Treaty”, according to a US draft proposal seen by Health Policy Watch. The Pandemic Treaty proposal to create a […] Continue reading ->
The G20 Global Health Summit on Friday elicited more promises from wealthy nations to share COVID-19 vaccines, an undertaking by drug companies to make over a billion doses available by year-end – and an indication by the European Union that it would propose an alternative to the TRIPS waiver at the next World Trade Organization […] Continue reading ->
Governments and pharmaceutical companies alike must work together in combating the ‘virus of intellectual property (IP) monopolies over COVID-19 vaccines – which further exacerbates inequality and lack of access to vaccines for vulnerable groups. That was the uptake of a group of experts speaking at a webinar Wednesday on “The Virus of IP Monopoly Capitalism”’ […] Continue reading ->
In preparation for the next pandemic, the COVAX global vaccine facility “needs a pot of money, where they can be early movers” in competing for, and securing, vaccine doses. That could help scenarios like the ones seen recently, in which rich countries cornered the market on the first available COVID-19 vaccines, leading to severe shortages […] Continue reading ->
A draft “Rome Declaration” to be issued at next Friday’s G-20’s Global Health Summit, co-hosted by Italy and the European Commission (21 May), makes a series of 10 sweeping commitments to ensure equitable access to vaccines; expand medicines manufacturing capacity; assure WHO access to sites posing an outbreak risk; and invest in global health systems. […] Continue reading ->
Limitations in COVID-19 testing capacity and surveillance—as well as uneven demand for testing—are likely masking the true severity of COVID-19 on the African continent, fueling the dangerous myth that much of Africa has been unscathed by COVID-19. Test positivity rates were above 10% across many African Union (AU) member states during the second wave—substantially higher […] Continue reading ->