Thursday, 1 August, marked the one-year anniversary of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as daily reports of new infections, including 3 more cases in Goma along DRC’s border with Rwanda, fueled new concerns about regional spread of the deadly disease. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization called on international donors […] Continue reading ->
80 percent of people with viral hepatitis lack access to services for prevention, testing & treatment. To address this gap, the World Health Organization calls on countries to invest in scaling up hepatitis services as part of their universal health coverage (UHC) plans. On the occasion of World Hepatitis Day (28 July), WHO raised alarm […] Continue reading ->
NAIROBI – Neonatal sepsis is one of the leading causes of newborn deaths globally, and increasing pathogen resistance to available first-line treatments is a prime example of rising antimicrobial resistance. That is why the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) – a non-profit research organisation that develops new or improved antibiotic treatments – is […] Continue reading ->
The Global Innovation Index 2019 was released today with an overarching theme of “Creating Healthy Lives – The Future of Medical Innovation.” In addition to ranking countries according to their innovation performance on 80 indicators, this year’s Index also analyses the medical innovation landscape, and how emerging innovations, such as artificial intelligence (AI), genomics, and […] Continue reading ->
There is no shortage of Merck’s life-saving Ebola vaccine on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and more doses will be produced, sufficient to immunise 1.3 million people over the next 6-18 months, a spokesman for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, told Health Policy Watch on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Merck, producer of the V920 investigational […] Continue reading ->
The 2019 ReAct Africa Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), which opened Tuesday in Nairobi, Kenya, will focus on ways to advance universal health coverage while combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on the continent. Some 24 African countries are taking place in the three day event co-sponsored by the United Kingdom-based Fleming Fund dedicated to supporting low- […] Continue reading ->
Disclosure of costs for drug research and development (R&D) and “alternative financing mechanisms” for new health products remain outstanding points to be resolved by countries in finalising a draft United Nations General Assembly political declaration on universal health coverage (UHC). A final draft of the declaration had been expected this week, but as of Friday […] Continue reading ->
Japan said on Friday that it disagrees with aspects of an already-adopted Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution on access to medicines, claiming that there is no evidence that “delinkage” between the cost of research & development (R&D) and the price of medicines improves access to medicines. Japan also disagreed with pursuing alternative frameworks for R&D […] Continue reading ->
[WHO/UNICEF News Release] New York/Geneva – 20 million children worldwide – more than 1 in 10 – missed out on lifesaving vaccines such as measles, diphtheria and tetanus in 2018, according to new data from WHO and UNICEF. Globally, since 2010, vaccination coverage with three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3) and one dose […] Continue reading ->
If the fight against cancer has yielded substantial results on survival rates in high-income countries, low- and middle-income countries are lagging behind, while cancer is gaining ground, with a particularly worrying trend in children. A first-ever International Health Congress on Integrative Oncology, held 28-30 June in Geneva, presented traditional and alternative medicines as precious allies […] Continue reading ->