Unless a future pandemic ‘instrument’ is properly financed and legally binding, it will not be able to prevent health emergencies, numerous member states told the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 150th executive board meeting on Monday. Speaking on behalf of Africa’s 47 member states, Kenya’s Dr Cleopa Mailu said there should be a “radical disruption” of […] Continue reading ->
As the World Health Organization’s executive board meets this week, two major issues – reforming its finances and pandemic response – continue to defy easy consensus.   A handful of powerful countries, including but not limited to the United States, remain hesitant over a plan to bolster the World Health Organization’s (WHO) finances by increasing member […] Continue reading ->
IDABAN, Nigeria – The decision of the World Health Organization (WHO) to drop its opposition for COVID-19 vaccination booster shots has raised concerns in Africa about the potential depletion of COVID-19 vaccine doses available to African countries.  On Friday, Health Policy Watch reported WHO recommended the wider administration of a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech […] Continue reading ->
In a stark departure from months of booster opposition, WHO on Friday recommended the wider administration of a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine – as well as jabs for children age 5 and older.  The recommendation comes after over 120 countries already have booster campaigns in full-swing, some of them beginning as early […] Continue reading ->
Russia’s Sputnik V demonstrated more than two times higher virus neutralizing activity against the Omicron variant in comparison to the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, according to a study of blood samples, released Thursday by the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani in Italy and Russia’s Gamaleya Center. The research was prepared by a team of […] Continue reading ->
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections killed 1.27 million people in the world in 2019, according to a one-of-a-kind study in The Lancet. According to the study, led by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, with dozens of authors worldwide, the increased resistance of many common pathogens to treatment, known as […] Continue reading ->
International financial institutions need to extend widespread debt relief to developing countries, and private sector companies need to mend “social contracts” with societies, and in order to “beat climate, beat COVID” fight hunger – and global financial instability, said UN Secretary General António Guterres. He was speaking on the opening day of the World Economic […] Continue reading ->