Each year, hundreds of thousands of women die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth that are well understood and largely preventable. Most of these deaths occur in low and middle-income countries, with sub-Saharan Africa carrying the greatest burden. At the same time, millions of families continue to face financial barriers to essential health services, […] Continue reading ->
DAVOS – In this snow-covered Alpine town where the world’s rich, powerful and elite met in January for the World Economic Forum, a quiet but consequential shift in thinking about dementia research crystallized – one with the potential to shape political engagements and research investments for the coming decade. Long treated as a disease primarily […] Continue reading ->
Scientists working on new malaria drugs now have access to an open-access artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform aimed at accelerating drug discovery, thanks to a partnership between Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and deepmirror. Drug Design for Global Health (dd4gh) uses “both predictive and generative AI to give researchers, especially those in the most resource-limited settings, […] Continue reading ->
A stark debate over who owns the data in the future of AI and digital health emerged at the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board on Wednesday. Low and middle-income countries warned that the rapid deployment of new technologies risks accelerating data extraction and increasing inequality, cautioning that – without strict AI governance, sustainable financing […] Continue reading ->
The Gates Foundation and OpenAI announced a $50 million “pilot” on Wednesday to “advance AI capabilities for health” in Africa. Horizon 1000 promises “funding, technology, and technical support” to roll out AI solutions to 1,000 African primary healthcare clinics by 2028. “AI is going to be a scientific marvel no matter what, but for it […] Continue reading ->
Some 4.6 billion people, or more than half the world’s population, still lacked access to a basic package of essential health services in 2023, a new World Health Organization-World Bank report notes. And around 2.1 billion people faced financial hardship in getting vital health services. And at current rates, the world will fall far short […] Continue reading ->
Technological advances in Artificial Intelligence applications for healthcare are quickly outpacing regulatory and ethical safeguards, creating a dangerous gap in patient safety, warns a milestone report on AI in Health Systems, published Wednesday by the World Health Organization’s European Region (WHO/EURO). Paradoxically, the WHO’s urgent call for tighter AI regulation coincided with a far-reaching European […] Continue reading ->
DURBAN, South Africa — The “Durban Promise”, the ambitious outcome document of the Conference of Public Health In Africa 2025 (CPHIA) will be on the menu when global leaders meet at various Group of 20 (G20) meetings, starting with the health working group meeting on 6 November. That was the message from the conference, […] Continue reading ->
Africa is continuing to make progress in meeting its Universal Health Coverage (UHC) targets (part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals). Countries like Rwanda and Ethiopia are two examples of African countries making exemplary progress. Kenya, Ghana and South Africa are also among those making significant progress towards realising this dream. However, there is […] Continue reading ->
Development funding for fossil fuel-based energy projects jumped 80 per cent in 2023 to $9.5bn, up from $5.3bn in 2022, even as toxic air causes more than 8m premature deaths annually, according to a new report. Governments continue to channel billions more in international aid into projects that prolong fossil fuel use than into tackling […] Continue reading ->