This month, world leaders gathered in Montreal for a major UN conference on biodiversity, aiming to reach an agreement on how to stop species loss. The Fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) – COP15 for short– has drawn tens of thousands of people. Delayed several times, it is the first […] Continue reading ->
The Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and African Centers for Disease control signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday to providing technical support to African manufacturers of antimalarial drugs that would help bring their products up to WHO-approved standards – thus ensuring wider use of locally-produced drugs on the continent and beyond. The move […] Continue reading ->
There are emerging hopes that sometime in 2023, WHO can declare that the COVID-19 global health emergency is over, said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking at a pre-holiday press briefing on Wednesday. Meanwhile, however, the world continues to invest some $2 trillion in wars and “killing each other” – but not nearly […] Continue reading ->
Amid a worldwide surge in cholera outbreaks – a sign of poor access to clean water and sanitation – a key report released on Wednesday shows that only a quarter of countries are on track to achieve their national sanitation targets. Meanwhile, less than half – a mere 45% – are on track to achieve […] Continue reading ->
Taxing sugary drinks can be a win for health and government revenue, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) at the launch of its first ever tax manual for sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) on Tuesday. “SSBs have little to no added nutritional value, but their consumption is significantly associated with tooth decay, weight gain and obesity, […] Continue reading ->
Africa’s limited pharmaceutical industry, high costs of raw materials, and dependence on imported medicines have long hampered citizens’ access to the medicines they need. The challenges the continent faces are daunting. They include poor supply chain systems, lack of government investment in the pharmaceutical sector, unfavourable manufacturing conditions, limited health workforce, lack of sustainable health […] Continue reading ->
COVID-19, conflicts and climate change are posing additional challenges to efforts to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) in the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMRO), the World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledged on the eve of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day on Monday. “The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the vulnerability of our health, social protection and economic systems,” Dr […] Continue reading ->
Leading public health experts are calling for urgent action to develop antibiotics for newborn babies, a population that is particularly vulnerable to antibiotic resistance. Each year, there are an estimated three million cases of neonatal sepsis causing up to 570,000 deaths, many due to a current lack of effective antibiotics, according to a paper published […] Continue reading ->
On the occasion of Universal Health Coverage Day, thought leaders on the front lines outline the challenges and opportunities of health systems in conflicts. The last decade of 12-year-old Zaynab’s life has been spent in an informal settlement in Lebanon, after her family fled from the Syrian conflict. She shares a three-room tent with her […] Continue reading ->
Whether researchers provide good quality data or not, healthcare systems will continue to function. In this episode of the “Global Health Matters” podcast, Margaret Gyapong, director of the Institute for Health Research at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ghana, tells host Garry Aslanyan that this has been a hard lesson that has […] Continue reading ->