Air pollution has been linked to the deaths of 160,000 people in the world’s five biggest cities in 2020, according a global report by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and IQAir, the world’s largest free air quality information platform. Of the five biggest cities, Delhi had the most deaths (54,000) due to PM2.5 air pollution in 2020 […] Continue reading ->
The European Commission will establish an emergency biodefense plan to prevent, mitigate and respond to new variants of the coronavirus that are supercharging transmission and threatening the performance of available vaccines. Creation of a voluntary licensing mechanism involving local manufacturers is one of the strategies proposed in the plan to hasten the production of updated […] Continue reading ->
The United Kingdom, Norway and UNICEF on Wednesday appealed to world leaders to give stronger backing to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ call in March 2020 for a “global cease-fire” in order to beat the COVID-19 pandemic and get vaccines to tens of millions of undocumented migrants and refugees, as well as people living in […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the profound dangers of having social, economic and health care systems that marginalize public health. To go forward, we must start by looking back. We must build a stronger foundation with better systems that can prevent future pandemics and also weave health into all aspects of society, from our workplaces […] Continue reading ->
PUNE, INDIA – For Anjal Prakash, a climate scientist based in India, the flash floods in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand this past week did not come as a surprise. “The writing was on the wall,” said Prakash, a research director at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, of the 7 February rockslide and avalanche […] Continue reading ->
None of the hypotheses about the origins of the SARS-CoV2 virus have been discarded and the World Health Organization (WHO) origins mission might be expanded to include other experts to take forward new areas of research, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the body’s bi-weekly media briefing on Friday. “I wish to confirm […] Continue reading ->
In the next two weeks, distribution of millions of doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca SARS-COV2 to health workers across Africa will get underway, said the director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control in a joint press briefing with the WHO Regional Office for Africa on Thursday. CDC Director John Nkengasong told Health Policy Watch that […] Continue reading ->
New York City – Echoing a message issued by WHO’s Geneva office today, WHO officials in the Agency’s Americas Regional Office stressed that stronger public health measures are desperately needed, alongside vaccines, to reduce transmission and the risk of even more variants emerging. “The vaccine is not a silver bullet. The vaccine will not stop […] Continue reading ->
The United States Centers for Disease Control has issued new guidance for “tight fit” or “double masks” that it says can filter out over 90% of SARS-CoV2 viruses – much higher averages than if either mask were worn loosely or on its own. The guidance, issued as the US along with other countries face an […] Continue reading ->
A World Health Organization expert group has recommended the use of the AstraZeneca two-dose COVID-19 vaccine for use in countries worldwide – and among groups including people over the age of 65. The sweeping recommendation by WHO “Strategic Advisory Group of Experts” (SAGE) marks what WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan described as an “important milestone” […] Continue reading ->