While European Union (EU) member states continue to oppose a waiver on intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and medicines, they may soon find themselves at odds with the European Parliament, which is expected to pass a resolution in support of the waiver on Wednesday. Negotiations on the controversial waiver proposal, co-sponsored by India and […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebryesus called on leaders of the G7 Group of the world’s most industrialized nations to share at least 100 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses with low- and middle-income countries in June and July and 250 million doses by September. His appeal, at a WHO press conference Monday, added to […] Continue reading ->
Uganda has imposed more stringent measures to control COVID-19 transmission after it recorded over 1000 new cases per day on 2 June – its highest tally ever, mostly among people aged between 20 and 39 years. On Sunday, President Yoweri Museveni instituted a 42-day lockdown during which time all schools and institutions of higher learning […] Continue reading ->
Boris Johnson, UK’s Prime Minister, called upon the leaders of high-income countries to commit to vaccinating the world by 2022 – ahead of Friday’s Group of 7 (G7) meeting of most industrialised nations. His appeal came as 230 prominent figures, including 100 former prime ministers, presidents, and foreign ministers penned a letter urging G7 nations […] Continue reading ->
UK farmers use half the antibiotics they did in 2014; Mexico has reduced stunting by 6% in the last 30 years, and Pakistan is offering conditional cash transfers to poor families to improve their nutrition. These examples of how countries are trying to fix broken food systems were offered at Friday’s Healthy Food Systems dialogue, […] Continue reading ->
United States President Joe Biden on Thusday unveiled a detailed strategy for sharing 80 million surplus US COVID-19 vaccine doses with other countries in need by the end of June. A detailed allocation plan for the first 25 million of those vaccine doses calls for sharing 75% through the WHO-cosponsored COVAX global vaccine facility – […] Continue reading ->
A $50-billion plan to end the COVID-19 pandemic developed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), would generate an additional $9 trillion in global economic returns by 2025, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Tuesday. The plan is supported by the World Bank Group, World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and […] Continue reading ->
“Mass trauma” from COVID-19 has worsened mental health worldwide, WHO officials said at the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday. The long neglected issue received special attention on the Assembly’s closing day, with member states expressing broad support for more action – after a year that saw new mental health issues emerge even while […] Continue reading ->
Women-led sectors and nations have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 response – despite only a quarter of global leaders being women, speakers at a World Health Assembly side-event noted on Friday. “Women have been delivering good health pre-pandemic – and during the pandemic,” said Dr Farah Shroff, head of the Maternal and Infant […] Continue reading ->
Debate Over WHO Investigation of SARS-CoV2 Virus Origins Heads For Showdown in World Health Assembly
The debate over the future direction of WHO’s investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV2 appeared to be heading for a showdown in the closing days of the World Health Assembly – following another sharp statement from the United States on the issue – this time directed squarely at WHO and WHA member states. The terse […] Continue reading ->