Karabo Rafube was born to a single mother in 1982 in Soweto, a sprawling township south of Johannesburg, South Africa. His mother abandoned him three months later, and Rafube was taken to live with his father. In the final years of apartheid, Soweto was a harsh place to grow up. His father already had an […] Continue reading ->
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has pledged $142 million in additional funds to expand global coverage of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, increasing its total investment to $600 million by the end of 2025, the organization has announced. Gavi said it expects its new investment to help reach 86 million adolescent girls by 2025, preventing over […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended shifting from a two-dose to one-dose vaccine regimen against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) – something that could help expand vaccine coverage amongst millions of girls and young women in lower-income regions where HPV is most prevalent, as well as saving costs. According to the new WHO recommendation, based […] 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 ->
This year, “Equalise” was chosen as the slogan for World AIDS day, observed 1 December. The theme is a call to action around the need to address the injustices that are fuelling the AIDS epidemic as pre-existing inequalities are exacerbated by the serious disruptions to health systems caused by the Ukraine war, COVID-19 pandemic and […] Continue reading ->
Twenty years ago, Hazel Tau, a young South African living with HIV, and her peers had little chance of getting antiretroviral (ARV) treatment because it was completely unaffordable. The South African price for just one of the three ARV drugs she needed, AZT, was 665% higher than the best-priced generic available elsewhere in the world. […] Continue reading ->
The world is not on track to end AIDS by 2030 due to patriarchy, stigma against vulnerable communities and inequality, according to UNAIDS in its 2022 World AIDS Report. The report, titled “Dangerous Inequalities”, points out that unequal power dynamics between men and women and norms that prevent girls and women from exercising their bodily […] Continue reading ->
The Global Fund raised $14.25 billion at its seventh replenishment conference in New York on Wednesday – still some way short of its $18 billion target for the next three years, although the United Kingdom and Italy had yet to make their commitments at the end of a day of public pledges. US President Joe […] Continue reading ->
High income countries like the United States and Canada are casting a wide net in their vaccine strategy for monkeypox, vaccinating people exposed to an infected case and groups at risk of exposure while scrambling to study the results in terms of efficacy. That was the upshot of a WHO-sponsored symposium on monkeypox research involving […] Continue reading ->
MONTREAL – Activists took over the stage at the opening of the International AIDS conference in Montreal on Friday morning to protest Canada’s denial of visas to hundreds of delegates, primarily from Africa, and the inequality and lack of funding that is driving new HIV infections. South African activist Vuyiseka Dubula, former head of the […] Continue reading ->