The spread of a cholera outbreak to an overcrowded Haitian prison, of Ebola virus to Uganda’s capital city of Kampala, and increased incidence of malaria, dengue, measles and cholera in flood-swamped Pakistan were among the long list of health emergencies needing urgent attention and investments – as compared to the trillions being invested right now […] Continue reading ->
Under the leadership of Dr Bernard Pécoul, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative became one of the flagship programmes for research and development into diseases affecting the world’s most forgotten people. He has contributed to the betterment of the lives of millions, yet few outside global health circles know his name. This is his story. […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new initiative to counter the added malaria threat posed by the rapid expansion on the African continent of the mosquito Anopheles stephensi — native to parts of South Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, the organization said this week. The initiative comes just as the world struggles to […] 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 ->
The Global Fund goes into its pledging conference on Wednesday substantially short of its $18 billion minimum target to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria over the next five years. Hosted by US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the seventh replenishment conference is the culmination of a months-long […] Continue reading ->
As the push for adequate funds to address HIV, tuberculosis and malaria reaches its climax with next week’s replenishment meeting of the Global Fund, the fund’s latest report reveals it has saved 50 million lives between 2002 and 2021. The Global Fund raises money in three-year cycles and seeks $18 billion for its seventh replenishment, […] Continue reading ->
The number of people on tuberculosis treatment rebounded to 5.3 million in 2021 and is nearing pre-pandemic levels of 5.5 million, according to a new Global Fund report. That’s an encouraging sign of progress after treatment plummeted to just 4.5 million people in 2020, the report, released on Monday, notes. Overall, the new report shows […] Continue reading ->
A new R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine shows 75% efficacy in a Phase2b trial – a potentially game-changing result compared to the WHO-approved RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S) vaccine. The WHO has said it will continue with the rollout of its approved RTS,S vaccine, despite the promise of a new malaria vaccine candidate, the R21/Matrix-M, that shows an efficacy of […] Continue reading ->
The upcoming Global Fund Replenishment drive, 19-21 September, will be critical to holding onto and advancing progress against infectious diseases in multiple ways – among them ensuring the flow of quality-assured medicines to low-income countries and fighting falsified and substandard medicines that can comprise up to 70% of drugs on the market in some parts […] Continue reading ->
Researchers have significantly strengthened the safety profile of a watershed treatment course for highly drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis — a heartening breakthrough set to change the lives of millions of MDR-TB patients around the world. The results of a randomized-controlled trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine today showed the new oral TB […] Continue reading ->