A US$40 million research consortium has been created to repurpose existing medicines for hepatitis, tuberculosis and malaria into long-acting treatments that can benefit low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where people often have trouble accessing medicine over and over again, Unitaid experts told Health Policy Watch. The consortium on Tuesday launched the new Centre of Excellence […] Continue reading ->
Africa’s COVID-19 rollout is anticipated for Spring 2021, despite the continent’s low vaccine preparedness, multiple health leaders in Africa have said, as policy advisory groups flag the importance that other successful immunization campaigns will have on COVID recovery. At a press briefing on Thursday, Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of Africa CDC, said: “Africa may have […] Continue reading ->
‘Planetary health’ describes how the limits of natural resources like clean air, water and food production shape our long-term health, with climate change as a “threat-multiplier” for future COVID-19 like crises. Experts at the Geneva Health Forum explored the links, ahead of next week’s launch of the 2020 Lancet Countdown Report on Health and Climate […] Continue reading ->
Médecins Sans Frontières. As the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to derail the global response to tuberculosis (TB), Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called on governments to accelerate testing, treatment, and prevention for TB, and called on donors to provide the financial support needed to ensure increased access to new medical tools for diagnosing and treating […] Continue reading ->
Many Geneva-based health agencies have worked together for years to improve global access to diagnostics and treatment, but the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated much closer collaboration and speedier decision-making. This is according to experts from the WHO co-sponsored  “ACT Accelerator” medicine access partnership – including UNITAID, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), and the […] Continue reading ->
Third in a series –  Even before the coronavirus struck, large swathes of Africa, as well as parts of South-East Asia and Latin America, still relied on fragmented paper-based medical records, making it difficult to track people’s medical history – and thus provide high-quality treatment and care. The Virtual Innovation Fair, which is a key […] Continue reading ->
Two competing approaches to promote access to medicines were born during the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the year 2000. Today, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, these same approaches are once more on a collision course.  On the one side is the ‘international’ COVID response, led in name by WHO, but in fact by what […] Continue reading ->