The combined impact of Covid-19 and malaria in regions where malaria is widespread “could be catastrophic,” warned David Reddy, CEO of Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), the Geneva-based product development partnership, just ahead of World Malaria Day, which is celebrated on Saturday, 25 April. His commment to Health Policy Watch, came in the wake of […] Continue reading ->
[Unitaid] Geneva, Switzerland (14 April 2020) – Unitaid marked the first World Chagas Disease Day with the release of a comprehensive report on how to better confront the potentially deadly parasitic infection that strikes hardest among Latin America’s poor and marginalized. It was on this date in 1909 that a Brazilian doctor, Carlos Chagas, diagnosed […] Continue reading ->
US Food & Drug Administration authorization of a rapid COVID-19 test on the GeneXpert platform, one of the most widely-used TB diagnostic tools in the world, could be the first crack in the doorway to wider testing capacity in low- and middle-income countries, leading TB advocates told Health Policy Watch. There are some 23,000 GeneXpert […] Continue reading ->
[Medicines for Malaria Venture] Geneva and Liverpool (8 March 2020) – A new collaboration announced on International Women’s Day 2020 aims to help establish pregnancy registries in malaria-endemic countries in Africa to help fill the data gap on the use of antimalarials in one of the most vulnerable populations to malaria. The study, led by […] Continue reading ->
[Medicines for Malaria Venture] EDCTP grants the PAMAfrica research consortium €21.9 million over a 5 year period; MMV, Novartis and other partners will provide an additional €22 million. The PAMAfrica consortium brings together a global medicines company, a not-for-profit product development partnership and leading academic institutions in Africa and Europe. PAMAfrica aims to develop new […] Continue reading ->
While health leaders battle a global outbreak of a dangerous new virus, a consortium of partners is entering the fight against one of humankind’s oldest infectious diseases, tuberculosis. A group of philanthropic, non-profit, and private sector organizations on Thursday launched a collaboration to accelerate development for a “pan-TB” treatment regimen to treat drug-sensitive and drug-resistant […] Continue reading ->
Funding to develop new drugs for some of the world’s leading infectious disease killers, such as HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, reached a record high of US $4 billion in 2018, with private sector investment driving much of the increase, according to the 2019 G-FINDER Report, which tracks such investments globally. However, investments in neglected tropical […] Continue reading ->
Mental Health – Among The ‘Most Neglected’ Of Neglected Tropical Disease Issues, Says DNDi Scientist
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) can lead to physical disfiguration, stress and stigmatization, which leave lifelong impacts on the mental health of many of those infected, even after the disease itself is cured. As the health community prepares to mark the first-ever World NTD Day on 30 January, Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft, director of Neglected Tropical Diseases at […] Continue reading ->
After collecting a windfall of nearly US$14 billion in donor commitments in October, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, on Wednesday published its blueprint to distribute most of the money to over 100 low- and middle-income countries worldwide, saying that allocations will increase by 23% over the next three years. Nigeria, Mozambique […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization issued new guidelines for the treatment of multi drug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis on Wednesday, prioritizing for the first time an all-oral treatment regimen. The new treatment recommends replacing the painful injectable drugs that patients had to endure under previous treatment guidelines with a shorter course of oral bedaquiline – one of only […] Continue reading ->