ISLAMABAD – Prior to the dwindling of foreign aid, a network of hundreds of Afghan midwives was delivering much-needed support to women at their doorsteps in the devastated nation that now faces breakdown. Now, as Afghanistan grapples with the freeze of its assets in international institutions and shortages of foreign funds with the rise to […] Continue reading ->
In the coming months, 600 million doses of single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccines, manufactured in Hyderabad, are likely to be exported to Europe or the United States, at a time when India grapples with vaccinating its own citizens. Civil-society organisations are concerned that millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine may end up in the […] Continue reading ->
The Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr Rochelle Walensky, has authorized millions of frontline workers in health care and school settings to receive a third COVD-19 vaccine booster dose- opening the gates for a much wider wide swathe of Americans, ages 18-64, to receive the controversial booster shots. Her […] Continue reading ->
REGEN-COV, the antibody cocktail made famous by Donald Trump when he became ill with COVID in 2020, was added Friday to WHO’s list of recommended drug treatments in updated COVID-19 clinical management guidelines, published Friday. At the same time, WHO and Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) called on the US pharma firm Regeneron, which […] Continue reading ->
Many children in the global south are drinking more sugary drinks than milk – thanks to the aggressive promotion of ultra-processed food to low and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the past two decades. Global obesity and diabetes rates have exploded as a result of dietary changes, and these conditions have made people far more vulnerable […] Continue reading ->
The Results Report published by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria last week illustrates how COVID-19 has pushed us off track in significant ways – particularly with respect to access to tuberculosis (TB) and HIV diagnoses and treatment. But at the same time, there is better news with respect to the battle […] Continue reading ->
Africa has the highest entrepreneurship rate in the world, yet greater financial resources are needed to ensure that innovation can be implemented to strengthen health systems and the welfare of health workers, said panellists at an innovation award ceremony on Thursday. The Africa Young Innovators for Health Award, co-organised by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical […] Continue reading ->
Countries with high COVID-19 vaccination rates have pre-purchased over two billion excess vaccine doses, limiting the supplies available for low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). This emerged from a meeting on Thursday between the heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank Group, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization – the multilateral Task Force – […] Continue reading ->
More than 140 former heads of state and Nobel laureates have called on the three candidates in line to be the next German chancellor to declare themselves in favour of waiving intellectual property on COVID-19 vaccines and transferring vaccine technologies. Germany is leading the European Commission’s refusal to accept the so-called TRIPS waiver proposal put […] Continue reading ->
Pressure is mounting on US President Joe Biden to provide global leadership to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines in the face of the European Commission’s refusal to support a waiver on intellectual property rights. Biden is expected to host a global leaders’ summit on COVID-19 alongside the United Nations General Assembly next week, and […] Continue reading ->