A little known, but potentially lethal virus is spreading throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, prompting the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other health agencies to issue warnings for travelers and clinicians. Oropouche virus, an arbovirus like dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, is spread through certain midge or mosquito bites. Oropouche symptoms are similar […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization and UNICEF have appealed for ‘humanitarian pauses’ in the grinding Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip in August and September to facilitate a massive polio booster campaign – as three suspected polio cases were being investigated by a Jordanian laboratory. The appeal came as the entire region see-saws between the possibility […] Continue reading ->
Bavarian Nordic has no plans to sell or manufacture its vaccines directly to African countries, the company’s Vice President of Investor Relations told Health Policy Watch, saying that donations from rich countries will likely be the main source of supplies.   WHO’s announcement of a global mpox health emergency may have sent a wake-up call to […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization has declared an international public health emergency for mpox, its highest level of alarm, as the virus experiences a resurgence across Africa less than two years after ending the previous emergency. The declaration comes as the case total in Africa this year has already surpassed the total from 2023. Over 2,500 […] Continue reading ->
“Words must now be matched with deeds,” Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said after the official declaration. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has officially declared the surging mpox outbreak a “public health emergency of continental security” – the first time it has made such a declaration on its own. […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) aims to begin a major polio booster vaccination campaign in Gaza next week with the dispatch of over 1.2 million vaccines to the war-torn Palestinian enclave – against a backdrop of spiralling regional tensions.   WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned again on Wednesday that the presence of polio virus […] Continue reading ->
The ouster of Bangladesh’s long-ruling Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a student-led revolution this week could reverberate through the World Health Organization (WHO), where her daughter holds a key regional post. Saima Wazed, installed earlier this year as regional director for WHO’s South-East Asia (WHO-SEARO) office after a contested election, now faces increased scrutiny following […] Continue reading ->