COVID-19 and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are combining as a “syndemic” that reinforce each other and disproportionately impact the most vulnerable communities in every country during the pandemic period, said experts at a NCD Alliance panel on Thursday. However, primary health care workers, particularly nurses, who are the backbone of routine NCD responses have been particularly […] Continue reading ->
A tier system to assess transmission and public health responses may be able to avoid the economic fallout from long term COVID-19 lockdowns, while combatting transmission of the disease, WHO has said. The European region has recorded over 15.7 million total COVID-19 cases, over 4 million of which occurred in November alone. Europe now accounts […] Continue reading ->
Nearly 100 World Trade Organization member countries and entities could potentially swing behind a proposal by India and South Africa to enact a wide-ranging waiver of complex World Trade Organization requirements on the use of patented products, trade secrets and copyrights on health products during the pandemic, asserted the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Access […] Continue reading ->
Finding the right combination of open innovation – that is the free sharing of expertise, knowledge and data – and intellectual property (IP) that may drive private investments in expensive new technologies, can be a difficult balancing act to attain. But as the COVID-19 pandemic has underlined, it is more and more critical to etch […] Continue reading ->
Use of Ayurvedic medicines, already on the rise worldwide, has soared even higher during the pandemic. But few people may be aware that at least one country, India, actually has an entire ministry devoted to promoting use of these traditional remedies, that have been used for centuries: the Indian Ministry for Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, […] Continue reading ->
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first COVID-19 diagnostic test for self-testing at home and that provides rapid results. The Lucira COVID-19 All-In-One Test Kit is a molecular-based single use test that is intended to detect the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19. “While COVID-19 diagnostic […] Continue reading ->
The world’s 27 million nurses and midwives – who comprise 60% of the health workforce – are not only excluded from the health system’s corridors of power, but also have faced new levels of censure and reprisal during the COVID-19 pandemic when they protested dangerous or abusive working conditions, said expert panel members at the […] Continue reading ->
In the early 2000’s, when Kenyan doctor Sally Agallo Kwenda was diagnosed with cervical cancer, it was a big shock given she was not experiencing any pain or symptoms. A bigger shock, however, was her husband’s decision to walk out on her. He claimed that he could not live with a woman who could not […] 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 ->
Women must be exposed to digital technology as both users and innovators – in order to fashion and expand AI designs that meet the needs of hard-to-reach populations, said experts at a Geneva Health Forum. Speaking at the session ‘How Can The World Advance Towards AI Maturity In Health?’ on Monday, Roopa Dhatt, executive director […] Continue reading ->