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 ->
The World Health Organization launched the first-ever digital version of its latest Model list of Essential Medicines (EML) on Thursday. The move is the latest step in WHO’s effort to explore technology in a new focus on digital health. “For more than 40 years, the list has become a reliable and credible source of the most […] Continue reading ->
Former general director of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) Luca Li Bassi was awarded the 2019 “International Transparency in Medicines Policies Awards” by the French civil society watchdog group l’Observatoire Médicaments Transparences (the Observatory for Transparency in Medicines), for his efforts in negotiating a milestone World Health Assembly resolution in May 2019 supporting more public […] Continue reading ->
With spiraling outbreaks of COVID-19 in 3 countries, Iran, Italy, and Korea, WHO officials warned Monday of growing risks that the epidemic could become a full-fledged pandemic – although Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stepped back from the brink, telling a press briefing on Monday: “Does this virus have pandemic potential? Absolutely it has. Are we […] Continue reading ->
Experts were closely watching the development of Japan’s COVID-19 outbreak for signs of whether the virus might escape further out of control, moving closer to the tipping point of a pandemic – the worldwide spread of a new disease. Meanwhile, a new study in The Lancet found that in Africa, Egypt, Algeria and South Africa […] Continue reading ->
Egypt confirmed its first COVID-19 case on Friday, the first on the African continent, Egyptian media said, a report also confirmed by the World Health Organization’s Egypt office in a tweet. A Health Ministry statement said that it had informed WHO of the infection in a foreign national, who had been tested and then placed […] Continue reading ->
“We all have a vested interest to stop this epidemic,” says Thomas Cueni, Director General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA). As WHO on Tuesday convenes a Global Research & Innovation Forum to rapidly ramp up R&D, Cueni spoke with Health Policy Watch about what he describes as “the extraordinary willingness […] Continue reading ->
“Containment” remains the main objective of the battle against the coronavirus, said WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday, following a weekend where reports of new virus clusters in the United Kingdom and France raised fresh concerns about the virus capacity to spread rapidly beyond China’s borders. The WHO Director General spoke to […] Continue reading ->
The world is facing a “severe disruption” in stocks of personal protective equipment vital for health workers to fight the novel coronavirus raging through China’s Hubei Province and threatening other countries worldwide, said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a Friday press briefing. The Director-General spoke as cases of the new (2019-nCoV) virus continued […] Continue reading ->
As the number of novel coronavirus infections rose again on Thursday – to 28,060 confirmed cases in China and 225 abroad – a US Centers for Disease Control official raised the possible spectre that the epidemic could become a global “pandemic” – if countries fail to take assertive action now. “While unclear how the situation […] Continue reading ->