When historians look back, will this year mark a turning point in global health? Certainly some of the big issues on the agenda in 2019 might suggest that we are at a crossroads. We can expect to see an intensification of the push for universal health coverage (UHC), culminating with a first-ever high-level United Nations meeting, and a shift away from disease-specific interventions towards more integrated approaches. Health Policy Watch spoke with a range of leading global health policy experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), NGOs, industry and foundations to get their take on the top issues, and here is what they said to watch for in 2019 in five priority areas. Continue reading ->
Tafenoquine, the first new drug to be developed in over 60 years to treat relapsing malaria, has in fact been around since the late 1970s, when researchers with the US Walter Reed Army Institute of Research first took note of its antimalarial properties. But the drug’s potential to cure relapsing malaria caused by the Plasmodium vivax parasite, the less deadly but most widespread malaria species, has only been recently been recognised. Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization Executive Board is being asked this week to consider a steep budget increase to cover the ambitious new “Transformation Plan” of Director General Tedros Adhanom Gheyebresus, which aims to improve the health of at least 3 billion people by 2025. The 8 percent budget hike requested for 2020-2021 will be reviewed by the Board along with a range of critical policy issues when it meets for its 144th session from 24 January-1 February. Here's what you need to know to follow the action. Continue reading ->
Criminalisation of HIV/AIDS transmission, a widespread phenomenon in Africa, is undermining efforts towards fighting the disease. This emerged during the Science Forum South Africa (SFSA), attended by some 3,000 researchers, scientists, policymakers and students from all over the world. The forum, which ran from 12-14 December in Pretoria, is Africa’s premier science, technology and innovation event. Continue reading ->
Global health reaped a weekend windfall of new international and bilateral commitments over the past two days, beginning with the close of the G20 meeting in Argentina on Saturday, followed by the Mandela 100 Global Citizen festival in Johannesburg yesterday, which saw stars like Beyoncé, Jay-Z and others perform in the name of health and development causes, reaping a historic commitment by the United States of more than US$1.2 billion for the fight against HIV/AIDS and some US$ 139 million for the fight against neglected tropical diseases. Continue reading ->
A report launched jointly today by Population Services International (PSI), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the World Health Organization shows that people’s knowledge of their HIV status in sub-Saharan African countries nearly doubled just four years after self-testing programmes were introduced. Separately, a group of French NGOs called on the French President to lead elimination of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030. Continue reading ->