NEW YORK CITY – Despite advances in Universal Health Coverage (UHC), as many as 5 billion people would be left without full access to healthcare in 2030 at the present rate of progress, according to a new report led by the World Health Organization. And financial protections that shield families from catastrophic health expenses have […] Continue reading ->
[WHO/UNICEF] Despite progress, a pregnant woman or newborn dies somewhere in the world every 11 seconds More women and their children are surviving today than ever before, according to new child and maternal mortality estimates released today by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). Since the year 2000, child deaths have reduced by nearly half […] Continue reading ->
Kenya initiated a national pilot of the world’s first malaria vaccine today, joining Ghana and Malawi to introduce the landmark vaccine as a tool against a disease that remains a leading killer of children under the age of 5 years, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The vaccine, known as RTS,S, will be rolled out nationally in […] Continue reading ->
At a first-ever Global Vaccination Summit, health leaders worldwide ramped up efforts to tackle “vaccine hesitancy”, which has prompted the recent resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. “After many years of progress, we are at a critical turning point. Measles is resurging, and 1 in 10 children continues to miss out on essential childhood […] Continue reading ->
A new Lancet Commission report calls for health policy leaders to agree upon an ambitious global plan to eradicate of malaria by 2050 – contrasting with a World Health Organization report released in August that concluded it was too early to set a target date for eradication. The report Malaria eradication within a generation: ambitious, […] Continue reading ->
New data revealing that survivors of Guinea’s 2013-16 Ebola outbreak were five times more likely to die within the first year after recovery, as compared to the general population, suggests a need to revisit WHO guidance on Ebola survivors’ monitoring and care, a top WHO official said on Friday. The findings were part of a […] Continue reading ->
Facebook has begun rolling out a new algorithm that directs users searching for vaccine information to the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website, in the case of US-based searches, and for users elsewhere, the World Health Organization website, as a top search pick. The move was welcomed by WHO, officials at CDC, and […] Continue reading ->
Amid stalled global progress on reducing malaria cases and deaths since 2015, the World Health Organization has called for renewed and accelerated research and development (R&D) of new tools for malaria prevention and treatment, improved use of data, and strengthened international, regional, and sub-national cooperation. WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria Eradication (SAGme) said in […] Continue reading ->
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week approved a tuberculosis (TB) treatment regimen containing a new drug, pretomanid, offering a shorter, more effective course of treatment for highly drug-resistant strains of TB, the world’s leading cause of death by infectious disease. Pretomanid is only the third TB drug to be approved in over […] Continue reading ->
[TB Alliance] NEW YORK (August 14, 2019)—Pretomanid, a novel compound developed by the non-profit organization TB Alliance, was approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) today for treating some of the most drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis (TB).1 The new drug was approved under the Limited Population Pathway for Antibacterial and Antifungal Drugs (LPAD pathway) […] Continue reading ->