Cuts to global immunisation budgets are hitting measles vaccine coverage, disease surveillance, laboratory networks and outbreak response the hardest, according to the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE). SAGE, which advises the World Health Organization (WHO) on immunisation, issued the warning at a media briefing on Tuesday after its four-day biannual meeting. It warned […] Continue reading ->
A grim picture is emerging of people running out of food, countries running out of medicine and hospitals closing as a result of the shock slashing of global health budgets by the United States, according to multiple World Health Organization (WHO) staff addressing a media briefing on Monday. Meanwhile, the WHO is mulling “terrible choices” […] Continue reading ->
Tanzania has extinguished a deadly outbreak of Marburg virus, but elsewhere across Africa, an alarming surge of health crises continue to unfold – including expanding mpox infections in Uganda, a cholera outbreak in Angola and a first-ever cholera case in neighbouring Namibia. The Marburg virus outbreak in Tanzania has officially ended, Tanzanian health authorities declared […] Continue reading ->
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that 83% of US international aid programs were “canceled” hours before a federal district judge ruled that the administration’s actions were an overreach of the Executive branch’s power. At risk are thousands of lifesaving humanitarian programs. In a refugee camp in Bangladesh, 500,000 Rohynga children depend on food treatment […] Continue reading ->
Only 17% of suspected mpox tests in the the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had been tested in the past week – a drop of almost 10%, Dr Ngashi Ngongo, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) lead on mpox, told a media briefing on Thursday. Only seven of the DRC’s 26 […] Continue reading ->
Years of progress against tuberculosis, the world’s most deadliest infectious disease are being derailed by the abrupt funding cuts by the United States to the sector, according to a survey of 180 affected organisations released late Wednesday. As many as a quarter of the 180 survey respondents from 31 countries have had to close in […] Continue reading ->
LAGOS, Nigeria – At an HIV treatment clinic in Lagos, patients are seated in worn pews, waiting for their turn to receive their six-month supply of antiretroviral therapy (ART). Without subsidies, the cost of these drugs could reach $4,500 a month, but with the support of foreign donors such as the US President’s Emergency Plan […] Continue reading ->
The Trump administration has terminated the contracts of nearly 10,000 global health projects funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) or the US State Department – including projects to provide vital diagnosis and treatment for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, as well as humanitarian aid projects providing nutrition and water and sanitation services. Grants […] Continue reading ->
Encephalitis “remains under-recognized, under-diagnosed, and underfunded”, according to a new policy report from the World Health Organization (WHO). Climate change, vaccine hesitancy, and the rising burden of vector-borne diseases are also fuelling an increased number of encephalitis cases, a rare but serious inflammation of the brain. The technical document urges coordinated global action to “confront […] Continue reading ->
Bolstered by strong support in Africa, Europe and Latin America, there are high hopes that an ambitious new Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health will be approved in May by the World Health Assembly, said Maria Neira, World Health Organization (WHO) Director of the Department of Climate, Environment and Health. The WHO move […] Continue reading ->