Climate change is driving the spread of mosquito-borne arboviruses – dengue, chikungunya and Zika – into new areas, thus leading the world to newer crises, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned this week. Several countries in the Americas region have reported an increase in dengue, zika and chikungunya cases and that the pattern might repeat […] Continue reading ->
The fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to draft a pandemic accord started on Monday with acknowledgement by World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that it faces a very tight timeframe. “There is now only one year until the World Health Assembly in May 2024, which will consider the outcome […] Continue reading ->
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania—Blaring Singeli music is one of the few sources of entertainment for poor slum dwellers in Manzese, part of Tanzania’s smoke-belching capital city of Dar es Salaam. But for the 32-year-old Mariam Kinesha, the electronic music known for its fast beats, exuberant shaking dance style and muddled MC-driven lyrics, is not only […] Continue reading ->
Authorities in Equatorial Guinea have confirmed another four cases of deadly Marburg virus disease, bringing the total number of cases for the country’s current outbreak to 13 – although some sources warn that the case count could be much higher, due to the lack of lab capacity and reporting delays. In a Twitter post late […] Continue reading ->
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019, an explosion of information and misinformation burned across the Internet. Health experts and officials had a choice: To turn a blind eye to the fake news being shared on social networks or to take action themselves and use these portals to disseminate essential information rapidly. […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that it is poised to begin clinical trials of three Marburg disease vaccine candidates if Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, both struggling with outbreaks of the deadly disease, give the green light. About 2000 finished doses are available from vaccine developers and could be administered to the identified contacts of […] Continue reading ->
Negotiations on a global pandemic accord resume next Monday at the fifth meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) amid calls for more attention to be paid to a One Health approach, and less to organised misinformation campaigns. The meeting agenda is an extension of the INB meeting that ended on […] Continue reading ->
After major setbacks during the pandemic, TB diagnosis and treatment appears to have rebounded with the number of undiagnosed TB-infections estimated at less than three million people in 2022- the lowest ever. That’s according to preliminary data released by the Stop TB Partnership, on Friday, World TB Day. “In 2022 the gap between the estimated […] Continue reading ->
More than 300 health facilities have been destroyed or flooded in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique in the wake of Cyclone Freddy, WHO estimates. That has left hundreds of communities without adequate access to health services even as the cyclone’s double whammy of devastation has raised public health risks including the increased spread of cholera, […] Continue reading ->
Raccoon dogs, lab leaks and Chinese secrecy have made for high drama as scientists who think they may have found the elusive “Animal X” that passed SARS-CoV2 were excluded from a data-sharing platform for “scooping” Chinese scientists. Nineteen scientists, including world-renowned figures such as Dr Michael Worobey and Dr Angela Rasmussen – have published a […] Continue reading ->