In one of the first concrete measures to attempt to redress huge inequities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington-based World Bank formally established a new billion-dollar financial intermediary fund (FIF) to invest in helping the world – particularly low- and middle-income countries – strengthen defenses against pandemics and epidemics. FIF’s governing board officially set […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed plans to vaccinate more than 50 million African children with doses of MenAfriVac, a vaccine designed for the African meningitis belt. That could undo the progress in controlling a lethal form of meningitis in Africa, the World Health Organization warns. Until 12 years ago, meningitis type A made up 90% of […] Continue reading ->
More than a month after declaring Monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), WHO’s Africa Region has only received 39,000 test kits for the virus – while vaccines and treatments remain unavailable on the continent where the disease is endemic and often more deadly. That was the key message emerging out of a […] Continue reading ->
The upcoming Global Fund Replenishment drive, 19-21 September, will be critical to holding onto and advancing progress against infectious diseases in multiple ways – among them ensuring the flow of quality-assured medicines to low-income countries and fighting falsified and substandard medicines that can comprise up to 70% of drugs on the market in some parts […] Continue reading ->
In an effort to prevent the spread of monkeypox, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) signed an agreement with Bavarian Nordic to obtain 100,000 vaccine doses for Latin America and the Caribbean. That will allow PAHO to start delivering the doses to the 12 countries that requested them in September. The agreement will make the […] Continue reading ->
Authorities in China’s southwestern city of Chengdu are sticking to the nation’s “zero-COVID” policy demanding a lockdown on the city’s 21 million inhabitants even in the face of a major earthquake that has killed at least 66 people in the region. Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province, has been beset by a heatwave and […] Continue reading ->
Although COVID-19 and monkeypox cases are declining globally, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned against complacency on Wednesday. Although COVID-19 cases were down by 80% since February, “last week, one person died with COVID-19 every 44 seconds and most of those those those deaths are avoidable,” said Tedros. “There is no […] Continue reading ->
A new initiative to introduce COVID-19 oral antivirals and national test-and-treat programmes in 10 countries in Africa and Southeast Asia was launched on Wednesday by the COVID Treatment Quick Start Consortium. The consortium will support governments to introduce and scale up access to antivirals, starting with Pfizer’s Paxlovid, in high-risk populations in Ghana, Kenya, Laos, […] Continue reading ->
Two-fifths of people with tuberculosis are unaware that they are infected because their diagnosis relies on outdated tests – something Unitaid and partners aim to change with a $30 million investment in new diagnostic technologies to enable same-day results. Announcing the investment on Tuesday, the global health agency explained that the current diagnosis in low and […] Continue reading ->
The United Nations General Assembly voted to hold a summit of heads of state and other world leaders next year to find fair, long-lasting solutions for the global inequities and inadequate responses that the COVID-19 pandemic has all too painfully highlighted. Delegates to the 193-nation assembly overwhelmingly approved the resolution in a consensus vote on […] Continue reading ->