China’s financial hub Shanghai continues to see rising COVID-19 cases despite the country’s attempts at a “no COVID” policy. The city reported over 27,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday, a new high, following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s announcement a day earlier reinforcing the zero-tolerance approach to COVID. “Prevention and control work cannot be relaxed,” Xi said […] Continue reading ->
Pharmaceutical giants have questioned why a waiver on intellectual property (IP) rights for COVID-19 vaccines is still on the table when they are battling to find markets for their vaccines amid order cancellations – including from the Africa Centre for Disease Control. “I’m stunned that the proposed IP waiver is still being debated while supplies […] Continue reading ->
COVID-19 affiliated deaths last week were the lowest on record globally since the pandemic began two years ago. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) today emphasized that the pandemic remains a public health emergency and we must not drop our guards. “This is the moment to work even harder to save lives,” said Dr Tedros […] Continue reading ->
After Dr Garry Aslanyan became an avid follower of podcasts, he realized there was a dearth of material from the genre in his own global health field. So he set out to fill that gap with a new series featuring public health professionals and policymakers from around the world who have made a difference – […] Continue reading ->
The second season of the Global Health Matters podcast series kicks off with a close-up look at South Africa’s health equity initiatives and champions. Health Policy Watch will be featuring episodes from the series throughout the coming year as part of a TDR-supported series. As the world commits to equitable access to medicines and vaccines, […] Continue reading ->
Pfizer has so far refused an invitation from the Geneva-based Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) to cooperate on a study exploring whether the treatment window of its successful antiviral drug, Paxlovid, could be extended from 5-7 days using another drug compound in addition, Dr Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft, Director of DNDi’s COVID-19 Response, told Health Policy […] Continue reading ->
TEL AVIV – Ninety percent of drug candidates fail in clinical trials because of unexpected safety issues or lack of efficacy in human subjects, according to Noga Yerushalmi, Investment Director at M Ventures, the strategic, corporate venture capital arm of Merck. There have been dramatic improvements in omics technologies – that is the collective technologies […] Continue reading ->
In a highly symbolic visit to Lviv, Ukraine, World Health Organization Regional Director Hans Kluge reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to rebuilding the country’s war-torn health system. Speaking in a press briefing staged directly from Lviv, Kluge said, “We are committed to work through a decentralized footprint [in Ukraine], both during the current humanitarian response but also […] Continue reading ->
Nearly two-thirds of Africans have already been infected with SARS-CoV-2 — the virus responsible for COVID-19, WHO said, announcing the release of a new assessment of virus seroprevalence on the continent. The analysis, a systematic review of some 150 studies, was published on the pre-print server, medRXiv.org. Addressing a press briefing on Thursday, Dr Matshidiso […] Continue reading ->
China’s COVID-19 situation is getting worse, and strategies to control the spread of the Omicron variant are getting stricter as the country registered 20,472 daily cases on Wednesday – the highest-ever infection rate. The epicentre of the outbreak is Shanghai, which recorded 17,007 cases on Wednesday and municipal authorities are conducting mass testing in the […] Continue reading ->