A new COVID-19 Oxygen Emergency Taskforce has been created in response to the dearth of sustainable oxygen supplies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) – and its critical importance for treatment of COVID-19.  Co-created by Unitaid and Wellcome Trust in partnership with the WHO and a range of other global public health agencies, the taskforce, […] Continue reading ->
Under cloudy skies, Ghana’s first precious doses of Covid-19 vaccines arrived Wednesday morning at Accra’s Kotoka International Airport. They are also the first supplies to be distributed by the WHO co-sponsored COVAX facility on the African continent. The arrival of some 600,000 vaccines marks a milestone in months of effort by WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and […] Continue reading ->
The United Kingdom, Switzerland, Israel and Turkey are cautiously reopening businesses and relaxing limits on gatherings and travel as COVID-19 cases declined both globally and within these countries.   However, parts of France, the Czech Republic, and Sweden are preparing for harder lockdown measures as their cases surge in contrast to worldwide trends. As of 23 […] Continue reading ->
More than a year into the world’s largest global health emergency, health diplomats have fought hard to ensure that every country across the globe secures access to lifesaving coronavirus health products, including vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics.   That has not happened yet, given that 80% of countries that are now rolling out vaccines are either high-income […] Continue reading ->
The United States is donating an additional US$2 billion to the COVAX facility over the next two years to facilitate the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, while the pharma company Novavax will provide a total of 1.1 billion doses of its vaccine to COVAX – a gesture that could increase […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization is set to deploy over 100 experts to Guinea – to respond to a widening circle of Ebola virus cases in a country that was also at the epicenter of the historic 2013-2016 West African Ebola outbreak, officials said at twin press events in Brazzaville and Geneva on Thursday.      […] Continue reading ->
The WHO head of the international expert mission to China to investigate the origins of the SARS-CoV2 virus, told a press briefing Thursday that the international expert group is not seriously considering the Chinese theory that the virus outbreak in Wuhan, first infected Wuhan residents through imported frozen foods.  The theory that imported frozen foods […] Continue reading ->
The United Kingdom, Norway and UNICEF on Wednesday appealed to world leaders to give stronger backing to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ call in March 2020 for a “global cease-fire” in order to beat the COVID-19 pandemic and get vaccines to tens of millions of undocumented migrants and refugees, as well as people living in […] Continue reading ->