The first three weeks of 2023 were encouraging for the African continent’s fight against COVID-19. With cases down 97% year-on-year since the same period in 2022, hospitalizations for severe illness and deaths from the virus decreased significantly, the World Health Organization’s African Regional Office said. “For the first time since COVID-19 shook our lives, January […] Continue reading ->
Across disciplines and sectors, experts say it will take treating health care as ‘ecosystems’ and a greater focus on access and equity to achieve solutions to critical health challenges of tomorrow and beyond. DAVOS, Switzerland – In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, huge inequities in access to health care have been exposed that demand […] Continue reading ->
Hybrid immunity from a combination of being vaccinated and previously infected with COVID-19 offers better protection against hospitalisation and severe infection than immunity simply from a previous infection, according to a new study in The Lancet. People with hybrid immunity were 97.4% less likely to be hospitalised or suffer severe infection at 12 months, whereas those […] Continue reading ->
DAVOS, Switzerland  – The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced plans to set up a new TB Vaccine Accelerator Council to increase momentum for the development of a vaccine to combat the world’s most deadly infectious disease. Speaking at a high-level panel at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting where the plan was launched, WHO […] Continue reading ->
Diminishing democracy, growing nationalism, widening social inequality, growing climate-related crises and debt are part of the “unprecedented” trends of 2023, according to world leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Tuesday. “Our generation has reached a turning point confronted by truly existential problems: climate change, exploitation of nature, nuclear possible incidents or even worse, […] Continue reading ->
Nearly one billion people in low- and middle-income countries lack access to health facilities with reliable electricity, a joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, and International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found. Electricity is essential for the functioning of medical equipment like ventilators, incubators, and cold-chain storage for vaccines, as well as […] Continue reading ->