The Global Fund goes into its pledging conference on Wednesday substantially short of its $18 billion minimum target to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria over the next five years. Hosted by US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the seventh replenishment conference is the culmination of a months-long […] Continue reading ->
Ugandan health officials have announced an Ebola outbreak following the confirmation of the relatively rare Sudan strain in the country’s Mubende district, while the government of Ghana has declared the end of the country’s first ever Marburg outbreak.  According to the health authorities in Uganda, the Uganda Virus Research Institute confirmed Ebola in a 24-year-old […] Continue reading ->
Despite numerous announcements and plans to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Africa, the basic requirements for testing for drug-resistant pathogens are unmet in most areas, according to a new study of 14 countries. Only 1.3% of the 50,000 medical laboratories in the participating countries are conducting routine bacteriological testing to definitively identify the type of […] Continue reading ->
Nearly 200 health organizations and more than 1,400 health professionals have signed  a letter published on Wednesday calling on governments to negotiate a legally binding international treaty that would phase out fossil fuels, which they blame for “severe threats to human and planetary health.” Among the treaty’s supporters is the World Health Organization (WHO), a […] Continue reading ->
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 ->