Dr Waheed Araian spent the first five years of his life hiding with his family in a cellar in Kabul from rockets and bombs. “I came to the UK as a 15-year-old child refugee with no family support, hardly any education and about $100 in my pocket,” said Arian, now an emergency doctor in the […] Continue reading ->
COVID-19 exposed Africa’s vulnerabilities and its urgent need for local innovation and drug development. Leading African scientist KELLY CHIBALE discusses some of the key challenges. Improving scientific skills in Africa and stemming the continent’s brain drain weigh heavily on Professor Kelly Chibale’s mind, particularly as COVID-19 pandemic has damaged fragile health systems and reversed hard-fought […] Continue reading ->
Should the corporate sector be allowed to engage in negotiations around the new binding instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response that is being developed by World Health Organization member states? This week’s closed-door debate by WHO member states to decide who should get a seat around the table risks opening a Pandora’s box of […] Continue reading ->
The question of whether pathogens’ genomic sequences should be shared freely – or in exchange for a clear benefit – as well as the role ‘One Health’ should play in any new Pandemic Convention or legal accord were key points of emerging dispute among member states on Day 2 of the Intergovernmental Board Meeting (INB). […] Continue reading ->
Major pharmaceutical companies have offered to reserve a “real-time allocation” of vaccines and treatments upfront for “priority populations in lower-income countries” in future pandemics – providing the G7 and G20 also help low-income countries finance and make effective use of the products. Launching its Berlin Declaration on Tuesday, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and […] Continue reading ->
The first day of WHO member state talks on a proposed new Pandemic Convention or Treaty opened with broad agreement that the new legal instrument should complement – but not repeat – provisions of the existing International Health Regulations – while respecting national sovereignty in terms of public health responses. But the hours of debate […] Continue reading ->
Rwanda has been selected to host the headquarters of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) by the Executive Council of the African Union (AU) at a meeting held in the Zambian capital of Lusaka on Saturday. The council agreed that AMA will enhance the capacity of AU state parties and the continent’s Regional Economic Communities (RECs) […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization and UNICEF have sounded the alarm on the largest sustained decline in global childhood vaccinations in approximately 30 years, with 25 million infants missing out on lifesaving routine vaccines. The percentage of children who received three doses of vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3) – a marker for immunization coverage […] Continue reading ->
Over 1000 probable cases of severe acute hepatitis of unknown cause in children have been reported across 35 countries in five World Health Organization (WHO) regions as of 8 July 2022, including 22 deaths. Since the previous WHO Disease Outbreak News, published on 24 June 2022, 90 new probable cases and four additional deaths have […] Continue reading ->
Two leading researchers who have raised questions about the reliability of Sputnik V’s vaccine efficacy ratings across age groups shared their concerns with Health Policy Watch. One called the results “impossible” and “very concerning”. More than 70 countries have approved the use of Sputnik V, Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine, based on the reported 91.6% efficacy across […] Continue reading ->