The United States National Institute of Health (NIH) has finalized an agreement with WHO’s COVID-19 patent sharing facility (C-TAP) to share the patent rights on 11 government-funded coronavirus medicine and vaccine technologies – in what is perhaps the most significant agreement to date with WHO to share closely-guarded pharma know-how.   The announcement was made today […] Continue reading ->
China has defended its strict “no-COVID” strategy and called WHO “irresponsible” following critical remarks from the head of the World Health Organization. WHO Secretary-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing Tuesday that China’s strategy was no longer sustainable in the face of the more infectious but less lethal Omicron. “When we talk about […] Continue reading ->
In DR Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak, the two people with confirmed cases are dead and response is focusing on identifying and vaccinating contacts – because of insufficient doses to conduct a mass vaccination campaign in the outbreak area. Meanwhile, public health officials are trying to reboot Africa’s mainstream immunization programmes, which saw setbacks during the […] 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 ->
In some of his most forceful remarks to date, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other senior WHO officials slammed both Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Ethiopia’s blockade of Tigray for both withholding vital health and humanitarian aid – as well as deliberately targeting civilians or putting them in harms way. Speaking from […] Continue reading ->