While a “pandemic treaty” could take years to establish, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR) could be revised more rapidly to significantly improve global disease outbreak response, top US officials are saying.  The statements coincided with a 3-day working group meeting of WHO member states to discuss ways to strengthen the global […] Continue reading ->
Monkey Pox, Lassa Fever, Yellow Fever, Cerebrospinal Meningitis, and COVID-19 are some of the epidemics that Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu has addressed as head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Now, however, Ihekweazu’s repertoire of disease experience is about to expand exponentially, following his appointment as the head of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) […] Continue reading ->
US Health officials confirmed on Wednesday that the country will begin to offer a third COVID ‘booster’ vaccine, beginning the week of September 20, to Americans who were vaccinated earliest in the vaccination rollout. It’s now “very clear” that immunity starts to fall after the initial two doses, and with the dominance of the Delta […] Continue reading ->
The long-delayed 2020 edition of the Tokyo summer Olympics opened Friday against the sober backdrop of soaring COVID infection rates, but with plenty of pomp and ceremony nonetheless –  including a massive fireworks display and an aerial show of drones resembling planet earth hovering above Olympic Stadium, while John Lennon’s “Imagine” echoed across the night […] Continue reading ->
In his most explicit appeal to date, WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called upon the global leaders in COVID mRNA vaccine manufacturing – Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna to “share their know-how” in vaccine manufacturing with more manufacturers, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.  The WHO DG also called upon countries that are beginning to […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebryesus called on leaders of the  G7 Group of the world’s most industrialized nations to share at least 100 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses with low- and middle-income countries in June and July and 250 million doses by September.  His appeal, at a WHO press conference Monday,  added to […] Continue reading ->
Amidst fresh calls from US President Joe Biden ordering the science and intelligence community to come up with a more detailed account of how the SARS-CoV2 virus emerged – it’s unclear how much action the World Health Assembly will really see on the issue. Language in the the final-agreed draft of a WHA resolution, Strengthening […] Continue reading ->
Controlling a disease outbreak requires cooperation both behind borders and between countries, experts said at a Wednesday event co-organised by the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Global Health Centre.  And one key, neglected area of international cooperation has been travel restrictions, where countries worldwide have created a cacophony of different measures to control COVID.   “Travel measures are […] Continue reading ->