The UN General Assembly approved a resolution Monday night calling for accelerated scientific cooperation and global coordination to hasten the “rapid development, manufacturing and distribution of diagnostics, anti-viral medicines, personal protective equipment and vaccines” needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The resolution, approved in a virtual poll, also called on countries “to immediately take steps […] Continue reading ->

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Testing: the crux of effective outbreak responses Testing is an essential component of effective outbreak responses. Without widespread testing, we cannot know whether a disease is spreading nor take measures to appropriately respond to it. “All countries should be able to test all suspected cases, they cannot fight this pandemic blindfolded, they should know where […] Continue reading ->
World Health Organization Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has welcomed the call by Costa Rica’s President, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, for WHO to launch an initiative that would “pool rights to technologies that are useful for the detection, prevention, control and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic.” “I welcome his initiative & call for pooled rights […] Continue reading ->

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In normal times, Diego Zapata, undersecretary in the City of Medellin’s Mobility Department, worries about how to advance better public transit systems, cycling and pedestrian networks – to get more people moving around the city. But recently, he and his boss Carlos Cadena began supporting the City’s Health Department in its scramble to reduce travel […] Continue reading ->
Costa Rica’s president, Carlos Alvarado Quesada has appealed to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization, to “pool rights to technologies that are useful for the detection, prevention, control and treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic”. The presidential letter dated Monday, 23 March, and co-signed by Minister of Health, Daniel Salas Peraza, […] Continue reading ->
New high-throughput test technologies that can process thousands of COVID-19 samples a day are coming online. But the CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals, which recently gained US Food and Drug Administration approval for a new high-volume test, asserted Thursday that “broad-based testing is simply not feasible.” Severin Schwan, Roche CEO, was speaking at a press conference […] Continue reading ->
A leading medicines access group in Europe has issued a protest against the high price of COVID-19 tests in France, amidst rising concerns that the cost of the diagnostic test may also be limiting the number of people who are being tested in Europe – the new global epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. In France, […] Continue reading ->
As the COVID-19 crisis seeps into financial markets, corporate board rooms, and global health systems, there may be one silver lining in an otherwise dark cloud. The 21st century era of digital health, virtual meetings and teleworking is upon us. Countries as far-flung as the Republic of Korea, Israel and even some forward-looking US health […] Continue reading ->
The World Trade Organization’s director general Roberto Azevêdo announced on Tuesday that he was suspending all WTO meetings at its Geneva offices, following the confirmation of a COVID-19 case among staff. It was the first publicly-announced case of the novel coronavirus infection at a Geneva-based United Nations or UN-affiliated organization since the epidemic began, which […] Continue reading ->