Russia’s ongoing refusal to let Ukranian grain lift its blockade of Black Sea ports is causing a global food crisis and has led to allegations that the country is weaponizing” the world’s food supply. Over the weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the world will face a “severe food crisis” as Russia’s war continues […] Continue reading ->
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), has called a meeting of the emergency committee for next Thursday to discuss whether monkeypox should be declared a public health emergency. This follows the spread of the disease in at least 32 new countries outside of the nine African countries where it is […] Continue reading ->
The World Trade Organization’s Director General Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the potential for WTO members to reach long-delayed agreements on issues such as a limited IP waiver for COVID vaccines as well as a decision to curb harmful fisheries subsidies that allow big industrial rigs to plunder the oceans […] Continue reading ->
The first report by the new WHO-convened expert group, Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) has fanned the flames of controversy over evidence about whether a lab leak or a natural “spillover” of the virus from animals to humans was the most likely source from which the COVID pandemic emerged – […] Continue reading ->
Eritrea has yet to start vaccinating its citizens against COVID-19, whereas two African countries – South Africa and Tunisia – are now offering citizens over 50 a second COVID-19 booster vaccine. However, but the vaccination rate on the continent is far behind the global vaccination target of 70%. Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Acting Director of […] Continue reading ->
Fears of cholera have emerged in the ruined and Russian-occupied Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. Exiled local officials have voiced concern over the drinking supply in the city, which has been contaminated as a result of decomposing bodies and garbage. “The city has really turned into one with corpses everywhere,” said mayoral aide Petro Andryushchenko […] Continue reading ->
Moderna announced Tuesday that the first participants have been vaccinated in a Phase 3 study of its influenza (flu) vaccine, which is based on mRNA technology used in its COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine, mRNA-1010, encodes for hemagglutinin (HA) glycoproteins of the four influenza strains recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the prevention of […] Continue reading ->
Scientists and doctors are beginning to eye Paxlovid, the antiviral medicine developed by Pfizer to protect vulnerable people from severe disease, as a potential treatment for lingering COVID-19 symptoms after single patients report that the medicine has helped to reduce their symptoms. Long COVID affects as many as one in five people infected by the […] Continue reading ->
Sixty five days after one of the toughest lockdowns in the world, China has eased COVID-19 restrictions on its financial hub, Shanghai, on Wednesday – finally allowing the majority of its 25 million residents to move freely again. However, at least 890,000 residents are confined at home, in “quarantine” or “control zones”. The announcement to […] Continue reading ->
Health and peace, sex and war, money and management. Whether in chorus or cacophony – last week’s World Health Assembly of WHO member states played most of the notes in the symphony of global debate over strategies to tackle disease, epidemics and pandemics and bolster health systems. But the root causes of emerging disease threats […] Continue reading ->