In one of the first concrete measures to attempt to redress huge inequities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Washington-based World Bank formally established a new billion-dollar financial intermediary fund (FIF) to invest in helping the world – particularly low- and middle-income countries – strengthen defenses against pandemics and epidemics. FIF’s governing board officially set […] Continue reading ->
The submission period for the second round of public hearings to inform the development of a new international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response is now open and will The World Health Organization (WHO) is inviting interested parties to submit a video statement in response to the question: Based on your experience with the […] Continue reading ->
Amber Huett-Garcia has struggled with obesity since she was in first grade. “Now in adulthood, despite reducing my BMI from 69 to 24 (245 lbs. lost), I still carry the expensive diagnosis of obesity,” she wrote in a recent blog for the Noncommunicable Disease Alliance (NCD Alliance). “I’ve used pharmacotherapy, surgical interventions, mental health care […] Continue reading ->
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to two Omicron-targeting booster vaccines on Wednesday as it anticipates the potential rise of COVID-19 cases in its fall and spring. The boosters, one by Moderna and the other by Pfizer-BioNTech, are bivalent vaccines, or “updated boosters”, that are designed to protect against […] Continue reading ->
MAHANDRI, Pakistan – The village of Mahandri was once a scenic stopover for tourists visiting the valley of Kaghan in Pakistan’s northernmost province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but recent flash floods have destroyed most of its infrastructure. The monsoon floods have killed about 14 people, washed away five restaurants, all 30 shops in the local market […] Continue reading ->
For emerging global health professionals from the world’s “south,” choosing whether to focus their energy on local issues or on international challenges is always a dilemma, Chief Planetary Health Scientist of Sunway Centre for Planetary Health in Malaysia Renzo Guinto argues. “One important crossroad that I’ve encountered is tension on whether I stay in the […] Continue reading ->
Six months into the Ukraine war, the World Health Organization warns that the nation’s battered but “still-resilient” health system is facing “severe challenges and shortages in many areas” that must be dealt with as the nation prepares for a challenging winter. WHO officials marked the half-year point in the war, which coincided with Ukraine’s Independence […] Continue reading ->
When Dr. Magaly Blas, an Associate Professor at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru, was researching the association between the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer and the human T-lymphotropic virus that causes leukaemia, she found herself travelling often to the Amazon region of Ucayali, home to an indigenous community among whom the disease […] Continue reading ->