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 ->
The number of pandemic-related cases and deaths have rapidly accelerated in the first four months of 2021, said WHO officials on the second day of the 74th World Health Assembly – and despite sharp declines seen in almost every region over the four weeks, the situation remains “fragile.” The “highly unstable” global epidemiological situation, combined […] Continue reading ->
An unprecedented number of healthcare workers were seriously assaulted last year, even as health workers risked their lives on the front lines of the COVID-19 response.  Over 412 COVID-related attacks on health workers, including kidnappings and murders, occurred between January and December 2020, experts reported at a World Health Assembly side event. The session Monday […] Continue reading ->
  A new international expert panel launched by four international organisations on Thursday aims to blunt the emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases through better understanding of human, animal, and environmental interactions that enable animal-borne diseases to break into human populations.   The One Health High Level Expert Panel will advise the World Health Organization (WHO), […] Continue reading ->
In preparation for the next pandemic, the COVAX global vaccine facility “needs a pot of money, where they can be early movers” in competing for, and securing, vaccine doses. That could help scenarios like the ones seen recently, in which rich countries cornered the market on the first available COVID-19 vaccines, leading to severe shortages […] Continue reading ->
A draft “Rome Declaration” to be issued at next Friday’s G-20’s Global Health Summit, co-hosted by Italy and the European Commission (21 May), makes a series of 10 sweeping commitments to ensure equitable access to vaccines; expand medicines manufacturing capacity; assure WHO access to sites posing an outbreak risk; and invest in global health systems.  […] Continue reading ->