WHO on Friday issued formal guidelines recommending against the use of remdesivir for COVID-19 patients, based on a  lack of evidence that the antiviral drug, developed by Gilead, significantly improves patient outcomes. The recommendation followed publication of trial results on the drug in the The BMJ  involving more than 7,000 patients who had been hospitalized […] Continue reading ->
COVID-19 and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are combining as a “syndemic” that reinforce each other and disproportionately impact the most vulnerable communities in every country during the pandemic period, said experts at a NCD Alliance panel on Thursday.  However, primary health care workers, particularly nurses, who are the backbone of routine NCD responses have been particularly […] Continue reading ->
The current power dynamics in global health are a barrier to achieving health equity, partly because too many high-profile politicians are simply reluctant to listen to, or act upon, scientific evidence, and partly because of countries and institutions that wield disproportionate influence in today’s global health architecture aren’t willing to relinquish their power: a left-over […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic did not so much create cracks in healthcare systems around the world, as it exposed weaknesses in them, participants at the Geneva Health Forum said Wednesday at a session on how health systems have fared during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have found fragility everywhere,” said Edward Kelley, Director of Integrated Health Services […] Continue reading ->
Climate change poses an even greater threat to public health than the COVID-19 pandemic – and needs to be treated with equal urgency, Jagan Chapagain, Secretary-General of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told a virtual news conference on Tuesday. He was speaking at Tuesday’s launch of the IFRC’s […] Continue reading ->
The world’s 27 million nurses and midwives – who comprise 60% of the health workforce – are not only excluded from the health system’s corridors of power, but also have faced new levels of censure and reprisal during the COVID-19 pandemic when they protested dangerous or abusive working conditions, said expert panel members at the […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic, while devastating, has also created an opportunity for “patients to stand up, educate themselves well and build their expertise,” says Karen Alparce-Villanueva, a board member of the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO). She was speaking at a session of the Geneva Health Forum that focused on “Patients as Co-creators and disseminators […] Continue reading ->
Many Geneva-based health agencies have worked together for years to improve global access to diagnostics and treatment, but the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated much closer collaboration and speedier decision-making. This is according to experts from the WHO co-sponsored  “ACT Accelerator” medicine access partnership – including UNITAID, the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), and the […] Continue reading ->