After Years of ‘Pathologising’ Normal Baby Behaviour to Sell Products, Experts Want a Ban on Infant Formula Marketing

08/02/2023 Kerry Cullinan

Infant formula companies have “pathologised” normal baby behaviour to promote their products, and there should be “an international, legal treaty” to prevent their marketing, according to health experts. In addition, political lobbying by milk formula companies to influence public policy should be sharply curtailed. These are some of the suggestions contained in a three-part series […] Continue reading ->

Gavi Undertakes to Change Vaccine Procurement to Support New African Manufacturers

03/11/2022 Kerry Cullinan

Gavi, the global vaccine alliance, has undertaken to adapt its approach to procuring vaccines in order to support African vaccine manufacturing. In a plan released on Thursday, Gavi has committed to placing “a higher value on the benefits of diversification to supply security, with a focus on Africa”. The 10-point plan, developed in consultation with […] Continue reading ->

Air Pollution is Linked to Adverse Brain Development in Young Children

26/09/2022 Stefan Anderson

Infants’ brains are negatively affected by air pollution, according to a study which has documented the effects of children’s exposure to air pollution from conception to the age of eight-and-a-half years for the first time. Tracking 3,515 children aged 9-12, the study found an association between exposure to air pollutants in the womb and their […] Continue reading ->

How Can Social Innovation Improve Life in Rural Communities?

19/08/2022 Editorial team

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 ->

Acute Childhood Hepatitis Cases – Scottish Researchers May Have Unraveled Mystery

25/07/2022 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

The mystery around the rash of acute, serious hepatitis cases that have afflicted over 1000 children under the age of 16 may have been unravelled by a group of Scottish researchers who say that the interaction of two common adenoviruses, or related herpes viruses, may have caused the condition in genetically susceptible children who failed […] Continue reading ->

Over 1000 Cases of Severe Acute Hepatitis Cases in Children Recorded

14/07/2022 Raisa Santos

Over 1000 probable cases of severe acute hepatitis of unknown cause in children have been reported across 35 countries in five World Health Organization (WHO) regions as of 8 July 2022, including 22 deaths. Since the previous WHO Disease Outbreak News, published on 24 June 2022, 90 new probable cases and four additional deaths have […] Continue reading ->

WHO Concerned About Monkeypox Spreading Among Children

29/06/2022 Kerry Cullinan

Monkeypox appears to be establishing itself as a prominent danger to high-risk populations such as children, immune-compromised people and pregnant women, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned. Already, WHO said authorities confirmed cases involving two children in the UK and a child each in Spain, France and the Netherlands. Tedros, however, […] Continue reading ->

Scientists Might Never Determine Cause for Mysterious Acute Hepatitis Cases

31/05/2022 Maayan Hoffman

Just days after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that 650 total cases – and another 99 suspected cases – of mysterious acute hepatitis have been discovered in 33 countries worldwide, a top virologist has told Health Policy Watch that doctors and scientists may fail to ever find the root cause of the illness. “There […] Continue reading ->

Another Reported Wild Polio Case in Mozambique Highlights Fragility of Eradication Gains

30/05/2022 Rahul Basharat Rajput

World Health Organization (WHO) member states endorsed a new polio eradication strategy 2022-2026 last week that aims to permanently interrupt all poliovirus transmission – both of the wild poliovirus and vaccine-derived cases. Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the discovery of a second wild poliovirus case in Africa, confirmed on 18 […] Continue reading ->

Noma Survivors Demand that WHO Lists Disease as NTD

25/05/2022 Maayan Hoffman

A team of health professionals and Noma survivors called on the World Health Organization on Tuesday to list the deadly infection of the mouth and face as a neglected tropical disease (NTD) so that it can receive the attention it needs to be eradicated. “We hope that we can bring global attention to this disease […] Continue reading ->