A “Zero Draft” report by a WHO Working Group gives cautious endorsement to advancing negotiations over a new “Pandemic Treaty” among WHO’s 194 member states. That endorsement by the Working Group of member states remains couched in highly nuanced, diplomatic language that makes it clear how big the lift may be to actually negotiate a […] Continue reading ->
Ahead of a critical G20 meeting this weekend, WHO and its partners are asking the world’s leading industrialized nations to come up with another US$ 23.4 billion over the course of the coming year to address stark shortages in COVID vaccines, tests and treatments remain dismally low in Africa and other parts of the developing […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has named 26 scientists to a new Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), which will take forward the work of the international expert group that led an initial mission to Wuhan in January 2021, as well as investigating future pandemics. Six of the scientists are associated […] Continue reading ->
The Indian government’s Subject Expert Committee (SEC) has recommended the use of the country’s home-grown COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, for children from the age of two. This is the first vaccine in the world to be approved for such young children. Pfizer’s vaccine was recently approved for children from the age of 12 in the US. […] Continue reading ->
The most systematic study to date of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on mental health suggests that it has caused an additional 53 million cases of major depressive disorder, 76 million cases of anxiety across 204 countries in 2020 alone, according to a new Lancet study. The study, published just ahead of World Mental Health Day, […] Continue reading ->
Nineteen countries have been prioritised for support to implement new global targets aimed at preventing maternal and newborn deaths. This emerged at the launch on Tuesday of the new targets, which were developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and their partners in the Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) initiative. UNFPA […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization published the latest edition of its Model Lists of Essential Medicines (EML) on Friday, making a sweeping move this time to include long-lasting insulin analogues as essential drugs that national health systems should incorporate into their services. The decision reverses the EML Expert Committee’s 2019 decision, rejecting the inclusion of insulin […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – Following new travel policies that discriminate against vaccinated travellers from African countries, as compared to their European, Asian and Middle Eastern counterparts, African health officials have demanded clarifications, and accused the UK government of potentially festering vaccine hesitancy on the continent. A British government’ plan to drop a 10-day quarantine requirement for fully-vaccinated […] Continue reading ->
A WHO independent commission concluded that 83 emergency responders to DR-Congo’s 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak, including some 21 WHO employees and consultants, had likely abused dozens of Congolese women, obtaining sex in exchange for promises of jobs – also raping nine women outright. But the panel’s findings, which validate reports first published in September 2020 in […] Continue reading ->
US President Joe Biden has reaped praise for convening a Global COVID-19 Summit on the margins of this year’s United Nations General Assembly that placed vaccine shortfalls in low- and middle-income countries front and center of GA debates. But it remains to be seen if the big commitments repeated once more this week can break […] Continue reading ->