In DR Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak, the two people with confirmed cases are dead and response is focusing on identifying and vaccinating contacts – because of insufficient doses to conduct a mass vaccination campaign in the outbreak area. Meanwhile, public health officials are trying to reboot Africa’s mainstream immunization programmes, which saw setbacks during the […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization has announced an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo and its continued investigation of almost 200 cases of unexplained acute hepatitis in the US and Europe in a media briefing Tuesday afternoon.  Two cases of Ebola have been confirmed in the northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo, prompting health […] Continue reading ->
Nearly ten years of air pollution data for dozens of Indian cities – among the most polluted in the world – was deleted from the latest World Health Organization Air Quality database just before WHO published the report on 4 April 2022, Health Policy Watch has learned.  The Indian air quality data, spanning the years […] Continue reading ->
Global health leaders have repeatedly called for stepped up investments  to  both slow down climate change and recognize the health co-benefits of more climate action.   But political leaders, including those in low and middle-income countries, still need to do more, Prof. Guéladio Cissé, Coordinating Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told […] Continue reading ->
Nearly two-thirds of Africans have already been infected with SARS-CoV-2 — the virus responsible for COVID-19, WHO said, announcing the release of a new assessment of virus seroprevalence on the continent.  The analysis, a systematic review of some 150 studies, was published on the pre-print server, medRXiv.org. Addressing a press briefing on Thursday, Dr Matshidiso […] Continue reading ->
Amid huge global contestation over abortion, the Kenyan High Court recently affirmed that women’s “access to safe abortion services is a human right” as enshrined in the country’s Constitution, and directed parliament to enact laws in this regard. Malindi High Court Judge Reuben Nyakundi made the ruling late last month in a case involving a […] Continue reading ->
In its largest release of data on air quality ever, WHO has found that most of the world’s population are breathing unsafe levels of air pollutant – particularly fine particulate matter (PM2.5)  and Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – which cause excess illness and premature death from respiratory disease, as well as from cardiovascular disease and cancers.  […] Continue reading ->