Despite the global decline in  COVID-19 cases by 12% over the last week, countries in Central and South America continue to be epicenters of pandemic, with high mortality rates and insufficient access to vaccines.  Over 1.1 million new COVID-19 cases and 31,000 deaths were reported in the Americas over the last week, officials from the […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebryesus called on leaders of the  G7 Group of the world’s most industrialized nations to share at least 100 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses with low- and middle-income countries in June and July and 250 million doses by September.  His appeal, at a WHO press conference Monday,  added to […] 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 ->
Though more than 114 million people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the Americas, the WHO Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has warned that the pandemic is far from over.  Last week, the region reported more than 1.2 million new COVID-19 cases and nearly 34,000 COVID related deaths – nearly 40% of all global deaths […] Continue reading ->
While India’s COVID-19 pandemic continues to burn through that country’s health system, concerns are mounting that Latin America may become the next global pandemic flashpoint — issues that the World Health Organization (WHO) is rightly trying to highlight to its broad global constituency of policymakers, influencers, and the general public. All the more reason why […] Continue reading ->
In commemoration of World Chagas Disease Day, Unitaid and the Brazilian Ministry of Health launched a $19 million initiative to expand access to affordable diagnostics and treatments for women and newborns in four Latin American countries where Chagas disease is endemic – Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and Paraguay.  Transmitted by the blood-sucking triatomine bug called Trypanosoma […] Continue reading ->
Mayors from three capital cities in the global south have appealed for speedy “technology transfer” to enable them to produce their own COVID-19 vaccines at Friday’s World Health Organization (WHO) bi-weekly COVID-19 media briefing. The mayors’ appeal comes on the eve of a meeting next week between WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and […] Continue reading ->
Papua New Guinea (PNG), a country that has largely avoided the SARS-CoV2 virus, is now facing an outbreak that could cause the country’s health system to collapse, while Australia is being chided by a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) official for its opposition to a World Trade Organization (WTO) patent waiver that MSF says would have opened […] Continue reading ->
The Brazilian government needs to enforce “serious social measures” to contain the virus before it overwhelms its health facilities, World Health Organization (WHO)  Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the body’s weekly COVID-19 briefing. Brazil’s President Jair Bolsanaro continues to downplay the pandemic despite the country reaching its highest death rate in the past week […] Continue reading ->