Cape Town – As South Africa records over 930,000 COVID-19 cases and its scientists race to understand whether a new variant is driving the country’s second wave of infections, countries across the African continent are reporting an increase in cases. But there is widespread anecdotal evidence that many African countries are massively  under-reporting their COVID-19 […] Continue reading ->
Nearly all countries’ development rankings have been shaken up, following the addition of new climate and environmental metrics in a UN global index designed to measure human progress, with the greatest decline in ranking position occurring among high income and developed countries. The 2020 Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), […] Continue reading ->
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on Monday that it would recommend conditional marketing authorization for the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine – positioning Europe to finally begin rolling out vaccines across the continent – albeit after the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Israel have already moved into high gear vaccine campaigns.   Mass vaccinations were […] Continue reading ->

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European countries rushed to impose travel bans on UK and South African travellers after both countries reported individual new variants of SARS-CoV-2, thought to be much more infectious than the ones already circulating worldwide. In the past few days, there have been reports of new variants of the COVID-19 virus in South Africa and the […] Continue reading ->
Despite the “enormous” contributions that migrants have made to society, they still face discrimination, social exclusion, and struggle to access health services even years after migrating, especially during the current pandemic, the first survey ever of migrant health during COVID-19 has found. The report, which was led by Ghent University and the University of Copenhagen […] Continue reading ->
The WHO-led COVAX Facility announced Friday that it has now secured some 2 billion vaccine doses and distribution of vaccines will begin in the first quarter of 2021 – ensuring that at least some vaccines will begin to reach the 92 low-income countries that are largely dependent on global philanthropy to access sufficient vaccine supplies. […] Continue reading ->
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine was set to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), following a near-unanimous endorsement by an expert panel that reviewed its clinical trial results. Meanwhile, at US$ 18 per dose, the Moderna vaccine will also be the most expensive vaccine to go on the market soon, according to a […] Continue reading ->
Indian lockdowns, telehealth in California, a “sin tax” on alcohol and cigarettes in the Philippines – three public health advocates reflect on how these and other events have shaped the narrative around non-communicable diseases (NCDs).  The three included Apoorva Gomber, a medical doctor; Gina Agiostratidou, a philanthropic donor; and civil society leader Katie Dain, found […] Continue reading ->
Following months of delay, and delicate backdoor negotiations, WHO now says that it “hopes” an international team has been mandated by the World Health Assembly to investigate the sources of the SARS-CoV2 virus can travel to China in January to begin their fieldwork.   “The International team is currently working on logistical arrangements to travel to […] Continue reading ->