Only 17% of suspected mpox tests in the the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had been tested in the past week – a drop of almost 10%, Dr Ngashi Ngongo, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) lead on mpox, told a media briefing on Thursday. Only seven of the DRC’s 26 […] Continue reading ->
Amid the worst measles outbreak in the United States in a decade, vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr, the Trump administration’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, has affirmed that vaccines protect children. “Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated […] Continue reading ->
Global tobacco use prevalence has dropped by one-third, and there are now an estimated 118 million fewer tobacco users in the world today, as compared with 2005, said Dr Adriana Blanco Marquizo, Head of the Secretariat, on Tuesday.  She was speaking at a WHO press conference marking the 20th anniversary of the WHO Framework Convention […] Continue reading ->
(The New Humanitarian) The International Rescue Committee, one of the oldest humanitarian aid organizations in the United States, is cutting thousands of staff, in another sign of the turmoil rippling across the humanitarian sector as the US aid funding freeze continues. “We have had to take immediate and significant cost-cutting measures, including laying off and furloughing […] Continue reading ->
Civil society groups have urged World Health Organization (WHO) member states to “continue to advance a pandemic agreement that can lay the essential groundwork for equitable, collective preparedness and response” ahead of the 13th meeting of the negotiating forum on Monday  (17 February).  Only 10 negotiating days are left until the World Health Assembly in […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appealed for a second time to the United States to “reconsider” it’s decision to withdraw from the UN global health agency. Speaking Tuesday at the close of a fractious meeting of WHO’s 34-member Executive Board, the WHO DG said, “we regret the announcement by the United States, of […] Continue reading ->
Parties embroiled in the conflict around Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are discussing a humanitarian corridor to enable supplies and staff to address the mpox outbreak, according to Dr Yap Boum, Africa CDC’s deputy incident manager for Africa.  Last week, the M-23 militia, reportedly supported by Rwanda, took over the […] Continue reading ->
The world remains unprepared for another pandemic, according to the  International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat (IPPS) which published its Fourth Implementation Report of the 100 Days Mission (100DM) last Friday. The IPPS is an initiative aimed at ensuring global access to diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines (DTVs) within 100 days of a public health emergency of international […] Continue reading ->