A new corporate accountability platform launched in the United States aims to hold companies accountable by inviting shareholders and consumers to vote on how companies should address issues of the public interest. As its inaugural issue, the platform takes aim at high drug prices. Continue reading ->
Wellcome has committed to provide more than £10 million to the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) over three years to develop new oral treatments for leishmaniasis, a devastating parasitic disease that primarily affects some of the world’s poorest people. Continue reading ->
Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali, celebrated its first car-free day today, while a Kenyan telecom company was reported to have launched a major initiative to install 3,000 low-cost air pollution sensors around the country, in response to growing fears about air pollution’s health impacts. Continue reading ->
Shortages, faulty supply chains, unbearable prices, weak health systems - the issue of access to medicines is multifaceted and gave way to a long list of interventions yesterday at the World Health Organization. Challenged on its mandate to address intellectual property and trade issues, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Gheyebresus (Dr Tedros) confirmed that WHO’s mandate includes work with partners on those issues. Discussions also included fair pricing and transparency, for which Italy called for a resolution at the next World Health Assembly. Continue reading ->
After 65 interventions by member states and non-governmental organisations, at press time the World Health Organization Executive Board concluded work on a document containing a draft roadmap to increase access to medicines and vaccines. Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization Executive Board meeting consists of many lengthy and arduous sessions. In the spirit of increasing physical activity to address non-communicable diseases - and possibly help delegates move to successful conclusions - here is a glimpse of a WHO physical exercise break from this week, set to a Chinese dance video. Continue reading ->
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) today announced the launch of the "Pandemic Response Box", which offers researchers free access to 400 compounds that could lead to development of new treatments for pandemic diseases. In return, researchers "will be expected to share data resulting from research on the molecules from the box in the public domain within 2 years of its generation." Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization Executive Board today appointed the next directors for two of its its six regions. Continue reading ->
A powerful new single-dose anti-malarial drug can significantly lower the risk of recurrent malaria from the Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) species of the parasite, according to clinical trial results published today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization has released the full version of its new report on cancer, which concluded that high prices for cancer medicines are impairing health care systems' ability to provide affordable access for the full population. Continue reading ->