Health experts have condemned United States President Donald Trump’s latest move to direct childhood vaccinations via a decree rather than a scientific process. Trump signed an executive order on childhood vaccinations on Monday, which he claims will align the US with the “best practices from peer, developed countries”. The order recommends fewer vaccinations, one vaccination […] Continue reading ->
CHENNAI, India – Women in drought-prone areas are at a higher risk of intimate partner violence during the hot summer months, but heat action plans being drafted by cities and countries rarely account for this public health issue. The unique vulnerability of women to intensifying climatic events such as heatwaves was at the centre of […] Continue reading ->
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan was once considered a low-prevalence country for HIV, but a series of outbreaks has infected hundreds of children and exposed fundamental weaknesses in its healthcare system. Southern Pakistan has been particularly affected, with HIV outbreaks linked to healthcare facilities documented at Taunsa in Punjab, Karachi’s Kulsim Bai Valika (KBV) Hospital, and […] Continue reading ->
Over 4,000 Ebola Bundibugyo cases and 1,800 deaths have been recorded so far in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – numbers so alarming that health experts intend to research whether the virus is mutating to become more infectious. This was revealed by Dr Jean Kaseya, the Director General of Africa Centres for Disease Control […] Continue reading ->
United Nations member states are almost certain to break the silence on the final draft of the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) that was sent to them recently– but likely for all the wrong reasons. Armenia and Rwanda, the co-facilitators of the declaration negotiations, put the “final” text of the declaration […] Continue reading ->
A finance ministry official can now draft in an afternoon what used to take a WHO mission, a consultant and a wait of weeks. That single fact, multiplied across almost everything WHO produces, is the real story behind this year’s budget cuts — and almost nobody in Geneva is telling it yet. Picture a health […] Continue reading ->
HARARE, Zimbabwe – For the past two decades, 49-year-old Renious Gumbi from Mberengwa in Zimbabwe lived in South Africa, where he worked as a bricklayer. Gumbi, who was living with HIV, received free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment from his local clinic in South Africa as, according to that country’s Constitution, “everyone has the right to have […] Continue reading ->
Eastern Mediterranean Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy will take immediate leave effective Tuesday to formally launch her campaign in the WHO Director-General Election, according to an internal notice from DG Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus seen by Health Policy Watch. Balkhy becomes the first serving regional director required to take leave after Tedros issued newly tightened […] Continue reading ->
Eighteen months into the dismantling of the global AIDS response, how many have died? The honest answer is that nobody knows. Rio’s numbers are inferences, its assumptions and projections disputable. But 30 years and tens of billions of dollars into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we should not still be guessing. The week’s Vital Signs came from […] Continue reading ->
KARAGWE, Tanzania – Maria Mwijage had barely reached the footpath home from the village well when mosquitoes began circling her legs. Overnight rain had filled roadside puddles and cattle hoof prints with stagnant water, turning them into breeding grounds. She brushed the insects away, balanced the yellow jerry can on her head and continued towards […] Continue reading ->