As Europe sweats through the hottest week on record for June, the continent faces the looming spectre of wildfires – just one year after last year’s deadly events in Turkiye and Southern Europe. But wildfire season is no longer episodic. It has evolved into a year-long threat, fueled by a warmer climate and its side […] Continue reading ->
A clinical trial of two antivirals that may be effective in treating Ebola Bundibugyo is expected to start in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) next week. “The trial will evaluate whether MVPC 134 and remdesivir can help to reduce mortality in patients with Bundibugyo virus disease, alone or in combination,” World Health Organization (WHO) […] Continue reading ->
The United States and Russia were part of a group of eight countries that voted against the United Nations (UN) Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, which was adopted by 149 votes at the High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Tuesday afternoon. Israel, Burkina Faso, Burundi, North Korea, Niger and Senegal also voted against the declaration, while there were […] Continue reading ->
For decades, malaria has been one of Africa’s most persistent health challenges. In Ghana, it was once the leading cause of death for children under five. Bed nets and antimalarial drugs reduced deaths substantially, but by the mid-2010s, the pace of improvement had declined. Climate change was altering the length and intensity of transmission seasons. […] Continue reading ->
Despite remarkable advances against HIV over the past two decades, “let us not confuse progress with success”, warned UNAIDS head Winnie Byanyima at the start of the United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV in New York on Monday. Over 40 million people are living with HIV, yet “almost nine million people are still not […] Continue reading ->
The island country in the western Pacific Ocean has initiated a World Health Organization (WHO) review of nicotine in terms of the United Nations (UN) Convention on Psychotropic Substances In 2023, I stood in a room among other Palauan mothers, school principals, teachers, and students who had come to witness the signing of Palau’s comprehensive […] Continue reading ->
Where a person is born should not determine whether they survive, whether they live with dignity, or whether they are forced to endure years of preventable suffering while waiting for surgical care that may never come. Yet, across large parts of Africa, this remains the reality. At this year’s 79th World Health Assembly (WHA79) in […] Continue reading ->
The stepping-stone meetings on the road to COP31 in Antalya unfolding in Bonn this week brought the first real clarity on what the incoming presidency wants the next UN climate summit to deliver on: electrification, reducing waste, and the energy efficiency of buildings and construction. The three headline targets call for electricity to meet 35% […] Continue reading ->
The current Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak is three times larger than any other Ebola outbreak was four weeks after being declared a public health emergency, Africa CDC revealed at a media briefing on Thursday. This Ebola outbreak was declared a public health emergency on 17 May, and there are currently 875 cases and 202 deaths, Africa […] Continue reading ->
A return on investment of 16:1 should be irresistible. So why does midwifery keep losing the budget fight, and what would make funders and finance ministers finally move? When a young mother in Mtendere, Lusaka, began bleeding heavily hours after delivering her baby, her life was in grave danger. Three midwives assessed her immediately, recognised […] Continue reading ->