Western Uganda was hit by a wave of flash floods in May after days of heavy rain caused major rivers to burst their banks.

East Africa and the Horn of Africa are facing a series of unprecedented overlapping disasters – widespread displacement and food insecurity caused by a record season of flooding and locusts, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report released Thursday by the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC).

Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO) signed a new collaboration agreement on Thursday, with the aim to support efforts to protect the 71 million forcibly displaced people around the world from COVID-19.

Widespread flooding in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda during this year’s record wet season has displaced around 500,000 people and killed nearly 300. The flooding has also set back key interventions against the worst locust crisis the area has faced in decades, and created conditions ripe for COVID-19 transmission. 

Food insecurity, already exacerbated by the locust crisis and economic devastation due to the coronavirus, will likely be amplified. Nearly 18 million people across the region are already facing an acute food crisis. 

“The ongoing flooding crisis is exacerbating other threats caused by COVID-19 and the invasion of locusts,” said IFRC Africa Director Simon Missiri in a press release. “Travel and movement restrictions meant to slow down the spread of COVID-19 are hampering efforts to combat swarms of locusts that are ravaging crops. Flooding is also a ‘threat amplifier’ with regards to the spread of COVID-19 as it makes it hard to implement preventive measures.” 

Many of the displaced people are being housed in crowded temporary shelters or internal displacement camps, where physical distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is nearly impossible. 

As of Wednesday, two cases have already been confirmed in Dadaab camp in Kenya, the third largest refugee camp in the world, according to UNHCR and the Kenya Ministry of Health. As of Thursday night, there are 4,458 cases and 120 deaths across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, although the true numbers may be much higher due to limited testing capacities, according to IFRC.

Woman receives IFRC assistance after widespread flooding the Horn of Africa and East Africa
Increase In Food Insecurity Due To The Triple Threat

Additionally, the record wet season has hampered efforts to control the second wave of a deadly locust infestation, already estimated to be 20 times larger than the first invasion that began in late 2019. Nearly 18 million people in the region were already experiencing an “acute food and livelihood crisis” due to the locust invasion, according to the IFRC report, which classifies regions facing food insecurity using the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale.

The increased rainfall in fact promotes locust breeding and growth of wild vegetation that acts as locust food, according to Euloge Ishimwe, spokesperson for IFRC Africa.

“The heavy rains rainfall recently experienced have caused a slowdown in locust control operations due to poor visibility during aerial spraying, and affected the movement of the spraying teams. This could have allowed continued locust destruction of crop and vegetation , further undermining the food security and livelihoods in the affected areas,”  said Ishimwe in an interview with Health Policy Watch. 

Why the Locust Problem Particularly Acute This Year?
(Photo: UN News)

Locusts typically breed and die in arid desert regions of the Sahara and the Arabian Peninsula. But unusually heavy regional rains over the past two years have greatly expanded the fertility of those remote breeding grounds – prompting locust swarms’ expansion and migration towards Yemen and Somalia. Those, in turn, are conflict zones where control activities are all the more difficult to carry out.

From there, the swarms have migrated even further across Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, where heavy rains gave them yet more sites to multiply.

“This crisis is both natural and man-made,” Baldwyn Torto, a scientist specializing in locusts at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi, Kenya, told the Christian Science Monitor. “There is a natural cycle of cyclones in this region, but there’s also so much insecurity in some parts of the region that the surveillance systems for locusts and other pests have broken down.”

Climate change is also contributing to the wet weather in normally arid areas, upon which locusts thrive, said Richard Munang, United Nations Environment Programme expert, in an interview with Reliefweb.int.  According to the World Metereological Organization, the last five years, hotter than any other since the industrial revolution, led to particularly web weather in Africa, which favours multiplication of locusts. Rains around the Horn of Africa from October to December 2019 were up to 400 per cent above normal rainfall amount. This abnormal rains were caused by the Indian Ocean dipole, a phenomenon accentuated by climate change.

Food insecurity – 100% Crop Loss in Worst Case Scenarios
Locusts swarming near a farm (Photo: UN News)

While the rains promote the growth of vegetation as locust food, African farmers displaced by flooding have also lost access to vital farmland, and are unable to harvest or replant crops during the most important planting season of the year, added Ishimwe.

“Harsh weather conditions are having a multiplier effect on an already difficult situation and this could potentially lead to worrying levels of food insecurity in the region,” said Missiri.

Loss of crops due to flooding and locusts, along with increased food prices due to supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19, form a deadly combination that will exacerbate food insecurity in the East Africa and Horn of Africa region, said Ishimwe.

In a worst case scenario, there could be a nearly 100% loss of crops that the locusts feed upon, which include leaves and tender tissues of most food-producting plants, the IFRC report warns.

The IFRC has launched an emergency appeal for 1.8 million Swiss francs to help prevent 75,000 people from falling into deeper crises. Currently, the organisation has released over 7 million Swiss francs to local Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies in East and Horn of Africa in order to provide food and non-food support to displaced populations. 

In Kenya, the Red Cross is conducting drone and satellite image assessments in 16 counties to observe the extent of damage caused by the overlapping disasters. Red Cross teams are also airlifting household items to families that have been marooned by floods, and UNHCR has doubled the amount of food rations distributed in Dadaab camp in an effort to cut down on crowding at distribution centers.

Filippo Grandi (left) and Dr Tedros (right) at the signing of a new agreement between WHO and UNHCR

WHO and UNHCR Sign Agreement To Protect Refugees Against COVID-19

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi signed an agreement Thursday to collaborate on protecting refugees in the COVID-19 pandemic. The agreement renews a partnership that WHO and UNHCR have sustained since 1997.

The UNHCR also joined the UN COVID-19 Solidarity Fund on Thursday, allowing it to access US$10 million to finance the COVID-19 response in five countries hosting the largest populations of refugees; Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, South Sudan and Uganda. The emergency funding will go towards financing community mobilization, procurement of hygiene and medical equipment, and the construction of isolation units for COVID-19 patients.

“UNHCR’s long-term partnership with WHO is critical to curb the coronavirus pandemic and other emergencies – day in, day out, it is improving and saving lives of millions of people forced to flee their homes,” said Filippo Grandi in a press release.

Dr Tedros added that the signing of the agreement represents the “principle of solidarity and goal of serving vulnerable peoples” carried by both agencies.

“We stand side by side in our commitment to protect the health of all people who have been forced to leave their homes and to ensure that they can obtain health services when and where they need them. The ongoing pandemic only highlights the vital importance of working together so we can achieve more,”  said Dr Tedros.

Elaine Ruth Fletcher contributed to this story

Image Credits: IFRC, UN News , UN News, Twitter: @WHO.

Seventy-Second World Health Assembly, Geneva, Switzerland, 20–28 May 2019

Although a proposal to include Taiwan as a World Health Assembly (WHA) observer was delayed until the WHA 73 session resumes again later this year, that didn’t prevent WHO member states from locking horns over the issue in statements on the second day of this week’s virtual WHA session. 

The charge was led by a handful of states, small and large, from the USA to the Caribbean islands of St Kitts and Nevis, Haiti and Belize; the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu in the Pacific; and Eswatini in Africa.

The People’s Republic of China countered with their own arguments:

“There are a few countries determined to plead for the [inclusion of Taiwan], seriously violating the relevant UN resolutions…This video conference decided not to examine the issue of Taiwan to guarantee the smooth running of the meeting. However, just now, the US delegate is still [politicizing this]. That is not acceptable.”

But only a few states, including Syria and Pakistan, openly endorsed China’s stance on Taiwan, reaffirming that ‘there is only one true representative of China,’ in the words of Pakistan.

Most of the world’s other conflicts and regional fault lines were also plainly evident at the Assembly; including member state protests over the plight of migrant populations and refugees in conflict zones such as Yemen and the Sahel, as well as the health status of people in  territories such as Russian Federation-occupied Ukraine and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank and Gaza. 

Iran, Syria and Cuba also protested unilateral sanctions imposed by the USA.

“The US must be held accountable for continuing to intensify sanctions against Iran, which are undermining our ability [to fight] against the virus,” said a statement by Iran. 

Replying to the political punches from Syria, Cuba and Iran, the US rebutted that its sanctions had not blocked COVID-19 related assistance, and it was even facilitating humanitarian and medical assistance. 

Election of 10 New Members To the WHO Executive Board

In a final item of business, the WHA elected ten new members to the WHA Executive Board, the 34 member governing body that provides oversight to the organization throughout the years. 

Those included representatives from Botswana, Colombia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, India, Madagascar, Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Russian Federation.

Ukrainian delegate at the World Health Assembly on Tuesday

While Ukraine did not block the Russian Federation’s membership, it dissociated itself from the decision – denouncing Russia for violating international law and hampering health services delivery in occupied regions of the Ukraine affected by COVID-19. 

In a fiery rebuttal, the Russian Federation condemned Ukraine’s statement, calling it an attempt to scapegoat its own failure to handle the outbreak:

“Ukrainian authorities appear to be trying to push the responsibility” for its own failures “onto somebody else’s shoulders,” said the statement by Russia, where COVID-19 cases have exploded, leaving it as the second most infected country in the world, with almost 300,000 total cases that have been reported, and over 9,000 new cases over just the past 24 hours.

See more on WHA resolution.

Total cases of COVID-19 as of 8:32 PM CET 19 May 2020, with active case distribution globally. Numbers change rapidly.

Image Credits: WHO / Antoine Tardy, Johns Hopkins CSSE.

Colorized electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 (yellow), the virus that causes COVID-19
Thomas Cueni

Now, more than ever, the pharma industry has been thrust into the limelight – as the world races to find new drugs and a hoped-for vaccine to beat COVID-19 and ensure universal access to critical treatment. Thomas Cueni, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), talks about the old-new tensions between profit and public needs and how a fiercely competitive industry is testing new models of cooperation.

Health Policy Watch: There is finally an agreed text on the EU-led resolution on COVID-19 Response, that was passed unanimously at the World Health Assembly on Tuesday.  What is your take on the result?

Thomas Cueni: Resolutions quite often have symbolic meaning. When I look at the outcome, it has the right focus, tasking the global community to work together to contain and one day to defeat COVID 19.   It does address the issues of health systems resilience; it does look at lessons to be learned and it calls for collaboration with WHO.

In the development of the call to action, which has become the ACT Accelerator, there are three pillars: vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. But there is also a focus on health systems. We’ve been working on the ACT A for three weeks now, and we are making progress in working together towards a common goal to tackle COVID 19.

There are, however, three references to countries’ rights to override patents with the use of WTO  TRIPS flexibilities in the text – something civil society saw as a modest victory.

What we got was a united, rapid, unprecedented industry response to COVID 19, in terms making decisions collectively, repurposing existing medicines, joining together for development of vaccines. When you look at who holds the keys to these, I think there is a recognition that it is indispensable to partner with the private sector and more specifically the biopharmaceutical industry. There has been a recognition among the broader health community that the industry has responded at amazing speed.  It is scaling up manufacturing, in some cases joining up, and committing to huge collaboration efforts in vaccine development. This is not our normal business model. Companies are putting aside normal rivalry and fierce competition, and working on the basis of high risk for high reward. Here companies are acting very differently, with a deep sense of responsibility. As a founding partner of the ACT Accelerator, pharma joins with it a strong belief in the need for solidarity, equity, and a clear notion that what comes out of our labs needs to be affordable.

[The reference to TRIPS] is symbolic and to some extent concerning. It is thanks to a flourishing, thriving innovation ecosystem based on IP that we have so many treatments and vaccines already being tested. Pharma companies moved really extremely fast opening, for example, their libraries to NIH and IMI [Innovative Medicines Initiative].IP has not been a hindrance to finding solutions, it has been an enabler. Without the IP system, we would not be where we are in just three months.  The pharma industry is teaming up with regulatory agencies around the world. It is sharing data. It did not need to be forced to move into discussions about how we can ramp up. Gilead has already contracted with the Medicines Patent Pool – [for voluntary licensing of remdesivir].  The scale, the size of [pharma’s engagement] is unprecedented. All of this is done voluntarily.

So, I was somewhat concerned that there are institutions or people that try to hijack COVID-19 to pursue the traditional attack on IP.  It’s not necessary right now – because companies are doing the right thing.  Undermining IP will be extremely dangerous, because when we have future pandemics and we will have future pandemics, it sends the signal that your IP won’t count for anything.  Honestly, that would be a dangerous signal because companies are doing the right thing. If somebody is already doing the right thing and is met by threats of coercion that would not be the best way to get them to engage.

HPW: Can you talk a little more about the Gilead collaboration with MPP on remdesivir for voluntary licensing of the treatment and these other industry collaborations?  

TC: Gilead is working with MPP, but they also have bilateral contracts. There are multiple ways of doing voluntary licenses.  Decisions in terms of testing, further ramping up [production], giving away huge doses, all of that, to the best of my knowledge was done by Gilead.

It is also important that companies maintain oversight over who they choose to collaborate. They have a responsibility to pick partners based on quality checks and assurances, because quality does matter.

One initiative that underscores our common goal of solidarity and equity, and I think has not been given adequate attention, is the ACT Accelerator initiative launched on April 24 by Dr Tedros. So many leaders among them: the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Macron, German Chancellor Merkel, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and others spoke of this as they supported the WHO Conference Call for action that day.

In a matter of weeks, this [ACT Accelerator] has been implemented. We are making great progress in the work of these various accelerators. CEPI and GAVI are in the lead of an effort searching for a vaccine from end to end.  And everyone agrees that WHO should play a major role when it comes to allocation. We know that at the beginning [when a vaccine or hopefully vaccines are available], demand will far outstrip supply. In the industrialized world there are only handful of companies with the skill sets to scale up the manufacturing of vaccines, which are going to be needed in the hundreds of millions and probably billions [of doses]. In the case of vaccines, it is not just a question of IP, it is also a question of know-how and that you acquire over time. We will need global guidance on who should get the vaccine first: health care workers and vulnerable populations. This is why we support the vaccine accelerator.

Similar for a therapeutics accelerator. People are keen to get more guidance in terms of clinical practice. We should not focus on a few countries. We need a global focus on what is the best clinical practice in terms of treating COVID-19 patients.

HPW: Overall, there has been less talk about collaboration in the therapeutics accelerator ? Can you recap.

TC: There are three pillars under the ACT umbrella:vaccines diagnostics, therapeutics.

It is really good to see that there are tremendous dynamics coming out of ACT, based on the understanding that there will be a light touch coordination mechanism. And there will be leading roles for the likes of CEPI, GAVI, The Global Fund and FIND.

The Vaccine Accelerator is by far the most developed in terms of global approach. In therapeutics, you have a lot of progress happening at national level.  In the therapeutics, testing the different treatments is a key preoccupation. For therapeutics you already have leading regulatory agencies involved, and market mechanisms, whereas for vaccines, you need end-to-end collaboration. At the same time [whether for COVID-19 treatments or vaccines] you are confronted with the same problem: you want to know once they work that they also need to be made available to low- and middle-income countries.

HPW: Is IFPMA completely opposed to the use of TRIPS Flexibilities – or are there times this is justified?   

TC: Most countries have national emergency frameworks. In times of war, in times of crisis, countries can sequester production facilities through public interest compulsory license. I see it as a last resort. It would be very dangerous if this was seen as something that should be done systematically. It would send the wrong signal. If the industry engages in voluntary licenses in collaboration, emphasizes the importance of equity, then I believe that a general call for compulsory licensing would frighten them, and it would not be conducive to what needs to be done. Industry is already sharing the data, they are going to member states, WHO, asking for advice in allocation.  For example, UNICEF [which is also involved in the ACT Accelerator] in quite a number of cases has a huge experience in medicines and vaccines deployment and delivery. It is easier to get results if everyone has a common purpose than if you approach it in antagonistic manner.

HPW: What about transparency ?  There have been calls for more transparency around the prices of new COVID-19 drugs and particularly R&D costs for drugs such as remdesivir, which received very large public sector investments?  

TC: We are likely to see that there will be differential pricing. If you want to make sure that everyone who needs has access, there will have to be tiered prices

As for the transparency of R&D costs for new COVID-19 drugs and vaccines. I would expect that the affordability issue is handled through public private partnerships. It does include the know-how of who puts in how much.

Image Credits: NIAID.

Unlike China’s President Xi Jinping, United States President Donald Trump didn’t appear on camera yesterday at the opening of the first-ever virtual World Health Assembly.

Instead he used Twitter to get his message across about China’s alledged coverup of early news about the novel coronavirus and WHO’s failure to act assertively vis a vis Beijing.

In a letter to WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, released early Tuesday morning on his personal Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, the US President said he would permanently halt funding to the Organization and reconsider US membership if WHO does not commit to “substantive improvements within 30 days.”

“My Administration has already started discussions with you on how to reform the organization. But action is needed quickly. We do not have time to waste. That is why it is my duty, as President of the United States, to inform you that, if the World Health Organization  does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, I will make my temporary freeze of United States funding to the World Health Organization permanent and reconsider our  membership in the organization.   I cannot allow American taxpayer dollars to continue to finance an organization that, in its present state, is so clearly not serving America’s interests.”

Annual 73d World Health Assembly – Votes on COVID-19 Resolution in Virtual Format

Hours after Trump’s letter was published, the World Health Assembly approved a European Union-led resolution that responded, at least initially, to two of the most key US demands. The resolution mandates an independent, “stepwise” review of the WHO’s performance in the  pandemic response, as well as a scientific investigation into the origins of the virus emergence in China.

However, Trump’s blunt, in-your-face message, was dramatically different in tone and style from the statements being made by most of the WHO’s other 193 member states during the two-day assembly – showing solidarity with WHO in the face of the challenges posed by COVID-19, and saying the organization’s independence needs to be strengthened, not undermined.

While other member states have oft criticized WHO, even bitterly, such remarks are usually made behind closed doors, while public discourse is softened by the language of diplomatic nuance.

Style May Detract From Substance

The US delivery style may, in fact, deflect attention away from a more serious examination of allegations about China’s missteps, including the represssion of free information flow and reprisals against Chinese and Wuhan whistle-blowers in the pandemic debacle, observers said.

“President Trump is behaving like a schoolyard bully,” Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre, Geneva Graduate Institute, told Health Policy Watch.

“One of the weaknesses of the WHO is that it is not easily able to criticize any of its Member States, neither China nor the US. Trump appears to continue using WHO as a scapegoat to distract from what continues to be a highly-concerning epidemiological situation in the US. While the US can land a punch on WHO, there’s not much WHO can do to fight back. The US has a beef with China, but instead of raising these openly in the WHA yesterday, it went after a softer target.

“The thing is, nobody likes a bully. Although the US has raised concerns that are shared by other countries regarding the origins of the virus, how it was initially handled by the Chinese authorities, and the degree to which the authorities shared information with WHO or internationally, this letter weakens the US ability to get other countries to support its desire to get answers to these questions.”

Critics also point to the White House’s own repeated statements in late January and early February that praised China’s response and played down the impacts of the virus, both in terms of its infectious capacity and its impact on human health.  These were shortcomings that Trump critics quickly replayed on his own Twitter feed just after the letter was issued, recalling statements that the President had made in late January saying “We have it totally under control,” as well as another tweet stating “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus.”

The other problem, others point out, is that reducing funding to WHO also weaken’s its range of independent action in times of crisis.

“The WHO is not perfect, but it is structurally starved of core funding, leaving this unique institution, that has the potential to be the agency we all want it to be, and deliver so much, weakened, undermined and destabilized, by the very people who it serves – its member states,” said Tim Reed, executive director of the advocacy organization Health Action International.

Letter Chronicles Alleged Chinese Delays and Concealment of Early Virus Reports

The Trump chronicle of charges is roughly based on a report published by the US Congressional Research Services last week: COVID-19 and China: A Chronology of Events (December 2019-January 2020).  The Congressional record cites a 30 December “urgent notice” by the Wuhan Health Commission about cases of atypical pneumonia that leaked online in China.  By the next day thre was a flurry of Chinese media reports. Taiwan sent a warning to WHO on 31 December about an unusual cluster of cases, in isolation. And WHO sent a query to its China office for clarifications. WHO finally issued its first public alert on January 4, 2020.

Based on that, the Trump letter charges that: “By no later than December 30 2019, the World Health Organization office in Beijing new there was a ‘major public health concern’ in Wuhan, including from Chinese media reports about “evidence of a new virus emerging from Wuhan, based on patient data sent to multiple Chinese genomics companies” and reports by a Hubei Province doctor, “that a new coronavirus was causing a novel disease that was, at the time, afflicting approximately 180 patients.”

Despite the fact that “International Health Regulations require countries to report the risk of a health emergency within 24 hours, “China did not inform the World Health Organization of Wuhan’s several cases of pneumonia, of unknown origin, until December 31, 2019, even though it likely had knowledge of these cases days or weeks earlier,” the letter states.

Lancet Study Published 24 January 2020 – Refers to 1 December Coronavirus Case
Graphic shows 1 December 2019 symptom onset date for first of 41 Wuhan coronavirus patients studied, The Lancet 24 January 2020,

Trump further claims: that WHO “consistently ignored credible reports of the virus spreading in Wuhan in early December 2019 or even earlier, including reports by the Lancet medical journal.”

That was immediately rebutted by Lancet editor Richard Horton. He later told Health Policy Watch: “The first reports the journal published were on January 24, 2020. In a paper by Chaolin Huang and colleagues, the first 41 patients from Wuhan with COVID-19 were described.”

The statement added, “The allegations levelled against WHO in President Trump’s letter are serious and damaging to efforts to strengthen international cooperation to control this pandemic. It is essential that any review of the global response is based on a factually accurate account of what took place in December and January.”

In fact, a Health Policy Watch review of the study 24 January 2020 Lancet study, in question found that it refers back to 1 December – as the earliest symptom onset date for the patients studied. It notes that: “The symptom onset date of the first patient identified was Dec 1, 2019”.  Patients were hospitalized between Dec 16, 2019, and Jan 2, 2020, the study authors further noted.

WHO Policies on Travel Restrictions Faulty – Statements Pandered to Beijing – Says Trump

The Trump letter further cites a litany of alleged “grossly inaccurate” or “misleading” claims by WHO about the virus and it’s praise for China’s response.  These include reference to WHO’s tweets on 14 January that there was “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) identified in Wuhan China.”

The letter also alleges Chinese pressure on WHO to defer a declaration of the outbreak as an international public health emergency. And it slams WHO praise for the Chinese government’s  “transparency” with respect to its reporting on the coronavirus. Other key points mentioned include:

Reprisals against Chinese scientists and health professionals –

The letter describes how the Chinese medical expert who first sequenced the genome of the virus and posted it online 11 January, had his lab closed by the authorities the next day for “rectification” – even as the WHO praised China for its transparency in posting the genome sequence.

Travel restrictions – The letter also criticizes WHO’s reluctance to recommend international travel restrictions to contain the virus, including statements in early February that spread of the virus ouside of China was “minimal to slow” and travel restrictions caused “more harm than good,” while millions of people leaving the Wuhan epicentre spread the virus around the world: “You also strongly praised China’s strict domestic travel restrictions, but were inexplicably against my closing of the United States border, or the ban, with respect to people coming from China… Incredibly, on February 3, 2020, you reinforced your position, opining that because China was doing such a great job protecting the world from the virus, travel restrictions were “causing more harm than good.” Yet by then the world knew that, before locking down Wuhan, Chinese authorities had allowed more than five million people to leave the city and that many of these people were bound for international destinations all over the world.

WHO-led Fact-finding mission to China: The “Even after you belatedly declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020, you failed to press China for the timely admittance of a World Health Organization team of international medical experts. As a result, this critical team did not arrive in China until two weeks later, on February 16, 2020. And even then, the team was not allowed to visit Wuhan until the final days of their visit. Remarkably, the World Health Organization was silent when China denied the two American members of the team access to Wuhan entirely.

Virus Spread by Asymptomatic Carriers: Trump cites WHO statements in early January about the absence of proof of human-to-human transmission and from early March downplaying the risk of asymptomatic virus, saying “It is now clear that China’s assertions, repeated to the world by the World Health Organization, were wildly inaccurate.”

Discrimination Against African Migrants: And it notes that WHO failed to comment on China’s “racially discriminatory actions” against Africans migrants that were evicted or refused services – which was the subject of a complaint by several African ambassadors to China on 11 April.

Praise for China: Throughout this crisis, the World Health Organization has been curiously insistent on praising China for its alleged “transparency.” You have consistently joined in these tributes, notwithstanding that China has been anything but transparent. In early January, for example, China ordered samples of the virus to be destroyed, depriving the world of critical information. Even now, China continues to undermine the International Health Regulations by refusing to share accurate and timely data, viral samples and isolates, and by withholding vital information about the virus and its origins. And, to this day, China continues to deny international access to their scientists and relevant facilities, all while casting blame widely and recklessly and censoring its own experts.

WHO Performance In SARS Era Praised – Including Including Its Recommendations For Travel Restrictions
WHO Director General Dr Tedros speaks at World Health Assembly

The letter concludes by sharply contrasting the COVID-19 policies of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus with decisions taken by former Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland, during the 2003 outbreak of Severe  Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in China, and other parts of Asia:

“Perhaps worse than all these failings is that we know that the World Health Organization could have done so much better,” he states.

“Just a few years ago, under the direction of a different Director­ General, the World Health Organization showed the world how much it has to offer. In 2003, in response to the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in China, Director­ General Harlem Brundtland boldly declared the World Health Organization’s first emergency travel advisory in 55 years, recommending against travel to and from the disease epicenter in southern China.

“She also did not hesitate to criticize China for endangering global health by attempting to cover up the outbreak through its usual playbook of arresting whistleblowers and censoring media. Many lives could have been saved had you followed Dr. Brundtland’s example.

Investigations Mandated by European Union-led Resolution at the WHA – Key to Way Forward

The letter concludes with reference to the European Union-led resolution that should pave the way for an indepdent investigation of the origins of the virus and a review of WHO’s performance, stating that the resolution will fill the gap in areas where WHO has failed to act firmly:

“The World Health Organization has failed to publicly call on China to allow for an independent investigation into the origins of the virus, despite the recent endorsement for doing so by its own Emergency Committee.

“The World Health  Organization’s failure to do so has prompted World Health Organization member states to adopt the “COVID-19 Response ” Resolution at this year’s World Health Assembly, which echoes the call by the United States and so many others for an impartial,  independent, and comprehensive review of how the World Health Organization  handled  the crisis.  The resolution also calls for an investigation into the origins of the virus, which is necessary for the world to understand how best to counter the disease.”

“….It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding  to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world,” Trump states in the letter’s concluding paragraph. “The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China.”

 

Image Credits: Donald Trump, WHO.

Grammy Award Winner Ricky Key (left) with Lonnie Park (right) singing for Walk The Talk

This weekend, over 16 million people from all over the globe came together for the WHO’s third Walk the Talk: The Health for All Challenge. The two-day virtual event began Saturday in the Philippines and concluded on Sunday, with a 5-hour jam-packed virtual programme broadcast from Geneva – and boasting a vibrant range of physical activities and live chats with health experts to get people moving for their own health and that of others.

“It’s time to get moving. Exercise is so good for you. It’s good to walk, it’s good to breathe deeply, and you can do it in your house, but stay healthy. I’m going to get up, I’m going outside. I’m going to do my walk and walk the talk,” said US-based rhythm & blues artist Kim Sledge in support of WHO’s event.

On Sunday, Walk The Talk offered about 30 interactive events for all ages, ranging from a refreshingly positive concert with Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej, as well as art therapy; cooking classes; and dance, cycling and fitness workshops.

International Basketball Federation presents ‘paper-ball at home’ activity

The event featured some 50 guests and organizations, including leading personalities from groups as diverse as the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the International Olympic Committee, the International Basketball Association, the World Food Programme, the European Commission, and more.

As We Adapt To New Realities, Looking After Our Health Is Ever More Important 

As we adapt to new realities of working from home, unemployment, or homeschooling, it is ever more important that we look after our physical and mental health, said WHO’s director of Mental Health and Substance Use Devora Kestel.

Physical inactivity is already the fourth largest driver of global mortality – and may increase given stay-at-home measures. Accounting for 6% of deaths globally, physical inactivity is responsible for 1 in 4 breast and color cancers, as well as almost 30% of diabetes and 30% of ischaemic heart disease.

However, regular and adequate levels of physical activity can help improve quality of life and reduce the risk of non-infectious diseases like hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, breast and colon cancer, depression and the risk of falls.

Interactive field hockey drills organized by Geneva-based Servette Field Hockey group.

Looking after our mental health is equally important as times change. Having a routine and not being too hard on oneself is important, emphasized Kestel:

“Try to keep an eye on daily routines, as much as possible. Eat healthy meals, do some exercise, even if at home, and keep in touch with people you care about. Make sure that you make time for yourself to do things you enjoy doing. Don’t be too hard on yourself, keep informed, keep yourself and your loved ones safe. More importantly, take care of yourself and be kind to one another.”

Artist Ann Tracy presented interactive activity on Sunday

One daily coping strategy could include art therapy, as art has positive effects on people’s physical and mental health, said artist Ann Tracy during her interactive art workshop on Sunday. According to research, art therapy reduces blood pressure, heart rate, anxiety, and can also help with depression.

Achieving Universal Health Coverage: Solidarity, Cooperation And Healthcare Workers

To effectively fight COVID-19 while achieving universal health coverage, the world needs to tick together in solidarity, agreed panelists:

“Leaving just one person behind can be catastrophic for all of us. There is no more time to waste on the talk. Let’s start walking now, once and for all, towards universal health coverage. Everyone safety depends on it,” said António Vitorino, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration.

To achieve universal health coverage, international cooperation and multilateralism will be crucial, added Ambassador Walter Stevens, head of the European Union delegation to the UN.

“This is a time of solidarity. This is a time of international cooperation and multilateral response. And the WHO is crucial in those efforts to improve global health.”

Acknowledging the importance of healthcare workers will be crucial in fighting COVID-19 as well as attaining universal health coverage, said Elizabet Iro, WHO Chief Nursing Officer.

“We need to invest in nurses and midwives…The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the vital role nurses, midwives and other health workers play without them. We will not win the battle against outbreaks. We will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, or universal health coverage [without healthcare workers]. They need our support and respect.” 

Stay-At-Home Notices Have Had Some Good Repercussions: Healthier Cities

Lockdowns have improved air quality and healthy cities

Though the raging pandemic has wreaked economic havoc around the globe, some good things have come out of it, suggested WHO’s Director of Social Determinants of Health Etienne Krug.  Air quality in cities is better, and people have begun cycling and walking to get around, while avoiding crowded public transport:

“For the last few months, our air has been cleaner and people walk and cycle safely [in cities]. We have to make sure that we continue to walk and cycle as much as possible] to guarantee cleaner air” and good health, said Krug. “I encourage all cities to think about more cycling and walking.”

Stay At Home; Get Tested; Implement Physical Distancing; Wash Your Hands;

Walk The Talk also reinforced key messages to better confront the pandemic, including stay-at-home measures, physical distancing and copious handwashing.

“Stay home, walk the talk. Join WHO in this fantastic virtual event. Stay home, keep social distancing and clean your hands. And if you feel symptoms, go and get tested. It’s so important,” said Didier Pittet, director of Geneva University’s Infection Control Programme.

As he closed the 5-hour event on Sunday, WHO director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the Walk The Talk even provides a positive Launchpad for Monday’s 73rd virtual World Health Assembly, where the world will come together in attempts to “protect the most precious gift of health.” 

Dr Tedros personally presided over the first major, Geneva-wide Walk the Talk event just prior to the 2018 World Health Assembly – and ever since WHO has sponsored similar events before the WHA. At the last UN General Assembly in September 2019, WHO sponsored an event featuring music, culture and athletics in Central Park.  

“Welcome to the third edition of the who walk the talk, house for all challenge, live from Geneva, Switzerland. Unlike past years, when thousands of people gathered in Geneva us to dance, walk and move for health, today we are coming together and connecting in new ways to celebrate. 

“Today’s virtual Walk the Talk is the culmination of a two day global event,” Dr. Tedros said, referring to the fact that along with the events in Geneva, WHO regions have been hosting their own virtual Walk the Talk events, each in their own time zone.  “Yesterday, people from Manila to Washington DC showed that achieving our goal of promoting health for all has never been more important than today.”

Hopefully, the kind of cooperation that was evidenced in Sunday´s event also will help bring the world out of this crisis, said Valentin Zellweger, the Swiss ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN.

“Let’s now celebrate Walk The Talk today and hope that we will find a good outcome of the World Health Assembly [on Monday]…common action and cooperation [will] bring us out of this crisis as quickly as possible. So please join us in discussing these issues,” said Zellweger to participants.

“There is one thing we can learn from coronavirus. To get to the end of the tunnel, we all have to stay strong. We have to stay active, and we have to stay healthy. So, please, come on, get active right now,” said Thomas Back, President of the International Olympic Committee, which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Image Credits: WHO.

Carlos Alvarado Quesada announces the launch of a COVID-19 intellectual property pool

Costa Rica and the World Health Organization today announced that a voluntary intellectual property pool for COVID-19 related technologies will be officially launched on May 29, following the World Health Assembly on May 18 to 19.

The official launch comes more than two months after the Costa Rican president and health minister first published an open letter to WHO calling on the agency to establish a COVID-19 intellectual property pool in order to promote access to new and existing technologies.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

“At the beginning of the pandemic, President Alvarado asked me to set up a health technology repository for vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and any other tool that may work against COVID-19,” said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus in a prepared statement Friday. “WHO has accepted this visionary proposal from his excellency President Alvarado and will, in the next few weeks, launch a platform for open, collaborative sharing of knowledge, data and intellectual property on existing and new health tools to combat COVID-19.”

When pressed about whether US President Donald Trump would be likely to support the initiative, Dr Tedros said, “I mean, I cannot answer that question, I think you better ask the president.”  

The United States had just two days ago attempted to disassociate itself from language referring to countries rights to override patent protections during global emergencies in a European Union draft resolution to be discussed next week. In a modest victory for access advocates, the US objections were overridden.

Dr Mariangela Simao

Chile has joined on to support the Costa-Rica initiative, but other Member States are still finalizing negotiations with Costa Rica. However, “Member States from all [WHO] regions” are expected to sign on to support the initiative by the official launch date on 29 May, said WHO assistant director-general for Access to Medicines, Vaccines and Pharmaceuticals Dr Mariangela Simao, in response to a query from Health Policy Watch.

“This is a call for Member States. It’s a call also for academia, for the private sector and companies, for research institutions, and for cooperation agencies, all around the world,”  said Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado Quesada. “We want to see these innovations and technologies as global public goods to protect humanity against this threat.”

“We’re also calling for this to be a repository created on a voluntary basis, because now we need solidarity,” added Alvarado Quesada.

Sebastián Piñera

“We recognize that WHO is the main mechanism for health matters and… health policy. Pandemics affect all people, whatever their age, gender or race, and particularly have a disproportionate effect in developing countries,” said a Chilean delegate, reading an official statement from Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera. “And that’s why we are very glad to join Costa Rica’s initiative.”

The pool will be built off of the Medicines Patent Pool, an existing UN mechanism funded by Unitaid that pools voluntarily released patents for essential medicines, and then licenses the patents to generics manufacturers. Both the MPP and Unitaid’s Boards have released open letters supporting the Costa Rica initiative, endorsing a temporary expansion of MPP’s mandate to include all COVID-19 related vaccines, diagnostics, drugs, and other technologies.

Image Credits: Government of Chile.

Kawasaki disease is a severe inflammatory disease in children

Children are 30 times more likely to experience Kawasaki-like disease in Bergamo, Italy’s epicentre of infections and deaths, reported a Lancet study of 29 children on Wednesday. The SARS-CoV-2 virus could trigger symptoms similar to those of a severe cardiovascular illness called Kawasaki disease.

While there were 19 cases of Kawasaki disease in the past five years between January 2015 and February 2020, there were 10 cases of Kawasaki-like disease between February-April 2020.

Initial calculations suggested that the rate of Kawasaki disease shot up by a factor of ‘at least’ 30 between February-April 2020, in comparison to the pre-pandemic period between January 2015 and February 2020. However, the initial calculation is an underestimate, said researchers, as emergency referrals in Bergamo’s hospital were 6 times higher in the pre-pandemic period compared to the months leading up to COVID-19.

After correcting for the 6-fold difference in emergency referral before and after the pandemic,  the total incidence of Kawasaki disease shot up to 3.5% in February-April 2020 compared to 0.019% between January 2015 and February 2020, or a 184-fold increase.

Kawasaki disease incidence has surged since COVID-19

The Italian retrospective cohort study of 29 children, which compared the number of patients with Kawasaki-like disease before and after the pandemic began, provides the most convincing evidence yet that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can trigger Kawasaki-like disease.

In the group of 10 children that developed Kawasaki-like disease between February-April 2020, 8 of them developed IgG antibodies for COVID-19:

“These results and considerations support the hypothesis that the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for a Kawasaki-like disease in susceptible patients.

“Kawasaki-like disease….has a clear starting point after the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed [in Bergamo],” said researchers from Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII in Bergamo, Italy.

While all the children diagnosed with Kawasaki-like disease during the COVID-19 pandemic survived, they had more severe symptoms than those in the last 5 years, with 6 of 10 patients having heart complications, compared with only 2 of 19 (11%) of those diagnosed before.

5 of the 10 children diagnosed during the pandemic had signs of toxic shock syndrome, compared with none of the children diagnosed previously. Toxic shock syndrome is a rare, life-threatening illness with symptoms including a high fever, low blood pressure, and rash.

While the Lancet study acknowledged some limitations, such as the need for a larger sample size to confirm the strong link between COVID-19 and Kawasaki-like disease, they warned that “a similar outbreak of Kawasaki-like disease is expected in countries affected by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.” 

Kawasaki disease has been spotted all over the map since COVID-19 arose, with 125 cases in France, 100 cases in New York, 10 cases in London and 3 in Switzerland.

These findings have important implications for policy-makers as they begin lifting their lockdowns, said researchers:

“The association between SARS-CoV-2 and Kawasaki-like disease should be taken into account when it comes to considering social reintegration policies for the paediatric population.”

Although the cause of Kawasaki disease remains unknown, the Lancet study builds on an existing body of evidence that coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 can trigger the disease.  

In developed countries, Kawasaki disease is the most frequently acquired heart disease, affecting “no more than one in 1000 children exposed to SARS-CoV-2”, said the researchers. 

A Third Of Patients With COVID-19 Have Acute Kidney Failure, Reports New York Study

In a parallel development, it is becoming more apparent that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is more than a respiratory disease – Of some 5 500 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in New York, a third had acute kidney injuries and nearly 15% required dialysis, reported a study on Thursday published in Kidney International.

“Acute kidney failure occurs frequently among patients with COVID-19 disease..It occurs early [in the disease] and is associated with poor prognosis,” said researchers.

Mechanical ventilators can help patients with severe COVID-19 breathe.

In the study, almost 40% of patients with COVID-19 entered the hospital with kidney failure, suggesting that kidney failure occurs early in the disease.

Once patients were placed on a ventilator, kidney failure was even more likely, as 90% of patients on ventilators developed kidney failure. 

Individuals most at risk of acute kidney failure included those with diabetes type II, heart disease, hypertension, older people and people of black ethnicity.

Image Credits: BruceBlaus, The Lancet, Agência Brasília .

Worldwide distribution of people that are undernourished

An additional 135 million people globally will be unable to feed themselves if measures are not put in place to ensure food security, said World Food Programme Regional Director for West and Central Africa Chris Nikoi, in a regular press briefing on Thursday. In the WHO African region, an extra 22 million people will be undernourished as a result of the economic fallout from COVID-19 lockdowns on top of the 200 million Africans that are already undernourished.

The majority of Africa’s population lives hand-to-mouth, and lack of income opportunities under the lockdowns have left many hungry and unable to afford food. The cost of basic foodstuffs has increased, and essential food supplies have been delayed due to trade restrictions imposed since the lockdown – with major repercussions on older populations, which are more vulnerable to COVID-19:

Chris Nikoi, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Director for Southern Africa

“If this aging population is beginning to be affected by the pandemic, then it will have serious implications for food production going forward. West and Central Africa is now going to enter planting season and just imagine if most of rural Africa with older people who farm are falling ill,” said Nikoi.

Africa’s population is already vulnerable to COVID-19 given its high burden of pre-existing diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria or tuberculosis – and undernourishment weakens the immune system even more. 

“Undernourished people have weaker immune systems, which may make any infection worse,” said WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti, who also spoke at the press conference.

Governments should allow supply chains and trade to function. Production, distribution and consumption must be maintained, Nikoi said – or there will be serious malnutrition across the continent. 

In a parallel development, a new United Nations report projects that the world economy will shrink by 3.2% in 2020. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs forecasts a prolonged economic slump and a slow recovery, with global poverty rising for the first time since 1998. 

Image Credits: World Food Programme , Our World In Data.

Celebration of Older Adult Mental Health Awareness Day in the USA

The raging pandemic has highlighted an urgent need to incorporate mental health into COVID-19 recovery plans and to ‘substantially’ improve mental health funding – Or the world will face a ‘massive’ mental health crisis in upcoming months, reported a United Nations policy brief on Thursday. 

“The impact of the pandemic on people’s mental health is already extremely concerning,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros in a statement on Thursday. “Social isolation, fear of contagion, and loss of family members is compounded by the distress caused by loss of income and often employment.”

COVID-19 has increased psychological distress worldwide, report national 2020 surveys

All over the globe, mental health difficulties have worsened due to COVID-19, leaving vulnerable populations like healthcare workers, children, women and older people at particular risk. In Ethiopia, the number of people with symptoms of depression has tripled. Meanwhile in China, almost half of healthcare workers have reported depression and anxiety, and 34% have insomnia, according to a study published in JAMA from late March. 

As well as healthcare workers being disproportionately affected by COVID-19, children have faced COVID-related psychological distress, with parents reporting difficulties concentrating, as well irritability, restlessness and nervousness in children – and lockdowns have increased the risk of domestic violence and abuse.

Parents’ reports of children’s difficulties during COVID-19 confinment (Italy and Spain)

COVID-19 lockdowns have strained mental health services that were already fragile. Community services like self-help groups for alcohol and drug dependence have not met for months, and mental health facilities in hospitals have been converted to care for people with the coronavirus, leaving mental health needs unmet.

Adapting Policy: Incorporating Mental Health In Recovery Packages & Improving Funding 

It is critical that people living with mental health conditions have continued access to treatment, said a WHO statement from Thursday – and some countries have begun adapting policy, with some signs of success. 

To ensure continuity of care, teams from Egypt, Kenya, Nepal, Malaysia and New Zealand, among others, have ramped up mental health capacity through emergency telephone lines for mental health to reach people in need.  

Some countries have even considered mental health as an ‘essential’ component of the national response to COVID-19.

In Madrid, local-policy makers have deemed emergency psychiatry services as ‘essential services’, enabling mental health-care workers to continue outpatient services over the phone and through home visits. While Madrid has converted over 60% of mental health beds to provide COVID-19 care, people with severe mental health conditions have not been left behind – They have received care in private clinics.

As well as incorporating mental healthcare in ‘any COVID-19 recovery plan’, countries need to cover essential mental health needs in health care benefit packages and insurance schemes, said the UN Policy Brief.

Prior to COVID-19, only 2% of national health budgets were invested in mental health, and over three quarters of people with mental health conditions in low- and middle- income countries received no treatment for their condition.

The global economy loses more than US$ 1 trillion every year due to depression and anxiety, according to UN estimates.

Image Credits: National Center for Equitable Care for Elders, UN.

Nurses are on the frontline of the COVID-19 response

On the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale on Tuesday, we marked International Nurses Day, a day for the world to focus on the invaluable role that nurses play in our society. They not only have a tremendous role in health settings but are also crucial for the economic wellbeing and national security of the world.

Among the issues confronting our health care professionals every day on the front lines, is the issue of fake medicines and treatments, which has become all of the more pervasive in the COVID-19 era.

The International Council of Nurses has drawn up a position statement on sub-standard and falsified (SF) medicines which calls for a concerted, collaborative effort by health professionals, industry, governments, law enforcement bodies, customs, and other stakeholders.

Among other things, it urges governments to recognise the risk that SF medical products pose to public health and develop national action plans that include comprehensive legal frameworks, robust reporting systems, and strong national regulatory mechanisms linked to the global regulatory network as well as greater pharmacovigilance capacity.

Busting the Myths

The COVID-19 pandemic has created ideal conditions for criminals to exploit people’s fears of contracting the disease by advertising falsified treatments and vaccines, promoting fake tests and spreading unsubstantiated rumours of potential cures. In Iran, at least 44 people died in early March from drinking toxic alcohol after a coronavirus cure rumour.  An American man died and his wife went into critical care after they took chloroquine phosphate in an apparent attempt to self-medicate for the novel coronavirus. As the Alliance of Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP) has warned: ” While the nation struggles to deal with the public health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, criminals are exploiting fear and confusion for profit by peddling fake preventions, treatments and cures online. At best, these phony products are ineffective, at worst, they are deadly.”

The World Health Organization (WHO), like the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), has warned against other mythical cures for COVID-19, and emphasized that, to date, there is no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat COVID-19.

In March, Interpol’s Operation Pangea found 2,000 online links advertising counterfeit items related to COVID-19, and seized more than 34,000 counterfeit and substandard masks, “corona spray”, “coronavirus packages” or “coronavirus medicine”.

Many countries already crippled by infectious diseases and weak health systems could go under in the COVID-19 outbreak and increase the spread of misinformation and fake cures.

“COVID-19 is on the rise in Africa, and we are already facing shortages of critical protective equipment and a plethora of misinformation,” says Thembeka Gwagwa, ICN’s second Vice-President, and a nurse from South Africa. “Lack of access to care will mean many people will seek cheap, fake medicines which will have devastating consequences.”

Fake medicines as a whole are unsafe and ineffective, failing to treat or prevent the intended disease; they may have little or no effect – or cause disastrous patient outcomes, such as poisoning, disability and death.

 The Role of Healthcare Professionals

Nurse and midwife immunizes baby in Nigeria

Healthcare professionals, such as nurses, are in the front line of treating patients with COVID-19 and are vital in the fight against substandard and falsified (SF) medicines and misinformation. They administer, monitor and, in some countries, prescribe treatment and are therefore well-positioned to detect SF medical products. However, identifying SF medicines can be difficult as they are often visually identical to the original, genuine product. It may be only through monitoring a patient that either a side effect is identified or there is no effect at all, and this raises a red flag that the medication is a fake.

Nurses also play an important role in educating the public on safety concerns related to the use of SF medical products and dispelling false rumours about potential cures. They actively promote health literacy to support properly informed preventative measures and discourage self-diagnosis and self-prescribing. While nurses’ workloads are under severe pressure during this pandemic, the work of educating and informing patients and their families should not be seen as an additional burden but rather as part of safeguarding the health of the public – a vital role that nurses play throughout the year.

The Fight the Fakes campaign aims to raise awareness of fake medicines and gives a voice to their victims, is now warning of an ever-growing “infodemic” alongside the coronavirus pandemic.

The Solution

Without including nurses and other healthcare professionals in developing and implementing national action plans to combat SF medical products, we will not succeed in the fight against SF medicines. Nurses are often the principal and sometimes the only health professionals providing primary healthcare in often tough settings such as hospitals and clinics at risk of being overrun by COVID-19.

2020 is the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. Never before has the value of what nurses do been clearer to the world. As we watch nurses and other health professionals give all they have and more to fight this pandemic, the WHO has released the first ever State of the World Nursing Report. This provides compelling evidence of the value of the nursing workforce globally and calls for governments to invest in the nursing workforce.

The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, future pandemics and fake medicines highlights the urgent need to strengthen health systems, educate more nurses and better support the ones we have. If we are to be prepared for the next health crisis – and, undoubtedly, there will be one –the health workforce requires urgent investment.

 

Howard Catton is the CEO of the International Council of Nurses (ICN).

Image Credits: Acumen Public Affairs, WHO.