A report launched jointly today by Population Services International (PSI), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the World Health Organization shows that people’s knowledge of their HIV status in sub-Saharan African countries nearly doubled just four years after self-testing programmes were introduced. Separately, a group of French NGOs called on the French President to lead elimination of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: WHO.

SHANGHAI, China – A surge in demand for better healthcare coverage and outcomes and widespread calls for a reduction in high medical treatment costs are driving structural reforms and market-opening initiatives in China’s rapidly expanding healthcare market, industry executives, officials and experts have said. The market is forecast to increase from $761 billion in 2017 to nearly $2.4 trillion by 2030. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: John Zarocostas.

A global index on access to medicine has found that the majority of the medicines needed by the world’s poor are developed by only five companies, and that these medicines are focused primarily on just five diseases. The group behind the index calls on more pharmaceutical companies to join efforts for increased access and to expand the list of medicines, in order to build resilience in treating diseases that affect the poor. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: ATMI.

A World Health Organization report released today has found that global malaria cases are around the same level as last year, confirming that progress to address the disease has stalled. Rates of malaria are up in high-burden countries, while rates have decreased in other countries due to country-led efforts, the report found. To bring progress back on track to meet global targets, the WHO and partners today announced a new response led by high-burden countries to scale up malaria prevention and treatment. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: WHO.

NAIROBI, Kenya — “I got married at the age of 20 years seven years ago, just a year after finishing secondary school. My intention was to give birth to only two kids but my husband and his parents could hear none of it. Matters got worse when my second born turned out to be a girl like the eldest kid. My in-laws who live in rural Western Kenya said my husband was their only son so he was supposed to sire sons to inherit their land,” says Judy Akinyi (not her real name), a resident of Korogocho slum in the east of Nairobi. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: Justus Wanjala.