The official death toll from Venezuela’s twin earthquakes last week was 1,450 by Sunday, but over 50,000 people are still missing, and hopes of reaching them alive are fading fast. The first 72 hours are critical for earthquake rescue efforts before injuries, suffocation and dehydration take their toll, according to rescue experts. “Critical infrastructure remains […] Continue reading ->
This is a fact: a new pandemic threat is not a question of if, but when. Armed with this knowledge, all leaders must ask themselves: Are we ready, and what more must be done to protect our people and avoid an Ebola- or COVID-sized catastrophe? Over the last decade, outbreak and pandemic monitoring bodies and […] Continue reading ->
As the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria heads into a secretive but highly contentious election of a new Executive Director, the names of three candidates who are reportedly on the shortlist, all US citizens, have surfaced. They include former Global Fund Executive Director Mark Dybul, former Trump appointee William Steiger and a […] Continue reading ->
Treatment tents are burning in Ituri, burial teams are facing hostility, and suspected patients are fleeing quarantine centres, disappearing into communities. These heartbreaking incidents are often described as obstacles to controlling the current Ebola outbreak. For the dedicated frontline workers risking their lives every day to contain the virus, these challenges are deeply frustrating. But […] Continue reading ->
Universal newborn screening needs to be dramatically expanded to improve infant mortality, says the World Health Organization (WHO). Without intervention, many of the estimated eight million infants born worldwide annually with congenital anomalies face severe impairment or death, warns a new technical report. The WHO report reflects a paradoxical landscape. As low- and middle-income countries […] 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 ->