Pfizer’s Antiviral Drug May Have Potential as Long COVID Treatment

06/06/2022 Maayan Hoffman

Scientists and doctors are beginning to eye Paxlovid, the antiviral medicine developed by Pfizer to protect vulnerable people from severe disease, as a potential treatment for lingering COVID-19 symptoms after single patients report that the medicine has helped to reduce their symptoms. Long COVID affects as many as one in five people infected by the […] Continue reading ->

Climate Crisis Poses Serious Risk to Mental Health – WHO

03/06/2022 Raisa Santos

Climate change poses serious risks to mental health and well-being, concluded a new World Health Organization policy brief, launched on Friday at the Stockholm+50 conference. Natural disasters such as floods, heatwaves, storms, and drought can pose a threat to mental health and psychosocial well-being, exacerbating emotional distress, anxiety, depression, grief, and suicidal behavior. WHO is […] Continue reading ->

Can the World Halt Rising Obesity? WHO Sets Out Its Plans and Countries Tell Stories of Success

03/06/2022 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Countries have failed miserably to halt rising obesity, despite goals set by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018. Instead, obesity continues to rise apace. Now, however, a new WHO strategy for accelerating action against obesity, endorsed last week by the World Health Assembly, calls for much tougher policies on food packaging, pricing and marketing […] Continue reading ->

After Many Missed Opportunities, Oral Health Gets Long Overdue Attention from WHO

03/06/2022 Ihsane Ben Yahya & Greg Chadwick

Dental services, including regular check-ups, were among the most disrupted essential health services during the COVID-19 lockdowns. People´s reticence to visit a dentist during normal times was exacerbated by fear of venturing into an open clinic or simply not being able to, due to restrictions. Dental hesitancy has always been around but over two years […] Continue reading ->

Shanghai Lockdown is Finally Relaxed But Stringent Testing Still Required

02/06/2022 Raisa Santos

Sixty five days after one of the toughest lockdowns in the world, China has eased COVID-19 restrictions on its financial hub, Shanghai, on Wednesday – finally allowing the majority of its 25 million residents to move freely again. However, at least 890,000 residents are confined at home, in “quarantine” or “control zones”. The announcement to […] Continue reading ->

Eight Countries Compete to Host African Medicines Agency at Crucial African Union Meeting

02/06/2022 Paul Adepoju

A meeting to decide which African country will be the host country for the African Medicines Agency (AMA) is underway and at the last count, expressions of interest in hosting the agency have been received from Uganda, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Rwanda, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. The decision is expected to be one of the outcomes […] Continue reading ->

Sex, War, Sustainability and the World Health Assembly – Last Week in Review

02/06/2022 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Health and peace, sex and war, money and management. Whether in chorus or cacophony – last week’s World Health Assembly of WHO member states played most of the notes in the symphony of global debate over strategies to tackle disease, epidemics and pandemics and bolster health systems. But the root causes of emerging disease threats […] Continue reading ->

Doubling of Monkeypox Cases Outside of Endemic Countries Raises New Alarm Bells at WHO

01/06/2022 Raisa Santos & Elaine Ruth Fletcher

In just a matter of three days, the number of monkeypox cases reported to WHO outside of central and west Africa has doubled – with reports Wednesday of some 550 cases in more than 30 countries outside of the countries where the disease is endemic, WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press […] Continue reading ->

Scientists Might Never Determine Cause for Mysterious Acute Hepatitis Cases

31/05/2022 Maayan Hoffman

Just days after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that 650 total cases – and another 99 suspected cases – of mysterious acute hepatitis have been discovered in 33 countries worldwide, a top virologist has told Health Policy Watch that doctors and scientists may fail to ever find the root cause of the illness. “There […] Continue reading ->

WHO Governing Board Creates New Emergencies Committee – in Shadow of Debates on Ukraine, Sexual Terms and DRC Scandal

30/05/2022 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

In another one of a series of recent pandemic reform moves, the WHO Executive Board Monday approved the creation of a new Standing Committee on Health Emergencies, which could convene within 24 hours after the declaration of a global public health emergency – and liaise between the WHO Director-General and member states about modes of […] Continue reading ->