Tal Zaks, chief medical officer at Moderna Therapeutics since 2015, which has become one of the front-runners in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, is in fact an oncologist, not a virologist by training. And so it’s perhaps no accident that the innovative “messenger RNA” (mRNA) technology upon which the company’s vaccine candidate […] Continue reading ->
Dr Vinh-Kim Nguyen is accustomed to straddling two worlds – academia and front-line medical work. But those dual roles took on new meaning this year as Nguyen, new co-director of the Global Health Centre of the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID), travelled to Montreal during the first Covid-19 wave to treat patients and organize urgent services […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization will establish a new high level review of the Organization’s capacity to respond todisease outbreaks in the framework of the International Health Regulations (IHR) that govern emergency response. The aim is to ensure that WHO is “as effective as possible in operations as they unfold,” announced Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus […] Continue reading ->
There is insufficient evidence that treating people hospitalized for COVID-19 with blood plasma from recovered patients is safe and effective – and more randomized clinical trials are thus needed, warned the World Health Organization on Monday. Evidence overall remains “inconclusive,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan at a WHO press conference on Monday. She spoke […] Continue reading ->
To facilitate equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines, WHO launched the COVID-19 Access Accelerator (ACT) in April. COVAX is the vaccine component of this initiative. It is led by WHO, the Oslo-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the Geneva-based Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI). Heidi.news spoke with Gavi’s Executive Director, Seth […] Continue reading ->
Protecting Africa’s Health Workers Against COVID-19 Despite Weak Health Systems, Poor Infrastructure
Ibadan, Nigeria – As the number of health care worker infections continues to rise in Africa, Health Ministers are calling attention to increasing pressure on Africa’s health system – and the people running it. Lack of personal protective equipment, adequate infection prevention protocols, and burnout have led to widespread dissatisfaction among doctors in recent weeks, […] Continue reading ->
In the largest and perhaps most robust peer-reviewed study to date, A COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University has been shown to induce strong antibody and T cell responses in healthy volunteers, according to Phase 1/2 trial results published in The Lancet on Monday. Most studies so far have focused on […] Continue reading ->
On Monday, the Geneva-based NCD Alliance launched the first-ever fund to bolster the efforts of NGOs worldwide fighting chronic diseases alongside the COVID-19 pandemic with some $US 300,000 in initial seed capital. The effort is unique in that it links major pharma interests that develop and produce drugs for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) to the support […] Continue reading ->
Ibadan, Nigeria – The World Health Organisation (WHO) is advocating for equitable access to effective COVID-19 vaccines but developments surrounding the race to a vaccine suggest this may be extremely difficult. And health policy leaders in Africa and other low and middle-income countries are increasingly worried about their prospects for being pushed to the back […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization said Tuesday that it would reconsider its longtime stance that airborne transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus occurs only rarely – after a group of over 239 scientists published a commentary on Monday in the Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases, urging the agency to acknowledge the greater role played by tiny virus […] Continue reading ->