The number of people requiring treatment for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) decreased from 2.19 to 1.65 billion between 2010 and 2021 – an impressive 25 percent decline. However, interlinked challenges, including the COVID pandemic and, now, accelerating patterns of climate change are putting this progress at risk.  On World NTD Day, we need to recognise […] Continue reading ->
An influential sub-committee of the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s Executive Board (EB) has greenlighted a proposal by the cash-strapped global body’s Secretariat to seek additional funds via a replenishment fund, that would be filled by voluntary donations from both member states and philanthropies recruited at high-profile events. In its report published on Monday just as […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended shifting from a two-dose to one-dose vaccine regimen against the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) – something that could help expand vaccine coverage amongst millions of girls and young women in lower-income regions where HPV is most prevalent, as well as saving costs.   According to the new WHO recommendation, based […] Continue reading ->
On the occasion of Universal Health Coverage Day, thought leaders on the front lines outline the challenges and opportunities of health systems in conflicts. The last decade of 12-year-old Zaynab’s life has been spent in an informal settlement in Lebanon, after her family fled from the Syrian conflict. She shares a three-room tent with her […] Continue reading ->
Keep the momentum to negotiate a pandemic instrument, urged Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) at the start of the third meeting of the intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) on Monday. “The conceptual zero-draft that your bureau has developed is a true reflection of the aspirations for a different paradigm for […] Continue reading ->
The United States, once a reluctant partner in the initiative for a new global pandemic accord, is now keen to move ahead in negotiations over an agreement. The accord would expedite more rapid global data sharing and response to looming threats as well as ensuring greater equity in access to medicines and treatments, said the […] Continue reading ->
A candidate drug for people with early Alzheimer’s disease slowed cognitive decline by about 27% over 18 months, according to a report on a phase 3 trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Tuesday. Lecanemab is a monoclonal antibody that is given as an intravenous infusion every two weeks, and targets a […] Continue reading ->