Some 21 countries have now ratified the African Medicines Agency treaty – well beyond the 15 ratifications reached in November 2021, which allowed the AMA treaty instrument to formally take effect. Egypt, Africa’s third most populous country, is the most recent state to have both ratified and deposited the treaty – marking a significant milestone […] Continue reading ->
In a long and winding discussion Thursday at The World Health Organization’s Executive Board, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) pledged to redouble their efforts against noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes and obesity, which are having increasing impacts on health and well-being – in addition to infectious diseases that have been at the forefront of […] Continue reading ->
Former US President Barack Obama openly criticized two of the world’s largest CO2 emitting countries – Russia and China, for their “dangerous lack of urgency” in discussing the pressing matters of climate change this past week during COP26. Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to make an appearance with other […] Continue reading ->
The tobacco industry used the COVID-19 pandemic to ingratiate itself with governments around the world and win concessions for their harmful products, according to a review of 80 countries analyzed in the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2021, which was released on Tuesday. It wasn’t simply economically vulnerable countries that were susceptible to industry influence. […] Continue reading ->
Brazil’s official death toll from COVID-19 reached 600,000 late Friday, the second-highest in the world after the US – and a leading epidemiologist blames the Bolsonaro administration for deliberately spreading the virus to achieve “herd immunity”. “Brazil’s federal government put in place a deliberate policy of exposing the population to the pandemic,” according to Cesar […] Continue reading ->
Two jabs of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are 90% effective against COVID-19 hospitalizations for all variants including Delta, for at least 6 months, confirmed a new study published by The Lancet. The study, conducted by Kaiser Permanete and Pfizer, found that while effectiveness against all SARS-CoV-2 infections declined over the study period, effectiveness against hospitalizations remains […] Continue reading ->
US President Joe Biden has reaped praise for convening a Global COVID-19 Summit on the margins of this year’s United Nations General Assembly that placed vaccine shortfalls in low- and middle-income countries front and center of GA debates. But it remains to be seen if the big commitments repeated once more this week can break […] Continue reading ->
  New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appealed for global cooperation to remove “environmentally harmful government agricultural subsidies”, particularly for fisheries, at the United Nations Food Systems Summit, which began on Thursday in New York. These subsidies led to “inefficient production, distorted trade environmental harm, and weakened food security”, Adern said. “We encourage constructive global […] Continue reading ->
WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is now set to run for re-election as Germany’s nominee, backed by other European Union states, including France.  And as nominations for the post closed today at 6 p.m. Geneva time on Thursday, it was appearing increasingly likely that the incumbent DG may run unopposed – with no […] Continue reading ->