More and more children are losing their lives to a measles outbreak in Afghanistan as the country struggles with a humanitarian crisis under the US sanctions on the country’s Taliban regime. Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, the US Department of the Treasury froze Afghanistan Central Bank’s reserves, mostly held in US banks, as the […] Continue reading ->
The African Union could decide on the host country for the African Medicines Agency (AMA) as early as July, while the agency’s director-general should be appointed by the end of the year. This is according to Margaret Ndomondo-Sigonda, Head of the African Medicines Regulatory Harmonisation Initiative at AUDA-NEPAD, the African Union’s development agency. The AU […] Continue reading ->
The major players in the European and African pharmaceutical sectors have called on the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) to support the creation of a permanent “business platform” to foster the pharma industry’s development in Africa. This emerged at a workshop Monday hosted by the the European Commission’s Directorate General for Internal […] Continue reading ->
Speaking during a tour by WHO’s Director General of Cape Town’s new mRNA vaccine R&D hub that replicated the Moderna COVID vaccine, South Africa’s Health Minister affirms support for the continental-wide medicines regulatory authority.  CAPE TOWN  – South Africa’s Health Minister signalled that his country intends to join the African Medicines Agency – but that […] Continue reading ->
A partnership between Africa CDC and MasterCard Foundation, which has included visits to countries with model vaccination programmes, such as Rwanda and Morocco, is making a difference to other African countries facing challenges in getting jabs into arms.   That and other measures aimed at supporting more rapid African roll out of COVID-19 vaccines are proving […] Continue reading ->
The BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron is now the dominant COVID-19 variant in South Africa, the head of Africa’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed on Thursday – raising questions about whether the continued global creep of the new SARS-CoV2 sub-variant could dash hopes of a much-needed COVID-19 reprieve. “We have data from South […] Continue reading ->
While China’s rigorous management of virus risks at home has received considerable attention, particularly as it hosts the 2022 winter Olympics, it’s massive vaccine effort abroad has been underreported. In fact, as of end 2021, Beijing had supplied more COVID vaccines to low- and middle-income countries than the WHO co-sponsored COVAX facility.  Against the constant […] Continue reading ->
A Maltese-based foundation representing BioNTech, the German company that co-produced with Pfizer a highly successful mRNA COVID vaccine, has been accused of seeking to undermine the World Health Organization’s new initiative to promote an open-source African-based COVID vaccine manufacturing hub – while proposing to ship European-fitted mRNA vaccine facilities to Africa in sea containers as […] Continue reading ->
As Afghanistan’s fragile health system battles for survival, hard-earned gains of the past 20 years in the tenacious battle against polio are under threat. But on a hopeful note, the new Taliban regime has just launched its first national polio vaccine campaign – reversing years of opposition to the life-saving intervention.  Afghanistan witnessed the lowest […] Continue reading ->