Between 702 million and 828 million people suffered from hunger in 2021, more than at any time since 2005, five UN agencies reported on Wednesday. The proportion of people affected by hunger had remained relatively unchanged since 2015, affecting 8% of the global population in 2019. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, those […] Continue reading ->
French drugmaker Sanofi is the latest pharmaceuticals manufacturer to offer a package of essential medicines at cost to health systems in the world’s most impoverished countries – including much-needed cancer and diabetes treatments. Sanofi on Monday announced the launch of the new nonprofit Impact® brand for dozens of medicines, that is supposed to ease support […] Continue reading ->
The wider use of pooled procurement in national health systems can help low- and middle-income countries get a better deal on pharmaceuticals – here’s how and why. Low- and middle-income countries are making strides in bolstering their domestic pharmaceutical sectors—evidenced by the recent deal between South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics and Belgium’s Univercells, to develop the […] Continue reading ->
WHO and Africa CDC are trying to close a huge testing gap for monkeypox that has left some health workers reliant on symptomatic diagnosis. The World Health Organization (WHO) and African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) acknowledge they will not be able to gain a clear understanding of the monkeypox outbreak in […] Continue reading ->
Monkeypox appears to be establishing itself as a prominent danger to high-risk populations such as children, immune-compromised people and pregnant women, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned. Already, WHO said authorities confirmed cases involving two children in the UK and a child each in Spain, France and the Netherlands. Tedros, however, […] Continue reading ->
In the wake of last week’s Kigali Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, getting malaria elimination back on track is a top priority says a senior Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation official – in addition to ensuring the world learns from the COVID pandemic that “global health” is truly a global matter. The world […] Continue reading ->
Pfizer and BioNTech have announced positive safety, tolerability and immunogenicity data for two Omicron-adapted COVID-19 mRNA candidate vaccines – but for an earlier strain of Omicron than those that are currently globally dominant. The two Omicron-adapted vaccine candidates were given to 1,234 participants aged 56 years and older as boosters, and “elicited substantially higher neutralizing […] Continue reading ->
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) has decided not to declare monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), it could change its mind if there is evidence of “significant spread” in the next 21 days. This was announced over the weekend following the meeting of the WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency […] Continue reading ->
As the Kigali Summit unfolds, Adrian Hill, director of Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, describes the great strides made in malaria control, and the contribution new malaria vaccines can make, including one designed at the Jenner Institute. He spoke to Health Policy Watch just ahead of this week’s meeting by heads of Commonwealth nations, which galvanized […] Continue reading ->
A World Health Organization emergency committee met Thursday to determine if the monkeypox outbreak spreading in non-endemic countries constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The closed door meeting, including 16 committee members and eight advisors, will make a recommendation to WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who will decide whether to designate […] Continue reading ->