The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970, yet the viral disease is only getting international attention since it has spread outside Africa to 27 non-endemic countries. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Dr Ebrahima Socé Fall described monkeypox as a “neglected tropical disease” when he opened a two-day meeting called by the WHO’s […] Continue reading ->
Dental services, including regular check-ups, were among the most disrupted essential health services during the COVID-19 lockdowns. People´s reticence to visit a dentist during normal times was exacerbated by fear of venturing into an open clinic or simply not being able to, due to restrictions. Dental hesitancy has always been around but over two years […] Continue reading ->
Sixty five days after one of the toughest lockdowns in the world, China has eased COVID-19 restrictions on its financial hub, Shanghai, on Wednesday – finally allowing the majority of its 25 million residents to move freely again. However, at least 890,000 residents are confined at home, in “quarantine” or “control zones”. The announcement to […] Continue reading ->
Health and peace, sex and war, money and management. Whether in chorus or cacophony – last week’s World Health Assembly of WHO member states played most of the notes in the symphony of global debate over strategies to tackle disease, epidemics and pandemics and bolster health systems. But the root causes of emerging disease threats […] Continue reading ->
In just a matter of three days, the number of monkeypox cases reported to WHO outside of central and west Africa has doubled – with reports Wednesday of some 550 cases in more than 30 countries outside of the countries where the disease is endemic, WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press […] Continue reading ->
Just days after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that 650 total cases – and another 99 suspected cases – of mysterious acute hepatitis have been discovered in 33 countries worldwide, a top virologist has told Health Policy Watch that doctors and scientists may fail to ever find the root cause of the illness. “There […] Continue reading ->
In another one of a series of recent pandemic reform moves, the WHO Executive Board Monday approved the creation of a new Standing Committee on Health Emergencies, which could convene within 24 hours after the declaration of a global public health emergency – and liaise between the WHO Director-General and member states about modes of […] Continue reading ->
To save lives and accelerate climate action we need concerted international collaboration on air pollution – and it’s time for the health community to join the fight for clean air. Air pollution isn’t a new problem. In the UK, citizens have been imploring authorities to act on London smog since the 17th century. But industrialization […] Continue reading ->
Monkeypox can be spread by an infected person through salive and droplets, including mouth lesions, as well as via bedding. A mother can also pass the virus to her baby across the placenta. In addition, untreated HIV might increase the risk of more serious infection. So warned Dr Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s monkeypox expert, at […] Continue reading ->
World Health Organization (WHO) member states endorsed a new polio eradication strategy 2022-2026 last week that aims to permanently interrupt all poliovirus transmission – both of the wild poliovirus and vaccine-derived cases. Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the discovery of a second wild poliovirus case in Africa, confirmed on 18 […] Continue reading ->