Long months of pandemic lockdown have only exacerbated the harms due to alcohol  experienced by billions of people worldwide.  Now, WHO is in the process of developing a new alcohol action plan, in an effort to re-energize a stagnant process and overcome a “lost decade” of little progress on alcohol policies.  Can it make a […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that is possible to get 70% of the world vaccinated against COVID-19 by June – but only if wealthy countries redirect their doses and orders to poorer countries that are lagging behind. Eleven billion vaccines are needed to reach the 70% target, said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus […] Continue reading ->
Africans are a step closer to speedier access to newer, safer medicines following this week’s notification by 15 African Union (AU) member countries that they have formally ratified and deposited their accord to create a new African Medicines Agency (AMA). Although the AU adopted the treaty to set up the AMA back in February 2019, […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Assembly is set to make a fateful decision in November over whether to negotiate a new international ‘Pandemic Treaty’ to improve future pandemic preparedness and response. However, major players like the United States, backed by some civil society groups, have suggested that revisions of the existing International Health Regulations (IHR) would be […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent diversion of resources toward battling SARS-CoV2 has also set back global efforts to eliminate the world’s second most deadly infectious killer: Tuberculosis, by 2030.  Only a doubling of investments next year can pave the way to attainment of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to eliminate the disease, […] Continue reading ->
Following news that Sanofi, a French pharma company, will abandon its promising mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) called for the corporation to transfer the vaccine technology and know-how to the WHO-led COVID-19 mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa. Despite the existence of two approved mRNA vaccines and 13 candidates in advanced stages […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – A drug discovery and development centre based at the University of Cape Town (UCT) has joined forces with the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) to strengthen health innovation in Africa. The three-year partnership announced this week will focus on driving capacity-strengthening for drug discovery and development in Africa by […] Continue reading ->
Multilateralism has “failed” to help Africa solve the COVID crisis and regional approaches to solving common problems could help the continent forge a “new public health order” said Africa Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, speaking at the opening of the European Health Forum- Gastein.  His statement at at the traditionally “Eurocentric” […] Continue reading ->