The US government has enabled Africa to get access to 50 million Moderna COVID-19 vaccines by giving the continent its place in the vaccine queue, Strive Masiyiwa, head of the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) said on Tuesday. “This is a time swap arrangement whereby the United States government basically stood aside for the next […] Continue reading ->
An ambitious wish list of global economic and fiscal measures that the world should adopt to combat the COVID-19 pandemic has been floated by the World Health Organization- just ahead of a critical G-20 meeting of the world’s most industrialized nations this weekend. These include proposals for massive debt relief to debt-ridden countries and a […] Continue reading ->
Some civil society organisations (CSO) are sceptical about whether a ‘pandemic treaty’ is the best way to address future global health crises, while treaty supporters say it will provide a legal framework binding countries and global health bodies to more agile and rapid responses to future outbreaks. A session Monday sponsored by the Geneva Global […] Continue reading ->
Of the 1.3 billion COVID-19 vaccine dose donations promised to COVAX by wealthy countries, only 150 million doses have actually arrived – around 9% – Gavi CEO Dr Seth Berkley told the World Health Summit in Berlin on Monday. Ensuring that countries delivered their promised doses “now” was COVAX’s “core ask”, said Berkley, who added […] Continue reading ->
In the US, cases of dogs infected with the rabies virus being brought into the country are significant enough to warrant national headlines and a year-long dog importation ban on dogs from hundreds of countries worldwide. Yet, in India, rabies does not get much media attention but it accounts for a shocking total of 20,000 […] Continue reading ->
Surging fossil fuel use to feed a COVID economic recovery and record numbers of heat-wave days for older groups and agricultural workers; these are just a few of the sobering messages contained in the new Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, just 10 days before the start of the Glasgow Climate Conference. The report, […] Continue reading ->
Health activists have appealed to the European Council (EUCO) to discuss a waiver on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) on all health goods necessary to address the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is no indication that this is on the agenda of the meeting which started in Brussels on Thursday afternoon. While COVID-19 is on […] Continue reading ->
The global vaccine facility, COVAX, is on the cusp of delivering large amounts of vaccines to countries that need them the most – but will poorer countries have the ability to properly absorb these? And how can COVAX ensure that it has the trust of low and middle-income countries (LMICs) who need the vaccines most, […] Continue reading ->
New research published at the opening of the 52nd Union World Conference on Lung Health has demonstrated that routine breathing can transmit tuberculosis even more effectively than coughing – in a finding that also echoes one of the signature lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic about SARS-CoV2 transmission. While large droplets jammed with bacteria produced by […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization and UNICEF welcome the decision made by Taliban to support the resumption of house-to-house polio vaccination across Afghanistan. The vaccination campaign, which begins 8 November, will be the first in over three years to reach all children in Afghanistan, including more than 3.3 million children in some parts of the country […] Continue reading ->