Low and middle-income countries urgently need affordable personal protective equipment, diagnostics, treatments and vaccines to ward off even bigger waves of COVID-19 infection and mortality – and global production capacity is failing to ensure timely supply even of those products now on the market. Now, more than ever, producers in poor countries need to be […] Continue reading ->
Although a proposal to include Taiwan as a World Health Assembly (WHA) observer was delayed until the WHA 73 session resumes again later this year, that didn’t prevent WHO member states from locking horns over the issue in statements on the second day of this week’s virtual WHA session. The charge was led by a […] Continue reading ->
This weekend, over 16 million people from all over the globe came together for the WHO’s third Walk the Talk: The Health for All Challenge. The two-day virtual event began Saturday in the Philippines and concluded on Sunday, with a 5-hour jam-packed virtual programme broadcast from Geneva – and boasting a vibrant range of physical […] Continue reading ->
Health Policy Watch is the media partner for the Geneva Graduate Institute – Global Health Centre series of World Health Assembly events, running Thursday 14 May to Wednesday 27 May. The series of events is built around themes relevant to the 73rd session of the WHA, 18-19 May, the first ever Assembly to bring together the World […] Continue reading ->
As countries cautiously begin to lift lockdown measures, WHO Executive Director for Health Emergencies Mike Ryan has again warned that serological studies were presenting increasing evidence that a ‘herd immunity’ approach to mitigating the effects of further waves of infection would not be effective. Herd immunity occurs when a large enough proportion of the population […] Continue reading ->
Like the delicate mesh of grandma’s crochet, the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is intricately intertwined with air pollution, the two knitted together in a secret code, which research from Italy, Germany and the United States is beginning to unveil. More than ever before, the clear blue skies are telling us that it is time […] Continue reading ->
Over a dozen World Health Organization Member States have proposed inviting Taiwan as an observer to the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA), taking place virtually on May 18 and 19. The US-inspired move is formally led by a number of small countries and island states in Africa, central America, the Caribbean, and the Western Pacific. […] Continue reading ->
Some 13 Member States have now submitted a formal proposal to the World Health Assembly (WHA) to extend an invitation to Taiwan to attend the Assembly as an observer – a status that it has not held since 2016, according to WHO documents. The move, while initiated by the Central American state of Belize, essentially […] Continue reading ->
A newly identified microbe, named Microsporidia MB, can prevent mosquitoes from being infected by malaria parasites. This microbe could be used to block the transmission of malaria parasites from mosquito vectors to humans, according to new research published by researchers from the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) in Kenya and the University […] Continue reading ->
From a small and modest gathering of booths and stands in 2006, the Geneva Health Forum has grown into an international event with a strong array of scientific sessions. Although the GHF was forced to postpone its eighth annual conference, from March to 16-18 November due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that has not prevented the […] Continue reading ->