Days after government officials took a break from frenetic pandemic accord negotiations, news broke that European countries had destroyed at least 215 million unwanted COVID-19 vaccine doses valued at over €4 billion. The 19 countries surveyed dumped 0.7 doses per resident – with Estonia and Germany being the most wasteful, according to Politico, which broke […] Continue reading ->
Global spending on health increased during 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a record $9.8 trillion or 10.3% of global gross domestic product (GDP) – mostly as a result of governments devoting more domestic resources to health, Country spending was highest on hospitals, accounting for 40% of expenditure, followed by ambulatory care […] Continue reading ->
A spike in COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia has prompted Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia to reintroduce screening for travellers at airports. In the past week, Indonesia has installed thermal body scanners at Jakarta International Airport and the main ferry line. The Bali Port Health Office has also implemented thermal checks at three border entry points: […] Continue reading ->
A massive 7.5 million people were diagnosed with tuberculosis in 2022, the highest number ever – but this is positive as it indicates that countries’ ability to detect the disease is recovering after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2023 Global tuberculosis (TB) report. The two countries that contributed most to […] Continue reading ->
Cholera cases doubled last year in comparison to 2021, and preliminary data suggests that 2023 is likely to be even worse, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing on Wednesday. “So far 28 countries have reported cases this year, compared with 16 during the same period last year,” said […] Continue reading ->
There are “concerning trends for COVID-19 ahead of the winter season in the northern hemisphere”, including increased ICU admissions and hospitalisation in Europe, and case increases in the Middle East and Asia, according to World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. However, the WHO’s ability to assess the threat of new COVID-19 variants […] Continue reading ->
Pharmaceutical giant Janssen/Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and generic manufacturer Serum Institute of India (SII) charged the South African government more than the European Union for COVID-19 vaccines – and South Africa assumed all the risk in ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ contracts with Pfizer, J&J and SII. This is according to an analysis of the contracts led by Health […] Continue reading ->
Three years after the launch of its COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) initiative, the World Health Organization (WHO) has secured its first COVID-19 vaccine license from a private pharmaceutical company, the UN health body announced on Tuesday. The agreement with Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp., a private vaccine manufacturer based in Taiwan, is a welcome but underwhelming […] Continue reading ->
Fewer than 20 countries worldwide still report COVID-19 hospitalization and ICU data to the World Health Organization (WHO), leaving the UN health body blind to the impact and evolution of the virus in most of the world, agency leaders said Friday. The decline in data reporting is a major setback for the WHO’s efforts to […] Continue reading ->
The South African High Court has ordered the country’s health department to hand copies of all its COVID-19 vaccine procurement contracts, negotiations and agreements to a non-governmental organisation, Health Justice Initiative (HJI). The Pretoria High Court ruling on Thursday comes in response to a court application by HJI for access to the contracts, arguing that […] Continue reading ->