Rumours about the whereabouts of Tanzanian president John Magufuli, are intensifying as the leader who questioned the existence of the SARS-CoV2 virus was reportedly in intensive care with COVID-19 – somewhere in Nairobi or possibly now even in India. Magufuli has not been seen for almost two weeks, sparking widespread speculation about his health. His […] Continue reading ->
One year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on 11 March 2020, a new report by the Foundation for Geneva has traced the success and the failures of the WHO and other international Geneva organisations in their response – as well as the implications for the future of multilateralism. […] Continue reading ->
With the European Union Medicines Agency (EMA) approval Thursday of Johnson and Johnson’s one-shot COVID-19 vaccine, it now remains to be seen which countries and regions will be the first in line for distribution of the one-jab vaccine. Along with its comparatively low-cost, and ease of storage, the one-shot vaccine could be particularly important to […] Continue reading ->
A two-day summit of the world’s top pharma and public health sector players to address COVID-19 vaccine supply chain and manufacturing bottlenecks ended on Tuesday with agreement that large vaccine manufacturing scale up potential exists – even in 2021 – but the route is complex and there are no easy fixes.  And most immediately, there […] Continue reading ->
African governments, the private sector, and development partners need to invest more in health and health systems to intensify the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and any future disease outbreaks, according to health experts speaking at the African Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC) on Tuesday. The experts agreed that a comprehensive, multi-sectoral approach is needed […] Continue reading ->
Women in Africa account for a slightly smaller proportion of Covid-19 infections and deaths than men although a health expert cautions that access to testing and reluctance to being treated in hospitals could mean that women’s cases are undercounted. Unveiling findings of a preliminary analysis of COVID-19 gender-specific epidemiological data in 28 African countries, the […] Continue reading ->
LYON, France – Chinese police have successfully identified a network selling counterfeit COVID-19 vaccines as far away as Africa, raiding the manufacturing premises, arresting some 80 suspects, and seizing more than 3,000 fake vaccines on the scene, according to  the global INTERPOL agency [International Criminal Police Organization]. The investigation was supported and facilitated by INTERPOL’s […] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK CITY – Although North America is experiencing an overall decline in new COVID-19 cases and deaths, Brazil and other localized hotspots in South America are experiencing a dramatic spike in infection and hospitalization rates, said WHO officials in the region’s Washington DC-based Americas office.  In a Wednesday briefing, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN – Nigeria has received the largest single shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from the WHO global COVAX initiative to date – with initial delivery of some 3.92 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines out of a total of 16 million doses that have been allocated to the country through the platform for the first phase […] Continue reading ->