Papua New Guinea (PNG), a country that has largely avoided the SARS-CoV2 virus, is now facing an outbreak that could cause the country’s health system to collapse, while Australia is being chided by a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) official for its opposition to a World Trade Organization (WTO) patent waiver that MSF says would have opened […] Continue reading ->
In just one year, COVID-19 has undone more than a decade’s progress in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), health experts said on Thursday. While COVID-19 fatality numbers are decreasing worldwide, TB-related deaths remain steady at 4000 cases a day – an occurrence experts partly attribute to limited access to TB treatment services during COVID lockdown […] Continue reading ->
COVID-19 has presented new risks to the African continent, with already limited financial resources needed to respond to climate hazards and natural disasters now being diverted to fight the pandemic. The pandemic has made it all the more challenging to ensure there is adequate disaster financing on the continent, and this now needs urgent attention, […] Continue reading ->
JOHANNESBURG –The death of Tanzanian President and COVID-19 skeptic John Magufuli has drawn decidedly mixed emotions – as tributes poured in from both average Tanzanians, as well as other African heads of state and world leaders. But Tanzanian opposition forces said that the president’s mysterious death was a chance for a reboot on both Tanzania’s […] Continue reading ->
Novavax Vaccine Shows Less Efficacy Against COVID Variants – Sputnik Vaccine to Be Produced In Italy
Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate has an efficacy rate of 96.4% against the original strain of SARS-CoV2. However, the efficacy rate drops up to 55.4% against the new B.1351 variant first identified in South Africa, and also spreading globally. The pharma company, which has never brought a vaccine to market before, published the data from two […] Continue reading ->
Kenya has officially announced a third wave of the COVID-19 outbreak this week, while the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Africa region reported a “slight uptick in cases and an upward trend in 12 countries, including in Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Cameroon.” Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, during the weekly press conference said […] Continue reading ->
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 study of people taking regular, low doses of aspirin found that the aspirin users were 29% less likely than others to test positive for COVID-19, as well as being less prone to serious disease and its “long COVID” after-effects. The new peer-reviewed study, published in The FEBS Journal of the Federation of European Biochemical […] Continue reading ->