Two competing approaches to promote access to medicines were born during the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the year 2000. Today, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, these same approaches are once more on a collision course. On the one side is the ‘international’ COVID response, led in name by WHO, but in fact by what […] Continue reading ->
Second in a series– Cities that clean up their air quality, and promote other urban sustainability measures can help reduce residents’ risks during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as going forward, say a growing number of urban air quality and sustainability experts. That message was highlighted in two events last week and today, which were […] Continue reading ->
It is “imperative” that governments recognize the long-term effects of COVID-19 and ensure that affected people can access health services, including primary health care as well as rehabilitation, emphasized the World Health Organization on Friday. “Although we are still learning about this virus, what’s clear is that this is not just a virus that kills […] Continue reading ->
Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, two drugmakers, announced that they would provide 200 million doses of their potential COVID-19 vaccine to the WHO and Gavi Alliance co-sponsored COVAX procurement facility, which more than 180 countries have joined. “To address a global health crisis of this magnitude, it takes unique partnerships. The commitment we are announcing today for […] Continue reading ->
It starts with a child bathing in a stream to escape scorching temperatures. Silently, beneath the water, larvae that have emerged from a tiny snail burrow into their leg before entering the bloodstream. Over the next few weeks, the larvae turn into adult worms which mate and produce hundreds of eggs every day. This is […] Continue reading ->
Spain announced a state of emergency on Sunday and ordered a nationwide curfew just days after becoming the first Western European country to surpass one million confirmed cases. The curfew and restrictions on gatherings of more than six people has made Spain the latest country in Europe to toughen its guidelines, after France placed 46 […] Continue reading ->
A milestone study has found that women giving birth when they are infected with COVID-19, even if asymptomatic, may have more post-birth complications, including fever and hypoxia leading to hospital readmission, as compared to women who are not infected. The study, conducted by Malavika Rabhu of Weill Cornell Medicine, observed 675 women admitted for delivery […] Continue reading ->
In combatting COVID-19, many countries around the world are currently facing “house on fire moments,” as described by Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. However, the syndemic of COVID-19 and TB poses an even more deadly threat. TB and COVID-19 respiratory diseases affect mostly […] Continue reading ->
Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) could play a critical role in decentralising testing and reaching remote communities as WHO launches an Africa roll-out, but a recent study has found that only two of the six RDTs making it to the final round of testing met WHO accuracy standards. RDTs test for proteins produced by the SARS-CoV-2 […] Continue reading ->
The United States Food and Drug Administration decision Thursday to approve Gilead Science’s Remdesivir as a COVID-19 treatment failed to consider the results of the recent WHO “Solidarity Trial” – which found no measurable benefits for the drug’s use – because the pharma company failed to include the study in its FDA submission for approval, […] Continue reading ->