In characteristically soft-spoken tones, World Health Organization Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued his strongest rebuttal yet to the recent allegations by United States President Donald Trump that the WHO had hidden information in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, or failed to inform WHO member states rapidly enough. Calling upon his own […] Continue reading ->
World Health Organization experts are urging countries to use caution when determining whether to use large scale serological testing as part of their exit strategies from lockdowns. Serological testing identifies whether a person’s blood has antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19,  indicating that they were exposed to the virus at some point and […] Continue reading ->
The impacts on Africa of United States President Trump’s decision to withhold funding to the WHO will be ‘quite significant’ as the US is the “number one contributor” of the WHO African Region budget, said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, at a joint press conference hosted by the WHO and the World Economic […] Continue reading ->
Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Hugo de Jonge on Wednesday offered to support the World Health Organization to develop a pool of intellectual property rights for COVID-19 technologies, just days after WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced WHO’s public support for the initiative. “In principle, I am sympathetic to this initiative,” Minister de Jonge wrote […] Continue reading ->
While much of the public fanfare around new COVID-19 drugs has centered around the lupus drug, hydroxychloroquine, and a failed Ebola remedy, remdesivir, other researchers are keen to explore the potential of other time-worn remedies – although here, too, experts are urging extreme caution.    Ivermectin, the antiparasitic drug that turned the tide in the […] Continue reading ->
People with COVID-19 are dying at significantly higher rates in communities in the United States with higher air pollution levels, according to a new Harvard University study  – the first such study to systematically examine links between air pollution and higher COVID-19 mortality.  For every 1 microgram/ cubic meter (µg/m3) increase in average annual levels […] Continue reading ->