TB battle took a backseat during COVID-19 pandemic; Cases, drug resistance go up, finds WHO
Global spending on essential tuberculosis services decreased from $6 billion in 2019 to $5.4 billion in 2021.
Data democracy: WHO bats for passing on genomics tech to developing world
Inaccessible tech not justifiable; Focus required on inadequate finances, lab infra, highly trained personnel
India’s new COVID-19 vaccination milestone in figures
How many people have been fully vaccinated and how many are yet to get a single shot?
Urgently need $7.7 billion to save lives from Delta, emerging COVID-19 variants: WHO
Huge gap in ACT-Acceletor funding needed to deliver crucial medical supplies across the world to combat COVID-19
After WASH report, burden of eradicating open defecation shifts to Africa
Around 196 million of the 494 million people practising open defecation in the world are from sub-Saharan Africa
TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, meds just got tougher after US support
Biden administration wants text-based negotiations on a waiver limited to vaccines but no one is complaining
An environment engineer shows how sanitation safety planning helped Kochi Municipal Corp
Nearly 4.2 bln people do not have access to safe sanitation; sanitation safety planning is a risk-based technique that can help mitigate health …
Aspartame ‘possibly carcinogenic to humans’, labels WHO expert panel
Limited evidence on whether the artificial sweetener causes cancer in humans, more studies on carcinogenicity needed
One Health approach: European Union strengthens action to combat antimicrobial resistance
European Council recommends incentives for innovation and access to antimicrobials along with alternatives
World Health Assembly approves draft resolution on health action plan for indigenous people
Global plan should focus on reproductive, maternal and adolescent health, resolution highlights
WHO announces council to speed up TB vaccine development
Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus announces plan to save millions of lives at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
World Tuberculosis Day: At 316 per lakh, India’s TB prevalence higher than WHO estimations
Gujarat has the lowest burden of all forms of TB, while Kerala is the lowest in pulmonary TB, according to the National TB Prevalence Survey 2019-2021
Alarming number of infections, deaths due to antimicrobial resistance across Europe: Report
Around 33,000 people died as a direct consequence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria infections
WHO raises the bar on clean air
The WHO seeks significant tightening of clean air benchmarks for near zero tolerance for particulate pollution and to protect public health
Deaths due to COVID-19 much higher than reported: WHO
At least 90% countries reported one or more disruptions to essential health services during the pandemic, the World Health Statistics report …
New antimicrobial toolkit by WHO, OIE, FAO aims to fill data gaps
Their report called for implementation of standards on antimicrobial use in a comprehensive manner across all five stages of the antimicrobial …
‘We could eradicate malaria by 2040’ says expert after revolutionary vaccine is approved by WHO
R21/Matrix vaccine was developed by Oxford University together with the Serum Institute of India and can reduce malaria by 75%
Consider updating COVID-19 vaccine composition to include omicron: WHO to authorities
The only other precedent we have for updating vaccines regularly based on the circulating strain is for flu. But the comparison may not be fair
Uganda declares end of Ebola disease outbreak: WHO
Uganda recorded a total of 164 cases & 55 deaths since the outbreak began September 20, 2022
5 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2021, 1.9 million stillborn: UN reports
A death of child or youth every 4.4 seconds; many could have been prevented with equitable access to high-quality healthcare
Pandemic treaty draft negotiations to begin in February 2023
Ensuring equity and solidarity, promoting preparedness while respecting sovereignty will form the crux of this document
WHO’s updated priority pathogen list to be out by early 2023
The current list includes COVID-19, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Ebola and Marburg
Global pandemic treaty: Soumya Swaminathan promises draft in 18 months
WHO chief scientist says most countries on board for pact to ensure fair sharing of vaccines, data during future pandemics
WHO launches global facility for pathogen storage, sharing and analysis
The sharing of pathogens is currently done bilaterally between countries; WHO BioHub will expedite the process
Progress against malaria continues to plateau: Report
Africa continues to carry the highest burden: It accounted for 94% of the world’s malaria cases and deaths in the last 20 years