Global Health

18/5/2022: In too many communities new HIV infections are rising - 1.5 million in 2020 against a global target of 500,000. New breakthrough treatments to prevent and control HIV are becoming available but there is concern that high prices and monopolies will keep people in low- and middle-income countries locked out.

Source: Inter Press Service

6/5/2022: Low-income countries remain only 12% vaccinated, well behind the 70% target. Yet demand for vaccines — especially in African countries - is waning. These are just some of challenges for the second Global COVID-19 Summit of wealthy countries on May 12.

Source: Devex

27/4/2022: With only 8.4% of the world’s population, the Latin America and Caribbean region has endured 28% of total global deaths due to COVID-19. A report by Amnesty International attributes this outcome to high inequality and low public spending on health.

Source: Amnesty International

21/4/2022: More than 1 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have received one or more doses of the world’s first malaria vaccine in a pilot programme. If widely deployed, the vaccine could save the lives of an additional 40,000 to 80,000 African children each year.

Source: World Health Organization

11/3/2022: Safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines have existed for over a year yet billions of people remain unprotected without a single dose. Governments should redouble efforts to uphold their legal obligation to ensure the highest attainable standard of health for people everywhere.

Source: Human Rights Watch

1/3/2022: With a donation of $1.22 billion to the ACT-Accelerator Germany has become the first country to respond to the UN appeal to 55 countries to contribute a "fair share" towards ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: UN News

10/2/2022: The WHO's Regional Director for Africa has said that countries have got smarter faster and better at responding to Covid-19. The most recent wave of the virus has been the shortest and has not led to an increase in hospitalizations and deaths.

Source: UN News

16/2/2022: A Cape Town company claims it has made a vaccine that successfully mimics Moderna's messenger RNA vaccine. This copycat will still need to undergo clinical trials but the effort could yield Africa's first Covid-19 vaccine.

Source: Inter Press Service

9/2/2022: The UN is calling for a fair share of contributions from more than 50 rich countries to fund the ACT-Accelerator treatments and vaccines. Only a paltry 0.4 per cent of COVID-19 tests administered globally have been conducted in low-income countries.

Source: UN News

21/2/2022: People in advanced economies are not safe until the poorest countries are protected from Covid-19. With barely 1 per cent of available vaccines reaching low-income countries the world has a coordination problem.

Source: East Asia Forum