Let’s fight to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria
15/9/2022: New data reveals a global faltering response to HIV. In 2021 there were 1.5 million new infections—over one million more than the global target. A successful replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is vital.
Source: Inter Press Service
The end of the COVID-19 pandemic is in sight
14/9/2022: As the number of weekly reported deaths from COVID-19 plunged to its lowest since March 2020, the head of the World Health Organization has said that the end of the pandemic is now in sight. Governments are advised to continue vaccination of most at-risk groups.
Source: UN News
Millions more children to benefit from malaria vaccine
16/8/2022: UNICEF has awarded a contract to GSK for 18 million doses of the first ever supply of a malaria vaccine. In 2020, nearly half a million children died from malaria in Africa alone.
Source: UNICEF
Healthy life expectancy in Africa up by nearly 10 years
4/8/2022: Life-expectancy on the African continent increased from 46 to 56 years between 2000 and 2019, a rise greater than any other region in the world. The World Health Organization warned that the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could undermine the improvement.
Source: UN News
Punitive laws perpetuate the AIDS pandemic
2/8/2022: In countries that criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, the evidence is clear that the risk of acquiring HIV is higher. Removal of such laws is essential to ending AIDS as a public health crisis by 2030.
Source: Inter Press Service
WHO updates global COVID-19 vaccination strategy
22/7/2022: Only 28% of older people and 37% of health care workers in low-income countries have received their primary course of Covid vaccine. The World Health Organization's latest strategy will seek greater priority for these at-risk groups within its overall 70% coverage target.
Source: World Health Organization
South Africa to develop first African-owned Covid-19 vaccine
23/6/2022: A South African biotech company has teamed up with a Belgium-based firm to develop an African Covid-19 vaccine. The partners said they will seek to develop vaccines that are cheaper to produce and easier to store and distribute in rural and remote locations.
Source: The East African
World Health Organization improves financial independence
24/5/2022: Member states of the World Health Organization have agreed to a gradual increase of membership subscriptions from 16% to 50% of the core budget. This will reduce the WHO’s over-reliance on voluntary contributions, often earmarked for specific areas of work.
Source: World Health Organization
World health statistics to 2020
20/5/2022: Latest statistics published by the World Health Organization reveal the extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic has set back global progress on both life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. The two decades prior to the pandemic saw a doubling in global spending on health, of which approximately 80% occurred in high-income countries.
Source: World Health Organization
COVAX calls for urgent action to close vaccine equity gap
20/5/2022: Nearly 18 months after the first administration of a COVID-19 vaccine, only 16% of people in low-income countries have received a single dose – compared to 80% in high-income countries. Vaccine inequality continues to cost lives and increase the threat posed by potentially more dangerous variants of the virus.
Source: The Vaccine Alliance