Category: Global Health

We also look at whats happneing across the world

UN urges Gilead to ‘make history’ with game-changing HIV drug

Healthtimes

Gilead could bring the AIDS pandemic towards an end if the US pharmaceutical giant opens up access to its game-changing new HIV drug, the head of UNAIDS told AFP. Winnie Byanyima urged Gilead to “make history” by allowing generic manufacturing of Lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injectable antiretroviral medication used to treat HIV patients. She urged Gilead to open up Lenacapavir to the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool international organisation, whereby cheaper generic versions could be sold under licence in low- and middle-income nations. Whatever the financial rewards of creating Lenacapavir, the renown of being…

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HIV vaccines tested in PrEPVacc fail to reduce infections

Michael Gwarisa

The results of the PrEPVacc HIV vaccine trial conducted in Eastern and Southern Africa, which ran between 2020 and 2024, show conclusively that neither of the two experimental vaccine regimens tested reduced HIV infections among the study population. Vaccinations in the PrEPVacc trial were stopped in November 2023 (and publicly announced in December 2023) when it became clear to independent experts monitoring the study data that there was little or no chance of the vaccines demonstrating efficacy in preventing HIV acquisition. The PrEPVacc vaccine trial results, announced today at AIDS…

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“Ending AIDS is impossible if we do not prioritize children” – EGPAF

Michael Gwarisa

By Staff Reporter MUNICH, GERMANY – 22 July 2024 – The UNAIDS Global Report, “The Urgency of Now: AIDS at a Crossroads,” released today, says “ending AIDS as a public health threat is achievable by 2030 but that success is being threatened by pushes to reduce funding and to restrict human rights.” Challenges faced by children living with HIV are among the most significant threats to progress. “The report clearly shows that truly ending AIDS is impossible if we do not prioritize children,” said Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF)…

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Visa disaster looming ahead of International AIDS Conference in Munich

Michael Gwarisa

Delays in visa processing at German embassies put the participation of people from countries of the global South and of people from vulnerable communities in jeopardy. Deutsche Aidshilfe is now calling for political action. The conference of the International AIDS Society IAS is the world’s largest congress on scientific, socio-political and civic aspects of HIV. More than 15,000 scientists, doctors, other health care professionals and activists from over 175 countries are expected to attend #AIDS2024 in Munich from July 22 to 26, 2024. However, several activists have been reporting that…

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Tampons Contain Cancer-Causing Metals- Study

Healthtimes

By Staff Reporter Women who use Tampons to manage their menstrual cycles are exposed to a greater risk of developing cancer of the reproductive system owing to the presence of heavy toxic metals in the menstrual products. Over 100 million women in over 120 countries Zimbabwe included, use tampons during their menstrual cycle. Most tampons are made from cotton and rayon, both of which are made from plants that may be exposed to heavy metal contamination in the soil. However, a new study conducted by researchers at the UC Berkeley…

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Biden administration plans major cuts to AIDS relief programs in Africa

Healthtimes

The Biden administration plans to cut funding by more than 6 percent in fiscal 2025 from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the 21-year-old program credited with saving millions of lives in Africa, a senior PEPFAR official told POLITICO. The State Department, which oversees the program, confirmed the cuts. The department has gradually spent down a glut in the PEPFAR budget from years in which funding from Congress exceeded State’s ability to spend it, said a department spokesperson who, like the PEPFAR official, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive…

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New Study Shows Black Girls Are Getting Their Period Earlier

Healthtimes

By Staff Reporter While the ideal age for girls in their first period ranges from 10 and 15 years old, a new study has found that girls of colour, particularly Black girls, are beginning their menstrual cycles at younger ages than their peers, HealthTimes has learnt. The study titled “Menarche and Time to Cycle Regularity Among Individuals Born Between 1950 and 2005 in the US” was conducted by Professor Zifan Wang et al and examined the menstrual trends in girls to explore some of the factors leading to an early…

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Hope on the Horizon As New TB Vaccine Trials Kick Off

Healthtimes

Hundred years later after the first Tuberculosis Vaccine was developed, a new TB vaccine is on the horizon. By Mandy Collins Imagine a world where TB doesn’t steal millions of lives each year. That dream might be inching closer, thanks to a groundbreaking vaccine trial kicking off in South Africa. Towards the end of March 2024, the first doses of potentially the first new tuberculosis (TB) vaccine in a century were administered at a clinical trial site in Johannesburg, South Africa, marking a crucial step in the fight against this…

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Conservation Is The Firewall To Future Public Health Threats Says AWF Boss

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa In 2020, the world went into a total lockdown following the declaration of the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) as a global health pandemic. The coronavirus is an infectious disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Cases of novel coronavirus were first detected in China in December 2019, with the virus spreading rapidly to other countries worldwide. This led WHO to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020 and to characterise the outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March…

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#BREAKING: Ban On Care Workers Bringing Dependents To The UK Takes Effect

Michael Gwarisa

By Michael Gwarisa The ban on care workers bringing their dependents to the United Kingdom is now in full force following the announcement by the United Kingdom (UK) government on December 4, 2023 of changes to the immigration system. The announced had indicated that the ban  would take effect in March and April 2024 and from March 11, 2024, care workers (SOC 6145) and senior care workers (SOC 6146) will be unable to bring dependents when they migrate to the UK, and only CQC-registered providers in England will be able…

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