Category: Global Health

We also look at whats happneing across the world

Governments announce increased financial support to the global AIDS response

Michael Gwarisa

Geneva, 22 June 2022—Addressing the UNAIDS Programme Coordination Board, governments have begun to pledge new investments to advance the end of AIDS. The United Kingdom and Germany were among those pledging increased resources to support the work of UNAIDS, the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS. The UK will increase funding to UNAIDS to £8 million per year, up from £2.5 million in 2021. The UK emphasised the importance of sufficient, predictable and timely funding towards enabling UNAIDS to deliver on its mandate. Germany will increase its funding to UNAIDS…

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UNAIDS warns that stigmatizing language on Monkeypox jeopardises public health

Michael Gwarisa

UNAIDS has expressed concern that some public reporting and commentary on Monkeypox has used language and imagery, particularly portrayals of LGBTI and African people, that reinforce homophobic and racist stereotypes and exacerbate stigma. Lessons from the AIDS response show that stigma and blame directed at certain groups of people can rapidly undermine outbreak response. Since May 13, 2022, an outbreak of Monkeypox has been reported in multiple UN member states where cases are not usually reported. As of May 21, the World Health Organization received reports of 92 laboratory-confirmed cases and…

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WHO highlights glaring gaps in regulation of alcohol marketing across borders

Michael Gwarisa

A new report from the World Health Organization highlights the increasing use of sophisticated online marketing techniques for alcohol and the need for more effective regulation. It shows that young people and heavy drinkers are increasingly targeted by alcohol advertising, often to the detriment of their health. Reducing the harm from alcohol – by regulating cross-border alcohol marketing, advertising and promotion is the first report from WHO to detail the full extent of the way that alcohol is today being marketed across national borders – often by digital means –…

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14.9 Excess Deaths Associated With The COVID-19 Pandemic In 2020-2021, Europe, America and South-East Asia Account For Majority Of Deaths

Michael Gwarisa

New estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic (described as “excess mortality”) between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 was approximately 14.9 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million). “These sobering data not only point to the impact of the pandemic but also to the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO…

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99 Percent Breathing Unhealthy air: WHO

Healthtimes

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) says almost the whole world is breathing unhealthy air calling on leaders to address climate change and environment crisis. HealthTimes Reporter This year on April 7, the world commemorates World Health Day running under the theme, “Our Planet, our health.” On this World Health Day (April 7, 2022), WHO is issuing an urgent call for accelerated action by leaders and all people to preserve and protect health and mitigate the climate crisis as part of an “Our planet, our health” campaign marking the organization’s founding…

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5000 Young Women Aged 15–24 Become infected With HIV Every Week

Healthtimes

YOUNG women and girls still constitute the largest proportion of new HIV infections with indications that every week, around 5000 young women aged 15–24 years become infected with HIV, according to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Statistics Fact Sheet. By Staff Reporter According to the report, in sub-Saharan Africa, six in seven new HIV infections among adolescents aged 15–19 years are among girls. Young women aged 15–24 years are twice as likely to be living with HIV than men. Around 4200 adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 years became infected…

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Ukraian’s Medicinal Oxygen Supplies Hits Record Low…Stocks May Run Out Within 24 Hours

Michael Gwarisa

THE deteriorating political situation in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion last week has led to massive depletion of Oxygen stocks, raising fears of a health catastrophe in the midst of the prevailing war. By Michael Gwarisa In a joint statement, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO Regional Director for Europe,  Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge called for restoration of critical medical supplies to safely reach those who need them, and are working with partners to establish safe transit for shipments through Poland. The oxygen supply…

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WHO Advises CountriesTo Be Wary of Omicron’s BA.2 Sublineage

Michael Gwarisa

EVEN though there is still a reported decline in overall cases globally, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s)  Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) has cautioned that countries should remain vigilant and continue monitoring and reporting sequences, as well as conducting independent and comparative analyses of the different Omicron sublineages. By Michael Gwarisa According to available data of transmission, severity, reinfection, diagnostics, therapeutics and impacts of vaccines, the TAG-VE reinforced that the BA.2 sublineage should continue to be considered a variant of concern and that it should remain classified…

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Malin Grape Appointed AMR Ambassador For Sweden

Healthtimes

When Sweden’s Statement of Foreign Policy was presented this week, it included a new Swedish initiative of appointing an AMR Ambassador. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to global health security and claims the lives of more than one million people each year, according to a study recently published in The Lancet. By Own Correspondent “Antimicrobial resistance has long been an important issue for the Government. It is a serious and growing public health problem in Sweden and around the world. Sweden has a great deal of knowledge and…

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Dr Tony Fauci to deliver keynote address at the 6th Global Forum on TB Vaccines

Michael Gwarisa

Years of progress in the fight against tuberculosis (TB), the world´s second biggest infectious killer since the emergence of COVID-19, together with the rise of antimicrobial drug resistance has made vaccine development against the disease all the more urgent, scientists will be told next week at the 6th Global Forum on TB Vaccines (virtual, hosted by Toulouse, France). The event is being held under the high patronage of French President Emmanuel Macron and under the patronage of French Minister for Solidarity and Health Olivier Véran, and is an official event…

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