Author: Global Author

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) report, launched ahead of World Hearing Day 2021 on Wednesday, says that in less than 30 years, nearly 2.5 billion people globally face the threat of hearing loss – at least 700 million of whom will require ear and hearing care as well as other rehabilitation services, unless action is taken.  That figure would mark a significant increase from the current 430 million people worldwide who are experiencing “disabling hearing loss”.   .@WHO’s first World Report on Hearing 👂🏽 warns 1⃣ in 4⃣ people will have…

Speaking after Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Colombia received their first round of AstraZeneca(AZ)/Oxford jabs, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the distribution of vaccines “has not been as equitable as we would have liked, but it has certainly been more equitable than it would have been otherwise”. Challenges on the ground The COVAX collective planned to deliver 11 million doses this week, Tedros continued, before cautioning that that “we still have many challenges to overcome, including the local production barriers relating to intellectual property”. Countries…

1) What is COVAX? COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access) is the vaccines element of the ACT-Accelerator programme, led by the WHO and international partners, to develop a set of tools to fight the virus. WHO says that the programme has supported the fastest, most coordinated, and successful global effort in history to fight a disease. The aim is to distribute two billion doses, mostly to poorer countries, in 2021, and immunise 27 per cent of their citizens. “No one is safe until everyone is safe”, has been a World Health…

 After speaking to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors, Director General Rafael Grossi told a press conference that while the agency had opened a window of opportunity for diplomacy in Iran, it should not be put in the middle of negotiations between Iran, the United States and other nations over the deal.   [embedded content] On 15 February, Iran announced that it would stop implementing “voluntary transparency measures” in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal, along with other arrangements in…

Four of the agency’s six regions reported a rise in numbers, with Africa and the Western Pacific excluded.  “This is disappointing, but not surprising”, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking during his biweekly press briefing from Geneva.  “Some of it appears to be due to relaxing of public health measures, continued circulation of variants, and people letting down their guard.”  The jump in cases comes as the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines continues.  “Vaccines will help to save lives, but if countries rely solely on vaccines, they’re making a mistake”,…

Last week, the West African nations each received more than half a million doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford shots, branded as COVISHIELD by their Indian manufacturer, which was cleared for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the UN health agency on February 15. The deliveries signify the launch of the largest, most rapid and complex global vaccine rollout in history, said WHO. Meanwhile, 11 million more COVAX doses are being delivered over the next week, as part of the global effort aiming to provide at least two billion doses of donor-funded coronavirus shots to lower income countries…