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COVID-19 data regarding natural origin withheld? The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi The World Health Organization rebuked Chinese officials on Friday for withholding research that may link COVID’s origin to wild animals, asking why the data had not been made available three years ago and why it is now missing. www.nytimes.com/2023/03/17/health/covid-origins-who.html? Before the …

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More than 100 countries bid for pandemic preparedness funds; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi More than 100 low- and middle-income countries have put in early bids for at least $5.5 billion from a fund that initially has only $300 million to spend to help them better prepare for pandemics. https://www.reuters.com/world/pandemic-fund-vastly-oversubscribed-more-money-needed-world-bank-2023-03-07/ The demand is a sign …

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WHO reviews risk of bird flu transmission; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern about bird flu on February 24 after the father of an 11-year-old Cambodian girl who died from the disease also tested positive, raising fears of human-to-human transmission. However, officials say the father is asymptomatic. …

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CDC votes in favour of mpox vaccine; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi Advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has voted in favour of the Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine for all adults at risk of mpox during an outbreak. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/988606?src=wnl_edit_tpal&uac=398271FG&impID=5194437&faf=1 The panel of outside experts voted unanimously in favour …

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Global Fund initiates COVID-19 Response Mechanism; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi The COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) of the Global Fund has initiated the process to award US$320 million to various countries worldwide. Since December 2022, the Fund has awarded US$547 million in additional funding to 40 countries. The latest tranche makes for a total …

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Bio Farma to produce Merck & Co’s HPV vaccine

In a bid to combat HPV-linked cervical cancer in the country Indonesia will produce drugmaker Merck & Co’s vaccines for human papillomavirus (HPV), the chief of its state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma said last Tuesday,. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/985471?src=wnl_edit_tpal&uac=398271FG&impID=4990446&faf=1 Cervical cancer is the fourth-most common cancer among women globally, with an estimated 604,000 new cases and 342,000 deaths …

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Jeremy Farrar, to take on chief scientist role at WHO

Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, one of the largest nongovernmental science funders, will step down early next year to become the chief scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO). He will replace Soumya Swaminathan, the first person to hold the post. Swaminathan, a paediatrician, announced last month that she would be leaving to focus on …

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Measles outbreak attributed to low vaccine coverage

A measles outbreak in Mumbai, followed by Ranchi, Ahmedabad and Malappuram in India over the past month has drawn attention to the large number of unvaccinated children. Over 16,000 suspected cases have been recorded in India. Of the 20 children who have died of measles since October 26 in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, just one …

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