infectious diseases

WHO declares end to global mpox emergency; 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) ended the global health emergency for mpox, on 11 May, 10 months after it was declared, as cases have fallen dramatically in Europe and the Americas. www.science.org/content/article/who-ends-mpox-emergency? Caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV), the painful and […]

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WHO declares an end to COVID-19 emergency phase; 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) declared an end to the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, last Friday. The move is likely to usher the world into a new phase of disease monitoring with a scaling back of surveillance and available

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New global database highlights health inequality; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi Billed as the world’s most comprehensive collection of statistics on the topic, the Health Inequality Data Repository allows users to compare how people of differing incomes, ages, genders and rural-versus-urban settings compare on more than 2,000 measures of health, ranging from

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WHO expands mRNA facilities to South Africa; 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) on Thursday launched its mRNA vaccine technology hub in South Africa’s Cape Town, to help poorer countries struggling to gain access to life-saving medication. www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-officially-launches-mrna-vaccine-hub-cape-town-2023-04-20/ In 2021, the WHO picked South African biotech firm Afrigen Biologics

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Project NextGen to prepare for future pandemics; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi President Joe Biden’s administration said this week it plans to spend more than $5 billion to stoke development of better coronavirus vaccines and treatments to curb future pandemics. www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-new-us-coronavirus-research-lab-gears-carbon-cost-repurposed-accelerator? Like Operation Warp Speed, its predecessor during the administration of former President

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Bird flu remains on watch for potential mutations; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi From thousands of sea lions off the coast of Peru to mink farmed for fur in Spain to grizzly bears in Montana and harbour seals in Maine, for months, the avian influenza virus that has been decimating birds across the world

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Chinese researchers release new COVID-19 data; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi Chinese researchers released a trove of new genetic data last Wednesday that may offer fresh clues to the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. They also substantially revised a related study they first posted online 13 months ago to include this evidence,

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New data published regarding origins of COVID-19; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi A couple of weeks ago, journalists rushed to report on previously undisclosed genetic evidence that mammals sold at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China—possibly raccoon dogs—might have sparked the COVID-19 pandemic. But to the chagrin of the researchers who

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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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