One year ago, WHO created the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to respond to the unprecedented show of support by individuals and companies to help WHO in the fight against COVID-19. Powered by the UN Foundation and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, it was developed as an innovative platform to enable private companies, individuals, and other organizations…
Uganda ready to host African Climate Week
By Henry Neondo The government of Uganda is ready to host the African Regional Climate Week from March 3-4 to build regional momentum for the annual UN Climate Change Conferences and drive forward regional implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. The Regional Climate Week will provide a platform for representatives of national and subnational governments, cities,…
COVID-19 Vaccine roll out: Health experts urge Africa to exploit all available routes
By Henry Neondo Health experts in Africa have urged African countries to exploit any of three available routes to access vaccines to protect citizens from COVID-19. According to the experts, massive advances in vaccine science over the past year offered hope, but the global community needed to learn from its mistakes with inequitable HIV…
Economic opportunism in response to COVID-19 erodes Indigenous land rights, generate violence and deforestation
In their quest to bolster economies battered by the pandemic, governments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere have set aside social and environmental safeguards in favor of destructive development projects that are harming Indigenous communities and the forests they care for, according to a report released today by Forest Peoples Programme. The…
COVID-19 pandemic looms large over a malaria-free future
Despite the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the world held the line in protecting historic gains against malaria this year, saving hundreds of thousands of lives, preserving fragile health systems, and keeping malaria at bay in countries with zero local cases. However, long-term success in reaching a malaria-free world within a generation…
Science Policy, Science Literacy: post-COVID education for the developing world during the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact across the globe. For developing countries, this has not only had a negative impact on the economy, but it has also crippled the education system and will take years to recover. Where to go from here? Governments will not only have to re-look their policies on education…
Updates on COVID-19 treatments progress by the Biopharma Industry
Seven months into the pandemic, the innovative biopharmaceutical industry continues to step up work on researching and testing therapeutics that could lower mortality rates or lessen the severity of COVID-19. Over recent months, the results of rigorous clinical trials of repurposed medicines to achieve quick wins have been mixed, while the pipeline for new treatments…
WHO: access to HIV medicines severely impacted by COVID-19 as AIDS response stalls
By Henry Opondo Seventy-three countries have warned that they face the risk of stock-outs of antiretroviral (ARV) medicines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new WHO survey conducted ahead of the International AIDS Society’s biannual conference. Twenty-four countries reported having either a critically low stock of ARVs or disruptions in the…