Each May, the World Health Assembly brings a whirlwind of global health debate and discussion to the UN’s Palais des Nations in Geneva. Loyce Pace, president and executive director of the Global Health Council, was there again this year to advocate the organization’s…
It wasn’t so much the message as the messenger. “Vaccines are some of the most thoroughly tested medical products we have. Vaccines are safe, effective, and lifesaving.” No one in Salle XXIII at the World Health Assembly on Tuesday afternoon was expecting anything…
Watch out Chicago, LA and Miami. A new Lancet Infectious Diseases study predicts that’s where the measles outbreak is headed next. After that: Queens County, New York, Seattle, Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas…
In 2010, Rwanda became the first African country to launch a national cervical cancer prevention program, forging an agreement with Merck to vaccinate girls against the human papillomavirus virus. Hurdles and doubts abounded: HPV is sexually transmitted—yet talking about…
Scientists are preparing to kick off a clinical trial in Equatorial Guinea for a malaria vaccine that can provide 100% protection against the disease. The goal: To show regulators that the product is safe and effective. If all goes well, an even bigger trial will follow.…
When it comes to drugs, all pricing is not created equal. Far from it. In Greece, the pneumonia vaccine ranges from $9 per immunization to $168; France pays $189; Lebanon $243; India $60. These swings and roundabouts sum up a “broken” drug pricing system worldwide, says…
As the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reached a record-setting 18 cases in a single day, the WHO is reconsidering whether to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, CIDRAP reports.
New York City officials declared a public health emergency yesterday and ordered mandatory measles vaccinations over an outbreak centered in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn. Officials tie Brooklyn’s eruption of cases—at least 285 since September, mostly in…
Why is the malaria vaccine so elusive? Because the immune response required to shield someone against the parasite must be sky high. A novel effort to achieve a mass-produced vaccine involves a rather antique method: beheading. The mozzie massacre has a purpose: enabling…
When Ebola breaks out in a conflict zone, health workers can't do their jobs—and neither a promising vaccine. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Ebola fight is also up against militias who, perpetually at war with each other, are now targeting clinics. The…
