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Dec102025 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

EU and WHO Launch €3.5M Partnership to Strengthen Global Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance

Latest News

GHealth News - The European Commission and the World Health Organization have signed a €3.5 million EU4Health agreement aimed at strengthening the global fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Through this partnership, the WHO will enhance its monitoring of antimicrobial and medical countermeasure development, create guidance for new antibacterial innovations, and advance the implementation of its Priority Pathogen Lists to help steer research and public-health strategies worldwide. The agreement also supports efforts to improve access to both new and existing antibiotics. Ahead of her meeting with WHO Regional Directors for Europe and Africa, Dr Hans Kluge and Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi, EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib emphasized the ur...

Nov212025 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Ethiopia Confirms Deadly Marburg Virus Outbreak

Latest News

GHealth News - Ethiopia has reported a confirmed outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus in its southern region, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). Marburg is among the most lethal viruses known. Similar to Ebola, it leads to severe bleeding, high fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea, with an incubation period of up to 21 days. It spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids and carries a fatality rate ranging from 25% to 80%. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is Ethiopian, announced on Friday that at least nine infections had been identified in southern Ethiopia. His statement came two days after Africa CDC received reports of a suspected haemorrhagic fever in the area. “Marburg virus disease (MVD) has been confirmed...

Sep202025 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Apple used AI to uncover new blood pressure notification feature in Watch

Latest News

GHealth News - Apple Watch Series 11 models that go on sale on Friday can notify users that they may have high blood pressure, in a feature the company has powered using artificial intelligence rather than a blood pressure monitor. The notification feature, which will work with models back to the Apple Watch Series 9, came about from applying AI models to existing sensor data, said Sumbul Ahmad Desai, Apple's vice president of health. Apple had been interested for years in trying to identify high blood pressure, she told Reuters. The condition affects more than 1 billion people globally, but half of the adults with it go undiagnosed, in part because the standard for measuring blood pressure - a cuff called a sphygmomanometer - is something many people encounter only at a doctor's ...

Sep202025 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

WHO Launches First Global Guideline on Balanced Access to Controlled Medicines

Latest News

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released the full edition of its guideline on balanced national controlled medicines policies, the first comprehensive global framework aimed at ensuring access to controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes, while reducing the risks of misuse and diversion. This follows an initial rapid communication presented at the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly, which introduced the guideline. Controlled medicines such as opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and amphetamines are vital for pain relief, surgery, seizure management, palliative care, and the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. Yet, millions of patients around the world remain unable to obtain them. WHO estimates that up to 98% of patients in low-income...

Aug42025 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

World Court climate opinion turns up the legal heat on governments

Climate Change

GHealth News - A landmark opinion delivered by the United Nations' highest court last week that governments must protect the climate is already being cited in courtrooms, as lawyers say it strengthens the legal arguments in suits against countries and companies. The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, laid out the duty of states to limit harm from greenhouse gases and to regulate private industry. It said failure to reduce emissions could be an internationally wrongful act and, found that treaties such as the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change should be considered legally binding. While not specifically naming the United States, the court said countries that were not part of the United Nations climate treaty must still protect the climate a...

Jun262025 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

EU and Gates Foundation Mobilise €7.7 Billion for Global Vaccination at Gavi 6.0 Summit

Global Health

GHealth News - On 25 June 2025, the European Union and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-hosted the Gavi 6.0 High-Level Pledging Summit in Brussels, with strong backing from Gavi donors and implementing countries. The event gathered global leaders from governments, international organisations, vaccine manufacturers, civil society, and the private sector to secure funding for global immunisation efforts. The summit raised over €7.7 billion in pledges toward Gavi’s €10.2 billion target for 2026–2030. Team Europe composed of the EU and its Member States reaffirmed its leadership role with a collective pledge exceeding €2 billion, including €360 million from the European Commission. In addition to donor pledges, the summit secured: €3.8 billion in complementary financing fro...

Jun192025 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

FDA Approves Twice-Yearly HIV Prevention Shot, Marking Major Breakthrough

Communicable Diseases

GHealth News - The FDA has approved a new long-acting HIV prevention drug called lenacapavir, branded as Yeztugo, which could significantly reduce new infections. Administered via injection just twice a year, it offers nearly complete protection based on clinical trials. This is a major advancement compared to existing daily pills or bimonthly injections like Apretude (cabotegravir). Lenacapavir, produced by Gilead Sciences, is already used to treat drug-resistant HIV and costs $42,000 annually, though most patients receive financial assistance or insurance coverage. By contrast, daily pills cost about $1 each, and Apretude costs $24,000 per year. Despite its potential to transform HIV prevention, experts warn that funding cuts, especially to Medicaid and PEPFAR, may limit global acc...

Jun52025 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Cholera Crisis Deepens: WHO Rolls Out Emergency Plan for Eastern Mediterranean

Communicable Diseases

GHealth News - The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean has launched a new strategy (2025–2028) to reduce cholera in the region by addressing its root causes and preventing future outbreaks. The plan comes amid a significant rise in cholera and acute watery diarrhea cases, with the region currently accounting for 55% of global cholera cases and deaths in 2025. Key challenges include protracted conflict, poverty, poor health systems, weak water and sanitation infrastructure, displacement, and climate shocks. Countries like Sudan (65,291 cases, 1,721 deaths), Yemen (271,000 suspected cases, 884 deaths), and Syria face especially severe outbreaks. The strategy aligns with global frameworks and focuses on five key pillars: Multisectoral coordinati...

May302025 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Cholera Kills 172 in a Week as Sudan’s Health System Collapses Under War

Latest News

GHealth News - Sudan is facing a sharp rise in cholera cases amid ongoing war, with 2,700 infections and 172 deaths reported in just the past week, according to the Ministry of Health. Khartoum state accounts for 90% of these cases, as drone strikes by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have crippled water and power infrastructure. The RSF recently targeted power stations in Khartoum, disabling electricity and halting clean water supply, which has forced residents to rely on unsafe sources. The medical group Doctors Without Borders warned that water treatment facilities can no longer operate without power. Cholera, endemic in Sudan, has worsened dramatically since the war began in April 2023, with outbreaks now more frequent and deadly due to the collapse of water, sanitatio...

May262025 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

The Unseen Enemy: Navigating Antimicrobial Resistance

AMR

Nobel Prize - As bacteria become resistant to existing antibiotics, we are running out of drugs to treat infectious diseases. This is a problem that Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, foresaw already in 1945. Today the hunt is on to find new antibiotics with the potential to save millions of lives. At a glance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health crisis, with predictions that 10 million people per year could die from drug-resistant infections by 2050. Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin revolutionised medicine. Fleming warned in 1945 that improper use of antibiotics could lead to antibiotic resistance. Scientists are searching for new antibiotics in various environments, such as deserts, oceans, and even within the human body, to combat AMR. ...