Friday, December 19
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Author: GHealth News

Record 40°C UK temperatures linked to climate change: WMO

Record 40°C UK temperatures linked to climate change: WMO

Climate Change
The heat soared in the morning - with temperatures hitting a record 40.2C by 12:50 BST GHealth News - In a statement, the WMO noted that the UK’s Met Office has, for the first time, issued a “Red Warning” for exceptional heat, and forecast temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Monday and Tuesday. The current record high temperature in the UK is 38.7 degrees Celsius, which was reached just three years ago. ‘Widespread impacts on people and infrastructure’ “Nights are also likely to be exceptionally warm, especially in urban areas”, said Met Office Chief Meteorologist Paul Gundersen. “This is likely to lead to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure. Therefore, it is important people plan for the heat and consider changing their routines. This level...
WHO says COVID-19 remains a global health emergency

WHO says COVID-19 remains a global health emergency

COVID19
GHealth News - The World Health Organization said that COVID-19 remains a global emergency, nearly 2-1/2 years after it was first declared. The Emergency Committee, made up of independent experts, said in a statement that rising cases, ongoing viral evolution and pressure on health services in a number of countries meant that the situation was still an emergency. Cases reported to WHO had risen by 30% in the last fortnight, although increased population immunity, largely from vaccines, had seen a "decoupling" of cases from hospitalisations and deaths, the committee's statement said. "COVID-19 is nowhere near over," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference from Geneva after the announcement. "As the virus pushes at us, we must push back." T...
MIT scientists think they’ve discovered how to fully reverse climate change

MIT scientists think they’ve discovered how to fully reverse climate change

Climate Change
GHealth News - Scientists at MIT think they may have finally found a way to reverse climate change. Or, at the least, help ease it some. The idea revolves heavily around the creation and deployment of several thin film-like silicon bubbles. The “space bubbles” as they refer to them, would be joined together like a raft. Once expanded in space it would be around the same size as Brazil. The bubbles would then provide an extra buffer against the harmful solar radiation that comes from the Sun. The goal with these new “space bubbles” would be to ease up or even reverse climate change. The Earth has seen rising temperatures over the past several centuries. In fact, NASA previously released a gif detailing how the global temperature has changed over the years. Now, we’re seeing ...
Sleep duration matters for heart health, according to new recommendations

Sleep duration matters for heart health, according to new recommendations

NCDs
GHealth News - If you needed another reason to get enough sleep, here it is: It may help your heart health. The American Heart Association added sleep duration to its cardiovascular health checklist. It's a part of "Life's Essential 8," a questionnaire that measures eight key areas to determine a person's cardiovascular health. The updated list was published Wednesday in Circulation, AHA's peer-reviewed journal, and replaced the association's "Life's Simple 7" questionnaire, which had been used since 2010. In addition to sleep, the new list retained the original categories: diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose and blood pressure. Sleep duration made the list after researchers examined new scientific findings over the past...
Monkeypox symptoms are proving ‘atypical’ and virus could be mistaken for an STD, experts warn

Monkeypox symptoms are proving ‘atypical’ and virus could be mistaken for an STD, experts warn

Communicable Diseases
By Jack Ramage As monkeypox cases rise across the globe, experts warn even more infections could be flying under the radar as symptoms differ from what doctors have seen in the past. As of July 6, more than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported from 58 countries – according to data released by the World Health Organization (WHO). Most cases are currently recorded in Europe, with the virus spreading in non-endemic countries, most of which had never seen monkeypox cases before. The current outbreak has led the UN agency to reconvene and advise on declaring the outbreak a global health emergency – the highest level of alert by the WHO – in the week starting July 18, or sooner. The WHO has warned that many cases are presenting the previously typical clinical picture for m...
Africa CDC signs with Pfizer for supply of Covid-19 pill

Africa CDC signs with Pfizer for supply of Covid-19 pill

COVID19
GHealth News - Africa’s top public health agency (CDC) said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Pfizer for countries on the continent to receive supplies of the Paxlovid pill to treat Covid-19. Data from a mid-to-late stage study last November showed the antiviral medication was nearly 90 percent effective in preventing hospitalisations and deaths compared with a placebo, in adults at high risk of severe illness. “We have signed the MOU with Pfizer and we are going to be able to make that particular treatment available to African countries,” said Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, the acting director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Ouma said the MOU would allow African countries to access Paxlovid at cost. The Africa CDC, an agency of the 55-member Afri...
Sanofi launches global health brand with non-profit treatments

Sanofi launches global health brand with non-profit treatments

Global Health
 GHealth News - French drugmaker Sanofi will make 30 of its treatments, including insulin, available on a not-for-profit basis in 40 lower-income countries in the first step of its plan to increase access to its medicines worldwide. The treatments will be provided under the new Impact brand, part of Sanofi's global health unit launched last year, which sits outside the commercial business. The plan also includes the $25 million Impact fund, which will go towards supporting local start-up healthcare businesses and providing training on using the medicines, Sanofi said. "There's a lot of noise at the moment from different companies jumping into this space... but investing in entrepreneurship, in the ecosystem, is a new thing," said Jon Fairest, who heads the global health unit. T...
World Health Summit 2022: Registration now opened

World Health Summit 2022: Registration now opened

Global Health
The World Health Summit (WHS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) join forces to organize the 2022 edition of one of the world's leading international, inclusive and inter-sectoral global health conference to bring global health actors closer to setting agenda for a healthier future. Registration for on-site participation is now open The Summit will take place on 16-18 October 2022 in Berlin, Germany. Participants will focus on “Making the Choice for Health” by reflecting on pressing topics such as Investment for Health and Well-Being, Climate Change and Planetary Health, Architecture for Pandemic Preparedness, Digital Transformation for Health, Food Systems and Health, Health Systems Resilience and Equity, and Global Health for Peace. See more information about the progr...
WHO considers declaring monkeypox a global health emergency

WHO considers declaring monkeypox a global health emergency

Communicable Diseases
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) GHealth News - The World Health Organization convened its emergency committee Thursday to consider if the spiralling outbreak of monkeypox warrants being declared a global emergency. But some experts say the WHO's decision to act only after the disease spilled into the West could entrench the grotesque inequities that arose between rich and poor countries during the coronavirus pandemic. Declaring monkeypox to be a global emergency would mean the UN health agency considers the outbreak to be an "extraordinary event" and that the disease is at risk of spreading across even more borders, possibly requiring a global response. It would also give monkeypox the same distinction as the COVID-19 pande...
UK to offer vaccines to some gay, bisexual men for monkeypox

UK to offer vaccines to some gay, bisexual men for monkeypox

Communicable Diseases
GHealth News - British health officials will start offering vaccines to some men who have sex with men and are at the highest risk of catching monkeypox, in an effort to curb the biggest outbreak of the disease beyond Africa. Doctors can consider vaccination for some men at the highest risk of exposure, Britain’s Health Security agency said in a statement Tuesday. The agency identified those at highest risk as men who have sex with men and who have multiple partners, participate in group sex or attend venues where sex occurs on the premises. “By expanding the vaccine offer to those at higher risk, we hope to break chains of transmission and help contain the outbreak,” said the Health Security Agency’s head of immunization, Dr. Mary Ramsay. Last month, a leading adviser to the Worl...