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Dec12021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

What to know about the omicron variant of the coronavirus

COVID19

By Meryl Kornfield, Adela Suliman, Christine Armario, María Luisa Paúl and Lindsey Bever Omicron has sparked alarm among epidemiologists worried that the new variant’s mutations could make it more transmissible. Scientists are racing to learn more as new cases are confirmed. A new variant of the coronavirus, which causes covid-19, is raising concern around the globe. Health authorities say the new variant, known by the Greek letter omicron, was first identified in southern Africa. Since then cases have since been confirmed in 20 countries as of Tuesday morning — though none has been detected in the United States. In an address from the White House on Monday, President Biden said the variant is a “cause for concern, not a cause for panic.” He urged Americans to get the coron...

Nov232021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme (Fully Funded) – Apply Now!

Global Health

Supporting aspirational public health leaders from Africa in acquiring advanced skills and competencies to strategize, manage and lead public health programmes that will transform public health in Africa. The African Union Commission launched the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) – Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme on 25 May 2020 in partnership with the Kofi Annan Foundation, following its approval by the Governing Board of Africa CDC in March 2018. The aim is to support aspirational Public Health Leaders (Fellows) from Africa in acquiring advanced skills and competencies to strategize, manage and lead public health programmes that will transform public health in Africa. Fellows admitted in the programme w...

Nov162021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

New WHO report highlights barriers to insulin for diabetes

NCDs

A new report highlights the worrying state of global access to insulin for diabetes care and finds that high prices, low availability of human insulin, few producers dominating the insulin market and weak health systems are the main barriers to universal access. Insulin for diabetes treatment is essential for diagnosed individuals to manage their condition, reducing fatality rates, risk of kidney failure, blindness and limb amputation for people living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. “The scientists who discovered insulin 100 years ago refused to profit from their discovery and sold the patent for just one dollar,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Unfortunately, that gesture of solidarity has been overtaken by a multi-billion-dollar business that ...

Nov132021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

There May Be a ‘Best Bedtime’ for Your Heart

NCDs

Is there an ideal time to go to bed every night if you want to dodge heart disease? Apparently there is, claims a new study that found hitting the sack between 10 and 11 p.m. may be the ideal time to cut the risk for cardiovascular trouble. The finding may be worth heeding, since the researchers also found that going to sleep before 10 p.m. or at midnight or later might raise the risk for heart disease by nearly 25%. The raised risk may be traced to the altering of the body's circadian rhythm — its internal clock, the study authors said. "The circadian system controls daily behavioral and physiological rhythms. Disruption to the circadian rhythm has wide-ranging implications, resulting in poorer cognitive performance and increased risk for various physical and ...

Nov122021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

University of Oxford starts new Ebola vaccine trials

Vaccines

Clinical trials have begun for a new Ebola vaccine developed by the University of Oxford. The jab has been designed to tackle the Zaire and Sudan types of Ebola, which together have caused nearly all Ebola outbreaks and deaths worldwide. The University of Oxford has launched phase one of its trials, testing the vaccine in human volunteers. Ebola vaccines exist for the Zaire species but Oxford researchers hope the new jab will have a wider reach. Teresa Lambe, lead scientific investigator at the University of Oxford, said: "Sporadic Ebolavirus outbreaks still occur in affected countries, putting the lives of individuals, especially frontline health workers, at risk. We need more vaccines to tackle this devastating disease." There are four species of Ebola virus that have been...

Nov122021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Egypt to host COP27 international climate conference in 2022

Climate Change

Egypt will host the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2022, the country's environment ministry said on Thursday. The North African country will hold the conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, it added. The decision was taken during this year's conference, COP26, which is hosted by the United Kingdom in Glasgow. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared in September his country's interest in hosting the COP27 on behalf of the African continent. The country would work to make the conference "a radical turning point in international climate efforts in coordination with all parties, for the benefit of Africa and the entire world," he said at the time. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was selected on Thursday to host the COP28 international ...

Nov92021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Climate-linked health risks to rise, COP26 panelists warn

Climate Change

If you thought the COVID pandemic was disruptive and deadly, climate change will be so much worse. So said a slew of panelists Tuesday at the U.N. climate talks in Glasgow, warning about escalating climate-linked health threats such as disease, heatstroke and air pollution. But they also called out the health systems in rich nations as part of the problem, with the healthcare sector responsible for up to 5% of global carbon emissions. “We need to recognize the role of health systems as emitters,” said Rachel Levine, the U.S. assistant secretary of health. “We cannot stand back and only tell others what they should do to protect our patients.” The main sources of emissions from the healthcare sector include the manufacture and transport of medical goods, as well as the construct...

Nov12021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Climate Change Is a Health Crisis

Climate Change

By: JULIA GILLARD The damaging effects of a warming planet are not limited to the environment. The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) currently underway in Glasgow is an ideal opportunity for world leaders to demonstrate that they understand that global warming is a health crisis, and that they are learning from the pandemic response. The threat COVID-19 poses to human health is now well understood around the world. In contrast, the enormous health threat of global warming, with its broad array of persistent impacts on our well-being, is under-recognized and poorly understood. Yet climate change is harming human health right now. During the 2020 monsoon season in Bangladesh, for example, water flooded a quarter of the country. More than 1.3 million homes we...

Oct292021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

The search for people who never get COVID

COVID19

A couple walk on the streets of Istanbul, Turkey.Credit: Ibrahim Oner/SOPA Images/Shutterstock By: Smriti Mallapaty An international team of researchers want to find people who are genetically resistant to SARS-CoV-2, in the hope of developing new drugs and treatments. Imagine being born naturally resistant to SARS-CoV-2, and never having to worry about contracting COVID-19 or spreading the virus. If you have this superpower, researchers want to meet you, to enrol you in their study. As described in a paper in Nature Immunology this month, an international team of scientists has launched a global hunt for people who are genetically resistant to infection with the pandemic virus. The team hopes that identifying the genes protecting these individuals could lead to the development...

Oct252021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

WHO and partners call for action to better protect health and care workers from COVID-19

COVID19

The World Health Organization and partners[i] have issued an urgent call for concrete action to better protect health and care workers worldwide from COVID-19 and other health issues. The organizations are concerned that large numbers of health and care workers have died from COVID-19, but also that an increasing proportion of the workforce are suffering from burnout, stress, anxiety and fatigue. In a Joint Statement issued this week, WHO and partners are calling on all Member State governments and stakeholders to strengthen the monitoring and reporting of COVID-19 infections, ill-health and deaths among health and care workers. They should also include disaggregation by age, gender and occupation as a standard procedure, to enable decision makers and scientists ...