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Jul162021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

WHO releases first guidelines on hepatitis C virus self-testing

Global Health

New guidelines from WHO strongly recommend offering self-testing for hepatitis C virus (HCV) as an additional approach to HCV testing services. WHO releases the new guidelines – its first on HCV self-testing – during the International AIDS Society Conference 2021. WHO set a goal to eliminate HCV as a public health problem by 2030 in its Global health sector strategy on viral hepatitis (2016–2021), with targets to diagnose 90% of those with HCV and to treat 80% of those diagnosed. However, as of 2019 only an estimated 21% of the 58 million people with chronic HCV infection globally were diagnosed. And, despite recent advances in highly effective and affordable direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment, only 9.4 million (62% of those diagnosed) were treated with DAAs between 2015...

Jul142021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

FDA adds warning about rare reaction to J&J COVID-19 vaccine

COVID19, Vaccines

U.S. regulators on Monday added a new warning to Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine about links to a rare and potentially dangerous neurological reaction, but said it’s not entirely clear the shot caused the problem. The Food and Drug Administration announced the new warning, flagging reports of Guillain-Barre syndrome, an immune system disorder that can cause muscle weakness and occasionally paralysis. Health officials described the side effect as a “small possible risk” for those getting the shot. The action comes after the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed reports of about 100 people developing the syndrome after receiving the one-dose vaccine. Almost all of were hospitalized and one person died, the FDA said. Guillain-Barre syndrome occurs w...

Jul112021 by GHealth News18 Comments

Heart health: design cities differently and it can help us live longer

NCDs

By: Tolullah Oni and Rizka Maulida By 2050, it is projected that almost 70% of the world’s population will be living in cities, up from 55% today. The fastest urban growth is happening in Asia and Africa, which is also where we’re seeing a rapid rise in people suffering from, and dying of, heart disease. The impact of non-communicable diseases on the world population’s health is growing. Non-communicable diseases are those that are not directly transmissible from one person to another. By 2030, scientists predict they will account for 77% of the global burden of disease. Cardiovascular or heart disease is the most common type, responsible for 44% of all deaths related to this category. New research from the University Medical Centre in Mainz, Germ...

Jun252021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Fact check: What do we know about the coronavirus delta variant?

COVID19

As India battles a deadly second wave, the UK is seeing COVID-19 cases rise despite vaccinations. Germany is also wary about another wave spurred by the delta variant. What exactly is the delta variant? The earliest documented COVID-19 case caused by the delta variant (B.1.617.2) was first found in the Indian state of Maharashtra back in October 2020, and has since then spread widely throughout India and across the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) labelled it a "variant of concern" (VOC) on May 11. So far, the WHO has identified four VOC: alpha (B.1.1.7), beta (B.1.351), gamma (P.1) and delta. The delta variant has multiple mutations. Scientists don't know the exact function of these mutations at this point in time but they are asso...

Jun212021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

US to spend $3.2B on treatments for COVID-19, other viruses

COVID19

The United States is devoting $3.2 billion to speed development of antiviral pills to treat COVID-19 and other dangerous viruses that could turn into pandemics. The new program will invest in “accelerating things that are already in progress” for COVID-19 but also would work to come up with treatments for other viruses, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. He announced the investment at a White House briefing. “There are few treatments that exist for many of the viruses that have pandemic potential,” he said, including Ebola, dengue, West Nile and Middle East respiratory syndrome. But he added, “vaccines clearly remain the centerpiece of our arsenal. The U.S. has approved one antiviral drug, remdesivir, specifically for COVID-19, and allowed emerg...

Jun192021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Guinea Ebola outbreak declared over by WHO

Communicable Diseases

An Ebola outbreak in Guinea that started in February, infecting 16 people and killing 12, has been declared over, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. Health authorities were able to move swiftly to tackle the resurgence of the virus, which causes severe bleeding and organ failure and is spread through contact with body fluids, after lessons learned from previous outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Based on the lessons learned from the 2014-16 outbreak and through rapid, coordinated response efforts … Guinea managed to control the outbreak and prevent its spread beyond its borders,” the WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a statement. The Ebola outbreak in 2014-2016 killed 11,300 people, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. ...

Jun142021 by GHealth News1 Comment

Which COVID-19 vaccine is the best? – Video

COVID19

The internet seems to know exactly which vaccines are the best - and the worst. But you can't compare vaccines that easily. And doing so might even be harmful in a pandemic. We tend to look at efficacy rates. Because they measure how likely you are to get COVID-19 after you’ve been vaccinated. The problem is that these numbers were not created equal. Instead they are determined by when and where the efficacy trials took place and who was included. Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRKZh_RXJC0 Source: DW

Jun92021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Africa CDC launches Fellowship of Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme

Global Health

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the Kofi Annan Foundation launched the Fellowship of Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Programme which aims to support senior aspirational African public health leaders acquire advanced skills for transformational public health leadership in Africa. The programme is the first initiative under the Kofi Annan Global Health Leadership Program (KA-GHLP) that was launched on 25 May 2020 by the African Union Commission (AUC) and Africa CDC. The leadership programme was established in honour of the late Kofi Annan, a visionary and principled leader as epitomized by one of his brainchild achievements, the establishment of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund) in 2001, which transformed the ap...

Jun52021 by GHealth News1 Comment

Had COVID? You’ll probably make antibodies for a lifetime

COVID19

Many people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 will probably make antibodies against the virus for most of their lives. So suggest researchers who have identified long-lived antibody-producing cells in the bone marrow of people who have recovered from COVID-19. The study provides evidence that immunity triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection will be extraordinarily long-lasting. Adding to the good news, “the implications are that vaccines will have the same durable effect”, says Menno van Zelm, an immunologist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Antibodies — proteins that can recognize and help to inactivate viral particles — are a key immune defence. After a new infection, short-lived cells called plasmablasts are an early source of antibodies. But these cells recede soon...

May312021 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

World Health Assembly adopts new resolution on malaria

Communicable Diseases

The World Health Assembly, the main governing body of the World Health Organization, has adopted a new resolution that aims to revitalize and accelerate efforts to end malaria, a preventable and treatable disease that continues to claim more than 400 000 lives annually. Led by the United States of America and Zambia – and co-sponsored by Botswana, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Eswatini, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, Monaco, Mozambique, Namibia, Philippines, Peru, Sudan, Switzerland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Member States of the European Union – the resolution comes at a critical time as global progress against malaria stalls and the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to further derail efforts to tackle the disease worldwide. The resolution urge...