President John Magufuli of Tanzania – no stranger to controversy where the COVID pandemic has been concerned – has made new and alarming statements about the coronavirus during a public appearance. Magufuli questioned the safety and efficacy of the vaccines, according to local media accounts of his remarks, and put…
The Oxfam NGO is warning that the world’s poorest nations – two thirds of them on the African continent – don’t have equal access to the COVID vaccines, even as wealthier nations are snapping up doses for their own people. “Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate…
Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth of Mauritius has called for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, saying the pandemic has made painfully clear the inequities that exist between the world’s richer nations and their impoverished counterparts around the globe. “Such an access is key to change the course of the pandemic and…
Health experts on Wednesday declared an end to the most recent Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo, some six months after the first cases were reported in Equateur Province in the country’s northwest. The World Health Organization announced the waiting-period window, usually 42 days since the last confirmed…
Back in 2015, Liberia was among the highest-ranked countries in the world with citizens who said they think vaccines are safe, while Ethiopia was atop the list of those whose people said vaccines were important. Morocco, conversely, was among the lowest on both measures. But now, at a time when…
A clinical trial of a vaccine that researchers hoped would prevent HIV was stopped by its organizers, according to a statement Monday from The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. “This action was taken because an independent…
South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) assured the public Thursday that there are no cases of Ebola within the nation and it is not testing for any cases in neighboring countries, following miscommunication over an Ebola drill at a Lesotho border crossing. “The NICD houses the only biosafety…
Some promising news in the fight against tuberculosis came Tuesday from India, where results from trials of a new TB vaccine, the first in nearly 100 years, were presented at the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health. The vaccine, developed by British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and known as…
Kenya has joined the nations of Ghana and Malawi in administering a new malaria vaccine, with parts of the country participating in a pilot program offered in partnership with the World Health Organization. The vaccine known as RTS,S has taken 30 years to develop and so far is the only…
Malawi on Tuesday became the first African nation to launch a pilot program to administer the world’s first malaria vaccine to children ages 2 and under, according to the World Health Organization. The vaccine known as RTS,S has taken 30 years to develop and so far is the only vaccine…
As of Saturday, the number of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo had risen to 1,240 cases – a troubling jump of more than 100 in one week – with 1,174 of them confirmed and 66 probable. The Congolese Ministry of Health reported 792 deaths, on the rise especially in…
The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo has reached a new milestone, with the number of cases reported Wednesday by the country’s Ministry of Health now more than 900. The new total of 907 Ebola cases includes 841 confirmed cases and 66 probable. Another 223 suspected cases are under investigation in…
The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo has now claimed 531 lives, according to Thursday’s report from the Ministry of Health, with the overall number of cases set at 853. The new total includes 788 confirmed cases and 65 probable. Another 177 suspected cases are under investigation in what…
The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, now in its seventh month, has spread to another health zone, making it 19 locations in all with this new case reported in Bunia in the conflict-prone Ituri province. “The case of Bunia is the 6-month-old baby of a woman from Katwa…
The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo has reached a new milestone, with the number of cases reported Friday by the country’s Ministry of Health rising to 800. The new total includes 739 confirmed cases and 61 probable. Another 178 suspected cases are under investigation in what is now the second-largest…