Health

WHO

‘Three major threats’ to inoculating the world – UN health agency

11 February 2021
Global

Amidst some positive news from the World Health Organization (WHO) that both COVID-19 deaths and new cases have recently been on the wane, there are “three major threats” to the UN-led international equitable vaccine initiative, COVAX, that require urgent attention. 

University of Oxford/John Cairns

COVID: Using AstraZeneca vaccine is ‘right thing to do’ for everyone, says WHO expert panel 

10 February 2021
Global

A World Health Organization (WHO) expert panel countered concerns over the efficacy of the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine on Wednesday, insisting that “it’s the right thing to do” to use it – even in countries where variants had surfaced. 

WHO China

COVID-19 ‘extremely unlikely’ to have come from a lab, experts say

9 February 2021
Global

The virus that causes COVID-19 probably jumped from animals to humans and is “extremely unlikely” to have come from a laboratory, the head of an international team investigating the origins of the disease said on Tuesday. 

IMF Photo/James Oatway

New COVID-19 variants raise questions around vaccines, WHO says

8 February 2021
Global

The emergence of new coronavirus variants has raised major questions around whether currently available vaccines will be effective against them, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. 

UNICEF/Bullen Chol

Unless COVID is suppressed everywhere, we’ll be ‘back at square one’, Tedros warns

5 February 2021
Global

The number of people who have received a COVID-19 vaccination now exceeds those reportedly infected, the head of the UN’s health agency said on Friday, while warning that after inoculating their own health workers and older people, countries must share doses with others, to eradicate the deadly coronavirus.

UNICEF/Sibylle Desjardins

Dispatch of millions of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa expected to start in February: WHO

5 February 2021
Africa

The joint UN-led COVAX initiative aims to start shipping about 90 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa in February, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. The immunization roll out will be the continent’s largest ever mass vaccination campaign.

Janssen

Key workers in 145 countries to receive COVID vaccines under UN-backed initiative

3 February 2021
Global

Key workers and other vulnerable people in 145 countries should receive COVID-19 vaccines in the first half of this year, under the joint UN-led COVAX initiative for fair access to coronavirus-beating jabs, it’s been confirmed.

© UNICEF/Karel Prinsloo

Impact of COVID-19 on cancer care has been ‘profound’, warns UN health agency 

2 February 2021
Global

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a “profound” impact on the diagnosis and treatment of cancer around the world, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, before highlighting that breast cancer has become the most common type of the disease. 

© UNICEF/Panjwani

Consecutive drop in new COVID-19 cases ‘encouraging news’: WHO

1 February 2021
Global

The number of new COVID-19 cases globally has fallen for the third week in a row, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Monday, though urging countries not to let up efforts to defeat the disease. 

UNICEF/Sanjay Acharya

Hopes of fresh momentum in fight against leprosy, but stigmatization persists

31 January 2021

Progress is being made in the fight against leprosy, but millions are still affected by the disease, and many sufferers have to contend with social exclusion. On World Leprosy Day, marked annually on 31 January, experts are calling for an end to ongoing discrimination and stigmatization.