Funders responsible for more than $100 million of annual global research investments joined the deputy UN chief Amina Mohammed on Friday to discuss how to unify research efforts, and use science to recover effectively from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) vowed on Wednesday to “end the scourge of neglected tropical diseases”, which affect more than a billion mainly poor people, and thrive where there is little access to quality health services, clean water, and sanitation.

The sheer scale of the numbers involved in the COVID-19 pandemic can “make us numb to what they represent”, the UN health agency chief said on Monday, reminding journalists in his latest briefing, that each one stands for “a person, a story”. As of late Monday, confirmed cases were nearing 99 million, and yet another grim milestone as 100 million cases looms. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday announced the signing of an advance purchase agreement securing up to 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine, under the UN-led COVAX equitable vaccine supply programme.