This is the first in a series of newsletters, offering the expert insight of Lalita Panicker – consulting editor, views, Hindustan Times, New Delhi – into some of the most pressing health issues of the day. Another term for Tedros? To use a well-worn cliché, the Director-General (DG) of the World Health Organization (WHO) is […]
World Health Organization
100 million more? Stark warning on fresh COVID-19 cases
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), issued a frank and alarming warning about the potential for fresh COVID-19 cases to exceed 100 million by early 2022 – taking the total caseload to 300 million and counting. His warning came just a week after the global case count surpassed 200 million, […]
Delta variant identified in 96 countries
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in its weekly epidemiological update that the so-called Delta variant is present in 96 countries. This marks an increase of eleven countries where the Delta variant has been detected compared to last week. First identified in India, the Delta variant is considered to be more transmissible. It has been […]
Covaxin to face WHO scrutiny this week
India’s homegrown COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin is to face scrutiny from the World Health Organization (WHO) on June 23rd when a pre-submission hearing will be held. Manufacturer Bharat Biotech received the WHO’s nod for its expression of interest for emergency use listing of Covaxin, in a step commentators regard as moving the vaccine closer to securing […]
COVAX gets boon from multi-billion dollar commitment – but India’s absence leaves a hole
The COVAX facility designed to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines received a boost earlier this week to the tune of US$2.4 billion, following a summit where countries and private donors made the mammoth commitment. Nonetheless, the facility still reels from India’s step back understandable though it may be. COVAX is jointly led by the […]
Long working hours are bad for your health
Long working hours are detrimental to your health and may even cost lives. This is according to a recent assessment by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), which attributed long working hours to 745,000 deaths due to stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016 alone. According to the ILO/WHO analysis, […]
Pandemic preparedness at the forefront
The 74th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the highest-level decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), is to foreground pandemic preparedness whilst advancing measures to end the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has dominated headlines and the public health discourse for well in excess of a year. The public health crisis is unprecedented […]
COVAX facility reaches over 100 countries, as India reaffirms commitment
In the 42 days since the first shipment of vaccines through the COVAX facility arrived in Ghana, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced in a statement that more than 100 countries have been reached. India, meanwhile, has reaffirmed its commitment to COVAX after it suspended exports amidst an ongoing surge in cases. The COVAX […]
World Health Day in a time of global crisis – again
On April 5th, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Two days later marked World Health Day. In 2021, World Health Day occurs once more against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time Health Issues India covered World Health Day last year, I wrote “India [had] reported thousands […]
COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund: One year in
The World Health Organization (WHO) today issued a statement commemorating the one-year anniversary of its COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund – an initiative it says has secured US$242 million in donations from “661,000 individuals, corporations, and other organisations.” However, the organisation maintains that there remains a gap to fill when it comes to funding. “One year […]