For the first time since 2019, the glitterati of geopolitics gathered recently at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi. Why, I asked a senior Indian diplomat, did most of them fail to even mention health. Had they learned nothing from the pandemic? The pandemic, he thought, was the problem. “They’ve had over two years of being forced […]
Opinion
Using Fewer Antibiotics Isn’t Always the Best Way to Curb Resistance
This article is taken from European Biopharmaceutical Review April 2022, pages 23-26. © Samedan Ltd While the over-prescription of antibiotics is causing increasing levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) within the developed world, the lack of access to treatments in lower income countries is just as much of a global concern By Mark Chataway at Hyderus […]
Why developing countries might do better than rich ones in using new cancer discoveries
Here’s a controversial view: the world can make real headway in the fight against cancer in the developing world over the next decade. In fact, some lower middle income countries will do better than their richer counterparts in adapting to the way that cancer treatment is likely to change. Things are terrible now I might […]
Malaria and the long road to a vaccine that’s a mixed blessing
With Covid-19 figures generally heading south (touchwood and all that!), the big news of the week focussed on older ailments with the bat virus being replaced by the unfriendly neighbourhood mosquito. More than 130 years after the naming of the Plasmodium parasites behind malaria, the world now has its first approved vaccine against them. Many malaria researchers […]
Global heating will make you ill — just not how you think it will
Coming as it does at a time when COVID-19 resolutely refuses to pack up and go away, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow this November will likely discuss not only international climate action but the impact of climate on health issues as well. As the Lancet Countdown 2020 Report explained, no continent, country, or community is immune from […]
Pandemic preparedness: better late than never
Billion-dollar plan Almost as if to make up for the lost Trump year during the pandemic, the White House has put together an ambitious new plan with a $65.3 billion price tag that could transform the way the United States responds to pandemics by vastly accelerating vaccine development, testing, and production. But is the plan […]
IP and breakthrough infections: Global Health Today
This is the third 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. This edition highlights vaccines – specifically, the IP debate and so-called breakthrough infections. To read the first, click here. COVID-19 […]
Booster shots, the polio programme: Global Health Today
This is the second 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. To read the first, click here. Booster shots: To boost or not to boost Faced with a rising tide […]
Intellectual property in the era of COVID-19
Much of the conversation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in recent months has focused on access to vaccines – specifically, vaccine accesses in low- and middle-income countries. But to what extent is re-examining intellectual property (IP) rights part of the solution? As Health Issues India reported in May, “patent waivers for COVID-19 vaccines have been offered […]
Child healthcare needs a boost
Recent figures reveal a huge gap in child healthcare in India, at a time when experts warn of the vulnerabilities of young people to COVID-19 in a looming third wave. Experts expressed misgivings about a severe deficit in child healthcare at primary health centres and community health centres. Per data shared by a parliamentary standing […]