The realpolitik of vaccine nationalism and how it impacts countries like Nepal Viewpoint by Kul Chandra Gautam* KATHMANDU (IDN) — As a previously unknown mystery disease caused by the novel coronavirus struck Planet Earth in the winter of 2019-20, public health officials and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended universal mask-wearing, physical distancing, lockdowns and […]
UN Report Considers Next 18 Months Crucial for Achieving Global Goals
By Santa Banerjee NEW YORK (IDN) — COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major disruption to people’s lives and livelihoods around the world in 2020, pushing back into poverty an additional 119-124 million people, says a new United Nations report. An equivalent of 255 million full-time jobs was lost, and the number of people suffering from […]
WHO Issues First Global Report in Artificial Intelligence in Health
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) — Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds great promise for improving the delivery of healthcare and medicine worldwide, but only if ethics and human rights are put at the heart of its design, deployment, and use, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO’s report, Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for […]
Over 264 million Suffer from Depression Worsened by the Global Pandemic
By Lisa Wohl The writer is a US-based health reporter WELLINGTON, Florida, USA (IDN) — According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, one in four people in the world will be affected by neurological or mental disorders at some point in their lives. Depression is a common mental disorder. Globally, more than 264 […]
Cloud-based CoWIN Platform & India’s Journey towards Universal Vaccination
By Arjun Kumar, Ritika Gupta, Chhavi Kapoor, Kashish Babbar, Rohit Mehta* NEW DELHI (IDN) — With the rolling out of vaccinations early in the year 2021, there was a need for an efficient vaccination drive to dose about 1.39 billion Indians. To pave the way for a universal and citizen-centric structure of vaccination drive, Prime […]
Nobel Laureate Offers Pathways to A Better Future After COVID-19 Crisis
By UNCTAD GENEVA (IDN) — Coronavirus pandemic recovery efforts should provide comprehensive social protection, fight climate change, and ensure vaccines reach the poorest people quickly. Nobel laureate Esther Duflo spelled out what an inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 crisis should entail and outlined lessons learned from the pandemic, while delivering the 17th edition of UNCTAD’s […]
Donating for COVID-Relief — Mixed-Up Governmental Priorities
Viewpoint by Sunil J. Wimalawansa * The COVID-19 pandemic has brought “a tsunami of suffering”, taken over 3.4 million lives and 500 million jobs, while wiping trillions of dollars from global balance sheets, Secretary-General António Guterres told business last May, for equitable vaccine distribution worldwide. NEW JERSEY, USA (IDN) — While the COVID-situations are significantly […]
G7 Judged a ‘Colossal Failure’ for All the World to See
Viewpoint by Jon Queally* PORTLAND | USA (IDN) — Anti-poverty groups, climate campaigners, and public health experts reacted with outrage and howls of disappointment Sunday after the G7 leaders who spent the weekend (June 11-13) at a summit in Cornwall, England issued a final communique that critics said represents an extreme abdication of responsibility in […]
WHO Welcomes G7 Commitment to Donate Vaccines but Asks for “More” and “Faster”
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA (IDN) — The leaders of seven industrial nations, constituting the Group of Seven (G7 Summit), have pledged in a landmark agreement to share COVID-19 vaccine doses internationally, in support of global equitable access and to help end the acute phase of the pandemic. In doing so, they have built on the […]
If Lessons Are Not Learned, Eternal Abnormality the New Normal?
Viewpoint by Jayasri Priyalal * SINGAPORE (IDN) — The new normal has become a famous phrase with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This new normal could become an eternal abnormality if lessons learned about inequality in the globalized world economy exposed by the COVID-19 are not recognized and acted upon. Today, people feel frustrated […]