By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA (IDN) — The global pandemic is likely to halt two decades of global progress towards Universal Health Coverage, according to two complementary reports compiled by the World Health Organization and the World Bank. The organizations also reveal in two reports launched on Universal Health Coverage Day that more than half a […]
Development Community Calls For Universal Vaccine Access
By UNDP SAL | Cabo Verde (IDN) — Cabo Verde President José Maria Neves on December 2 joined the development community in calling for urgent universal vaccine access as a way to mitigate the impact of Omicron and other variants of the Covid-19 virus. The World Health Organization on December 3 categorized Omicron as a […]
US Accused of COVID-19 ‘Travel Apartheid’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Harsh criticism continues to be heard from Africans and their leaders against UK and U.S. travel restrictions allegedly to control the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant—now showing up in several U.S. states. “What is expected is a global approach, not selective,” Sarafa Tunji Isola, […]
Call for A New Deal for Development to Bridge Vaccine Divide
By Jaya Ramachandaran PARIS (IDN) — Ministers and high-level representatives from 55 developed and developing countries have proposed a New Deal for Development and stressed the urgency of bridging the vaccine divide and strengthening financing capacities in developing economies. They have called for greater international support for developing countries on the occasion of the Seventh […]
African Countries Rage at New Travel Bans by Vaccine Hoarding Countries
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | CAPE TOWN (IDN) — Southern African countries are facing new travel restrictions after the discovery of a handful of coronavirus variants, first found in Botswana. For some African leaders, it’s the classic case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. “Despite the repeated […]
The Outbreak of Omicron: Scientists and Leaders Call for Collaboration with Africa
By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (IDN) — International scientists and leaders have urged a “global response of collaboration with Africa on COVID-19 following Omicron outbreak”. Over a hundred academics and leaders from Europe, Africa, the US among others say in a joint letter to the European Commission and the World Health Organization (WHO) that they are […]
Argentina, United States Donate Vaccines to Mozambique
By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW l MAPUTO (IDN) — The United States and Argentina Embassies in Maputo have donated large quantities of vaccines to the Government of the Republic of Mozambique. As their tremendous and recognizable contributions to help fight the spread of coronavirus, the United States offered 840,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson […]
Killer Tobacco Losing Ground, But Millions Still Threatened
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) — Despite the COVID-19 pandemic creating havoc worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) has good news in public health. Its Global Tobacco Epidemic 2021 report says progress is being made in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at […]
Africa Faces A “Perfect Storm” Due to Under-Investment in Children
By Ronald Joshua ADDIS ABABA (IDN) — Child deprivation “has a lasting and detrimental impact on nations’ political stability, prosperity and sustainable development”, warns a new report. Titled The Economic Case for Investing in Children in Africa: Investing in our Common Future, the report was launched on November 18 at a pan-African virtual event involving […]
Ardern Loses the Gloss as New Zealanders Protest About COVID Restrictions
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — Last year, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was hailed by the western media as the heroine of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic because her country was able to weather the first onslaught of the pandemic, but today she is fighting to keep away thousands of protestors invading the parliament […]