Test Module 2

The World Health Organization convened its first Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has taught the world that public health agencies and experts need a better understanding of how people and societies behave and make decisions in relation to their health," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, to whom the Technical Advisory Group will report. "WHO wants to ensure that such understanding and evid

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Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• Nine CEPI-supported candidate vaccines are part of the COVAX initiative, with a further nine candidates under evaluation, and procurement conversations on-going with additional producers not currently receiving research and development (R&D) funding through COVAX – giving COVAX the largest and most diverse COVID-19 vaccine portfolio in the world
  
• 80 potentially self-financing countries have submitted non-binding expressions of interest to the Gavi-coor

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  Regions: Afghanistan, Argentina, Canada , Chile, China, France , Ireland , Norway , Tonga , United Kingdom , United States , West Bank , Zambia

  Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Energy, Global Health, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• Global polio eradication initiative applauds WHO African region for wild polio-free certification

  Today, the Africa Regional Certification Commission certified the WHO African Region as wild polio-free after four years without a case. With this historic milestone, five of the six WHO regions – representing over 90% of the world’s population – are now free of the wild poliovirus, moving the world closer to achieving global polio eradication.

  Only two countries worldwide continue to see wild poliovirus transmission: Pakistan and Afghanistan.

  The Global Polio Eradicat

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  Regions: Afghanistan, Pakistan

  Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• Member States adopt the Global Strategy for TB Research and Innovation at 73rd World Health Assembly

  Member States have adopted the global strategy for TB research and innovation through an unprecedented written silence procedure of the 73^rd session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) last week. The global strategy was developed to support efforts by governments and other partners

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  Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• Mexico’s feat against rabies through cross-sectoral collaboration is possible in other countries

  Mexico is, so far, the only country validated by the World Health Organization (WHO) for having eliminated dog-mediated human rabies as a public health problem. To encourage countries that have implemented elimination programmes as recommended by WHO and the Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), international procedures have been developed jointly by WHO and OIE, following a One Health approach. The procedures involve several steps in the preparation, submission and review of a dossier.

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  Regions: Mexico

  Topics: Climate and Environment, Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• New Science Council to be established

  As a science-based institution, WHO is always striving to be at the forefront of scientific progress and its potential to improve health for all. A new WHO Science Council comprising international experts from a broad range of disciplines will support WHO in interpreting cutting-edge scientific and medical knowledge, as well as the latest advances in technology.

  The Science Division’s Research for Health department will facilitate the Council’s work in advising on WHO’s top scienc

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  Topics: Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• Statement on the fourth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

  The fourth meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) took place on Friday, 31 July 2020 from 12:00 to 17:45 Geneva time (CEST). 

  Proceedings of the meeting

  Members and advisors of the Emergency Committee were convened by vid

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  Regions: United Kingdom

  Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• WHO, WIPO, WTO launch updated study on access to medical technologies and innovation

  The second edition provides an improved basis for policy debate and informed decision-making at a critical time for global health.

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  Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Global Health, Human Rights and Democracy, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• Children are the key to behaviour change to reduce infection

  Schoolboy Yangyang was growing weaker by the day. When his symptoms worsened into diarrhoea and abdominal pain, his parents took him to the nearest hospital in Guangxi, southeastern China, where the doctor examined him on arrival and administered treatment. To confirm his suspicion, the doctor ordered a fecal examination. The result confirmed that Yangyang was suffering from a parasitic infection of the liver that can be caused by eating raw fish – a traditional dietary practice that has developed into a gr

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  Regions: China, United Kingdom

  Topics: Energy, Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• Study provides comprehensive view of terrestrial venomous snakes and snakebite in the Middle East

  Snakebite envenoming is a common problem in many parts of the world, but little is known about its magnitude in the Arab countries of the Middle East, where cases are not widely reported. The aim is to halve the numbers of deaths and cases of disability due to snakebite envenoming over the next 12 years through a programme that targets affected communities and their health systems, and by ensuring access to safe, effective treatment through increased cooperation, collaboration and partnership at all leve

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  Regions: Jordan , Kuwait , Syria , United Kingdom , Yemen

  Topics: Global Health, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• New COVID-19 Law Lab to provide vital legal information and support for the global COVID-19 response

  Launching today, the COVID-19 Law Lab initiative gathers and shares legal documents from over 190 countries across the world to help states establish and implement strong legal frameworks to manage the pandemic. The goal is to ensure that laws protect the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities and that they adhere to international human rights standards.
  

  The new Lab (at www.COVIDLawLab.org) is a joint project of United Nations D

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  Regions: United Kingdom

  Topics: Climate and Environment, Combating Drugs and Crime, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy, Global Health, Human Rights and Democracy, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• WHA Report on addressing the burden of epilepsy and other neurological disorders available online

  Neurological disorders are the number one cause of disability globally. The five largest contributors are stroke, migraine, dementia, meningitis and epilepsy. Yet, the burden of neurological disorders is widely unrecognized.
  
  
  During the Executive Board meeting in February 2020, Member States requested WHO to prepare a report on "Synergies in addressing the burden of epilepsy and

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  Topics: Science, Technology, and Innovation

• Neglected tropical diseases of the skin: WHO launches mobile application to facilitate diagnosis

  A software application has been developed to make it easier for healthcare workers and the public to get instant, real-time information on the estimated ten neglected tropical diseases of the skin (also known as SkinNTDs).

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  Regions: France

  Topics: Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

• More than 150 countries engaged in COVID-19 vaccine global access facility

  • Seventy-five countries submit expressions of interest to COVAX Facility, joining up to 90 further countries which could be supported by the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC)
  • The COVAX Facility, and the AMC within it, is designed to guarantee rapid, fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for every country in the world, rich and poor, to make rapid progress towards slowing the pandemic 
    
  • Interest from governments represen

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    Regions: Argentina, Canada , Norway , United Kingdom

    Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Refugee and Humanitarian Assistance, Science, Technology, and Innovation

  • #EndTB Webinar: From Policy to Practice: Rolling out new WHO guidelines on rapid diagnostics and drug-resistant TB treatment

    A special #EndTB Webinar organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide key updates on recently released new WHO guidance on rapid diagnostics and drug-resistant TB treatment. The aim of the webinar is to facilitate better understanding of the guidance to enable its rapid uptake in countries by national programmes and other key stakeholders. This will translate to earlier access to quality diagnosis and treatment, and better outcomes for the millions affected by TB and drug-resistant TB.

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    Regions: United Kingdom

    Topics: Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

  • WHO and partners to help more than 1 billion people quit tobacco to reduce risk of COVID-19

    GENEVA — A new Access Initiative for Quitting Tobacco aims to help the world's 1.3 billion tobacco users quit. Stopping smoking is more important than ever as evidence reveals that smokers are more likely than non-smokers to have severe outcomes from COVID-19.

    The project gives people free access to nicotine replacement therapy and to Florence, a digital health worker, based on artificial intelligence that dispels myths around COVID-19 and tobacco and helps people develop a personalized plan

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    Regions: Jordan , New Zealand

    Topics: Coronavirus (COVID-19), Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

  • Study estimates more than one million Indians died from snakebite envenoming over past two decades

     

    India is among the countries most dramatically affected by snakebite and accounts for almost half the total number of annual deaths in the world. Authors of the article entitled ‘Trends in snakebite mortality in India from 2000 to 2019 in a nationally representative mortality study’ analysed 2,833 snakebite deaths from 611,483 verbal autopsies from an earlier study¹ and conducted a systematic lit

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    Regions: Canada , India

    Topics: Global Health, Science, Technology, and Innovation

  • Addressing the crisis in antibiotic development

    Today, more than 20 leading biopharmaceutical companies are announcing the launch of the AMR Action Fund that will invest in developing innovative antibacterial treatments. The Fund aims to bring 2-4 new treatments to patients by 2030. This initiative is a significant step towards addressing the current crisis in antibacterial treatment development.

    Public statement for collaboration on COVID-19 vaccine development