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World experts and funders set priorities for COVID-19 research

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From WHO/Getty Images

#WorldHealthOrganization, February 19, 2020 — Leading health experts from around the world have been meeting at the World Health Organization’s Geneva headquarters to assess the current level of knowledge about the new COVID-19 disease, identify gaps and work together to accelerate and fund priority research needed to help stop this outbreak and prepare for any future outbreaks.

The 2-day forum was convened in line with the WHO R&D Blueprint – a strategy for developing drugs and vaccines before epidemics, and accelerating research and development while they are occurring.

WHO photo

“This outbreak is a test of solidarity — political, financial and scientific. We need to come together to fight a common enemy that does not respect borders, ensure that we have the resources necessary to bring this outbreak to an end and bring our best science to the forefront to find shared answers to shared problems. Research is an integral part of the outbreak response,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “I appreciate the positive response of the research community to join us at short notice and come up with concrete plans and commitment to work together.”

The meeting, hosted in collaboration with GloPID-R (the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness) brought together major research funders and over 300 scientists and researchers from a large variety of disciplines. They discussed all aspects of the outbreak and ways to control it including:

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  • the natural history of the virus, its transmission and diagnosis;
  • animal and environmental research on the origin of the virus, including management measures at the human-animal interface;
  • epidemiological studies;
  • clinical characterization and management of disease caused by the virus;
  • infection prevention and control, including best ways to protect health care workers;
  • research and development for candidate therapeutics and vaccines;
  • ethical considerations for research;
  • and integration of social sciences into the outbreak response.

“This meeting allowed us to identify the urgent priorities for research. As a group of funders we will continue to mobilize, coordinate and align our funding to enable the research needed to tackle this crisis and stop the outbreak, in partnership with WHO,” said Professor Yazdan Yazdanpanah, chair of GloPID-R. “Equitable access – making sure we share data and reach those most in need,  in particular those in lower and middle-income countries, is fundamental to this work which must be guided by ethical considerations at all times.”  

File Photo, WHO Novel Coronavirus meeting

During the meeting, the more than 300 scientists and researchers participating both in person and virtually agreed on a set of global research priorities. They also outlined mechanisms for continuing scientific interactions and collaborations beyond the meeting which will be coordinated and facilitated by WHO. They worked with research funders to determine how necessary resources can be mobilized so that critical research can start immediately.

The deliberations will form the basis of a research and innovation roadmap charting all the research needed and this will be used by researchers and funders to accelerate the research response.

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Princess of Wales tells the world she has Cancer

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Garfield Ekon

Staff Writer

 

#UnitedKingdom, March 26, 2024 – Following Kate Middleton’s announcement on Friday, that she has been diagnosed with cancer, Kensington Palace says the Prince and Princess of Wales are “enormously touched” by outpouring of “kind messages” from across the globe.

In a statement, the Palace said the Royal Family welcome the outpouring of support from well-wishers, but they desire to have their privacy respected. In announcing what has been described by some as shocking news, Princess Kate said she is undergoing treatment for the illness.

The latest statement from the Palace said, “here in the UK (United Kingdom), across the Commonwealth, and round the world, in response to Her Royal Highness’ message” they are appreciative of the “public’s warmth and support and are grateful for the understanding of their request for privacy at this time”

Princess Kate has also released in a video where she said she and her husband had been doing everything “we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family,” which included taking time to recover from her major surgery to start treatment and “most importantly” to explain everything to the children before going public with the news.

The children are said to now be away from school on their Easter holiday break, and Kate added in the video message that, “my work has always brought me a deep sense of joy, and I look forward to being back when I am able. But for now, I must focus on making a full recovery.”

She made the cancer revelation after questions were raised about her health, after she was hospitalised for two weeks, due to a planned abdominal surgery in January.  Post-operation test results revealed cancer had been present, and she started “preventative chemotherapy” in late February.

 

Photo Caption: Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales

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Caribbean News

CAAP Works on Major Boycott Movement to Help Palestine

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Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

 

#Israel#Palestine#CAAP – The Caribbean Against  Apartheid in Palestine  (CAAP) is working on a Boycott Divestment Sanctions or BDS movement in Barbados for Israeli companies, to help suffocate financial backing  to the Israeli army that’s attacking Palestine. Member of CAAP Dr Saudah Muhammad, speaking at a CAAP Press Conference on Friday March 17, goes into detail, mentioning an Israeli company called Sabra Hummus as the first target to boycott, using the buying power of consumers to decrease their financial gains. She points out that Sabra Hummus was chosen because of its connection to the Israeli army.

“Sabra Hummus is co-owned by PepsiCo and Strauss group, which is an Israeli food company and they provide financial support to the Israeli army, so using our purchasing power to cut their funding, then directly supports a cut in funding to the genocide and to arms,” she said.

 

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Health

Under 5 Mortality Rate Decreasing

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Rashaed Esson

Staff Writer

 

 

#WHO#ChildDeathrate,March 13th, 2024 – The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that the number of children who died before their 5th birthday has decreased, reaching a historic low of 4.9 million in 2022, declining by 51 percent since the year 2000. This is according to a recent release by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).  However, despite the major progress, there is still a lot of work to prevent child mortality, as  data shows that in addition to the 4.9 million young lives lost, another 2.1 million children and youths, aged 5 to 25, also died, most of which were in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. The Organisation (WHO) says the main causes of these deaths are preventable and/or treatable issues such as complications around the time of birth, malaria and preterm birth, adding that lives could have been saved with better access to high-quality primary health care.

 

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