For the second year in a row, Geneva’s International Chamber of Commerce has hosted a dialogue bringing local tobacco industry leaders together with a major Geneva-based UN Agency – in this case to discuss the ‘role of multinationals in economic recovery following the coronavirus’.  The ICC’s 6th Business Dialogue, involving Teresa Moreira, Head Competition and […] Continue reading ->
Moderna intends to seek US Food and Drug Administration emergency authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate for frontline medical workers by November 25th at the earliest, and only in late January for use in the general population.  That means that the vaccine, if approved on schedule, would only be available for widespread distribution to the […] Continue reading ->
Over fifty women in the Democratic Republic of Congo have accused aid workers from the World Health Organization and leading international NGOs of sexual abuse and exploitation, concluded a year-long investigation led by the New Humanitarian and the Thomson Reuter Foundation on Tuesday. The report highlights how “common” sexual exploitation and abuse are in humanitarian […] Continue reading ->
The ‘infodemic’ is one of the “most concerning” governance challenges of our time, undermining trust in science in the midst of the pandemic, and threatening people’s physical and mental health, warned United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Administrator Achim Steimer.  While the overabundance of misinformation – or ‘infodemic – is not new, it has blown out […] Continue reading ->
While the COVAX Facility, a global initiative to pool procurement of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, has been gaining momentum, another global initiative to pool intellectual property rights for tools to combat the pandemic has been moving at a much slower pace. Only three more countries have signed on to support the COVID-19 Technology […] Continue reading ->
Over the past two decades, the number of coronary heart disease deaths resulting from tobacco consumption has risen by 10,000 new deaths every year, warned WHO spokesperson Jaimie Guerra, in an interview with Health Policy Watch.  Tobacco consumption in all its forms increases the risks of developing coronary heart disease, warns a new brief published […] Continue reading ->