Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus - The African Mirror

Apr

01

2021

Data withheld from WHO team

COVID-19

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY and JOHN MILLER DATA was withheld from World Health Organization investigators who travelled to China to research the origins of the coronavirus epidemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. The United States, the European Union and other Western countries immediately called for China to give "full access" to independent experts to all data about the original outbreak in late 2019. In its final report, written jointly with Chinese scientists, a WHO-led team that spent four weeks in and around Wuhan in January and February said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another…

Jan

09

2021

By The African Mirror

WHO chief says ‘clear problem’ poorer nations not getting COVID-19 vaccines yet

COVID-19

THE head of the World Health Organization says there is a "clear problem" that low and middle income countries are not yet receiving supplies of COVID-19 vaccines. "Rich countries have the majority of the supply," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news briefing in Geneva, adding that he urged countries and manufacturers to stop making bilateral deals at the expense of the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility.

Mar

03

2021

By The African Mirror

142 countries to get 237 million doses

COVID-19

SOME 237 million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine are expected to be delivered to 142 countries by the end of May through the COVAX facility, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, told a news conference that vaccine deliveries were planned on Tuesday to Angola, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria. Ghana's president Nana Akufo-Addo said his West African country, which has begun its innoculation campaign with COVAX doses, aimed to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of 2021.

Mar

23

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Vaccine makers should license technology to overcome grotesque inequity’

COVID-19

MORE producers of COVID-19 vaccines should follow AstraZeneca's lead and license technology to other manufacturers, the World Health Organization's head said on Monday, as he described continuing vaccine inequity as "grotesque". AstraZeneca's shot, which new U.S. data on Monday showed was safe and effective despite some countries suspending inoculations over health concerns, is being produced in various locations including South Korea's SKBioScience and the Serum Institute of India. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for more manufacturers to adopt this model to boost supplies, including for the COVAX vaccine sharing programme seeking to speed more shots to developing countries. "The…

Mar

12

2021

By The African Mirror

EXPLAINER-Activists, drug groups split over suspending COVID-19 shot patents

COVID-19

JOHN MILLER A World Trade Organization (WTO) council is meeting this week to discuss a proposal by India and South Africa that COVID-19 vaccine patents be suspended to speed up technology transfers to manufacturers with spare production capacity. The idea seems simple, but some experts say it's not so clear cut. Below we lay out the reasons. WHAT'S BEING DISCUSSED? In October, India and South Africa proposed suspending provisions of the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (IP) Rights, or TRIPS, contending they hinder the COVID-19 fight and curb access to drugs. Some 100 nations have expressed support,…

Mar

10

2021

By The African Mirror

One in three women endure physical or sexual violence – WHO

NEWS

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY NEARLY one in three women worldwide is subjected to physical or sexual violence during her lifetime, pervasive criminal behaviour that has increased during the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The U.N. agency urged governments to prevent violence, improve services for victims and tackle economic inequalities that often leave women and girls trapped in abusive relationships. Boys should be taught in school about the need for mutual respect in relationships and mutual consent in sex, WHO officials said. "Violence against women is endemic in every country and culture, causing harm to millions of women and their…

Mar

07

2021

By The African Mirror

Now is not time to relax, warns WHO

COVID-19

THE arrival of COVID-19 vaccines should not tempt countries to relax efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic, top World Health Organization officials has warned, citing particular concern about the situation in Brazil. "We think we're through this. We're not," Mike Ryan, WHO's top emergency expert, told an online briefing. "Countries are going to lurch into third and fourth surges if we're not careful."

Mar

31

2021

By The African Mirror

WHO says COVID-19 origins study not extensive enough, cites data access ‘difficulties’

COVID-19

A World Health Organization team probing the new coronavirus's origins cited problems accessing raw data, the health agency's chief said on Tuesday, calling for further studies because the assessment, so far, has not been extensive enough. "In my discussions with the team, they expressed the difficulties they encountered in accessing raw data," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said after the report of a team that traveled to Wuhan, China, this year was released. "I expect future collaborative studies to include more timely and comprehensive data sharing." Although the team concluded a laboratory leak was the least likely hypothesis for the…

Jul

27

2020

By The African Mirror

WHO says COVID-19 by far its worst global health emergency

COVID-19

The new coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 16 million people is easily the worst global health emergency the World Health Organization (WHO) has faced, its director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday. Only with strict adherence to health measures, from wearing masks to avoiding crowds, would the world manage to beat it, Tedros added at a virtual news briefing in Geneva. "Where these measures are followed, cases go down. Where they are not, cases go up," he said, praising Canada, China, Germany and South Korea for controlling outbreaks. Resurgences of the coronavirus in various regions, including where nations…

Sep

29

2020

By The African Mirror

Poorer countries to get 120 million $5 coronavirus tests, WHO says

COVID-19

EMMA FARGE and KATE KELLAND SOME 120 million rapid diagnostic tests for coronavirus will be made available to low- and middle-income countries at a maximum of $5 each, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced. The wider availability of quick, reliable and inexpensive testing will help 133 countries to track infections and contain the spread, closing the gap with wealthy ones, it said. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the manufacturers Abbott and SD Biosensor had agreed with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to "make 120 million of these new, highly portable and easy-to-use rapid COVID-19 diagnostic tests available…