Paris, France | AFP | Brain implants, longer lives, genetically modified humans: for the prophets of transhumanism — the scientifically assisted evolution of humans beyond our current limitations — it is just a matter of time. But many scientists insist that some problems are not so easily solved. Sooner or …
Read More »Lives at risk as drug prices soar in crisis-hit Zimbabwe
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Since starting treatment five years ago, 50-year-old Alice Chenyika kept her blood pressure under control by adhering to doctors’ strict instructions to take two daily doses of nifedipine. Now Zimbabwe’s worsening economic crisis has pushed prices up, and the medicine is far beyond her reach …
Read More »US midterms: Key factors of the 2018 elections
Washington, United States | AFP | Immigration, health care, jobs. The extraordinary US midterm election has been a tug of war over key issues, but none has had a more dramatic impact on voters than Donald Trump, the man who isn’t even on the ballot. The Republican president is the …
Read More »Inside Uganda’s healthcare tears
THE LAST WORD: Why trying to do everything for everyone,everywhere has ended up doing little for anyone, anywhere THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | The debate on health policy in Uganda is frustrating. Our health services are characterized by corruption, absenteeism, incompetence and apathy. Everyone is angry and …
Read More »COMMENT: How corruption impedes healthcare
Today, some 800 million people spend at least 10% of their household budgets on health payments COMMENT | SANIA NISHTAR | Half of the planet cannot access essential health services. For many people, paying to see a doctor, obtaining medications, seeking family-planning advice, or even getting immunised against common illnesses is …
Read More »COMMENT: Benefits of primary healthcare
Effective systems can address today’s four major global health challenges COMMENT | ASAF BITTON | We have four major global challenges in health care. And I think the unsung hero of the health-care system – primary health care – can help us solve them all. The first challenge is the rise …
Read More »Africa new frontline in anti-tobacco fight: activists
Cape Town, South Africa | AFP | Africa and other developing regions are becoming increasingly significant battlegrounds in the effort to combat the spread of smoking, an anti-smoking campaign group warned on Thursday. But most countries in sub-Saharan Africa have inadequate monitoring of tobacco use, according to the authors of …
Read More »PrEP: A shield against AIDS
Paris, France | AFP | “It’s magic,” said Francois, smiling. “Every time I take a pill I think about the people who aren’t so lucky as to have this option.” Taking a drug normally prescribed to treat AIDS as a way to shield against the deadly disease — known as …
Read More »Strengthening healthcare
How to boost delivery and management of essential medicines in low- and middle-income countries Kampala, Uganda | JUSTUS HAUCAP | Around the world, health security is increasingly being recognised as the foundation of economic growth. Healthy populations are better able to produce, trade, and innovate, while unhealthy populations strain public budgets …
Read More »Pope denounces healthcare inequality in rich countries
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis on Thursday took wealthy nations to task over unequal healthcare and systems which increasingly penalise all but the very wealthy. Healthcare is a particularly hot-button issue in the United States, where President Donald Trump has been fighting to scrap the Affordable Care …
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