Browsing: Health

In a positive move, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently endorsed updated COVID-19. This opens the door to a fall vaccination campaign that may be able to blunt a winter surge if enough Americans participate. According to the AP, the vaccine boosters targeting today’s most common omicron strains should begin hitting pharmacies and clinics soon. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky made her decision shortly after the agency’s advisers approved the recommendation. “The shots can help restore protection that has waned over the years and were designed to provide broader protection,” she said. At another critical juncture in the pandemic,…

In an announcement today, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh announced the scientific completion of India’s first indigenous quadrivalent HPV vaccine. The indigenously produced HPV vaccine for eliminating cervical cancer is the first in India to be affordable and cost effective, Dr Singh said on the occasion in New Delhi. Health prevention is of the utmost importance, he stressed. The vaccine will be affordable and contribute to the esteem of the common Indian, he explained. A scientific completion implies that all R&D activities for the vaccine have been completed, and now it is time to make it available to the public.…

As some of China’s most populous and economically significant cities battle outbreaks, Chengdu, one of the country’s largest cities, announced a lockdown of its 21.2 million residents as it launched four days of citywide testing for COVID-19. Residents of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, were ordered by the city government to stay at home for most of the day on Thursday. They were allowed to do some shopping for necessities per day, Reuters reported. Since Shanghai was closed for two months earlier this year, Chengdu is the largest city to be shut down. Whether the lockdown will be lifted…

A new study has revealed that nearly half of all cancer deaths occur because of factors that can be avoided, such as living an unhealthy lifestyle, according to researchers. An international research team writes in The Lancet, a British medical journal, that smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity top the list of 34 risk factors. A study of about 10 million cancer-related deaths in 2019 analyzed data from 23 different types of cancer. A total of 4.45 million deaths, or 44.4%, were caused by external factors. “This study illustrates that the burden of cancer remains an overwhelming public health challenge that…

A major step towards launching a booster campaign to combat the newest members of the omicron family was taken by Pfizer on Monday when they asked US regulators to approve their combination COVID-19 vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration has ordered vaccine makers to modify their shots in order to counter BA.4 and BA.5, which are more effective than ever at suppressing immunity from earlier vaccinations or infections. Boosters could be available within weeks if the FDA quickly approves the combo shots produced by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech. The U.S. has a contract to buy 105 million of the…

Zimbabwe’s government said that at least 157 children have died as a result of a measles outbreak that has spread across the country. More than 2,000 infections have been recorded. It has been less than a week since authorities said the first infection was recorded in the southern African nation, and reported deaths have almost doubled. “As of 15th August, the cumulative number of cases and deaths in the country has reached 2,056,” Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said after a weekly Cabinet meeting. Vaccinations will be stepped up by the government, Mutsvangwa said. The government has invoked special legislation to…

There has been an increase in the number of new COVID-19 infections, as well as the number of critical cases, reported by the Vietnamese Ministry of Health (MoH). There have been more than 100 serious illnesses being treated in hospitals in Vietnam over the past week, with an average of 2,000 Coronavirus cases per day. As reported by the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), the ministry has indicated that it will continue closely monitoring the development of the COVID-19 pandemic and regularly review and analyze the situation in order to develop plans and scenarios to respond appropriately to any outbreaks that…

World Health Organization (WHO) is the official co-sponsor of the 9th ISPAH Congress taking place in Abu Dhabi from 23rd-26th October, announced Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre (ADPHC). With an engaging schedule of workshops, speeches, and sessions, the Congress will drive impactful conversations on encouraging physical activity adoption across all age groups. Collaboration opportunities will also be explored to achieve a shared vision of a healthy and active society. The WHO’s co-sponsorship of the event emphasizes the importance of physical activity as a public health priority, and its impact on reducing the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as well as…

It was reported on Friday that the Chinese mainland reported 648 confirmed cases of COVID-19 transmitted locally, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the National Health Commission. It is estimated that 1,203 people who are asymptomatic locally were newly identified on the day. Of these, 14 are in Hainan and 410 are in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to the report of the commission. According to reports, 113 COVID-19 patients have been discharged from hospitals on the Chinese mainland after recovering from the disease. There were a total of 224,225 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 on the Chinese mainland as of Thursday…

More than half of the hundreds of infectious diseases known to humans, including malaria, hantavirus, cholera, and anthrax, have been aggravated by climate-related hazards like flooding, heat waves, and drought, according to a recently published study. Researchers looked through the medical literature of established cases of illnesses and found that 218 out of the known 375 human infectious diseases, or 58%, seemed to be made more severe by one of 10 types of extreme weather connected to climate change, according to a study in Monday’s journal Nature Climate Change. In the study, 1,006 pathways were mapped from climate hazards to…