Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Eva Bartlett GAZA CITY, Jun 19, 2011 (IPS) – "During the first years of the siege, we could still manage, but nowadays we have no alternatives," says Dr. Hassan Khalaf, Deputy Health Minister in Gaza. "It is a major crisis: many health services have stopped, and I’m [...]
Diminishing Potential of the Old Medical Paradigm
April 13, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Kanya D’Almeida WASHINGTON, Apr 13, 2011 (IPS) – While the curtain was being raised Tuesday on a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) initiative to pour one billion dollars of federal funding into the Partnerships for Patients Act – a new project designed to save [...]
WORLD HEALTH DAY: The Ten-Year Timeline for Antibiotics Burnout
April 6, 2011 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Kanya D’Almeida WASHINGTON, Apr 5, 2011 (IPS) – Though the World Health Organisation (WHO) has focused this year’s World Health Day Apr. 7 on prioritising the struggle against the global spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), scores of international researchers and scientists fear this decision is coming too [...]
AFRICA: New Drugs To Speed TB Treatment
November 16, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Tinus de Jager JOHANNESBURG*, Nov 15, 2010 (IPS) – Researchers are testing a new combination of tuberculosis drugs on patients in South Africa which they are hoping will shorten the treatment term of the disease to six months. "I think I have lost my job, you know," [...]
Fake Medicines may Kill a Million a Year
October 28, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Pavol Stracansky BUCHAREST, Oct 28, 2010 (IPS) – Central and Eastern Europe is facing "significant challenges" in combating a multi-billion euro, and often lethal, trade in fake medicines, security and pharmaceutical groups have warned. The region has been identified as a key smuggling route in an illicit [...]
MIDEAST: But the Coffins Do Come In
October 13, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Mohammed Omer GAZA CITY, Oct 13, 2010 (IPS) – Samir Tahseen Al-Nadeem died after waiting 35 days for an exit permit for treatment for his heart condition. He was 26. The medicines he needed could not get in. But the coffins do. The health ministry now lists [...]
AFRICA: Modified Banana Could Cure Deadly Disease
August 13, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Busani Bafana HARARE, Aug 12, 2010 (IPS) – An innovation by researchers in Nigeria could be a cure for the devastating Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) – responsible for annual losses in excess of 500 million dollars of crop across East and Central Africa. But it has also [...]
HEALTH-UGANDA: WHO Happy With Counterfeit Bill; Activists Not
August 11, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Rosebell Kagumire KAMPALA, Aug 10, 2010 (IPS) – The Uganda office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the country’s National Drug Authority are satisfied that the new version of the controversial Counterfeit Goods Bill does not threaten the importation and production of generic drugs by conflating [...]
KENYA: Misoprostol Can’t Shake Bad Reputation
August 5, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS Susan Anyangu-Amu NAIROBI, Aug 4 (IPS) – Precious Nabwire nearly died giving birth to her fourth child. If Kenyan gynaecologists have their way, a drug to control bleeding after childbirth will be licensed, offering greater protection to tens of thousands of women facing similar danger. Her daughter – [...]
S. AFRICA: Public Sector Struggling with Shortages of 80 Drugs
May 11, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Stephanie Nieuwoudt CAPE TOWN, May 11 (IPS) – South Africa is experiencing a shortage of over 80 different drugs in its public health sector, including flu vaccinations and medication for tuberculosis and high blood pressure. The severity of shortages varies from province to province and hospital to hospital, depending [...]
