MMS News

"Africa needs 6.4 million mpox vaccines in the next few months to address the outbreak, which is now concentrated in Sierra Leone, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). Three-quarters of Africa’s confirmed new mpox cases are in Sierra Leone, all concentrated in high-density areas in all districts, with 648 confirmed cases in the past week. Yet the country only has around 10,000 vaccine doses."

• Health Policy Watch

"Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its first-ever position paper on immunization products to protect infants against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) – the leading cause of acute lower respiratory infections in children globally. Every year, RSV causes about 100 000 deaths and over 3.6 million hospitalizations in children under the age of 5 years worldwide. About half of these deaths occur in infants younger than 6 months of age. The vast majority (97%) of RSV deaths in infants occur in low- and middle-income countries where there is limited access to supportive medical care, such as oxygen or hydration"

• World Health Organization

"The World Health Assembly delivered a landmark victory for traditional medicine and indigenous cultures Monday evening, approving a strategy that calls for increased investment in research and integrating ancient healing practices into modern healthcare systems worldwide."

• Health Policy Watch

"Africa has disproportionately suffered the effects of malaria for far too long. But the continent can eliminate this scourge by 2040 with well-targeted public investment in a strong surveillance system, a well-trained health workforce, effective vector control, and rapid outbreak-response mechanisms."

• Project Syndicate

"Experts look to domestic governments to fill global health funding gaps. Plus, Gavi’s new approach to reach "zero-dose" children, and health donors urged to prioritize reproductive health. How can countries hit hard by significant donor cuts to global health recover from the crisis? There are no simple answers."

• devex

"The United States appears set to skip this year’s World Health Assembly at a historic moment when other WHO member states are expected to agree to a Pandemic Agreement, that has been nearly three years in the making. A provisional list of WHA delegates, published late Sunday night by WHO, included no reference at all to a US delegation."

• Health Policy Watch

"Elie Chaillot, president and CEO of GE HealthCare International, emphasizes the role of medical imaging in addressing global health disparities, especially in low- and middle-income countries. As the global health policy community gathers in Geneva for the World Health Assembly, we are reminded of the pressing challenges to global health. Accounting for over 1 in 6, or 16.8%, deaths worldwide and nearly a quarter — 22.8% — of deaths among noncommunicable diseases, the impact of cancer is both profound and widespread."

• devex

"All 2.1 million people in Gaza face hunger and diseases while life-saving supplies sit just beyond the borders, denied entry after nine weeks of a total blockade, Dr Hanan Balkhy, World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, told a media briefing on Tuesday."

• devex

"Next week, in Geneva, the World Health Organization's highest decision-making body will consider resolutions that would extend a plan for maternal and child nutrition, and restrict digital marketing of breast milk substitutes."

• devex

"The global nursing workforce has grown from 27.9 million in 2018 to 29.8 million in 2023, but wide disparities in the availability of nurses remain across regions and countries, according to the State of the World’s Nursing 2025 report, published by the World Health Organization (WHO), International Council of Nurses (ICN) and partners. Inequities in the global nursing workforce leave many of the world’s population without access to essential health services, which could threaten progress towards universal health coverage (UHC), global health security and the health-related development goals. "m

• World Health Organization

" In parts of Africa, pregnant women and new moms are using direct cash aid to pay for hospital care, food and even farmland — as part of a program to cut child and maternal deaths. Every year, around 178,000 mothers in Africa die from complications related to childbirth. For their babies, the odds are just as dire: 1 million newborns die in the region each year."

• devex

"In April 2025, silence fell over Bahir Dar. Once a lifeline for people living with HIV, key populations, and young people—as the US funding pause began to bite. Funding cuts disrupted services. A few held on without salaries but eventually, even they stopped showing up. Confused and anxious clients arrived to find the gates closed. Some waited. Others turned away."

• UNAIDS

"The budget is 14% lower than the World Health Organization’s current base budget, and reductions will be felt across the entire agency. Faced with a challenging global health financing landscape and with the loss of funding from the United States — its top donor — the World Health Organization is proposing a smaller program budget for the next two years."

• devex

Women’s groups and human rights organisations have raised the alarm about an African anti-rights conference taking place this weekend in Uganda, followed by another next week in Nairobi, featuring prominent US conservatives, aimed at developing “an African charter on family sovereignty and values”.

• Health Policy Watch

"In der Apotheke der Newlands Clinic herrscht Ausnahmezustand. Nach den Entscheidungen der US-Regierung zu ihrem Entwicklungsprogramm USAID ist die lückenlose Versorgung mit lebensnotwendigen Präparaten gefährdet. Der Klinik drohen hohe Mehrausgaben für Käufe von bisher gespendeten Medikamenten. (...) Besonders prekär präsentiert sich die Situation für jene 250 Patientinnen und Patienten der Newlands Clinic in Intensivtherapie. Für diese können die lebensnotwendigen Medikamente von Natpharm nicht mehr lückenlos geliefert werden."

• Ruedi Lüthy Foundation