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Having first reported to the World Health Organisation from South Africa on 24 th of November 2021, the newly circulating mutant ‘ Omicron’ or ‘B.1.1.529 ’ is becoming a cause of public health concern to the entire world. The first case of infection was confirmed from a specimen collected in the second week of November. The WHO’s independent group of experts (the Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 virus Evolution/TAG-VE) assessed the potential impact of SARS-CoV-2 variant ‘B.1.1.529’ during a convention organised on 26 th of November. According to TAG-VE, the variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are becoming the reason of concern. The number of cases are apparently increasing day-by-day in almost all province regions of South Africa. Just on Sunday, the number of cases reported were 2800, much higher than the cases reported on a daily basis. Researchers all across the world including South Africa are conducting studies on this variant to have a better underst

Aiming to achieve the positioned target to vaccinate 40 percent of the population of every country by the end of 2021 and 70 percent by mid of 2022, the United Nations and its Global Health agency- WHO (World Health Organisation) released a comprehensive hands-on strategic guidebook- ' Strategy to Achieve Global Covid-19 Vaccination by mid-2022 ' to get Global Covid-19 vaccination by next mid-summer.  The current pandemic has divided the world in a two-track pandemic:  people in poorer countries continue to be at risk while those in richer countries with high vaccination rates enjoy much greater protection forming a massive gap over vaccine inequity and unjust distribution. More than 6.4 billion vaccine doses have now been administered globally, and almost one-third of the world’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But those numbers mask a horrifying inequity. Low-income countries have received less than half of one percent of the world’s vaccines. In Africa, less

The global health agency, WHO with a group of health leaders urged for a global cooperation to accomplish the ascertained goals of COVID-pandemic related health emergency and for an equitable distribution of vaccines to the deprived or lower/middle income nations and Africa. An extensive call was made under the leadership of WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus joined by Dr Seth Berkley, CEO Gavi, Strive Masiyima, AU Special Envoy for COVID- 19, Dr John Nkengasong, Africa CDC Director, Professor Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Afreximbank, Dr Vera Songwe, UN Under- Secretary- General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission For Africa and Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa during a media briefing at WHO’s headquarter in Geneva on 14 th September 2021. Taking a dig at the current health emergency, Dr. Tedros stated, “More than 5.7 billion doses have been administered globally, but only 2% of those have been

The World Health Organisation in collaboration with the German government launched a hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin to provide the world with better data, analytics and decisions to detect and respond to health emergencies. H.E German Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus inaugurated the hub in the presence of other German Federal ministers- HE German Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn, Governing Mayor of Berlin H.E. Michael Müller, and other dignitaries such as Dr. Michael J. Ryan, Executive Director WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director-General; Katalin Karikó, BioNTech Senior Vice President, Sabine Gabrysch, Professor for Climate Change and Health, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin; Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director-General, Centre for Disease Control, Nigeria. The 1 st of September 2021 marked itself as one of the most quin

The World Health Organisation released a two-new companion reports impending the first global recommendations to fortify human genome editing mechanism with safety, effectiveness and ethics for its proper use in public health practices. The forward-looking new reports result from the first broad, global consultation that spanned over two years, involving hundreds of participants representing diverse perspectives from around the world, including scientists and pioneering researchers, patient groups, faith leaders and indigenous peoples to draw a comprehensive and inclusive approach over the ethical and clean practices of human genome editing in the underlying areas of somatic, germline and heritable tissues. “Human genome editing has the potential to advance our ability to treat and cure disease, but the full impact will only be realized if we deploy it for the benefit of all people, instead of fuelling more health inequity between and within countries,” stated  Dr. Tedros Adhan

The German Federal Minister of Health H.E Mr. Jens Spahn announced to contribute nearly 260 million euros as financial aid and 30 million doses of vaccines as a mark of solidarity to contain pandemic worldwide. The announcement was made on 15 July 2021 during a virtual press conference at the World Health Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland. The European nation has been one of the main active drivers behind the formation of ACT accelerator since the COVID outbreak. Earlier, Germany had extended its support by investing EUR 100m (US$ 117m) for the COVAX pillar of the ACT-Accelerator, all of which was to support low-and-middle income countries. Later, the World Health Organisation signed an agreement with Germany under WHO Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan for COVID-19. As per the sources, the COVAX Facility has now delivered life-saving vaccines to over 100 economies since making its first international delivery to Ghana on 24 February 2021. So far, more than 38 million doses of

          "The Fellow that no money is poor. The Fellow that has nothing but money is poorer still" - Billy Sunday The closer the picture, the clearer it is- how poverty deciphers the word 'poor' as an adjective to a financially challenged group of humans. As per the World Bank, less than 10 percent of the world's population lives in extreme poverty, which means the rest of the 90 percent have access to all the basic means for survival- food, clothes and shelter etc. Now, to a more closer look, out of these 90 percent, so called financially stable sections, how many of them are real rich?  Rich, in terms of having good heart, rich in terms of showing true empathy, rich in terms of showing true compassion and work sincerely towards mitigating and diluting this major economical difference? How many of us are truly engaged in sharing and contributing a part of our gains in subsiding the real picture of poverty to uplift the state and condition of the unpriviledged on

WHO held a virtual press conference on COVID-19 update with results on Small Island & Developing States (SIDS) Summit on Health under the leadership of its Chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and a special guest, H.E. Gaston Browne Prime Minister and Minister for Finance and Corporate Governance of Antigua and Barbuda, this Friday, 2nd July, 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland. The panel discussed over the current and rising issues emerging during this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. "As the virus and its variants are grappling the world with its own pace, the global leaders need to encourage each other in fighting with the disease by sharing at least 10 percent of vaccines from their stock to save lives in LMICs and other developing nations struggling to get their population vaccinated especially the frontline workers and vulnerables," asserted Dr. Tedros, DG, WHO. Mentioning the criticality over the acceptance of vaccine certificates developed by different regions, he said, "V

Artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing and swiftly exploring areas of science, health and other sectors. But, to the best of our knowledge and understanding, it is very important to know that every technology comes up with new threats and challenges- ‘challenge to adhere with ethics, transparency, and to work with integrity and compliance’. In order to bring a chain of transparency and to minimize the indiscernible risk within the healthcare system over the use and misuse of advanced technologies alike AI, AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), XR (Extended Reality), Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL) and so on, the World Health Organization released its first global report , a living document on Artificial Intelligence with six guiding principles that are appropriately measured for ethical usage of AI in health care sector and clinical trials to treat mild to severe diseases and to come up with faster and better solutions during any global public health crisis. T

Director General-World Health Organisation, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries across the world to share doses for an equitable distribution of vaccines to end global pandemic catastrophe and human sufferings. He pleaded countries to contribute a minimum amount of share of vaccines out of their stock to help low-income nations come out of the severe health crisis caused due to SARS-Cov-2 and its variants. Until that is done, world could never approach for a global recovery in coming years. Access to COVID vaccines in Africa and other low/middle-income nations is critically low and sufficient amount of doses need to cover those regions faster otherwise all the efforts done till date will go in vain.  Transmission due to newly mutated variants is getting faster as virus is consistently mutating- More transmission, More variants ; Less transmission, Less variants- Dr. Tedros asserted. Delta is the most transmissible of all the variants identified so far, has been identified in

 Key Takeaways- -Studies regarding Delta variant with additional mutation are underway and WHO is keeping a close look at its newly developed variant, AY.1. -Research institutes should effectively track efficacy of vaccines to collect more information to share with the public and the institutions. - WHO has the power to revoke any vaccine that loses its effectiveness against any current variants.  - Vaccines elicit level of efficacies, for instance in the case of mRNA vaccines like Moderna that elicit high antibodies and induce higher immune responses. - Immunology of vaccines is complex and studies are underway to come out with any conclusion at present.  - Until 60-70 percent of the population are vaccinated fully across the world, individual responsibilities take precedence to protect self and family to reduce any further transmission.  -Countries with growing infection rates should be careful. One size doesn't fit all but one should be careful in controlling transmission with t

India needs coordinated efforts from people across different walks of life. Not only governments, political leaders, scientists and doctors, but also industrialists, economists, advisors, civil society members, educators and scholars from different fields to share their valuable introspection, knowledge and understanding regarding their experiences and proven practices to counter the after effects and post consequences inflicted by the COVID-19 disease in a more intense yet placid manner. The evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and its prevalent mutants is becoming a cause of concern for global leaders and institutions. The health care systems across the world have majorly collapsed due to the constant attack by the virus and its newly mutated forms. Delta and its variants have overpowered other variants for the past few days and it is reported to have spread across 11 countries including America. There were 40 cases reported across India too. Vaccination is just one of the given

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the #7thInternationalYogaDay in the early hours of morning of #21June 2021, delivered a splendid speech unveiling the importance of Yoga and its practices. Opening his speech with a remarkable address regarding the existence and importance of Yoga, he said that despite the country reeling under the intense on-going health crisis caused by the COVID pandemic , #Yoga has emerged as the way and hope of life to live and the COVID-19 hasn't deterred the excitement and enthusiasm towards this healthy practice. Fondness for #Yoga has increased multi-fold in the last one and half years. He wished for a greater mental and physical well-being and abundance of health for each and everyone across India and the world during this critical phase. When the impact of the disease started showing its appearance in 2020, then no one had any idea on how to deal with it and during that crisis, Yoga emerged as a healthy medium to fight the criticali