My Science Space

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 A...

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 unprivile...

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 identifie...

 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 tran...