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https://apnews.com/article/covid-business-health-europe-coronavirus-vaccine-e41cfdd7bf9a59248027a18a0c173fa0
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Worldwide, more than 3 in 10 women and babies do not currently receive postnatal care in the first days after birth - the period when most maternal and infant deaths occur. Meanwhile the physical and emotional consequences of childbirth – from injuries to recurring pain and trauma - can be debilitating if unmanaged, but are often highly treatable when the right care is given at the right time.
Worldwide, more than 3 in 10 women and babies do not currently receive postnatal care in the first days after birth - the period when most maternal and infant deaths occur. Meanwhile the physical and emotional consequences of childbirth – from injuries to recurring pain and trauma - can be debilitating if unmanaged, but are often highly treatable when the right care is given at the right time.
Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, Ms Liesje Schreinemacher, met for the first time with Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General in WHO headquarters. The discussions focused on the strategic partnership between WHO and the Netherlands in support of global health security and a healthier world for all.
"It was an honor to welcome Minister Schreinemacher, and I express my deep gratitude to the Netherlands for its longstanding partnership with WHO. The Netherlands is a leading voice for health and human rights around the world, defending global access to the full breadth of sexual and reproductive health services, including for vulnerable populations and people living in humanitarian crises," said Dr Tedros. "The support of the Netherlands for WHO through flexible and catalytic funding enables us to respond quickly and efficiently to global health challenges and health emergencies, including COVID-19, to save lives and prevent suffering."
The Netherlands is a key supporter and strategic partner of WHO. It funds crucial activities in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, water and sanitation, mental health in emergencies, emergency preparedness, tuberculosis, One Health, primary health care, antimicrobial resistance, while facilitating cooperation with top Dutch institutions. Between 2020 – 2021, the Netherlands provided over US$ 94 million to WHO, including US$ 16 million in fully flexible Core Voluntary Contributions making it the 4th largest flexible contributor to the Organization. Such support allows WHO to be both agile and strategic in its efforts to achieve the Triple Billion targets and support countries in improving the health and well-being of their populations.
The Netherlands is also the fourth largest contributor to WHO's Contingency Fund for Emergencies, which plays a critical role in helping WHO respond rapidly to disease outbreaks and other health emergencies around the world.
Learn more about the partnership between WHO and the Netherlands.
- https://www.who.int/data/stories/the-triple-billion-targets-a-visual-summary-of-methods-to-deliver-impact
- https://www.who.int/emergencies/funding/contingency-fund-for-emergencies
- https://www.who.int/about/funding/contributors/nld
Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands, Ms Liesje Schreinemacher, met for the first time with Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General in WHO headquarters. The discussions focused on the strategic partnership between WHO and the Netherlands in support of global health security and a healthier world for all.
"It was an honor to welcome Minister Schreinemacher, and I express my deep gratitude to the Netherlands for its longstanding partnership with WHO. The Netherlands is a leading voice for health and human rights around the world, defending global access to the full breadth of sexual and reproductive health services, including for vulnerable populations and people living in humanitarian crises," said Dr Tedros. "The support of the Netherlands for WHO through flexible and catalytic funding enables us to respond quickly and efficiently to global health challenges and health emergencies, including COVID-19, to save lives and prevent suffering."
The Netherlands is a key supporter and strategic partner of WHO. It funds crucial activities in the areas of sexual and reproductive health, water and sanitation, mental health in emergencies, emergency preparedness, tuberculosis, One Health, primary health care, antimicrobial resistance, while facilitating cooperation with top Dutch institutions. Between 2020 – 2021, the Netherlands provided over US$ 94 million to WHO, including US$ 16 million in fully flexible Core Voluntary Contributions making it the 4th largest flexible contributor to the Organization. Such support allows WHO to be both agile and strategic in its efforts to achieve the Triple Billion targets and support countries in improving the health and well-being of their populations.
The Netherlands is also the fourth largest contributor to WHO's Contingency Fund for Emergencies, which plays a critical role in helping WHO respond rapidly to disease outbreaks and other health emergencies around the world.
Learn more about the partnership between WHO and the Netherlands.
A contribution of €16 million from the European Commission's Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) will help the World Health Organization (WHO) boost COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and increase coverage in 15 African countries, where only 15 percent of the population is vaccinated.
The funding is part of the European Union's (EU) humanitarian initiative for COVID-19 vaccination in Africa, which aims to ensure increased access for the most vulnerable and those living in hard-to-reach, remote and conflict-affected areas.
The EU also supports the COVAX Facility, the vaccines part of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator created to develop and deliver tools to fight the pandemic.
"Solidarity is key to ending this pandemic and to building back better," said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "These are not just words. These principles have been already exemplified by the generous support with vaccines and funding provided by the European Union to the global pandemic response. Together in Europe, in Africa and beyond, WHO and the EU are working with local partners to ensure COVID-19 vaccination reaches the arms of everyone and that lessons learned contribute to resilient health systems."
Read the full Press Release here.
- https://www.afro.who.int/news/european-union-funding-boosts-covid-19-vaccination-africa
- https://www.afro.who.int/news/european-union-funding-boosts-covid-19-vaccination-africa
A contribution of €16 million from the European Commission's Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) will help the World Health Organization (WHO) boost COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and increase coverage in 15 African countries, where only 15 percent of the population is vaccinated.
The funding is part of the European Union's (EU) humanitarian initiative for COVID-19 vaccination in Africa, which aims to ensure increased access for the most vulnerable and those living in hard-to-reach, remote and conflict-affected areas.
The EU also supports the COVAX Facility, the vaccines part of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator created to develop and deliver tools to fight the pandemic.
"Solidarity is key to ending this pandemic and to building back better," said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "These are not just words. These principles have been already exemplified by the generous support with vaccines and funding provided by the European Union to the global pandemic response. Together in Europe, in Africa and beyond, WHO and the EU are working with local partners to ensure COVID-19 vaccination reaches the arms of everyone and that lessons learned contribute to resilient health systems."
Read the full Press Release here.
WHO is releasing a strategy to strengthen and scale up genomic surveillance around the world.
Historically, few countries have routinely done genomic surveillance in-country, a technology considered complicated and expensive. But COVID-19 changed that.
Genomic surveillance is the process of constantly monitoring pathogens and analyzing their genetic similarities and differences. It helps researchers, epidemiologists and public health officials to monitor the evolution of infectious diseases agents, alert on the spread of pathogens, and develop counter measures like vaccines.
The Global genomic surveillance strategy for pathogens with pandemic and epidemic potential 2022–2032 is not specific to a single pathogen or disease threat. It provides a high-level unifying framework to leverage existing capacities, address barriers and strengthen the use of genomic surveillance worldwide.
Data collected by WHO show that in March 2021, 54% of countries had this capacity. By January 2022, thanks to the major investments made during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number had increased to 68%. Even greater gains were made in the public sharing of sequence data: in January 2022, 43% more countries published their sequence data compared to a year before.
Despite this fast progress, much remains to be done. Any new technology comes with the risk of increasing inequity, which is one of the gaps this strategy targets.
Various public health programmes – from Ebola to cholera – use genomic surveillance to understand a pathogen at its molecular level, but COVID-19 has highlighted the challenges of bringing genomics to scale.
The complexities of genomics and the challenges of sustaining capacities in different settings, including workforce needs, means that most countries cannot develop these capabilities on their own. The global strategy helps keep our eyes on the horizon and provides a unifying framework for action. WHO looks forward to working with countries and partners in this important and highly dynamic field.
- Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
WHO Director-General
"The complexities of genomics and the challenges of sustaining capacities in different settings, including workforce needs, means that most countries cannot develop these capabilities on their own. The global strategy helps keep our eyes on the horizon and provides a unifying framework for action. WHO looks forward to working with countries and partners in this important and highly dynamic field," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "We will do best if we work together."
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that health systems need genomic surveillance so that risks are rapidly detected and addressed. This technology has been critical in this response, from the identification of a novel coronavirus, to the development of the first diagnostic tests and vaccines, to the tracking and identification of new virus variants.
"Genomic surveillance is critical for stronger pandemic and epidemic preparedness and response," said Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme. "This pandemic has laid bare the fact that we live in an interconnected world and that we are only as strong as our weakest link. Improving global disease surveillance means improving local disease surveillance. That is where we need to act, and this strategy will provide us with the foundation."
Read more about the strategy here.
- https://www.who.int/publications-detail-redirect/9789240046979
- https://www.who.int/initiatives/genomic-surveillance-strategy
- http://www.who.int/initiatives/genomic-surveillance-strategy
WHO is releasing a strategy to strengthen and scale up genomic surveillance around the world.
Historically, few countries have routinely done genomic surveillance in-country, a technology considered complicated and expensive. But COVID-19 changed that.
Genomic surveillance is the process of constantly monitoring pathogens and analyzing their genetic similarities and differences. It helps researchers, epidemiologists and public health officials to monitor the evolution of infectious diseases agents, alert on the spread of pathogens, and develop counter measures like vaccines.
The Global genomic surveillance strategy for pathogens with pandemic and epidemic potential 2022–2032 is not specific to a single pathogen or disease threat. It provides a high-level unifying framework to leverage existing capacities, address barriers and strengthen the use of genomic surveillance worldwide.
Data collected by WHO show that in March 2021, 54% of countries had this capacity. By January 2022, thanks to the major investments made during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number had increased to 68%. Even greater gains were made in the public sharing of sequence data: in January 2022, 43% more countries published their sequence data compared to a year before.
Despite this fast progress, much remains to be done. Any new technology comes with the risk of increasing inequity, which is one of the gaps this strategy targets.
Various public health programmes – from Ebola to cholera – use genomic surveillance to understand a pathogen at its molecular level, but COVID-19 has highlighted the challenges of bringing genomics to scale.
The complexities of genomics and the challenges of sustaining capacities in different settings, including workforce needs, means that most countries cannot develop these capabilities on their own. The global strategy helps keep our eyes on the horizon and provides a unifying framework for action. WHO looks forward to working with countries and partners in this important and highly dynamic field.
- Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
WHO Director-General
"The complexities of genomics and the challenges of sustaining capacities in different settings, including workforce needs, means that most countries cannot develop these capabilities on their own. The global strategy helps keep our eyes on the horizon and provides a unifying framework for action. WHO looks forward to working with countries and partners in this important and highly dynamic field," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "We will do best if we work together."
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that health systems need genomic surveillance so that risks are rapidly detected and addressed. This technology has been critical in this response, from the identification of a novel coronavirus, to the development of the first diagnostic tests and vaccines, to the tracking and identification of new virus variants.
"Genomic surveillance is critical for stronger pandemic and epidemic preparedness and response," said Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme. "This pandemic has laid bare the fact that we live in an interconnected world and that we are only as strong as our weakest link. Improving global disease surveillance means improving local disease surveillance. That is where we need to act, and this strategy will provide us with the foundation."
Read more about the strategy here.
Today, WHO announced that Egypt's and Nigeria's medical products regulatory agencies had reached maturity level 3. This means that these national bodies have been found to function well and that they could be eligible for inclusion into the transitional WHO Listed Authorities, a list that will comprise the world's regulators of reference – that is, regulatory authorities that should be globally recognized as meeting WHO and other international standards.
Egypt has reached maturity level 3 for vaccines regulation (locally produced and imported) and Nigeria for medicines and imported vaccines. The two countries join Ghana and Tanzania as effective regulatory systems on the African continent. Several other African regulators are currently under assessment.
WHO's assessment of regulatory authorities is based on the ' Global Benchmarking Tool' – an evaluation tool that checks regulatory functions against a set of more than 260 indicators – covering core regulatory functions such as product authorization, testing of products, market surveillance and the ability to detect adverse events – to establish their level of maturity and functionality. Regulatory authorities that reach maturity levels 3 and 4 will be eligible for inclusion among WHO-listed authorities, after additional evaluation of their performance.
The benchmarking of Egypt and Nigeria's regulators was carried out by a WHO-led team of international experts. In February and March 2022, WHO conducted a formal evaluation of the authorities and found them to perform well against most of the indicators in the Global Benchmarking Tool.
The importance of regulatory oversight for local manufacturing
Egypt and Nigeria were also chosen in February 2022 as recipients of mRNA technology from the WHO mRNA Technology Transfer Hub. Effective and efficient regulatory oversight is critical to efforts to boost manufacturing capacity as they ensure that medical products entering the market are safe, effective and produced according to international quality standards.
"Egypt and Nigeria have come a long way to improve their regulatory work and performance," said Mariangela Simao, WHO Assistant Director General for Access to Health Products. "Given that medical products regulatory oversight and manufacturing must work in tandem, this is very good news for access to quality health products on the African continent."
Regulation of medical products is extremely important for all health systems and for access to quality vaccines, medicines and other health products. Apart from ensuring the quality, safety and efficacy of medical products, regulatory authorities that function well also perform critical functions such as faster authorization of products and safety monitoring after authorization.
Fewer than 30% of the world's regulatory authorities are considered fully functioning and operational. For that reason, WHO has intensified efforts to bolster the capacity to regulate medical products in all regions.
WHO listed authorities
WHO today also announced a transitional WHO-Listed Authorities (WLAs) list. The introduction of a framework for designating and publicly listing a regulatory authority as a WLA aims to provide a transparent and evidence-based pathway for regulatory authorities to be globally recognized as meeting and applying WHO and other internationally recognized standards and guidelines, as well as good regulatory practices.
The designation of a regulatory authority as a WLA is intended to promote access and the supply of safe, effective and quality medical products. It also encourages the optimal use of limited resources by facilitating reliance on the work and decisions of mature and advanced agencies in the decision-making of other regulatory authorities, the WHO Prequalification Programme, and procurement bodies.
The transitional WLA combines pre-existing lists of Stringent Regulatory Authorities for medicines, highly performing regulatory authorities for vaccines, Regional Reference Authorities for medicines and vaccines in the Americas (AMRO/PAHO), national regulatory authorities operating at maturity levels 3 and 4, and vaccine producing countries with functional regulatory authorities. The WHO Listed Authorities framework will come into full effect pending successful pilots later this year.
- https://www.who.int/tools/global-benchmarking-tools
- https://www.who.int/initiatives/the-mrna-vaccine-technology-transfer-hub#:~:text=The%20mRNA%20vaccine%20technology%20transfer%20hub&text=Announced%20on%2021%20June%202021the%20mRNA%20vaccine%20technology%20hub).
Today, WHO announced that Egypt's and Nigeria's medical products regulatory agencies had reached maturity level 3. This means that these national bodies have been found to function well and that they could be eligible for inclusion into the transitional WHO Listed Authorities, a list that will comprise the world's regulators of reference – that is, regulatory authorities that should be globally recognized as meeting WHO and other international standards.
Egypt has reached maturity level 3 for vaccines regulation (locally produced and imported) and Nigeria for medicines and imported vaccines. The two countries join Ghana and Tanzania as effective regulatory systems on the African continent. Several other African regulators are currently under assessment.
WHO's assessment of regulatory authorities is based on the ' Global Benchmarking Tool' – an evaluation tool that checks regulatory functions against a set of more than 260 indicators – covering core regulatory functions such as product authorization, testing of products, market surveillance and the ability to detect adverse events – to establish their level of maturity and functionality. Regulatory authorities that reach maturity levels 3 and 4 will be eligible for inclusion among WHO-listed authorities, after additional evaluation of their performance.
The benchmarking of Egypt and Nigeria's regulators was carried out by a WHO-led team of international experts. In February and March 2022, WHO conducted a formal evaluation of the authorities and found them to perform well against most of the indicators in the Global Benchmarking Tool.
The importance of regulatory oversight for local manufacturing
Egypt and Nigeria were also chosen in February 2022 as recipients of mRNA technology from the WHO mRNA Technology Transfer Hub. Effective and efficient regulatory oversight is critical to efforts to boost manufacturing capacity as they ensure that medical products entering the market are safe, effective and produced according to international quality standards.
"Egypt and Nigeria have come a long way to improve their regulatory work and performance," said Mariangela Simao, WHO Assistant Director General for Access to Health Products. "Given that medical products regulatory oversight and manufacturing must work in tandem, this is very good news for access to quality health products on the African continent."
Regulation of medical products is extremely important for all health systems and for access to quality vaccines, medicines and other health products. Apart from ensuring the quality, safety and efficacy of medical products, regulatory authorities that function well also perform critical functions such as faster authorization of products and safety monitoring after authorization.
Fewer than 30% of the world's regulatory authorities are considered fully functioning and operational. For that reason, WHO has intensified efforts to bolster the capacity to regulate medical products in all regions.
WHO listed authorities
WHO today also announced a transitional WHO-Listed Authorities (WLAs) list. The introduction of a framework for designating and publicly listing a regulatory authority as a WLA aims to provide a transparent and evidence-based pathway for regulatory authorities to be globally recognized as meeting and applying WHO and other internationally recognized standards and guidelines, as well as good regulatory practices.
The designation of a regulatory authority as a WLA is intended to promote access and the supply of safe, effective and quality medical products. It also encourages the optimal use of limited resources by facilitating reliance on the work and decisions of mature and advanced agencies in the decision-making of other regulatory authorities, the WHO Prequalification Programme, and procurement bodies.
The transitional WLA combines pre-existing lists of Stringent Regulatory Authorities for medicines, highly performing regulatory authorities for vaccines, Regional Reference Authorities for medicines and vaccines in the Americas (AMRO/PAHO), national regulatory authorities operating at maturity levels 3 and 4, and vaccine producing countries with functional regulatory authorities. The WHO Listed Authorities framework will come into full effect pending successful pilots later this year.
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