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The way in which the world has responded to Covid-19 has fundamentally changed ideas of what’s possible in vaccine development – but, regrettably, access to that scientific knowledge remains the property of a few drug companies and research institutions in wealthy countries.
Covid-19 has shown us that the urgency to end an epidemic can be so great that billions of dollars in research funding can be found within months. It’s demonstrated that public institutions, universities, pharmaceutical companies and non-profit organisations can work together in ways we’ve never seen before to create lifesaving technologies.
And above all, the pandemic has revealed that development and testing timelines can be shrunk from decades to months.
The Philippine government should ensure continuity of HIV/AIDS care services even if it is still grappling with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said.
(UNAIDS LOGO) According to UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, “there
For many people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and sex characteristics, acts of resistance, support, and healing are a way of life. A dream held fast, a fist raised in solidarity, a listening ear these life-preserving acts, seen and unseen, big and small, are performed each day in the face of stigmatization, discrimination, and violence experienced by LGBTIQ+ people.
In every region of the world, LGBTIQ+ people are routinely denied their rights to freedom, safety, and equality. They may face pervasive discrimination, experience intolerable acts of violence that go unpunished, and lack access to justice. These experiences cannot be separated from struggles they may also face on account of other intersecting identities.
UNAIDS
UNAIDS strongly welcomes the recommendations of the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPR), which highlight the urgent need to establish a Global Health Threats Council. The recommendations state that participation in the council must be at the highest political level in order to coordinate global action against pandemics and secure agreement between governments on aligning efforts to tackle the health, social and economic challenges of major pandemics.
The IPPR recommendations are a wake-up call for transforming health systems across the world,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Health is a universal public good in this interconnected society-no one is safe until everyone is safe, so we must reimagine health to provide the same quality of care regardless of geography, income or social status.”