This week in global health is just ... a nightmare. As we report on the health and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, we can’t forget that we're still in the midst of a pandemic.
WHO has expressed concerns about the coronavirus’s ability to exploit the ongoing conflict and attendant refugee crisis. With crowds of people fleeing for safety — and less than 40% of Ukraine’s population fully vaccinated against COVID-19 — there is little room to adhere to physical distancing and other public health measures. And as Ukrainians are made more vulnerable to infection, there is uncertainty over the health care they’ll be able to access.
The U.N. agency has been warning all week that medical oxygen that Ukraine is fast running out of, which is necessary to treat not only COVID-19 patients but also others in critical condition. While some supplies remain in warehouses inside the country, it’s a challenge to find drivers willing to transport them to increasingly isolated health facilities amid Russia’s military offensive, says Jarno Habicht, WHO representative in Ukraine.
WHO has been in talks with officials from both Ukraine and Poland to establish a humanitarian corridor for delivering oxygen and other medical supplies to health facilities, as well as specialized equipment to deal with injuries and trauma cases. A plane, which WHO officials initially said would be landing in Poland on Wednesday, is arriving in the country Thursday. The shipment includes equipment for performing amputations, bone grafting, and bone wiring, said Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO’s executive director for health emergencies.
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But is there a way to prevent COVID-19 cases and deaths from increasing over the coming weeks in Ukraine and neighboring countries, where over 1 million refugees have fled to? Dr. Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to WHO’s director-general, gave a simple solution: “Stop the war.”
+ Catch up on our coverage of how the conflict is affecting humanitarian work in the country, and for your daily dose of the latest news on what’s happening in global development, sign up to Devex Newswire.
The death toll from COVID-19 is expected to reach 6 million this week. Global cases and deaths are now on a downward trend, with new deaths at 60,000 last week, a reduction of 10% from the week before. But “it's still far too high in the third year of this pandemic,” says WHO’s Maria Van Kerkhove.
In 2021, the World Bank allocated over $73 billion to development projects. This represents a 23.4% increase from 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic largely driving recent boosts in funding. And the health sector accounted for 17.7% of the 2021 allocation. But where did that money go?
Devex analysis for Pro subscribers shows that the biggest chunk, amounting to $8.86 billion, went to the COVID-19 response, including the vaccine rollout in Brazil and strengthening the public health system in South Africa.
Number crunching: Where is the World Bank’s $73B allocation in 2021 going?
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People should not “demonize” those who are hesitant to get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Ananta Seth, assistant manager at the Asia Pacific Immunization Coalition, which recently analyzed vaccine communication strategies by multiple countries in Asia.
“There are not only people who simply unquestionably accept vaccines or unquestionably refuse vaccines. Most people are somewhere in between,” she says.
But what can governments do to increase COVID-19 vaccinations? Here are three recommendations from Jenny’s conversation with Seth:
1. Understand why people are hesitant. Not everyone is fully opposed to vaccination. Some may not be getting vaccinated because it’s inconvenient or they don’t think it’s necessary.
2. Partner with the private sector. Employers can be a trusted source of vaccine information, and they can also help increase vaccine uptake among employees by hosting on-site vaccination clinics, creating incentives to get vaccinated, or providing paid time off to get vaccinated.
3. Choose the right messengers. These could be local religious leaders or other members of the community, as well as social media influencers and celebrities — though maybe not all of them. Some, such as tennis star Novak Djokovic, have refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Ways to increase vaccine uptake?: Do not ‘demonize’ is one
This week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change came out with its latest report — a whopping 3,676 pages, which you can finish in about one year if you read 10 pages a day.
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Of course, there is a shorter summary for policymakers that’s just 37 pages long, as well as fact sheets that offer a snapshot of key findings for different global regions. But for all of you wondering what the IPCC report says about the effects of warmer temperatures on health over the next three decades and beyond, here are some projections:
• By 2050, climate change could lead to 250,000 excess deaths per year due to heat, undernutrition, malaria, and diarrheal disease. Africa is projected to account for more than half of that excess mortality.
• An extra 2.25 billion people could be at risk of dengue if no additional adaptation actions are taken. And in eastern and southern Africa, climate change is likely to increase malaria transmission due to warmer temperatures, with projected increases putting an additional 76 million people at risk of malaria exposure for 10-12 months a year by the 2080s.
Organizations such as Wellcome are putting money into developing disease-modeling tools to ensure there are early warning systems in place for climate-sensitive infectious diseases. The U.K.-based foundation currently has an open call for proposals until the end of March.
Climate change health impacts: Developing technology to help fight climate-sensitive infectious diseases
Moderna faces another lawsuit over alleged patent infringement involving its COVID-19 vaccine. [The Washington Post]
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has tested positive for COVID-19 and is reportedly experiencing flu-like symptoms. [Reuters]
Afghan women need a mahram or a male chaperone to access health care. [Foreign Policy]
