Month: May 2020

 Thousands of Nigerians are receiving free mental health care through a program to help people cope with stress and isolation from COVID-19.  The program, Mentally Aware Nigeria, or MANI, was formed by psychologists and medical experts to create an environment where people can seek mental health care without fear of stigma or discrimination.  Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja. Videographer: Simpa Samson  Producer: JG  ...

Johnson & Johnson announced Tuesday it will stop selling one of its flagship products — talc-based baby powder — in the United States and Canada.The pharmaceutical company said its decision is part of a "portfolio reassessment related to COVID-19."But J&J is facing more than 16,000 lawsuits from consumers who claim the powder is contaminated with asbestos and caused their cancer."Demand for talc-based Johnson's Baby Powder in North America has been declining due in large part to changes in consumer habits and fueled by misinformation around the safety of the product and a constant barrage of litigation advertising," J&J said in a statement.A New Jersey judge ruled last month that the claims against J&J can proceed, but the judge put limits on how far expert testimony can go.J&J insists its baby…

In early May, U.S. President Donald Trump was asked during a Fox News virtual town hall when the country would no longer be dependent on foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers for 94% of antibiotics used in this country.   “I think we will have it done within two years,” Trump answered. “Everybody makes our drugs, except us.” U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for the Camp David, Maryland presidential retreat from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, May 15, 2020.Trump may have been overly optimistic, but he was reflecting a mounting concern among Americans that they are overly dependent on overseas or offshore companies for most of their pharmaceutical drug needs.   The spread of COVID-19 and the unprecedented pressure it has placed on the U.S. health care system highlights America’s strategic dependence on foreign-based pharmaceutical supply manufacturers, particularly in China.  China…

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence held a meeting of the National Space Council on Tuesday, just over a week before the program is set to launch astronauts into space from American soil. The meeting was held virtually, with Pence in Washington, and NASA administrators and astronauts checking in remotely. The vice president noted that the project stayed on schedule, even amid the coronavirus pandemic. He said the May 27 launch will be an inspiration to the country. NASA astronauts are set to blast into orbit on a private company’s rocket, a first since the end of the space shuttle era in 2011. It will also be the first time anywhere a private company, SpaceX, will have built and funded the rocket. NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in…

A scientific study published Tuesday shows COVID-19-related restrictions imposed by governments around the world since March drove a decline of daily global greenhouse emissions by as much as 17% by early April. But the authors of the study, published Tuesday in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change, say the drastic improvement is likely to be temporary as economies resume. The study says that in the years leading up to the coronavirus pandemic, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) were rising by about 1% per year over the previous decade. But population confinement has led to drastic changes in energy use, and, therefore, CO2 emissions. The researchers say restrictive measures drove drops in demand for electrical generation and industrial and transportation activity – the sectors responsible for 86% of CO2 emissions. Even if the world’s economies return to normal, the…

The genetic mutation that causes Down syndrome increases the risk of intellectual disabilities, and an early death from autoimmune diseases and pneumonia. But it also protects from some cancers, and it often leads to people valued for their kindness and joy. Recently, researchers discovered a major clue as to why the genetic disorder does these things: The mutation increases inflammation. Shelley Schlender explains how this knowledge may lead to healthier lives for those with Down syndrome.Camera: Shelley Schlender  ...

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) special envoy on COVID-19 said Tuesday that the coronavirus will ''be a constant threat" until a vaccine or reliable treatment is found. In an interview with British broadcaster Sky News, Dr. David Nabarro said this means the world will need to learn how to live with it. The coronavirus causes the COVID-19 disease. Nabarro said that while the world is focused on a vaccine, and there are promising signs, the WHO does believe one will be readily available “between one-and-a half and two-and-a-half years at the minimum.” He said social distancing regulations and protective measures will have to be followed for a very long time. Nabarro said this does not mean life has to stop. He noted countries that are maintaining protective measures while people go about their business…

President Donald Trump's declaration that he was taking a malaria drug of dubious effectiveness to help fend off the coronavirus will likely be welcomed in India. Trump's previous endorsement of hydroxychloroquine catalyzed a tremendous shift in the South Asian country, spurring the world's largest producer of the drug to make much more of it, prescribe it for front-line health workers treating the virus and deploy it as a diplomatic tool, despite mounting evidence against using the drug for COVID-19. Trump said Monday that he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a measure of protection against the virus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, has cautioned against using it outside of hospitals because of the risk of serious heart problems. Suhhil Gupta, a pharmacist in New Delhi, said Tuesday that Trump's announcement…

The genetic mutation that causes Down syndrome increases the risk of intellectual disabilities, and an early death from autoimmune diseases and pneumonia. But it also protects from some cancers, and it often leads to people valued for their kindness and joy. Recently, researchers discovered a major clue as to why the genetic disorder does these things: The mutation increases inflammation. Shelley Schlender explains how this knowledge may lead to healthier lives for those with Down syndrome.Camera: Shelley Schlender  ...

The U.S. military’s mystery space plane rocketed into orbit again Sunday, this time with an extra load of science experiments.It’s the sixth flight of an X-37B, a solar-powered plane that's flown by remote control without a crew.Officials aren't saying how long the spacecraft will remain in orbit this time or the purpose of the mission. But a senior vice president for X-37B developer Boeing, Jim Chilton, noted each mission has been progressively longer.The previous mission lasted a record two years, with a touchdown shrouded in darkness at NASA's Kennedy Space Center last year.The winged spacecraft resembles NASA’s old shuttles, but is just one-quarter the size at 29 feet (9 meters) long. The one just launched features an extra compartment for experiments, including several for NASA and the U.S. Naval Research…

Thais streamed into shopping malls on Sunday, once again enjoying their air-conditioned oases as the country eased one of the restrictions imposed to fight the coronavirus.The government allowed malls to reopen after the number of new virus cases in Thailand dwindled to single digits for all but one day over more than two weeks. Malls had been closed since March.Student Baiplu Chaonuam expressed her relief at returning to a Bangkok mall. “I started to get used to staying home, but to be able to come back out and look around at things is an improvement from staying in,” she said.The mall experience, however, may not be as carefree as it was before the virus, with measures instituted to reduce the danger that the malls will become new infection hotspots.Thermal scanners…

Scientists around the world are working to battle the coronavirus - an effort that extends to a space-travel lab that worked overtime to help sick earthlings. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has This Week in Space. ...

One August day in 2017, a 31-year-old man with a cough boarded a crowded minibus in Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo.The man was dead before he could reach his destination.That touched off the most lethal outbreak of pneumonic plague in decades. By the end of November, more than 2,400 people had been infected and 209 had died.Basketball teams from around the Indian Ocean region were in Madagascar at the time for a championship tournament. A coach from the Seychelles died and a South African player fell ill. The risk of an international outbreak loomed.To stamp it out, health officials needed to break the chains of transmission: find the people who had come into contact with each infected individual and prevent them from spreading the disease to anyone else.It's known as contact tracing.…

Scientists around the world are working to battle the coronavirus - an effort that extends to a space-travel lab that worked overtime to help sick earthlings. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has This Week in Space. ...

Burundi has expelled four officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), declaring them persona non grata and ordering them to leave the country by Friday, a leaked memo from the country’s foreign ministry reveals. The decision comes days before the May 20 presidential elections and amid a global coronavirus pandemic.Bernard Ntahiraja, the foreign affairs assistant minister, did not provide an explanation for the expulsion. The WHO's Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said that the organization “remain[s] very willing to...support their [Burundi’s] response to COVID-19.” John Nkengasong, the head of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement that he found the decision to hold elections in a time of the COVID-19 crisis irresponsible. “We have to collectively deny the virus any space to transmit,” he said.Opposition candidate Léonce Ngendakumana…

America faces the "darkest winter in modern history" unless leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus, says a government whistleblower who alleges he was ousted from his job after warning the Trump administration to prepare for the pandemic. Immunologist Dr. Rick Bright makes his sobering prediction in testimony prepared for his appearance Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Aspects of his complaint about early administration handling of the crisis are expected to be backed up by testimony from an executive of a company that manufactures, respirator masks. A federal watchdog agency has found "reasonable grounds" that Bright was removed from his post as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority after sounding the alarm at the Department of Health and Human Services. Bright…

The European Medicines Agency predicted that there could be licensed drugs to treat the new coronavirus in the next few months and that a vaccine might even be approved in early 2021, in a "best-case scenario." Dr. Marco Cavaleri, who heads the European regulator's vaccines department, told a media briefing on Thursday that approving medicines to treat COVID-19 might be possible "before the summer," citing ongoing clinical trials. Recent early results for the drug remdesivir suggested it could help patients recover from the coronavirus faster, although longer-term data is still needed to confirm any benefit.   Although it typically takes years to develop a vaccine, Cavaleri said that if some of the shots already being tested prove to be effective, they could be licensed as early as the beginning of…