Author: Dmedia

The World Health Organization is calling on governments around the world to ensure their citizens have resources and tools to help them give up tobacco smoking as it launches a yearlong campaign aimed at helping 100 million people quit.The campaign, Commit to Quit, is focusing on 22 countries including the United States, and it officially got under way Tuesday ahead of World No Tobacco Day 2021, in May.A WHO statement said the Commit to Quit campaign is aimed at creating “healthier environments that are conducive” for people who want to give up smoking.The WHO hopes to capitalize on users who have decided to quit since the novel coronavirus pandemic began by creating communities of peer quitters, according to the statement.FILE - Bystanders look a replica of human skeleton smoking cigarette during…

Researchers at Britain’s Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca published a study Tuesday showing their COVID-19 vaccine candidate to be “safe and effective” at fighting the virus.The peer-reviewed study was published Tuesday in the British medical journal The Lancet. The data showed the drug had an overall efficacy rate of 70.4%, higher than the 50% minimum set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, Andrew Pollard speaks during a virtual press conference inside 10 Downing Street in London on Nov. 23, 2020.In an interview with reporters, Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said the difference in efficacy rates among the vaccines currently being reviewed will make little difference in the long term. He said what is important is getting vaccines to people and…

As Britain’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign began Tuesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told parliament that "the start of the fight back against our common enemy, coronavirus," had begun, adding there is still "much work to be done."Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine Proves 'Safe and Effective' Potential vaccine would be cheaper and easier to handle; questions remain about efficacyA 90-year-old retired British shop clerk received the first shot in the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program in the unprecedented global immunization effort intended to offer a route out of a pandemic that currently has killed 1.5 million people.Hancock said the vaccine has been initially rolled out in 70 hospitals equipped to handle the complicated logistics that involve storage in sub-freezing temperatures. He said one of the biggest challenges will be getting the vaccine into homes that care…

Anxious researchers with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Tuesday said they have received a capsule containing samples collected from an asteroid after traveling five billion kilometers back to Earth.The capsule, from Japan's spacecraft Hayabusa2, blasted off for the asteroid Ryugu in December 2014, overcoming an unexpectedly rough landing surface to collect samples of asteroid dust in a capsule. That capsule plunged to Earth in Australia on Sunday and was flown to Japan where it was delivered to the agency’s scientists.At a news conference at JAXA in Sagamihara, about 51 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, space again scientists said the capsule is now secured safely in a curation facility at its research center.Project manager Yuichi Tsuda acknowledged he became a little emotional when the capsule was delivered to the facility, saying,…

Morocco is gearing up for an ambitious COVID-19 vaccination program, aiming to vaccinate 80% of its adults in an operation starting this month that's relying initially on a Chinese vaccine that has not yet completed advanced trials to prove it is safe and effective. The first injections could come within days, a Health Ministry official told The Associated Press. Facing a public skeptical about the vaccines' safety and effectiveness, medical experts and health officials have appeared on television in recent weeks to promote the COVID-19 vaccines and encourage Moroccans to get immunized. While Britain began its vaccination program Tuesday with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the U.S. and European Union are racing to approve a series of Western-made vaccines, other governments are looking to use vaccines from China and Russia. The…

The Trump administration opted last summer not to lock in a chance to buy millions of additional doses of one of the leading coronavirus vaccine contenders, a decision that could delay the delivery of a second batch of doses until manufacturer Pfizer fulfills other international contracts. The revelation, confirmed Monday by people familiar with the matter, came a day before President Donald Trump aimed to take credit for the speedy development of forthcoming coronavirus vaccines at a White House summit Tuesday. Pfizer's vaccine is expected to be endorsed by a panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers as soon as this week, with delivery of 100 million doses — enough for 50 million Americans — expected in coming months.  Under its contract with Pfizer, the Trump administration committed to buy an initial…

The Trump administration is aiming to instill public confidence as well as claim major credit for the forthcoming coronavirus vaccines with a White House summit Tuesday featuring experts who will outline distribution plans in detail. Officials from President-elect Joe Biden's transition team are not invited, even though they will oversee the continuation of the largest vaccination program in the nation's history once he takes office January 20. President Donald Trump is trying to frame vaccine development as a key component of his legacy. The Operation Warp Speed summit will feature Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and a host of government experts, state leaders and business executives, as the White House looks to explain that the vaccine is safe and lay out the administration's plans to bring it to the American people. Senior administration officials…

The top infectious disease expert in the U.S. warned Monday of a “surge upon a surge” of coronavirus cases as Americans travel for holidays.“If we don’t listen to the public health measures that we need to follow, then we could start to see things get really bad in the middle of January. Not only for New York state, but for any state or city that is facing similar problems," Dr. Anthony Fauci said at a press conference in New York alongside state Governor Andrew Cuomo.Millions of Americans traveled across the country for the Thanksgiving holiday, despite warnings from health experts. As case numbers continue to rise, experts worry that surges will increase if Americans gather with family for Hannukah and Christmas.New York is no exception to an upward trend in…

The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday the agency will maintain an air quality standard governing soot pollution for five years rather than tighten it as agency scientists had recommended, a move that will harm low-income communities that tend to be most exposed to the pollutant.The agency is required to review the National Ambient Air Quality Standards regulation, which sets limits on the concentrations of pollutants like soot from coal-fired power plants and vehicle tailpipes every five years and has tended to tighten them regularly after scientific review.At a news briefing alongside Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia, a coal-producing state, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the agency is preserving the current soot pollution standard of 12 millionths of a gram per cubic meter of air.He said…

Authorities in Pakistan suspended seven senior officers at a government hospital Monday after an inquiry found their “criminal negligence” resulted in the disruption of oxygen supply to the facility, killing six coronavirus patients.   The deaths occurred the previous day in Peshawar, capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as the country of about 220 million people battles a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.   "The incident took place due to system failure” said the inquiry report, noting that patient care “badly suffered” in Khyber Teaching Hospital, the city’s largest. The report found that at the time of incident 90 patients were admitted in the coronavirus isolation ward who were left for hours without sufficient oxygen.     The depletion of oxygen supply "went unnoticed, unsupervised and unchecked” and…

Britain is on the eve of launching a COVID-19 vaccination campaign.   Staffers with the nation’s National Health Service, nursing home residents and their caregivers on Tuesday will begin to receive the first of two doses of a vaccine jointly developed by U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.  The initiative will start nearly a week after the government’s medical regulatory agency granted emergency approval for the vaccine, making Britain the first western nation ready to begin mass inoculations.  The approval came weeks after Pfizer announced the vaccine had been shown to be over 90% effective after its final, widespread clinical trial. The entrance to the Pfizer UK headquarters is seen in Tadworth, Britain, Dec. 2, 2020.Britain received 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Sunday, the first of a total of 40…

At least one person has died and 200 others have been hospitalized due to an unidentified illness in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, reports said Monday. The illness was detected Saturday evening in Eluru, an ancient city famous for its hand-woven products. Since then, patients have experienced symptoms ranging from nausea and anxiety to loss of consciousness, doctors said. A 45-year-old man who was hospitalized with symptoms similar to epilepsy and nausea died Sunday evening, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Officials are trying to determine the cause of the illness. So far, water samples from impacted areas haven't shown any signs of contamination and patients have tested negative for COVID-19. State chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy visited a government hospital and met patients who…

President-elect Joe Biden has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration's coronavirus response.  Separately, Biden picked a Harvard infectious disease expert, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra, 62, will be the first Latino to head the Department of Health and Human Services, a $1-trillion-plus agency with 80,000 employees and a portfolio that includes drugs and vaccines, leading-edge medical research and health insurance programs covering more than 130 million Americans. Biden's selection of Becerra was confirmed by two people familiar with the decision, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement anticipated Tuesday. Two people also anonymously confirmed…

Wood and charcoal burning account for 50% of Senegal’s household energy consumption, contributing to air pollution and deforestation. To reduce ecological damage, an association called Nebeday, which means "tree" in Wolof, the predominant local language in Senegal, hires villagers to produce an innovative energy alternative. Half of Senegal’s households rely on wood or wood charcoal. To combat air pollution and deforestation, a cooperative of women produce biochar, an energy source made from straw. They burn it and mix the charred straw with clay and water. The end result is a carbon-neutral organic charcoal that does not involve chopping down trees. The mixture is pressed and stored, resulting in about 150 pallets of biochar per day. The initiative is diversifying the economy of a rural region where many eke out a living from…

The Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine against the coronavirus must be stored at extremely cold temperatures, raising some concerns about the difficult task of moving it across the United States for inoculations. But dry ice companies across the U.S. say they’re up for the challenge. Esha Sarai spoke with one such company in Baltimore, Maryland. ...

Wood and charcoal burning account for 50% of household energy consumption in Senegal, contributing to air pollution and deforestation. To reduce ecological damage, an association called Nebeday, which means "tree" in Wolof, the predominant local language in Senegal , hires villagers to produce biochar. Estelle Ndjandjo reports from Dakar.Camera: Estelle Ndjandjo ...

Wood and charcoal burning account for 50% of Senegal’s household energy consumption, contributing to air pollution and deforestation. To reduce ecological damage, an association called Nebeday, which means "tree" in Wolof, the predominant local language in Senegal, hires villagers to produce an innovative energy alternative. Half of Senegal’s households rely on wood or wood charcoal. To combat air pollution and deforestation, a cooperative of women produce biochar, an energy source made from straw. They burn it and mix the charred straw with clay and water. The end result is a carbon-neutral organic charcoal that does not involve chopping down trees. The mixture is pressed and stored, resulting in about 150 pallets of biochar per day. The initiative is diversifying the economy of a rural region where many eke out a living from…

Japanese space officials said they are excited about the return of a capsule that safely landed in Australian Outback on Sunday while carrying soil samples from a distant asteroid so they can start analyzing what they say are treasures inside.The capsule's delivery by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft completes its six-year sample-return mission and opens the door for research into finding clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth."We were able to land the treasure box" onto the sparsely populated Australian desert of Woomera as planned, said Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, adding that the capsule was in perfect shape. "I really look forward to opening it and looking inside."The capsule will be packed in a container as soon as…

When children and teens are overwhelmed with anxiety, depression or thoughts of self-harm, they often wait days in emergency rooms because there aren’t enough psychiatric beds in the U.S.The problem has only grown worse during the pandemic, reports from parents and professionals suggest.With schools closed, routines disrupted and parents anxious over lost income or uncertain futures, children are shouldering new burdens many are unequipped to bear.And with surging numbers of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, bed space is even scarcer.By early fall, many ERs in the northeastern state of Massachusetts were seeing about four times more children and teens in psychiatric crisis than usual, said Ralph Buonopane, a mental health program director at Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston."I’ve been director of this program for 21 years and worked in child psychiatric…

Coronavirus infections across the U.S. continue to rise as the country moves deeper into a holiday season when eagerly anticipated gatherings of family and friends could push the numbers even higher and overwhelm hospitals.Vast swaths of southern and inland California imposed new restrictions on businesses and activities Saturday as hospitals in the nation's most populous state face a dire shortage of beds. Restaurants must stop onsite dining, and theaters, hair salons and many other businesses must close in the sprawling reaches of San Diego and Los Angeles, along with part of the Central Valley.Five counties in the San Francisco Bay Area were set to impose their own lockdowns Sunday.A new daily high of nearly 228,000 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases was reported nationwide Friday, eclipsing the previous high mark of 217,000…

Scientists are seeing promising early results from the first studies testing gene editing for painful, inherited blood disorders that plague millions worldwide, especially Black people.Doctors hope the one-time treatment, which involves permanently altering DNA in blood cells with a tool called CRISPR, may treat and possibly cure sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia.Partial results were presented Saturday at an American Society of Hematology conference and some were published by The New England Journal of Medicine.Doctors described 10 patients who were at least several months removed from their treatment. All no longer needed regular blood transfusions and were free from the pain that plagued their lives before.Victoria Gray, the first patient in the sickle cell study, had long suffered bouts of severe pain that often sent her to the hospital."I had…

Japan's space agency said its helicopter search team has spotted a capsule carrying asteroid samples that could explain the origin of life. It landed on a remote area in southern Australia as planned Sunday.Hayabusa2 successfully released the small capsule Saturday and sent it toward Earth to deliver samples from the distant asteroid that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on our planet, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.Early Sunday, the capsule briefly turned into a fireball as it reentered the atmosphere 120 kilometers (75 miles) above Earth. About 10 kilometers (6 miles) above ground, a parachute opened to slow its fall, and beacon signals were transmitted to indicate its location."It was great. … It was a beautiful fireball, and I was so impressed," said…

A Nigerian yellow fever outbreak detected early last month is worsening and causing many cases and deaths across five of the country’s 36 states.  The World Health Organization says 530 suspected cases, including 172 deaths, have been reported in Delta, Enugu, Benue and Ebonyi states in southern Nigeria and Bauchi in the north. Bringing this epidemic under control is difficult because Nigeria is facing     many simultaneous outbreaks of other infectious diseases, including Lassa fever, vaccine-derived polio virus, measles, monkey pox and cholera.    NigeriaWorld Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic says the northeast of the country is also facing a humanitarian crisis largely caused by Boko Haram militants.“The response is particularly challenging in a COVID-19 context because it requires an extraordinary amount of time and resources from the country’s health system," said Jasarevic.…

Japan’s space agency said the Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully separated a capsule and sent it toward Earth to deliver samples from a distant asteroid that could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on our planet.The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the capsule successfully detached Saturday afternoon from 220,000 kilometers away in a challenging operation that required precision control. The capsule is now descending to land in a remote, sparsely populated area of Woomera, Australia, on Sunday.Hayabusa2 left the asteroid Ryugu a year ago. After releasing the capsule, it is now moving away from Earth to capture images of the capsule descending to the planet.Yuichi Tsuda, project manager at the space agency JAXA, stood up and raised his fists as everyone applauded the moment command center officials…

Russia has begun its COVID-19 vaccination program. Seventy clinics in Moscow began inoculating people Saturday with the Sputnik-V COVID-19 shot, the city’s coronavirus task force said.The vaccine is being made available to health care workers, social workers and people who work in schools because they run the highest risk of exposure to the coronavirus. People over 60 are excluded from receiving the shot, media reports say.Russia’s vaccine is administered in two injections, with the second injection scheduled for three weeks after the first.Thousands of people have registered to receive the vaccine.  It was not immediately clear, however, how much of the vaccine has been produced.Some scientists have questioned the efficacy of the Russian-manufactured vaccine because of its speedy appearance on the market.   Russia has 2.4 million COVID infections and more…

U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law Friday a bill that lets U.S. justice officials pursue criminal penalties against those involved in doping conspiracies at international events involving American athletes, sponsors or broadcasters.The Rodchenkov Act, named after the whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov who helped expose Russia's state-sponsored doping, empowers prosecutors to seek fines of up to $1 million and jail terms of up to 10 years, as well restitution to victims."(The law gives) the Department of Justice a powerful and unique set of tools to eradicate doping fraud and related criminal activities from international competitions," said Rodchenkov's lawyer, Jim Walden, according to Inside the Games.It is now up to the Justice Department to develop a robust program, cooperating with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and international law enforcement, to bring the guilty…

Officials with the World Health Organization cautioned Friday that approval of a vaccine for use in Britain this week does not mean the COVID-19 pandemic is over.Speaking at the organization’s regular briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said many places around the world are facing very high transmission rates of coronavirus, and even as vaccines are approved, people must still follow national and local measures to limit the spread of infection.He said decisions made by citizens and governments would determine its course in the short run and when the pandemic would ultimately end.WHO Health Emergency Executive Director Mike Ryan concurred, saying the presence of vaccines does not equal zero COVID-19. He said that while “vaccines and vaccination provide a major, powerful tool to the toolkit that we have,…

The head of the World Health Organization said Friday that with a COVID-19 vaccine on the horizon, nations must start investing and preparing for the next pandemic.“Despite years of warnings, many countries were simply not ready for COVID-19,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a special session of the U.N. General Assembly on the coronavirus. “Many mistakenly assumed their strong health systems would protect them.”He said countries that have dealt with recent coronaviruses, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) as well as other infectious diseases, have done better in containing COVID-19.“Now all countries must develop that same muscle memory and invest in the measures that will prevent, control and mitigate the next crisis,” Tedros said. “It is also clear the global system for preparedness…