Author: Dmedia

The death toll from a measles outbreak in Zimbabwe has risen to almost 700 children, the country's health ministry has said. Some are calling for the enactment of legislation to make vaccination mandatory in a country where anti-modern medicine religious sects hold sway on large swathes of the population of 15 million people. The southern African country's health ministry announced at the weekend that 698 children have died from measles since the outbreak started in April. The ministry said 37 of the deaths occurred on a single day on Sept. 1. The health ministry said it had recorded 6,291 cases by Sept. 4. The latest figures are more than four times the number of deaths announced about two weeks ago when the ministry said 157 children, most of whom were…

Argentine health officials said Saturday that four people in a clinic in northwestern Tucuman province had died of Legionnaires' disease, a relatively rare bacterial infection of the lungs. Health Minister Carla Vizzotti told reporters that Legionnaires' had been identified as the underlying cause of double pneumonia in the four, who had suffered high fevers, body aches and trouble breathing. The deaths, all since Monday, occurred in a single clinic in the city of San Miguel de Tucuman. The latest, on Saturday morning, was that of a 48-year-old man with underlying health problems. A 70-year-old woman who had undergone surgery in the clinic was also a victim. Seven other symptomatic cases have been identified, all from the same establishment and nearly all involving clinic personnel, provincial officials said. Of those seven,…

The U.K. will begin its autumn COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the coming weeks after authorizing booster shots made by Pfizer and Moderna that have been modified to target both the original virus and the widely circulating omicron variant. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said Saturday that it had approved the Pfizer vaccine for use in people aged 12 and older after finding it was both safe and effective. The agency authorized the Moderna vaccine last month. The government will offer the vaccine to everyone age 50 and over, as well as front-line health care workers and other groups considered to be particularly at risk of serious illness as the National Health Service prepares for a surge in infections this winter. “These innovative vaccines will broaden immunity and strengthen…

A protest by a group of HIV-positive people in New Delhi, demanding a regular supply of life-saving antiretroviral therapy drugs across the country, ended this week, after 42 days, as the government has reportedly resumed the interrupted supply of the drugs.  Around 2.3 million people are infected with HIV in India. Since 2004, the government has been providing free antiviral therapy, known as ART, to HIV-positive people in India.  The therapy stops replication of the virus, helping patients live longer and cutting the risk of transmission of the virus to others. Around 1.5 million HIV patients depend on the free government-supplied ART drugs. The demonstration, at the central office of the Health Ministry’s National AIDS Control Organization, or NACO, which manages HIV and AIDS prevention and control programs in India,…

The World Health Organization is monitoring a cluster of 10 cases of pneumonia from an unknown cause in an outbreak in Argentina that so far has included three deaths. The cases are linked to a single private clinic in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, located in the northwest part of the country, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional office of the WHO. An initial report Tuesday included five health care workers and a patient who was treated in the intensive care ward of the clinic, with symptoms emerging Aug. 18-22. On Thursday, local health officials reported another three cases, bringing the total to nine, including three deaths. All three people who died had other health conditions. On Friday, Argentina reported an additional case. Symptoms…

A new hormone treatment improved the cognitive function of six men with Down syndrome by 10% to 30%, scientists said this week, adding the "promising" results may raise hopes of improving patients' quality of life. However, the scientists emphasized the small study did not point toward a cure for the cognitive disorders of people with Down syndrome and that far more research is needed. "The experiment is very satisfactory, even if we remain cautious," Nelly Pitteloud of Switzerland's Lausanne University Hospital, co-author of a new study in the journal Science, said Thursday. Down syndrome is the most common genetic form of intellectual disability, occurring in about one in 1,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. Yet previous research has failed to significantly improve cognition when applied to people with…

The Serum Institute of India signed a deal this week with South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare to make four vaccines used in Africa. The deal has been hailed as saving local vaccine production, which was at risk of shutting down after receiving no orders for a COVID vaccine. But medical aid group Doctors Without Borders says more efforts are needed for vaccines to be fully produced in Africa for Africans. Four routine pediatric vaccines — pneumococcal vaccine, rotavirus vaccine, polyvalent meningococcal vaccine and hexavalent vaccine — will be made in South Africa with products from bulk drug substances supplied by India's Serum Institute. In addition to the 10-year agreement, South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare also anticipates receiving grant funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness…

Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela is the largest lake in South America and one of the world's oldest. It is coming under increasing threat from oil spills, plastic pollution, and an alga popularly known locally as "verdín," which can suffocate fish. For VOA News, Adriana Nunez Rabascall has the report. Produced by: Cristina Caicedo Smit ...

Imagine if they could bottle a potion called “Just Serena.” That was Serena Williams’ succinct, smiling explanation for how she’d managed — at nearly 41, and match-rusty — to defeat the world’s second-ranked player and advance Wednesday to the third round of a U.S. Open that so far, doesn’t feel much like a farewell. “I’m just Serena,” she said to roaring fans. Clearly there’s only one Serena. But as superhuman as many found her achievement, some older fans in particular — middle-aged, or beyond — said they saw in Williams’ latest run a very human and relatable takeaway, too. Namely the idea that they, also, could perform better and longer than they once thought possible — through fitness, practice and grit. “It makes me feel good about what I’m doing…

A pair of reports issued this week have combined to illustrate the deep and lasting impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the United States, documenting both declining educational outcomes for young students and a sharp decline in life expectancy for Americans in general. A special assessment by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) focused on a nationally representative sample of 9-year-olds. It documented the sharpest ever drop in reading achievement between 2019, the year before the pandemic, and the early months of 2022. It also documented the first-ever decline in achievement in mathematics over the same time period. A separate report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documented a further decline in life expectancy in the U.S., first identified in 2021. According to the…

Australia has had some of the world’s strictest disease-control measures. Some of those last remaining COVID-19 restrictions now are being eased. At the height of the pandemic, millions of people were forced into protracted lockdowns, masks were mandatory and many front-line workers, including medical staff and teachers, were told be vaccinated or face losing their jobs. Australia banned most foreign nationals after closing its borders in March 2020, and Australians needed government permission to leave the country. Tens of thousands of Australian citizens were trapped overseas, some unable to return home for months because of border restrictions and a lack of flights. Australia’s COVID fortress has been dismantled and its borders have reopened with few, if any, restrictions. Other pandemic measures have persisted, but they are now being wound back.…

U.S. health advisers on Thursday endorsed new COVID-19 boosters that target today's most common omicron strains, saying if enough people roll up their sleeves, the updated shots could blunt a winter surge.  The tweaked shots made by Pfizer and Moderna promise Americans a chance at their most up-to-date protection at yet another critical period in the pandemic. They're combination or "bivalent" shots, half the original vaccine and half protection against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron versions now causing nearly all COVID-19 infections.  Advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention struggled with who should get the new booster and when, because only a similarly tweaked vaccine, not the exact recipe, has been studied in people so far.  But ultimately, the panel deemed it the best option considering the U.S.…

NASA’s moon mission suffers another setback. Plus, a look back at a space travel pioneer, and a private spaceflight company continues earning frequent flyer miles. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us The Week in Space. ...

The U.S. National Hurricane Center reported Thursday that Tropical Storm Danielle has formed in the Atlantic Ocean and is expected to become the first hurricane of what has been an unusually quiet storm season, but one that is predicted to become busier than average.  Forecasters at the hurricane center say that as Danielle hovers over an area of warmer-than-average ocean waters in the mid- to north Atlantic, atmospheric conditions are forecast to be favorable for it to strengthen into a hurricane in two days, and peak in intensity in about four days.  But they also forecast it will stay in the middle of the ocean until it weakens back into a tropical depression.  What makes the storm noteworthy is its status as the first hurricane of the season, the fourth…

An instrument on the U.S. space agency NASA’s Mars rover, Perseverance, has been reliably producing oxygen from the planet’s thin atmosphere for more than a year, a finding that bodes well for extended future missions to the planet. A study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances and led by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studied the work of the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, known as MOXIE. The study shows that since it was activated in April 2021 — two months after Perseverance landed on Mars — MOXIE was able to produce oxygen on seven experimental runs, in a variety of atmospheric conditions, including during the day and night, and through different Martian seasons. In each run, the instrument reached its target of producing six grams…

The flight crews at one of Taiwan's main airline carriers have voiced frustration about continued COVID-19 policies that require them to adhere to some of the strictest quarantine and testing requirements in the world.  The policies remain in place even as other parts of the world loosen pandemic restrictions and adapt to a “new normal.”  Upon arrival at destinations overseas, pilots and cabin crews from China Airlines must be taken directly to their hotel rooms and provided with room key cards that work only once — when they leave and embark on their next flights.    One pilot for China Airlines, who wished to remain anonymous, told VOA he was “frustrated” with the current conditions.    “It’s really affected [me]. Whenever I went to work, I felt so frustrated ...…

The U.N. weather agency is predicting that the phenomenon known as La Nina is poised to last through the end of this year, a mysterious “triple dip” — the first this century — caused by three straight years of its effect on climate patterns like drought and flooding worldwide. The World Meteorological Organization on Wednesday said La Nina conditions, which involve a large-scale cooling of ocean surface temperatures, have strengthened in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific with an increase in trade winds in recent weeks. The agency’s top official was quick to caution that the “triple dip” doesn’t mean global warming is easing. “It is exceptional to have three consecutive years with a La Nina event. Its cooling influence is temporarily slowing the rise in global temperatures, but it…

A World Health Organization-UNICEF global study of health care facilities finds half lack basic hygiene services, putting around 3.85 billion people at risk of infection and death. The study is based on data from 40 countries representing 35% of the world’s population. It presents an alarming picture of health facilities that lack water and soap for handwashing, have dirty toilets, and are unable to manage health care waste. It says the lack of safe water, sanitation, and basic hygiene services, known as WASH, in health care facilities can lead to many preventable deaths. Rick Johnston is WHO lead WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for WASH. He says sepsis, a major cause of mortality globally, could be prevented by improving WASH services in health care. “It causes about 11 million avoidable deaths…

NASA’s space shuttle program brought Brenda Mulberry and her husband from Tampa to Florida’s Space Coast in the early 1980s. Since then, Mulberry has operated “Space Shirts,” a space-themed clothing shop not far from Kennedy Space Center. She said business slowed significantly when shuttle launches ended in 2011. But this year is different. “Excitement is over the moon,” said Mulberry, in between helping customers pay for armfuls of souvenirs. People now flock to Mulberry’s store to get anything they can related to NASA’s new Artemis mission. “On a normal day we might see 60 to 70 people in a day in our store,” she told VOA. “We’re seeing hundreds and hundreds and hundreds an hour. It’s a zoo.” Artemis — NASA’s ambitious program to return to the moon — has…

After Monday’s scrubbed Artemis launch, NASA is awaiting liftoff of its first mission back to the moon — an unmanned test flight of its new rocket and capsule system. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports on the excitement surrounding the Artemis program, which aims to one day send humans to Mars. ...

The World Health Organization’s top director in the Western Pacific, Dr. Takeshi Kasai, has been indefinitely removed from his post, according to internal correspondence obtained by The Associated Press. Kasai’s removal comes months after an AP investigation revealed that dozens of staffers accused him of racist, abusive and unethical behavior that undermined the U.N. agency’s efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic in Asia. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told staff in the Western Pacific in an email on Friday that Kasai was “on leave” without elaborating further. Tedros said Deputy Director-General, Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, would be arriving Tuesday in Manila, WHO’s regional headquarters, to “ensure business continuity.” Two senior WHO officials who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the press, said Kasai had…

VOA's Kane Farabaugh spoke with NASA Astronaut Victor Glover ahead of Monday's scheduled Artemis launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. While the launch was postponed, NASA's quest to return to the moon and eventually send humans to Mars remains a priority for the U.S. space agency. A former military aviator, Glover has taken part in a SpaceX mission, spent time aboard the International Space Station, completed 168 days in orbit and participated in four spacewalks. He is a candidate for future Artemis missions. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. VOA: “So Victor, tell me what it's like to sort of be here right now in this moment?” NASA ASTRONAUT VICTOR GLOVER: “It's unreal. I mean it sounds a little cliche but to be at the place where the…

The U.S. government said on Monday it would provide about $11 million to support the packaging of Bavarian Nordic's BAVA.CO Jynneos monkeypox vaccine at a U.S.-based manufacturer's facility. The Danish company, which is the maker of the only approved monkeypox vaccine, had earlier this month signed up Michigan-based Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing to package the two-dose shot. The production is expected to begin later this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said, adding that the funding will help the manufacturer recruit more staff and buy additional equipment. Globally, the number of confirmed monkeypox cases have crossed 47,600 with over 17,000 cases reported in the United States so far. The Jynneos vaccine is in short supply and U.S. regulators have authorized a method of administration that allows providers…

The U.S. space agency NASA says it is ready to launch its most powerful rocket ever along with a new crew capsule Monday in a test of systems it will use to send humans back to the moon.  The Space Launch System rocket is set to propel the Orion capsule without any people on board for this flight. Orion is due to go around the moon and return to Earth, with the entire journey taking about six weeks.  If successful, NASA plans to fly astronauts around the moon in 2024 and potentially put them on the lunar surface as early as 2025.  NASA said there was an 80% chance of favorable weather conditions for Monday’s launch. If weather does interfere, another attempt would happen Friday.  The launch is part of…

The world’s population is surging, and with it, the global demand for poultry and seafood. Some companies are hoping to offer lab-grown meat-based products with the same taste and texture as animal flesh. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more from Washington. ...

Years late and billions over budget, NASA’s new moon rocket makes its debut next week in a high-stakes test flight before astronauts get on top. The 98-meter (322-foot) rocket will attempt to send an empty crew capsule into a far-flung lunar orbit, 50 years after NASA's famed Apollo moonshots. If all goes well, astronauts could strap in as soon as 2024 for a lap around the moon, with NASA aiming to land two people on the lunar surface by the end of 2025. Liftoff is set for Monday morning from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The six-week test flight is risky and could be cut short if something fails, NASA officials warn. “We’re going to stress it and test it. We’re going make it do things that we would never do…

Citing unparalleled attacks on health care facilities, the World Health Organization said this week it is working to reconstruct Ukraine’s health system. The system has suffered extensive damage since Russia invaded the country six months ago. Over the past six months, the U.N. health agency says it has verified 173 attacks on medical facilities, which have resulted in nearly 100 deaths and 134 injuries. WHO Ukraine representative Jarno Habicht told reporters this week that deaths and injuries continue to rise and will continue to do so until Russia ends the war. “While these attacks are not only the violation of international law, they also are a barrier for many who need care as we are going through the war,” he said. “So, it is not only the supplies and others…

Canada's decision to legalize recreational marijuana in October 2018 was greeted by advocates and critics with predictions of dramatic benefits or dire consequences. Almost four years later, questions about the impact of the move elicit mainly shrugs. "Maybe I am the wrong demographic, but I have not noticed any serious problems arising from legalization," said one senior veteran of the Canadian legal system, who declined to be identified because of his role in administering the law. "I think it probably has reduced policing costs and court time arising from simple possession offences (as opposed to trafficking)," the legal veteran added in an email to VOA. "No evidence of lawyers or bankers or Bay Street types going wild. Maybe alcohol is still the drug of choice. "You do get the occasional…