Results for WHO

Alcohol misuse has contributed to several road deaths in Tonga. Now, new alcohol breathalyzer devices presented to Tonga Police in December will help frontline officers to detect and remove more drunk drivers and maintain safety on roads.

Essential medical equipment for COVID-19 will be distributed to 11 Pacific Islands from the government of the United Kingdom and World Health Organization.

With people everywhere struggling to preserve their livelihoods under the constant threat of the coronavirus, it has become clear that this pandemic is more than a health emergency. It has become a global whole-of-society crisis. In this context, one of our greatest fears is that after decades of improvement, future generations’ prospects have suddenly plummeted. Some regions are experiencing a reversal of gains achieved in the past 20 years. It will be many months – even years – before vaccines against current and future variants of the virus are accessible to everyone. By Palitha Abeykoon, Maha El Rabbat, David Nabarro

New York Times reporting: Citing what they call “the biggest challenge to the global community since the 1940s,” the leaders of more than two dozen countries, the European Union and the World Health Organization on Tuesday floated an international treaty to protect the world from pandemics. The current pandemic is “a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe,” the leaders write. The suggested treaty is an acknowledgment that the current system of international health institutions, symbolized by the relatively powerless WHO, a U.N. agency, is inadequate to the problem.

New York Times reporting: The World Health Organization on Monday authorized the use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, clearing a path for the cheap and easy-to-store shots to be distributed in lower- and middle-income countries around the world.

An equitable supply of vaccines is missing. Of the 128 million vaccine doses administered so far, more than three quarters of those vaccinations are in just 10 countries that account for 60 per cent of global GDP, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus, said in a joint statement yesterday. “As of today, almost 130 countries, with 2.5 billion people, are yet to administer a single dose.”

Last week saw the first decline in newly-reported cases globally since September, said World Health Organisation Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on 30 November, while warning that gains can easily be lost. He cautioned holiday makers that being with family and friends “is not worth putting them or yourself at risk”.

Tonga has provided an Expression of Interest to join COVAX to access CoViD-19 vaccines confirmed the Ministry of Health CEO, Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola. It will give early access to vaccinations for the most vulnerable people in member countries populations.

During the 2009 swine flu pandemic, a few countries cornered the vaccine market, leaving the vast majority of the global population with no vaccine at all until the outbreak was effectively over. This scenario must be avoided at all costs during the current crisis – and, thanks to the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility, it can be. By Seth Berkley, Richard Hatchett, and Soumya Swaminathan.