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The World Health Organisation (<keyword id="19895006" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="WHO" source="keywords">WHO</keyword>) has announced that <keyword id="22989608" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="M-Pox" source="keywords">M-Pox</keyword> will continue to be classified as a <keyword id="21952478" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-health-emergency" source="keywords">public health emergency</keyword> of international concern (PHEIC), citing a resurgence in cases and the virus's ongoing geographic spread. The high-alert status initially declared in August, was reaffirmed following a meeting of the WHO Emergency Committee, The Express Tribune reported on Friday. The decision comes as M-Pox cases surge, particularly with the spread of the <keyword id="22875864" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="clade-Ib-variant" source="keywords">clade Ib variant</keyword> beyond its origin in the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighbouring African nations, Europe, and Asia. "Rising case numbers, the continuing geographic spread, and the need for a cohesive response have made it essential to maintain this emergency status," the WHO said in its statement. Confirmed cases of clade Ib have been detected in the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and India, highlighting the global scale of the outbreak, reported The Express Tribune. M-Pox, a viral disease transmitted through close contact, presents flu-like symptoms and lesions. Although typically mild, it can be fatal, particularly in regions with inadequate healthcare. Over 46,000 suspected cases have been reported this year in Africa, with Congo accounting for the majority of the more than 1,000 suspected deaths. The new PHEIC declaration underscores the global threat posed by clade Ib and follows earlier alerts related to a separate strain during the 2022-2023 outbreak. In response to growing concerns, the WHO has expanded vaccine authorisations. Bavarian Nordic's <keyword id="24137585" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="M-Pox-vaccine" source="keywords">M-Pox vaccine</keyword> was approved earlier this year, with Japan's KM Biologics' vaccine added to the list of emergency-use vaccines in September. WHO officials have faced criticism for delays in <keyword id="21847727" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vaccine-distribution" source="keywords">vaccine distribution</keyword> but stressed that vaccination remains a cornerstone of global response efforts, The Express Tribune reported. "The emergency status underscores the urgency to mount a unified global response," a WHO spokesperson stated. The organisation urged countries and health partners to collaborate on widespread vaccination campaigns and enhance public awareness to curb the virus's spread effectively.

M-Pox remains public health emergency: WHO

Sydney, Aug 15 (The Conversation): The <keyword id="19896311" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Health-Organization" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="World Health Organization" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="World Health Organization">World Health Organization</keyword> (<keyword id="19895006" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="WHO" source="keywords">WHO</keyword>) has declared <keyword id="20965747" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="mpox" source="keywords">mpox</keyword> a public health emergency of international concern, after rising cases in the <keyword id="22796094" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Democratic-Republic-of-the-Congo" source="keywords">Democratic Republic of the Congo</keyword> and the potential for further spread. This now triggers a coordinated international response to an extraordinary event and the mobilisation of resources, such as vaccines and diagnostic testing, to curb the spread of this infectious disease. But WHO has not declared mpox a <keyword id="19913581" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="pandemic" source="keywords">pandemic</keyword>. Rather, the measures it has triggered are designed to prevent it from becoming one. <h2>What triggered this latest alert?</h2> Mpox, once known as monkeypox, is a viral infection closely related to <keyword id="22362924" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="smallpox" source="keywords">smallpox</keyword>. Initial symptoms include a fever, headache, swelling of the lymph nodes and muscle ache. A typical rash follows, mainly on the face, hands and feet. The spread of mpox through certain African countries led the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to declare earlier this week mpox a public health emergency of continental security. This is the first time the organisation has issued such an alert since it was established in 2017. The situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa has been particularly worrying for more than a year. There are two types or clades of mpox. Clade II, which originates in west Africa, is less severe. It has a fatality rate of up to 1 per cent (in other words, roughly one in 100 are expected to die from it). But clade I, from central Africa, has a fatality rate of up to 10 per cent (up to one in ten die). This compares to a 0.7 per cent fatality rate for the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is seeing large epidemics of the more deadly clade I mpox. Mpox is endemic in some parts of central and west Africa, where the virus exists in animals and can spread to humans. Outbreaks have been increasing, with more human-to-human spread, since 2017. This is partly due to very low levels of immunity to the mpox virus, which is related to the virus that causes smallpox. Mass vaccination against smallpox ceased more than 40 years ago globally, resulting in minimal immunity in populations today against mpox. The WHO designation announced this week relates to the clade I. Not only does this have a higher fatality rate, it has new mutations that enhance spread between people. These changes, and the global lack of immunity to mpox, makes the world's population vulnerable to the virus. <h2>There are two different epidemics</h2> In 2022, an epidemic of mpox swept through non-endemic countries, including beyond Africa. This was a variant of clade II originating from Nigeria, called clade IIb. This was sexually transmitted, predominantly affecting men who have sex with men, and had a low fatality rate. That epidemic peaked in 2022, with vaccines made available to people at risk in high-income countries, but there has been an uptick in 2024. At the same time, large clade I epidemics were occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but with far less attention. Vaccines were not available there, even in 2023, when there were 14,626 cases and 654 deaths. Mortality was 4.5 per cent, and higher in children. In fact, most cases and deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been children. This means most transmission there is non-sexual and is likely to have occurred through close contact or respiratory aerosols. However, in 2023 an <keyword id="20877025" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="outbreak" source="keywords">outbreak</keyword> in a non-endemic part of the country, South Kivu in the east, appeared to be by sexual transmission, indicating more than one epidemic and different transmission modes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By mid-2024, there were already more cases in the country than all of 2023 - more than 15,600 cases and 537 deaths. Testing capacity is low in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, most cases are not confirmed by lab testing, and the data we have are from a small sample of genomic sequences from the Kamituga region of South Kivu. This show mutations to the clade I virus around September 2023, to a variant termed clade Ib, which is more readily transmissible between people. We do not have much data to compare these viruses with the viruses causing cases in the rest of the country. <h2>Mpox is spreading internationally</h2> In the past month, the virus has spread to countries that share a border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo - Rwanda and Burundi. It has also spread to other east African countries, such as Kenya and Uganda. None of these countries have had mpox cases previously. In an interconnected, mobile world, cases may spread to other continents, as mpox did in 2018 from Nigeria to the United Kingdom and other countries. A few travel-related cases between 2018 and 2019 may have led to the large multi-country 2022 clade IIb epidemic. <h2>We have vaccines, but not where they are needed</h2> As the mpox virus and smallpox viruses are related (they are both orthopoxviruses), smallpox vaccines offer protection against mpox. These vaccines were used to control the 2022 clade IIb epidemic. However, most of the world has never been vaccinated, and has no immunity to mpox. The newer <keyword id="19959412" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="vaccine" source="keywords">vaccine</keyword> (called Jynneos in some countries and Imvamune or Imvanex in others) is effective. However, supplies are limited, and vaccine is scarce in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WHO's declaration of mpox as a public health emergency of international concern will help mobilise vaccines to where they are needed. The Africa Centres for Disease Control had already begun negotiations to secure 2,00,000 doses of vaccine, which is a fraction of what is required to control the epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. <h2>What happens now?</h2> Ultimately, a serious epidemic anywhere in the world is a concern for all of us, as it can spread globally through travel, as we saw with the COVID pandemic. Controlling it at the source is the best measure, and WHO's latest declaration will help mobilise the required resources. Surveillance for spread of this more serious version of mpox is also essential, bearing in mind that many countries do not have the capacity for widespread testing. So we'll have to rely on "suspected cases", based on a clinical definition, to keep track of the epidemic. Open-source epidemic intelligence - such as using AI to monitor trends in rash and fever illness - can also be used as an early warning system in countries with weak health systems or delayed reporting of cases. A further complication is that 20-30 per cent of people with mpox may simultaneously have chickenpox, an unrelated infection that also causes a rash. So an initial diagnosis of chickenpox (which is easier to test for) does not rule out mpox. Effective communication and tackling push-back against public health measures and disinformation is also key. We saw how important this was during the COVID pandemic. Now, WHO will coordinate the global mpox response, focusing on equity in disease prevention and access to diagnostics and vaccines. It is up to individual countries to do their best to comply with the International Health Regulations, and the protocols for how such a global emergency are managed.

WHO has declared mpox a global health emergency. What happens next?

The <keyword id="22667872" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="mpox-outbreak" source="keywords">mpox outbreak</keyword> in <keyword id="19924003" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="africa" source="keywords">Africa</keyword> is yet another example of how <keyword id="20040661" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="infectious-diseases" source="keywords">infectious diseases</keyword>, perceived to be "someone else's problem", and affecting mainly poor, developing countries, may suddenly pose unexpected global threats. Other examples of <keyword id="22817243" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="neglected-diseases" source="keywords">neglected diseases</keyword> include the West Nile, Zika and Chikungunya viruses. Mpox was discovered in 1958 (in captive monkeys, hence the original misnomer "monkeypox") and the first human case was identified in 1970. Then, for decades it was largely neglected by the scientific and public health communities, regarded as an uncommon infection in remote rural areas in tropical Africa, without relevance for the rest of the world. When a massive mpox outbreak hit developed countries in 2022, increased research funding led to a surge in scientific studies. On just one medical search engine, there's been more research produced since April 2022 than in the preceding 60 years. The 2022-23 global mpox outbreak happened despite repeated calls from African researchers for increased global investment in diagnostic, therapeutic and infection prevention tools for mpox. The WHO has now declared the current upsurge of mpox in central Africa a <keyword id="21952478" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="public-health-emergency" source="keywords">public health emergency</keyword> of international concern. This is the highest alert level for events that constitute a public health risk to other countries and requires a coordinated international response. Mpox's recent history is yet another reminder that an infectious disease in one corner of the world should not be regarded as someone else's problem, as it can suddenly start to spread fast and far. It also highlights global inequities in resource allocation and access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatments. These were made available in many industrialised countries and helped curb the global outbreak, but are still largely lacking in most of Africa. <h2>The 2022 outbreak: a total surprise</h2>The disease has been renamed "mpox" but the name of the virus, for now, remains "monkeypox" (MPXV). It is closely related to the smallpox virus. MPXV was considered a <keyword id="21311828" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="zoonotic-disease" source="keywords">zoonotic disease</keyword> endemic in parts of central and west Africa. It was acquired mainly through close contact with wild mammals, especially handling bush meat, but there was no sustained human-to-human transmission. Only very occasionally were cases seen outside the endemic areas, due to infected travellers or import of infected small mammals. This changed abruptly in 2022: a massive, rapidly evolving global outbreak caused over 99,000 laboratory-confirmed cases in 116 countries. At its peak in August 2022, over 6,000 cases were reported each week. This outbreak came as a total surprise: most cases were reported from non-endemic countries, mostly in men who have sex with men, who had become infected during recent sexual encounters. Even though most cases were clinically not particularly severe and the death toll stands at just over 200, the global outbreak was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the <keyword id="19896311" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="world-health-organization" source="keywords">World Health Organization</keyword> on 23 July, 2022. Fortunately, case numbers soon plummeted due to a combination of behavioural changes and vaccination in at-risk groups. Modern vaccines and antiviral drugs with activity against mpox were made available in many affected high-income countries. These had been developed and stockpiled in the US and Europe, mostly in preparation for a potential bioweapon attack using a poxvirus. The global outbreak in 2022 was caused by clade II of MPXV, which is endemic in west Africa and not as virulent as clade I MPXV, which so far has only been seen in the Congo Basin. That first mpox public health emergency of international concern was declared over in May 2023. Clade II MPXV infections are still occurring globally, but the worst seems over - for now. Complacency would be misguided, as illustrated by the current mpox outbreak that is gathering steam. <h2>Upsurge in Africa</h2>The African region is experiencing an upsurge in mpox cases, which started in 2023. As the continent which includes the areas where mpox has been endemic for a long time, Africa now presents a complex mosaic. The current clade I MPXV (formerly called Congo Basin strain) is more virulent than the clade II (west African) strain, resulting in a higher case fatality rate. The ongoing outbreak has its epicentre in South Kivu province, eastern DRC, and has the potential to fuel a large pandemic. It has a distinct epidemiological pattern with sustained chains of human-to-human transmission, often via the sexual route. It may have increased transmissibility (we don't know yet). The virus which causes it is the newly defined clade Ib lineage. It displays mutations that are the hallmark of human-to-human spread that is estimated to have been happening since September 2023. Case numbers are rising rapidly, even though many suspected cases are likely not tested and thus not counted as confirmed. Complicating matters, a commonly used test was found to miss infections with this lineage of the virus. It affects mostly adults. The case fatality rate is higher than it was in the 2022 global outbreak. Already, this outbreak has resulted in mpox cases occurring in several neighbouring countries, including some (like Kenya), with no previous record of mpox. The challenge is enormous. The eastern DRC is an area beset by multiple problems. This includes natural disasters, violence and infectious diseases including measles, cholera and poliomyelitis for the DRC. In recent years the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever took place in the wider area and, despite the availability of vaccines and treatments, posed considerable challenges. <h2>What needs to happen</h2>Equitable access to diagnostic tests, vaccines and antiviral treatments requires political commitment and financial investments. Scientific investigations are needed to learn more about exposure settings, transmission routes and clinical presentations. It's important to find the best ways to make these interventions. There is no doubt that a disease in one corner of the world can suddenly become a global heath threat. It's time the global health system woke up to this reality.

Mpox outbreak in Africa was neglected - it could now turn into the next global pandemic

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Danish monkeypox-vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic surged as much as 17% on Thursday.</li><li>The company's two-day gain extended to 31% at highs after the WHO declared mpox a public health emergency.</li></ul>Danish monkeypox-vaccine maker <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bvnkf">Bavarian Nordic</a> surged as much as 17% on Thursday amid rising alarm over the virus.The company extended its two-day gain to 31% at intraday highs after the World Health Organization declared the virus a public health emergency of international concern, citing the rising risk that its outbreak in Africa could spread globally.<a target="_blank" href="https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/who-declares-monkeypox-a-global-emergency/jvln09g">Reports emphasize</a> the need for vaccinations to combat this fast-spreading disease, though supply appears to be constrained.In an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-14/bavarian-nordic-says-it-can-meet-mpox-shot-demand-awaits-orders">interview with Bloomberg</a>, Bavarian Nordic CEO Paul Chaplin noted that the company will be able to meet the challenge among African nations, and pledged to provide 10 million mpox doses to the region by the end of 2025."We have inventory and we have the capabilities. What we're missing are the orders," he said Wednesday, noting that 300,000 doses are ready for shipping.During <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-the-us-handled-its-first-ever-monkeypox-outbreak-2022-5">2022's outbreak</a>, Bavarian Nordic was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-17/monkeypox-vaccine-maker-no-longer-certain-it-can-meet-demand">the only company</a> approved to create a mpox vaccine. However, overwhelming demand forced it to consider outsourcing production.Momentum around the latest emergency announcement has also swept up other firms. In Japan, medical tools supplier Precision System Science rocketed as high as 39% on Wednesday.Chinese firms focused on virus detection products also gained, with Shanghai ZJ Bio-Tech rising as much as 8.4%. Others, such as Daan Gene and Assure Tech Hangzhou, beat the benchmark CSI 300 index.Even before the WHO's declaration, alarm bells have been ringing over the mpox strain that first appeared in September. According to Bloomberg, its broken out in at least six African nations, infecting 15,000.In June, a University of Rwanda lecturer <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-monkeypox-mpox-virus-global-outbreak-risk-2024-7">called it</a> "undoubtedly the most dangerous of all the known strains of mpox."

Danish monkeypox-vaccine maker surges 17% after global health emergency declared

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/major-disruptions-airline-bank-london-stock-exchange-microsoft-outage-2024-7">global CrowdStrike IT outage</a> is affecting countless industries, including healthcare.</li><li>Some major US hospitals are struggling to access systems containing crucial patient records.</li></ul>Major hospital systems across the US are seeing effects on patient care in the wake of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-it-outage-companies-operations-airlines-affected-microsoft-crowdstrike-2024-7">mass CrowdStrike IT outage Friday</a>.Some health centers are struggling to access <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electronic-health-records-benefits-challenges">patients' digital records</a>, including information vital to patient care, such as medical history and recent medications they've taken, and others are canceling non-emergency surgeries and procedures.Mount Nittany Health in Pennsylvania <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://mountnittany.org/news-stories/general-news/mount-nittany-health-impacted-by-nationwide-it-outage/">said</a> it was canceling "all non-emergent appointments, including surgeries" at multiple locations because of "significant disruptions across our entire health system," The Guardian <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/19/crowdstrike-microsoft-outage">reported</a>.Mass General Brigham in Boston canceled "all non-urgent visits" for Friday as it's "not able to access our clinical systems, including patient health records and scheduling," it said on its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.massgeneralbrigham.org/en">website</a>. Its emergency rooms are still open, and it remains open for urgent appointments and procedures.The Harris Health Quentin Mease Health Center in Houston <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/harrishealth">said</a> it was canceling "outpatient clinic appointments and elective hospital procedures," NBC News <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/live-updates-it-outage-flights-banks-businesses-microsoft-crowdstrike-rcna162669/rcrd47119?canonicalCard=true">reported</a>. It said that "hospital visitation and patient information" was not available at two hospitals due to the outage. Harris' health centers are open for clinic appointments but "some services may not be available," it said on social media.New York's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center said Friday afternoon that it was "having systems issues" but that most of its systems and procedures had been reinstated. The center had earlier in the day said it was "pausing the start of any procedure that requires anesthesia," Bloomberg <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-19/global-it-outage-is-hitting-doctor-appointments-across-the-uk">reported</a>.Besides postponing procedures, the outage has also complicated <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-startup-is-remodeling-patient-care-in-rural-america-2022-7">patient care</a> in other ways. Nurses across the country have <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/search?q=paper%20charting&amp;t=1721409401990">said</a> on social media, for example, that the outage has forced them to create patients' medical charts on paper due to computer system issues.

Some US hospitals are canceling non-emergency surgeries and procedures amid the global IT outage

Healthcare data is messy. Saria has spent her career trying to make sense of it with AI.Saria, part of Business Insider's 2024 AI Power List, directs the machine learning and healthcare lab at Johns Hopkins University and is the founder and CEO of the AI startup Bayesian Health. She began her career in computer science and was getting her doctorate at Stanford when President Barack Obama signed the Hitech Act into law to boost the use of electronic health records — drawing Saria's attention.She spent the next year using digitized healthcare data to develop an algorithm meant to better identify <a target="_blank" href="https://www.science.org/content/article/new-model-predicts-complications-preemies">premature infants at high risk</a> of developing deadly complications.After a promising result, Saria dug deeper into research on how tech could use healthcare data in medical records to improve care for patients with conditions as varied as Parkinson's disease and cancer.Then Saria lost her nephew to sepsis. Spurred into action, she decided to spin her research out of academia and bring the tech to hospitals with Bayesian Health.The startup, which emerged from stealth in 2021, has raised $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz and other investors. It developed an algorithm that helped hospitals predict sepsis faster, leading to nearly 20% fewer sepsis-related deaths, according to a real-world study published in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bayesianhealth.com/sepsis-research/">Nature Medicine</a> in July 2022. Saria calls that research "probably my proudest achievement.""We should not be practicing like we live in the 18th century with no science and no engineering," she said. "We should be up-leveling the way we deliver care to match the level of scientific innovation we see in the rest of our lives."Now, top health systems like Cleveland Clinic and Northwell Health use Bayesian Health's tech, and the startup has notched partnerships with Epic, Oracle's Cerner, and Allscripts. While the company launched with a focus on sepsis, it's expanding to predict other complications, like pressure ulcers, and it's targeting more down the line, like deep-vein thrombosis in pregnant people."I see 100 conditions where this system applies," Saria said. "It's not just one or two — it's everywhere I look."Saria has continued to research healthcare AI at Johns Hopkins. She's also made angel investments in more than 15 AI startups. For her work in healthcare AI, the World Economic Forum named her a Young Global Leader in 2018.In response to less-than-ideal healthcare AI implementations, like Epic's widely utilized sepsis algorithm — which, according to a June 2021 study in JAMA Internal Medicine,<a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2781307#google_vignette"> poorly predicted sepsis</a> compared to the performance the company reported — she's bringing together industry stakeholders to develop new tech. In 2022, Saria cofounded the Coalition for Health AI, which brings federal agencies and healthcare organizations to discuss best practices for using healthcare AI. She also helped the National Academy of Medicine develop<a target="_blank" href="https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/national-academy-medicine-drafts-code-conduct-ai-healthcare"> its code of conduct for AI deployment</a>, released earlier this year.See Business Insider's full <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://businessinsider.com/ai-power-list-2024">AI Power List</a>

Bayesian Health CEO Suchi Saria is leading the healthcare data revolution

The chief of the <keyword id="43588" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Health-Organization" source="Orion">World Health Organization</keyword> (WHO) has said that he hopes that Covid-19 will no longer be a global health emergency sometime next year. Addressing a press briefing in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the WHO Covid-19 Emergency Committee will discuss next month the criteria for declaring an end to the Covid-19 emergency, Xinhua news agency reported. "We're hopeful that at some point next year, we will be able to say that Covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency," he said. He added, however, that the <keyword id="8949905" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SARS-CoV-2-virus" source="Orion">SARS-CoV-2 virus</keyword>, the culprit behind the Covid-19 pandemic, will not go away. "It's here to stay, and all countries will need to learn to manage it alongside other respiratory illnesses including influenza and RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus), both of which are now circulating intensely in many countries," he said. The WHO chief said one of the most important lessons from the pandemic is that all countries need to strengthen their public health systems to prepare for, prevent, detect and respond rapidly to outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics. Another key lesson is the need for much stronger cooperation in collaboration, rather than competition and confusion that marked the global response to Covid-19. Meanwhile, Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead of the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, warned waves of infection and re-infection would continue around the world, as the number of weekly new deaths reported by countries still hovers between 8,000 to 10,000. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, warned that the world still does not know how the SARS-CoV-2 virus will evolve in the future, and such uncertainties add to risks. Before the WHO chief ends the Covid-19 emergency, a balance needs to be stricken between the virus -- including its impact and unpredictability -- and "whether or not we have dealt with the vulnerabilities and the resilience issues in our health systems," Ryan said. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/jio-launches-5g-services-with-unlimited-data-for-iphone-12-and-above/articleshow/96246810.cms" style="">Jio launches 5G services with unlimited data for iPhone 12 and above</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/doctors-giving-ineffective-superficial-weight-loss-advice-says-an-oxford-research/articleshow/96246841.cms">Doctors giving ineffective, superficial weight loss advice says an Oxford research</a>

Covid global health emergency hopefully ends next year: WHO chief

After a full day of meetings at Julie, a startup that sells a morning-after pill, CEO Amanda E/J Morrison jumped a flight from New York to Boston and headed to a small, private college, where a trivia night awaited her. Dozens of students shuffled into a classroom with plates of chicken tenders, Texas toast, and bright blue boxes of the emergency contraceptive.Morrison had worked with the Planned Parenthood Generation Action club at Suffolk University to sponsor the event, part of Julie's efforts to win a new generation of consumers. However, she had another, more pressing reason for being there. Julie is doing more campus events to clear up some of the confusion about emergency contraception — namely, that it isn't medication abortion.Standing at the head of the classroom, Morrison read off a projector screen, "Emergency contraceptives like Julie are legal in how many states? 25, 48, 50, 37." Students tapped their answers into a quiz app. "It's 37," Lily, a spirited sophomore, whispered to her teammates.In a minute, the correct answer appeared on screen, and the quiet chatter rose to a clamor. Half the teams said 37 states."Fifty states, guys. It's everywhere," Morrison said.When asked why she said 37, Lily said, "Just the way things are going."In states that outlaw abortion, some patients and politicians worry that contraception could be in legal jeopardy, too. There's no federal law preserving access to birth control, rather, a patchwork of state laws and court decisions holding it in place. Another Trump term <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/29/trump-birth-control-contraception-00159555">could change that</a>.For Julie, "that's the million dollar question of this election," Morrison said.<div type="image" title="TK" height="2000" width="2667" msid="114460252" hostid="261" sizebytes="193282"></div>"We're not worried about some big ban happening in the first hundred days. But how those decisions trickle down — what is presented in Congress as a bill, how the Supreme Court reacts, what trickles down to the states — becomes a real secondary concern," she said.Founders of women's health startups feel doubly invested in this election, one of the closest presidential races of the century. Half a dozen founders and investors of women's health companies, all women, told Business Insider that if Vice President Kamala Harris wins, it's business as usual. They said another Trump victory creates uncertainty for reproductive health startups, from period trackers to online abortion clinics to embryo banks.<div type="image" title="TK" height="1610" width="2147" msid="114460254" hostid="261" sizebytes="109206"></div>While Harris's presidential campaign has been marked by unrelenting support for reproductive healthcare, including contraception and abortions, Trump's position has been a moving target.The former president suggested <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/29/trump-birth-control-contraception-00159555">in May</a> that he was "looking at" restrictions on birth control, then walked that position back in a social media post later that day. During the September presidential debate, he called himself a "leader" on IVF, a move that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/12/trump-ivf-gop-roe-abortion-00178760">angered</a> parts of his base that have sought to restrict fertility treatments. He said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-says-he-would-veto-federal-abortion-ban/">in October</a> that he'd veto a national abortion ban after deflecting the question for months but would support states ordaining their own abortion bans.Trump's waffling on reproductive rights has put founders of women's health startups on notice. "It is one of the major issues that we're discussing and that our CEOs are focused on — how to continue to provide care to women, especially women of childbearing age," said Trish Costello, founder of Portfolia, an investing platform that pools money from female accredited investors.The day after the presidential debate, Mika Eddy was vibrating with the weight of the election. The race's outcome could drastically change reproductive rights, foreign policy, gun safety, and climate law — all issues close to Eddy, a 35-year-old Californian and mother of two.But Eddy also has skin in the game as the chief executive officer of Malama Health, a startup helping women with gestational diabetes access better care. Its doula network assists patients on Medicaid with applying for benefits such as diabetes-friendly meals and medical transport.Eddy worries that if Trump wins, he would restrict access to the coverage and benefits that her users rely on, weakening one of Malama Health's key services."There is this common misperception that, 'we're in California, we're in a liberal state, and so we're safe.' And I don't think that's the case," Eddy said.For some founders of women's health startups, this election is more than a political contest; it has ramifications for their livelihoods. With so much at stake, they're planning how to handle a scenario where states or courts might impose more limits on reproductive rights.<div type="image" title="US Vice President Kamala Harris taking pictures with some young teen girls." height="3000" width="4000" msid="114460257" hostid="261" sizebytes="755478"></div><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/abortion-telemedicine-startup-hey-jane-roe-v-wade-2022-10">Hey Jane</a> is a telehealth startup that connects patients to medical providers who offer online appointments and delivers abortion pills to their doorsteps. A year after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion, Hey Jane started selling birth control and treatments for urinary tract infections, yeast infections, and herpes, both oral and genital. The new products cushion the business against a "plan E" scenario of a national abortion ban, said Carli Sapir, a Hey Jane investor and founding partner of Amboy Ventures."We're thinking about how to make sure those other verticals are in a good place to continue carrying the company forward," said Sapir.This time last year, one of Hey Jane's rivals, Choix, shut down <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-backing-online-abortion-sites-say-its-good-business-2021-9">after three years in service</a>. The company said in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/choix-closes-virtual-doors-launches-130300919.html">press release</a> that "the stigma and politics surrounding abortion care posed significant fundraising challenges." It raised a $1 million seed round in 2022.While direct providers of abortion, like Hey Jane, could see major restrictions or shutdowns to their core businesses if Trump returns to the White House, a wider range of companies expect to feel the ripple effects. Startups that seem removed from the front lines, such as those involved with period tracking and fertility treatments, are also preparing for potential challenges.<div type="image" title="Then-President Donald Trump addresses the anti-abortion &quot;March for Life&quot;" height="750" width="1000" msid="114460247" hostid="261" sizebytes="53678"></div>If a national abortion ban were to occur, apps like Flo Health or Clue might face increased scrutiny, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-lux-capital-deena-shakir-wrote-childrens-book-2024-9">Deena Shakir</a>, a general partner at Lux Capital. These apps track when women have their periods and when they miss them. In today's post-Roe America, privacy experts worry that such data could be used to suggest that someone has had or is thinking about having an abortion, potentially putting women at risk of prosecution in certain states.The stakes could be equally high for companies involved with fertility treatments.The demand for services like in vitro fertilization, or IVF, and surrogacy has been climbing for years as people have kids later in life and infertility rates increase. That's birthed a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fertility-startups-booming-despite-market-downturn-2023-6">global fertility market</a> that includes companies that operate clinics to provide services like egg freezing and IVF, companies that run labs and tests, and firms that help people pay for the procedures.However, the industry's future is uncertain following attacks on abortion access. The end of Roe v. Wade opened up the legal terrain for states to interfere with access to other reproductive care, said Lauren Berson Sugarman, founder and chief executive officer of Conceive, a startup that offers personalized fertility guidance, including text support from nurses and peer groups.In Alabama, the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children. That put patients and fertility clinics on edge that they could be criminally charged for destroying extra embryos. A handful of Alabama clinics paused IVF treatments while patients throughout the South began moving their embryos to jurisdictions with more stable legal protections."We see a lot of patients come to us and say, should I move my embryos out of a red state? Because what happens if they come after IVF?" said Berson Sugarman.The push for "embryo rights" could have wide-reaching repercussions for startups like Maven Clinic or Carrot Fertility, which offer fertility benefits for employers, and TMRW Life Sciences, a biotech company creating robots for the safe storage of frozen sperm, eggs, and embryos.Moreover, it could influence the type of research that startups conduct and where. Alice Zheng, a principal at women's health investor RH Capital, explains how the shifting legal landscape might affect companies like Vitra Labs. As a biotech startup working on developing eggs from stem cells for IVF, "they're doing really cutting-edge research for fertility, but they need to think very carefully about where they set up shop," Zheng said. "Some of their research might involve certain types of tissue, which is more closely scrutinized in some areas than others."<div type="image" title="TK" height="2000" width="2667" msid="114460250" hostid="261" sizebytes="243576"></div>Two years ago, in the hours after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion, Morrison's phone started ringing and didn't stop. Investors wanted to know if the ruling would kill Julie's launch in Walmart stores that fall. Job candidates wondered if the company would still exist in six months. Morrison's mom called, concerned for her daughter's future."For probably two weeks straight, I was just doing reassurance calls," Morrison said.While emergency contraception is not the abortion bill and is currently legal in all 50 states, it is continuously confused with the abortion pill, which can have damaging consequences. In June, the medical journal JAMA Network Open published a <a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2820370?%20utm_source=For_The_Media">study</a> that found retail pharmacy fills of Plan B, a leading morning-after pill brand, fell by 65% in states with near-total abortion bans the year after the Dobbs decision, partly due to clinic closures and confusion about its legal status.That confusion could threaten Julie's sales, and puts the onus of the company to better educate consumers. It sponsors events like trivia nights and sorority house brunches. It has enlisted TikTok influencers to share videos of their drugstore hauls showing how easy it is to buy Julie. In one video, a young woman going back-to-school shopping walks off with a two-count pack of the emergency contraceptive pill. The caption reads, "double majors, not double strollers."Other startups are urging consumers to fight for reproductive rights at the polls. Eddy's Malama Health has reminders to register to vote in its app and will tell users where their nearest polling station is closer to election day. The company asks for their ZIP codes during onboarding, Eddy explained."When you have a baby, you're like, 'I want to vote, but I don't know where to go,'" Eddy said. She hopes the emails will get more pregnant women and new moms to head to the polls. Eddy added that the emails won't support a candidate and are meant as a "nonpartisan resource."<div type="image" title="TK" height="2000" width="2667" msid="114460255" hostid="261" sizebytes="192114"></div>Julie's content isn't political, either. It's not trying to change any minds about abortion rights. The goal is simply to spread awareness among young adults that emergency contraception helps prevent pregnancy, not end it. This way, Morrison said, a woman who is anti-abortion and has unprotected sex can feel confident taking Julie knowing that she isn't compromising her abortion stance.It was past 9 o'clock on a weekday, and the competition at trivia night was heating up. Students in teams of two or three screamed with delight as they watched their names climb the leaderboard. They competed to win prizes like sex toys and T-shirts with the phrase, "A Better Morning After.""Morning-after pills end pregnancy. True or false," the club president called out.Thirty seconds later, the screen showed that every team had answered correctly.Morrison pumped both fists in the air, beaming her approval.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/melia-russell">Melia Russell</a> is a senior correspondent at Insider covering startups and venture capital. She can be reached via the encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 603-913-3085 and email at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:mrussell@businessinsider.com">mrussell@businessinsider.com</a>.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/rebecca-torrence">Rebecca Torrence</a> is a correspondent at Business Insider writing about healthcare startups and venture capital. Send her an email at <a target="_blank" class="" href="mailto:rtorrence@businessinsider.com">rtorrence@businessinsider.com</a>.

'The million-dollar question of this election': Women's health startups are confronting a shifting legal landscape   

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A Silicon Valley county declared loneliness to be a public health emergency.</li><li>San Mateo County found that 45% of its residents said they were suffering from loneliness.</li></ul>A wealthy Silicon Valley county in California has become the first in the US to declare loneliness a public health emergency.It comes as global concerns over the physical and mental impacts of isolation continue to rise.The Board of Supervisors in California's San Mateo County <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/silicon-valley-county-loneliness-health-emergency-rcna136777">passed a resolution</a> on Tuesday that included a pledge to help citizens connect with each other, NBC News reported.San Mateo County is one of the wealthiest in the US and is home to the headquarters of many tech giants, including Facebook, YouTube, and Electronic Arts. In Q3 2023, the <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/housing-statistics/county-median-home-prices-and-monthly-mortgage-payment">median cost of a home in the county was $1,573,470.</a>While the San Mateo resolution does not provide any funding to combat loneliness, it is a sign of a commitment to the cause.It also validates people's feelings, David Canepa, the vice president of the Board of Supervisors that introduced the legislation, said, per NBC News."What we're trying to do is to really get people out of the corners and say, 'Hey, look, there are a lot of people who are feeling like you. You're not alone. And moving forward, here are some of the things that we can do to support you,'" he said.US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy last year released a report on the "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf">epidemic of loneliness and isolation</a>" in the US.In the report, Murthy said that social connection was "a critical and underappreciated contributor to individual and population health, community safety, resilience, and prosperity."Murthy said that problems associated with loneliness had been building for decades, but the COVID-19 pandemic had compounded it.He added that loneliness was "associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death" and that the "mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day."Governments around the world have started to address the issue.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-message-from-the-uk-and-japanese-loneliness-ministers">Japan and the UK have appointed ministers for loneliness</a> in recent years, while New York state appointed the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.psychiatrist.com/news/ruth-westheimer-md-appointed-the-countrys-first-loneliness-ambassador/#:~:text=New%20York%20State%20appointed%20Dr,%2C%20heart%20disease%2C%20and%20stroke.">US's first honorary loneliness ambassador</a> in November.<div type="image" title="facebook hq" height="4896" width="7344" msid="107406069" hostid="261"></div>In San Mateo County, Canepa has proposed several ideas to combat the problem, including making neighborhoods more walkable.He pointed to a county-led survey in 2022 that found that 45% of San Mateo's residents said they were suffering from loneliness and isolation, NBC News reported.San Mateo County, with over 700,000 residents, in the San Francisco Bay Area, includes part of Silicon Valley. It has a large population of older residents, with 18% of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.smcalltogetherbetter.org/demographicdata?id=278&amp;sectionId=942">county's population</a> over 65 — 2% above the state average."It's sort of a perfect storm for older adults right now," Jennifer Steele, CEO of Meals on Wheels San Francisco, which delivers hot meals to older citizens in northern San Mateo County, told NBC News."People don't live close to their loved ones anymore," she said. "Sometimes people have outlived their loved ones in some cases. Your social circle shrinks after retirement. It's harder for people to make friends."But Canepa is worried that the problem is not exclusive to older generations.He said that teenagers and young adults in the county could also be at risk, partly due to the widespread use of social media and partly because of the high-pressure environment of Silicon Valley.Canepa said the resolution was just the first step towards finding a solution to the problem."What we want to do is build on that. But we can't build on it if we don't make the investments," he said, per <a target="_blank" href="https://abc7news.com/san-mateo-declares-loneliness-state-of-emergency-first-in-us-mental-health-depression/14373042/">ABC7</a>.

Wealthy Silicon Valley county becomes first to declare loneliness a public health emergency

New York [US], May 21 (ANI): International tourist arrivals and the <keyword id="2173225" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="travel-and-tourism" source="Orion">travel and tourism</keyword> sector's contribution to <keyword id="572312" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-GDP" source="Orion">global GDP</keyword> are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels this year, driven by the complete lifting of COVID-19-related <keyword id="19916662" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="travel" source="keywords">travel</keyword> restrictions and strong pent-up demand, as per the new <keyword id="20020435" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="World-Economic-Forum" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="World Economic Forum" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="World Economic Forum">World Economic Forum</keyword> travel and <keyword id="19997361" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tourism" source="keywords">tourism</keyword> study, released on Tuesday. Topping the 2024 list of economies are the US, Spain, Japan, France and Australia. The Middle East had the highest recovery rates in international tourist arrivals - 20 per cent above the 2019 level, while Europe, Africa and the US all showed a strong recovery of around 90 per cent in 2023. <keyword id="21745194" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Travel-and-Tourism-Development-Index-2024" source="Orion">Travel and Tourism Development Index 2024</keyword> (TTDI), a biennial report published in collaboration with the University of Surrey, analysed the travel and tourism sectors of 119 countries around a range of factors and policies. "This year marks a turning point for the travel and tourism sector, which we know has the capacity to unlock growth and serve communities through economic and social transformation," said Francisco Betti, Head of the Global Industries team at the World Economic Forum. "The report offers a forward-looking window into the current and future state of travel and tourism for leaders to navigate the latest trends in this complex sector and sustainably unlock its potential for communities and countries across the world." The <keyword id="840423" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="global-tourism" source="Orion">global tourism</keyword> industry is expected to recover from the lows of the COVID-19 pandemic and surpass the levels seen before the crisis. As per the report, this is largely being driven by a significant increase in demand worldwide, which has coincided with more available flights, better international openness, and increased interest and investment in natural and cultural attractions. However, the report painted that the global recovery has been mixed. While 71 of the 119 ranked economies increased their index scores since 2019. Although the sector has moved past the shock of the global health crisis, it continues to deal with other external challenges, from growing macroeconomic, geopolitical and environmental risks, to increased scrutiny of its sustainability practices. In addition, labour shortages are ongoing, and air route capacity, capital investment, productivity and other sector supply factors have not kept up with the increase in demand. This imbalance, worsened by global inflation, has increased prices and service issues. Out of the top 30 index scorers in 2024, 26 are high-income economies, 19 are based in Europe, seven are in Asia-Pacific, three are in the Americas and one (the United Arab Emirates) is in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). The top 10 countries in the 2024 edition are the United States, Spain, Japan, France, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, Italy and Switzerland. The results highlight that high-income economies generally continue to have more favourable conditions for travel and tourism development. This is helped by conducive business environments, dynamic labour markets, open travel policies, strong transport and tourism infrastructure, and well-developed natural, cultural and non-leisure attractions. "It's essential to bridge the divide between differing economies' ability to build a strong environment for their travel and tourism sector to thrive," said Iis Tussyadiah, Professor and Head of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Surrey. "The sector has big potential to foster prosperity and mitigate global risks, but that potential can only be fully realized through a strategic and inclusive approach." If managed strategically, the travel and tourism sector - which has historically represented 10 per cent of global GDP and employment - has the potential to emerge as a key contributor to growth, it said. (ANI)

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