A small increase in water temperature near a Japanese nuclear power plant allowed tropical fish to colonise the area, suggesting global warming will drastically alter some marine ecosystems
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KUANTAN: The body of a labourer suspected to have slipped and fallen into Sungai Jelai in Lipis was found by rescuers today.
Lipis district police chief Supt Azli Mohd Noor said the body of Asri Sallih, 47, was found at 8.45 am at a spot about eight kilometres from where he had fallen into the river.
“The incident is believed to have happened when he was at the jetty in Kampung Tanjung Jati at 12.30 pm on Thursday to drain water from his boat,” he said in a statement today.
His family reported to the police when they failed to locate him at the jetty two hours later.
Following that, a 39-man party from the Fire and Rescue Department, police and Civil Defence Force launched an operation to search for Asri, he added. –Bernama
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https://www.thesundaily.my/home/labourer-found-drowned-in-lipis-river-GL2386585
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New research from the Global Maternal Sepsis Study (GLOSS), a major WHO/HRP initiative, shows that infection has a much larger impact on global maternal mortality and morbidity than previously thought.
The
results from GLOSS, published in The Lancet Global Health, are the first to provide data on frequency of maternal infections and
sepsis across the pregnancy and post-pregnancy period, in a large number of health facilities around the world.
Around 11 women per 1000 live births had an infection which resulted in or contributed to what is known as a severe maternal outcome – either they died or nearly died – during their hospitalization.
Urgent improvement is needed to manage this life-threatening risk faced by all pregnant and recently pregnant women, wherever they are in the world.
Maternal sepsis is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs during pregnancy, child-birth, post-abortion or the postpartum period.
The latest global estimates place sepsis due to obstetric infections as the third most common cause of maternal mortality. However, this only includes infections as a direct result of pregnancy, such as endometritis or post-caesarean wound infections.
Few
previous studies include post-abortion infections. Neither do they address indirect infections such as respiratory and meningitis, which are aggravated by pregnancy but not directly caused by it.
GLOSS was a massive facility-based data collection effort led by WHO, accompanied by a ‘STOP SEPSIS!’ campaign to increase awareness among healthcare providers.
The study gathered data on women who were admitted with suspected or confirmed infection during pregnancy or post-pregnancy over a one-week period in 2017. More than 2800 women participated in the study in 52 countries.
GLOSS included healthcare facilities that care for women during pregnancy, childbirth or at the end of pregnancy, as well as facilities without maternity service but where women could be hospitalized during or after pregnancy, and data on infections
which are not usually recorded as maternal sepsis, including post-abortion and indirect infections.
The result is a more complete understanding of the frequency and impact of maternal infections in health facilities.
GLOSS calls attention not only to the wider range of risks faced by pregnant women but also to the long period of time during which they are at risk.
Overall, around 70 pregnant or recently-pregnant women per 1000 live births were found to have a maternal infection needing hospital management.
Across the study, 11 women with either direct or indirect infection per 1000 live births developed a severe maternal outcome, but in low- and middle-income countries up to 15 women per 1000 births were affected.
Infections were the underlying cause of most of the deaths recorded during the study, primarily post-abortion infection and indirect infections. Infections were also present in about a third of deaths attributed to other causes, such as postpartum
haemorrhage.
This suggests that the contribution of infection to global maternal mortality and morbidity may be larger than current reports of maternal sepsis mortality suggest.
Some of the most common maternal infections found in the study, such as urinary tract infections, post-caesarean and post-abortion infections, are largely preventable and treatable.
GLOSS results suggest that current levels of monitoring and clinical care across health facilities are not enough to prevent, identify and treat levels of maternal infection effectively.
For instance, a complete set of vital signs was not reported for a third of the women in the study, on the day their infection was suspected or diagnosed. Delays in antimicrobial therapy were frequent.
GLOSS also shows marked differences across countries, with the highest burden in low- and middle-income countries, compared with high-income countries.
This may reflect the impact of broader health determinants in different country contexts. Challenges of overcrowding, limited access to water and sanitation and constraints to safe births by skilled birth attendants can reduce the ability of healthcare
providers to manage the frequency and outcome of maternal infections.
GLOSS gives healthcare providers, policy-makers, and the public at large an opportunity: to mobilise around these data improve evidence-based practice, and save lives.
WHO has produced a number of resources which can support timely action to prevent, diagnose and treat maternal infection, as well as activities such as the upcoming SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign
on 5 May which celebrates the central role played by nurses and midwives in clean health care.
In addition, WHO will publish a global sepsis epidemiology report around the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) in May, as requested in the
2017
WHA Resolution on Improving the prevention, diagnosis and clinical managementof sepsis.
Understanding why and how infection affects women is essential for equipping healthcare providers with life-saving knowledge and enabling health care systems to bring down global maternal mortality and morbidity.
WHO recommendations for prevention and treatment of maternal peripartum infections
WHO Clinical practice handbook for safe abortion
Global guidelines on the prevention of surgical site infection
WHO statement on maternal sepsis
Infection Prevention and Control
SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands 5 May 2020
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https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/27-04-2020-maternal-infections-in-health-facilities
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In this lesson the writer seeks to direct the attention of his women readers to certain subjects upon which the average woman is not well informed, and upon which she usually requires sound, sane, clean, frank information. In many cases women hesitate to ask even their family physicians for such information, and, although there is no rational reason for it, they even shrink from consulting better informed and capable women concerning these subjects.
Sexual Feeling. Owing to erroneous teachings, and irrational prejudices arising from ancient distorted and perverted ideals of sex, many women have grown to maturity under the erroneous belief that it is a sign of immorality, or at least low ideals and depraved nature, for a woman to experience sexual emotions or feelings, wishes or desires. So true is this that even many married women seek to withhold from their husbands the knowledge that any sexual feeling is experienced by the wife.
Such a belief is of course absurd. It is as natural for a woman to experience normal sexual feeling as it is for her to experience any other feeling aroused by natural instincts and organism. Without such instinct and the feelings arising therefrom, there would be no mating or marriage, and no perpetuation of the race. The woman experiencing such feelings should not allow herself to imagine that she is depraved or perverted, or immoral in thought and feeling. Incredible as it may appear to a normal, healthy-minded man, it is true that thousands of young women have lost self-respect, and have lapsed into a morbid state of mind, because of the occasional manifestation of their normal sexual feeling.
This does not, of course, mean that the woman must necessarily manifest into action the feeling experienced by her. On the contrary, she must acquire self-mastery and self-control, just as she must in other phases of her life. It may help some women of this kind to realize that the sex feeling and impulses, arising unbidden (and often unwelcomed) from the depths of their subconscious mentality, are essentially creative impulses. If the woman be unmarried, or if married and placed under conditions in which the marital relation with the husband is impossible or undesirable, then she can transmute this creative energy in some form of creative work—in work which leads to the creation, manufacture, building-up, or composing something. There is a hint here which will prove a great blessing to the woman who will understand and apply the principle suggested—for many other women have found it so.
As for the married woman, there is no reason whatsoever why she should seek to withhold from her husband the knowledge that she is possessed of normal, natural, healthy sexual feeling. In fact, the withholding of such information, and the concealment and deception arising therefrom, has often done much to bring marital inharmony between husband and wife. If there is any deception to be practiced in the marital association of husband and wife, it should rather be in the opposite direction, i. e., in the direction of pretending the emotional feeling when it exists only partially or is absent. The last matter, however, is one for the exercise of the judgment and conviction of each individual woman; but the first mentioned admonition is one which should be observed, as it is based on honesty, truth, and good judgment as well.
Alcohol and Sexuality. It needs no extended argument to convince the average person that an individual will do things when under the influence of drink that he or she would not do when perfectly sober. It is an old saying that “When the wine is in, the wits are out.” But there is a deeper connection and relation between alcoholic drink and sexual indiscretions than is usually realized by the average person. Besides the commonly known weakening of will-power and self-control arising from the influence of strong drink, there are certain influences concerning the sexual nature and arising from the presence of alcohol in the system, which are not known to most persons. So true is this that the writer has thought it well to utter a few words of warning to his women readers concerning these things.
In the first place, there is an exhilarating effect arising from certain kinds of liquor, wines, and other forms of alcoholic drinks, which manifests directly in an excitement of the sexual centers and organism. In many cases a strong sexual excitement, absent at other times, is aroused, and the person is carried away with the force of passion unknown under other circumstances. Added to this the weakened will-power arising from too much drink, and we have an explanation of many cases of “mistakes” of women. It would appear that women are even more susceptible than are men to unusual sexual excitement arising from alcoholic drinks; and that, therefore, they should be especially cautious in the indulgence in such drinks, particularly when in the company of strange men, or men careless in regard to sexual morality and respect for women in their company.
But there is still a deeper reason, based upon the latest discoveries in psychology, why caution in this respect should be observed by women. We allude to the discovery that alcohol first affects the mental and emotional tendencies of more recent racial acquirement, acting so as to paralyze and inhibit the activities thereof, and to thus release the activity of the more primitive emotions and motive activities. Thus, the woman under the influence of alcohol finds that the more recent racial traits, such as sexual control, restraint, sexual morality, conventional observations, etc., are practically temporarily paralyzed in inhibitual—or to use the current slang phrase, are “put out of commission” for the time being; and, at the same time, the old elemental, savage, barbaric, “cave man” instincts, habits, and methods of action, are brought to the surface, and proceed to manifest their activity if opportunity be granted for the same—and the opportunity is usually granted. This being seen to be true, it is seen that the woman so under the influence of liquor is, for the time being, little more than a “cave woman,” or barbarian, with all the lax sex morality of the latter, and with all the tendencies to manifest into activity the primitive impulses arising in her nature and demanding expression. Added to this the weakening of will-power always accompanying the alcoholic influence, it is seen that the woman under the influence of strong drink is an easy prey to designing men, and a willing victim to her own lower passions.
An authority of sex subjects says: “That Bacchus, the god of wine, is the strongest ally of Venus, the goddess of love, using the term Love in its physical sense, as the French use the word ‘amour,’ has been well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, as it is well known today to every saloon-keeper and every keeper of a disreputable house. And all measures to combat venereal diseases and to prevent girls from making a false step will only be partially successful if we do not at the same time carry on a strong educational campaign against alcoholic indulgence. * * * Of what use are warnings to a girl, when under the influence of a heavy dinner and a bottle of champagne, to which she is unaccustomed, her passion is aroused to a degree she has never experienced before, her will is paralyzed and she yields, though deep down in her consciousness something tells her she shouldn’t? She yields, becomes pregnant, and is in the deepest agony for several months, and has a wound which will probably never heal for the rest of her life. Of what use have all the lectures, books, and maternal injunctions been to her? * * * I believe that the sex instinct can be stimulated artificially beyond the natural needs, and among the artificial stimulants of the sex instinct alcohol occupies the first place. And bear in mind that alcohol produces even a stronger effect upon women, in exciting the sexual passion, than it does on men. Women are more easily upset by stimulants and narcotics, and that is the reason why it is more dangerous for women to drink than it is for men. It is impossible to give statistics and exact or even approximate figures. But there is no question in my mind, in the mind of any careful investigator, that if alcoholic beverages could be eliminated, the number of cases of venereal infection would be diminished by about one-half. And what is true of venereal disease is also true of the seduction of young girls. Alcohol is the most efficient weapon that either the refined Don Juan or the vulgar pimp has in his possession.”
Our advice to the woman who is asked to drink liquor when in the company of a man outside of her immediate family circle is emphatically this: DON’T DO IT!
The Menstrual Period. As strange as it may appear to those women who have had the advantage of intelligent maternal advice, it is a fact known to all physicians that many mothers permit their young daughters to enter into the stage of puberty, with the accompanying menstrual flow, without having first instructed the daughter as to the meaning and character of this phenomenon of her nature, and without having given her advice concerning the proper care of herself during this period.
Physicians constantly experience cases in which the young girl to whom the first menstrual flow having come, without previous knowledge on her part, has supposed it to be the result of a wound, or of a diseased condition, and has attempted to stop the flow by the application of cold water. Even where a partial knowledge has been attained by the girl, she is found to lack the knowledge of the proper hygienic care of herself during the period. The mothers in such cases are criminally negligent, and have alluded a false modesty or prudery to interfere with a natural and necessary maternal duty.
The approach of the first menstruation is often accompanied by unusual physical, mental and emotional changes in the young girl. Her nervous system is affected, and she is apt to become irritable or morbid, or even somewhat “flighty.” Her appetite may become irregular, and there is often present a craving for indigestible food. A physical languor is often experienced, and there may be pains in the back and legs, chilliness and headaches, and a general upsetting of the usual physical condition, accompanied by a manifestation of peevishness and irritability. These unpleasant symptoms usually disappear when the periodical menstrual flow is permanently established. In fact, they are frequently superseded by the awakened energy and heightened spirits of healthy, normal adolescence.
The time of the beginning of the menstrual period varies according to climate, race, condition of health, and temperament. In the tropical countries, menstruation begins from the tenth to the fourteenth year; in temperate countries, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth; in cold countries, from the fifteenth to the twentieth year. The Italian, Hebrew, Spanish, or French girl is apt to menstruate earlier than the English, German, or Swedish girl. The Negro girl menstruates early, as a rule. The full-blooded girl usually menstruates earlier than the anemic one.
Normally, menstruation should proceed naturally and without pain or suffering. When pain or suffering is experienced in connection with menstruation, it is simply because of some lack of health in the general system; and when such general health is restored, the trouble ceases. Painful menstruation is called “dysmenorrhea,” and arises from several causes, principal among which are the following: Errors in diet, errors in dress, undue exposure, constipation, lack of proper exercise, or to a contracted or congested condition of the Uterus or the Fallopian Tubes. The pain, however, cannot be considered as a feature of normal menstruation, for the latter is no more painful than a normal movement of the bowels—the painful condition results from abnormal conditions, the removal of these conditions resulting in the cure of the complaint.
Dysmenorrhea should be treated by the discarding of all unhygienic clothing, tight shoes, etc., and their replacement by rational clothing; the dietary should be carefully scanned, and improper articles replaced by nourishing elements of food—discard the pastries, pickles, confections, and stimulants, and substitute sensible articles of diet; if constipation is present, remove it by eating articles of food which promote free movements of the bowels, and drink more water each day; take a proper amount of exercise—housework is as good a form of exercise as any; many authorities advocate the free drinking of water prior to and during the menstrual period—some going so far as to say that where there is painful menstruation there is always a lack of a proper amount of water taken into the system. In some cases Dysmenorrhea is due to disorders of the general nervous system, and treatment therefore should be sought at the hands of a capable physician.
Amenorrhea, another disorder arising in connection with the menstrual process, consists of the retention or suppression of the menses, or of “scanty” menses, or occasional “skipping” of the periods. This condition is apt to be manifest in cases of extreme obesity or “fatness;” the nervous system being burdened with superfluous flesh, its menstrual rhythm is often affected. Suppression of the menses also sometimes results from exposure and disturbing mental emotions. The most approved treatment is that of remedying the abnormal general physical condition, proper diet, and the use of hot drinks, hot sitz baths, and hot enemas about the time of the beginning of the normal period.
Menorrhagia, another menstrual-period disorder, consists of very profuse flowing—it is, in fact, a mild form of hemorrhage. It usually arises from general debility, shocks, too violent exercise or labor, and also in many cases from undue and too frequent sexual intercourse. Sometimes the excessive flow occurs during the regular menstrual period, while in other cases it may manifest itself out of season—sometimes as often as two or three times a month. The duration of the normal period of menstrual flow, however, varies greatly among different women; the normal period may be said to last from two to six days, so what might be an excessive flow for one woman would be only normal for another—temperament plays a large part in determining the quantity of the menses.
Some of the accompanying symptoms of Menorrhagia, or profuse flow, are lassitude, shortness of breath, faintness, dizziness, headache, irritability and nervousness, and often also leucorrhea between periods. The general treatment consists in measures calculated to bring the general health of the woman back to the normal. The building up of the general system, by means of nourishing food, proper exercise, etc., will almost always result in curing this disorder.
A well-known authority has well said: “The hygiene of menstruation can be expressed in two words: Cleanliness and Rest.”
So far as Rest is concerned, the woman need not be urged to take it at this period—that is, if she is able to do so. Care should be taken not to exercise unduly at this time, and under the head of exercise may be included dancing, horseback riding, and automobiling, as well as the more common forms of athletic work.
It would seem that common sense and the general desire for cleanliness and daintiness would cause all women to observe the plain hygienic laws of Cleanliness at the time of the menstrual period. And, indeed, it is probable that such would be the case were it not for the fact that some ancient superstitions still exert their power over the mind of many women, in regard to the use of water during the menstrual period. While it is true that cold baths, or cold-water bathing, are not advisable for the average woman during the menstrual period (although some especially robust women bathe and swim as usual during this period), this prohibition does not apply to the use of warm water during the period. Lukewarm baths are permissible at this time; and the woman should wash the external genital parts with warm water, with soap if desired, every morning and evening of the period. A vaginal douche of lukewarm water is an excellent adjunct to the bathing of the parts.
It is astonishing to meet with the superstitious prejudice existing in the minds of some women concerning the use of the vaginal douche; these good creatures seem tothink that it is either unnatural and unhealthy, or else is something “not respectable,” and fit only for the use of immoral women. These women should get in touch with modern hygienic methods, and learn to use the douche at least during their menstrual periods. At this time, if the plain rules of cleanliness are not observed, there often occurs a decomposition of the blood which has gathered in or about the genitals, and an offensive odor is manifested. Some women, while feeling distressed about this odor, are afraid to use lukewarm water in washing themselves, owing to some old unexplored superstition handed down from the great-grandmother’s time.
The napkins should be changed at least every morning and evening. Unclean napkins may lead to infection, and it is probable that many cases of leucorrhea have their origin in lack of cleanliness concerning the napkins, cloths, or rags, used during menstruation. It may seem almost incredible to the average woman reader, but physicians know of cases (usually among the poorer and more ignorant foreign classes) in which the girl is instructed by her mother, grandmother, or aunts, that she must wear the original cloth or rag during the entire period, as she will “catch cold” by a change to a clean, fresh cloth while the flow continued. Imagine the result of such a practice! This last is an extreme instance, of course, but it will serve to show the absurd and harmful notions prevalent concerning this important natural function, and its incidents.
Leucorrhea. A very common disorder among women is that known as Leucorrhea, or “the whites.” It consists of a discharge from the Vagina, or the Uterus through the Vagina. It is, in fact, of a catarrhal nature, and results from an over-secretion of the mucus fluids which, in proper quantity, keep the mucus membrane of the said organs in good condition. The discharge manifests in various shades and degrees of consistency. From the character of the discharge, physicians are able to determine whether it comes from the Vagina or the Uterus. The discharge from the Vagina usually is a light creamy fluid; that from the neck of the Uterus is a sticky, thick fluid flowing rather freely; that from the lining of the Uterus is alkaline, and generally precedes and follows menstruation; and that accompanying ulceration of the womb is semi-purulent and offensive in odor.
Leucorrhea has many causes, among which may be mentioned the following: getting chilled feet or body, particularly during the menstrual period; over exertion and overwork standing on one’s feet; chills following dancing in overheated rooms; excessive worry or emotional strain, etc. It is a quite common complaint, and some assert that fully twenty-five per cent (perhaps more) of all women suffer from it to at least some extent.
The general treatment of Leucorrhea consists of the building up of the entire system by the proper hygienic methods. Constipation should be removed, and the system is built up by the proper articles of food, exercise, etc. The use of the proper douches are also advised by the best practitioners. Physicians also treat inflamed areas by local treatments consisting of painting the Vagina or neck of the Uterus with certain medicinal solutions. Certain suppositories and douches are also employed in some cases. It is always better to consult a good physician in these cases, particularly where the trouble is aggravated or of long standing.
A popular writer on the subject gives the following prescription for a vaginal injection: White Fluid Hydrastics, 2 ounces; Borax, 1/2 ounce; Distilled Witch Hazel Extract, 1 pint. Use of this preparation one ounce, diluted in a pint of lukewarm water, as a vaginal injection, taken twice each day.
A well-known authority gives the following advice concerning treatment of Leucorrhea: “One of the simplest things is an alum tampon. You take a piece of absorbent cotton, about the size of a fist, spread it out, put about a tablespoonful of powdered alum on it, fold it up, tie a string around the center, insert it in the vagina as far as it will go, and leave it in twenty-four hours. Then pull it gently by the string and syringe yourself with a quart or two of warm water. Such a tampon may be inserted every other day or every third day, and I have known where this simple treatment alone produced a cure. In some cases, however, douches work better, and the two best things for douching are: tincture of iodine and lactic acid. Buy, say, four ounces of tincture of iodine, and use two teaspoonsful in two quarts of hot water in a douche bag. This injection should be used twice a day, morning and night. Of the lactic acid you buy, say, a pint, and use two tablespoonsful to two quarts of water. The lactic acid has the advantage over the tincture of iodine that it is colorless, while the iodine is dark and stains whatever it comes in contact with. Sometimes I order the use of the tincture of iodine and the lactic acid alternately: for one douche the tincture of iodine, for the next the lactic acid, and so on. When the condition improves, it is sufficient to use one teaspoonful of the tincture of iodine and one tablespoonful of the lactic acid to two quarts of water. These injections are quite efficient and have the advantage of being perfectly harmless. One point about the injections: they should be taken not in the standing or squatting position (in which position the fluid comes right out), but while laying down, over a douche pan. The douche bag should be only about a foot above the bed, so that the irrigating fluid may come out slowly; the patient, after each injection taken in the daytime, should remain at least half an hour in bed (in the nighttime she stays all night in bed.) This gives the injection a better chance to come in contact with all the parts of the vagina, and a portion of it comes in contact with the cervix, where it exerts a healing effect. Avoid the use of patent medicines.”
Uterine Displacement. The woman suffering from Uterine Displacement should, of course, consult a competent physician and be governed by his advice. The following suggestions, however, will be found to be of service in many cases:
In the case of Prolapsus, or falling of the womb, many women have found great relief, and in many cases permanent improvement, by taking occasional rests in bed for an hour or so, with the feet and lower part of the legs raised at least eight inches above the level of the head. In this plan, the Uterus is replaced by gravitation. Some authorities advise practicing waist-breathing while lying in this position, thus exercising the abdominal muscles. Dr. Taylor says: “Increase the pump-like action of the chest, and it will be found that the displaced viscera will return to their normal position.” Some have also found relief from the use of alum-water vaginal injections once or twice each day. The alum-water is prepared by dissolving one heaping teaspoonful of powdered alum in a pint of lukewarm water. This last treatment often strengthens the vaginal muscles whose yielding has at least partially been the cause of the falling womb.
In cases of Retroversion, in which the Uterus is turned or bent backward, the “knee and chest” position will often aid in causing the organ to regain its normal position. In this position the woman kneels, and rests her chest upon the bed, thus causing the hips to be elevated.
In cases of Antroversion, in which the Uterus is turned or bent forward, relief is often obtained by the woman resting upon the back, using a pillow to elevate her hips.
Intercourse During Menstruation. It would seem that the natural esthetic repulsion to the exercise of the marital relations during the menstrual period should be sufficient to deter men and women from indulgence at this time; but many seem to have overcome this instinctive repulsion, and to these a stronger reason must be given—and the reason is at hand. The reasons in question are as follows: first, that congestion of the Uterus and Ovaries sometimes results from this unnatural practice; second, that the man may possibly contract an inflammation of the urethra by infection from the degenerated membrane, tissue, blood, etc., of the menstrual flow; and third, that such practices may result in the aggravation of discharges from the woman, such as leucorrhea, etc.
Intercourse During Pregnancy. The best authorities advise total abstinence from sexual intercourse during the period of pregnancy; but in view of the fact that such abstinence is very difficult for most men, and that few will persist in it, it is thought well to point out the fact that at least an extreme moderation is desirable in such cases. A leading authority says on this point: “During the first four months of pregnancy, no change need be made in the usual sex relations; their intensity should be moderated, their frequency need not. During the fifth, sixth, and seventh months, intercourse should be indulged in at rarer intervals—once in two or three weeks—the act should be performed without any violence or intensity. During the eighth and ninth months relations had best be given up altogether. And this abstinence should last until about six weeks after the birth of the child. During this period the uterus undergoes what we call involution; that is, it goes back to the size and shape it had before pregnancy, and it is best not to disturb this process by sexual excitement, which causes engorgement and congestion.”
Sterility in Women. Sterility, or barrenness, i. e., the inability to bear children, is frequently met with among married people. It is usually blamed upon the woman, whereas in at least one-half of the cases the fault is with the man.
The causes of sterility in women are usually one or more of the following: Inflammation of the Fallopian Tubes, which may have been caused by gonorrhea or ordinary inflammation—in some rare cases childbirth has been known to set up an inflammation in this region, which has prevented the woman from future childbearing—the inflammation causes the tubes to clog up or become closed, so that no more ova can pass through them from the ovaries to the womb; in some cases, also, severe cases of leucorrhea have caused sterility, as the discharge is sometimes fatal to the life of the spermatozoa and destroys them; in other cases misplacement of the womb causes sterility; also severe inflammation of the neck or mouth of the womb operates in the same way, in some cases. In cases of sterility, the woman should have an examination made by a competent physician, and it often will be found that the cure of the disorders above noted will work a cure of the sterility.
But, in all cases of sterility, it will be found that the husband should be examined as well as the wife—in fact, many authorities insist that the husband should be examined first. Venereal diseases frequently produce sterility in the man, although he is loath to admit this and is apt to place the blame entirely upon the woman.
Miscarriage and Abortions. The terms “miscarriage,” and “abortion,” respectively, mean the expulsion of the fetus from the womb before its natural time of delivery. In common usage, the term “miscarriage” is usually employed to indicate instances in which the premature delivery has occurred without any voluntary act on the partof the woman, or other persons acting with her permission; the term “abortion” being reserved for instances in which the miscarriage has been voluntarily produced.
When the fetus dies within the womb of the mother, it is usually expelled spontaneously within a few days or even a few hours. Some women suffer from certain weakness which result in habitual miscarriage; such women seem unable to carry the child for the full natural term, and lose it at some time during the period of gestation. Like results often arise from certain diseases, principal among which is syphilis. In some cases the physician produces what is known as “therapeutic abortion,” for the purpose of saving the life of the woman—this is sanctioned by medical custom and by law. Other forms of abortion, performed for the purpose of preventing the progress of the gestation, and designed for the destruction of the embryo or fetus, are known as “criminal abortion,” and are punishable by several legal penalties.
Abortions are frequently followed by severe illness, invalidism, or even death for the woman. Many women have had their entire lives ruined by this evil practice. It is one of the curses of modern civilization, and one which must be removed by means of rational instruction and education along the lines of sexual science if the race is to be prevented from deterioration. The subject will be further considered in the subsequent lessons in this book.
The best advice to those who have contemplated the performance of abortion is simply this: Don’t; Don’t; DON’T!
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KUALA LUMPUR: Working from home (WFH) is not as easy as many people think, especially when you have young children and pets.
Yes, even pets. To others, it might seem easy having pets in the house. After all, don’t you just let them be and you do not have to give much attention to them?
In reality however, looking after pets is just as much a responsibility as looking after young children. A look at the postings on Facebook and Twitter will show that many see the responsibility as similar, for to them, pets are as much a member of the family as children.
Going into 24 days of the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, which means 24 days of WFH, the stories on the social media abound of the struggles that pet owners, especially those with cats, face juggling the responsibilities of work and looking after their pets.
Interior decorate Intan Suhaiza Razak, 35, found that there were many secrets her cats kept from her which she only found out after she started to work from home from March 18.
“It is only now that I am really getting to know my three cats. I did not spend much time with them before but now that I am with them all day, I am slowly learning their behaviour.
“For instance, I was shocked to find out that they could turn the tap in the kitchen sink and would play with the water,” she told Bernama.
Auditor Amirul Iqbal Razali, 30, has found that working from home can be quite challenging when you have cats.
“I have three, and the minute I turn on the computer, they come around demanding my attention.
“That would be the time they want to sit on my lap and play, and ask for food, even though I had prepared everything for them. And my work-station has become their bed,” he said.
Media practitioner Muhamad Saufee Rosman thinks his cat Ethan loves the fact that he and his housemates now have to work from home during the MCO period.
“He is extra demanding now, maybe because he enjoys the fact that we are home now, whereas previously, he was always left alone in the house. Now, he keeps snuggling up to us all the time,” he said.
Muhamad Saufee and his housemates do not find Ethan’s demand for attention troublesome, and in fact, he is a stress-buster to them.
“Life is less boring with him around. Sometimes, he does get in the way, but it would be lonely without him,” he said.
To these animal-lovers, the Health Ministry’s announcement that pets do not carry the COVID-19 virus was good news.
“In the beginning, it was a bit worrying, so it was a relief when the ministry said that pet-owners did not have to worry and do not have to take their pets for Covid-19 screenings.
Nurana Mukhriz, 29, who works in information technology said she cannot imagine being separated from her two cats which she had bred since five years ago.
“I live alone, so my cats ‘Adik’ and ‘Che Yam’ are my companions. Talking to them reduces my stress level and I don’t feel so lonely during the MCO period,” she said. – Bernama
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Gulf states have tightened lockdown measures in large cities, and with Dubai’s shops closed and almost no people on the streets, peacocks that normally live in nearby gardens ventured out to explore other areas of the Middle Eastern city.
A flock of geese searched for food inside a temple in Nagaon, in India’s state of Assam, on April 3. Many temples and shrines across the country have closed during the nationwide lockdown.
On April 5, two cows strolled on a Corsican beach usually popular with tourists. It was the 20th day of a strict shutdown in France.
A young puma walked the streets of Santiago on March 24 after the government ordered confinement measures in some areas of the Chilean capital.
Mountain goats roamed the streets of Llandudno, in Wales, on March 31, one week after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a stay-at-home order.
Sika deer wandered over to a sushi restaurant in Nara, Japan, on March 12. When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and its surrounding regions, the number of visitors to the city of Nara dropped significantly
Macaques searched for food around the closed stalls of the Johari Bazar in Jaipur, India, on March 26. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a nationwide lockdown, the marketplace was deserted.
Since Italy’s countrywide lockdown was imposed, the water in Venice’s canals have cleared, and residents have noticed more birds appearing.
On March 30, ducks ventured across the street in the heart of Paris, which is typically bustling with traffic.
Goats sauntered on abandoned streets in Jaipur on March 24
A baby rabbit crossed a main road in Christchurch on April 1. New Zealand entered its strictest state of lockdown on March 25.
A wild fox roamed the empty streets of London on the night of March 28.
On April 1, cattle looked for food in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in Indonesia, where the government is recommending that people avoid public spaces.
A coyote stood outside Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on April 3, weeks after Major League Baseball suspended all play.
The movie theater was closed in Westbury, N.Y., on March 20, leaving the parking lot empty for Canadian geese to roam.
Gulf states have tightened lockdown measures in large cities, and with Dubai’s shops closed and almost no people on the streets, peacocks that normally live in nearby gardens ventured out to explore other areas of the Middle Eastern city.
It took just a few days of lockdown for baby rabbits to dare to cross once-bustling roads in Christchurch, New Zealand, and less than a week for a puma to descend from the Andes Mountains into Santiago, one of South America’s busiest capitals. In Barcelona, wild boar, a familiar sight for citizens on the city’s outskirts, have made their way into Diagonal Avenue, an eight-lane thoroughfare.
It’s surprising and strange, yes, but also meaningful. Research suggests that ecosystems can rebound with speed once human intervention subsides. A review published last week determined that damaged ecosystems and wildlife can be rebuilt if the right conditions are achieved. Marine ecosystems in particular can substantially recover by 2050, according to the study, led by Carlos Duarte at the Red Sea Research Center in Saudi Arabia.
Of course, a deadly pandemic that brings about a sudden economic collapse is no way to sustainably restore threatened ecosystems. Yet it’s a clear reminder of how quickly the wild world responds when humans take a step back.
Scientists have tracked this pattern for decades. The number of humpback whales migrating from Antarctica to eastern Australia has been increasing each year, from a few hundred animals in 1968, when commercial whaling was banned, to more than 40,000 today. In 1880 only 20 breeding northern elephant seals had survived decades of hunting, and today there are more than 200,000.
Hunting bans, habitat restoration, and the reduction of water pollution are all linked to the recovery of marine species. The continuation of these practices—and, most of all, working to mitigate the effects of climate change—would contribute to oceans recovering significantly by 2050, the researchers said.
It’s more difficult for land ecosystems to bounce back because both the scale of extinction and the scale of human presence are so large there, said Duarte, a marine science professor. But these differences don’t mean the return of wildlife to deserted city streets isn’t significant, he said: “I believe our own confinement, and the release of wildlife from confinement, should bring some empathy between humans and wildlife moving forward.”
A flock of geese searched for food inside a temple in Nagaon, in India’s state of Assam, on April 3. Many temples and shrines across the country have closed during the nationwide lockdown.
On April 5, two cows strolled on a Corsican beach usually popular with tourists. It was the 20th day of a strict shutdown in France.
A young puma walked the streets of Santiago on March 24 after the government ordered confinement measures in some areas of the Chilean capital.
Mountain goats roamed the streets of Llandudno, in Wales, on March 31, one week after U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a stay-at-home order.
Sika deer wandered over to a sushi restaurant in Nara, Japan, on March 12. When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and its surrounding regions, the number of visitors to the city of Nara dropped significantly
Macaques searched for food around the closed stalls of the Johari Bazar in Jaipur, India, on March 26. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a nationwide lockdown, the marketplace was deserted.
Since Italy’s countrywide lockdown was imposed, the water in Venice’s canals have cleared, and residents have noticed more birds appearing.
On March 30, ducks ventured across the street in the heart of Paris, which is typically bustling with traffic.
Goats sauntered on abandoned streets in Jaipur on March 24
A baby rabbit crossed a main road in Christchurch on April 1. New Zealand entered its strictest state of lockdown on March 25.
A wild fox roamed the empty streets of London on the night of March 28.
On April 1, cattle looked for food in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in Indonesia, where the government is recommending that people avoid public spaces.
A coyote stood outside Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on April 3, weeks after Major League Baseball suspended all play.
The movie theater was closed in Westbury, N.Y., on March 20, leaving the parking lot empty for Canadian geese to roam.
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Oyo has confirmed two new cases of Coronavirus in the state.
This was confirmed by Governor Seyi Makinde, who recently recovered from the virus.
The governor, in a tweet on Tuesday, said one of the cases was a woman, who returned to the state from the United Arab Emirates.
He said, “The COVID-19 confirmation test for two suspected cases came back positive, today.
“One of the new cases is a 28-year-old woman who returned to the country from the United Arab Emirates on March 22, 2020.
“The isolation process has been initiated, contact tracing and collection of samples have commenced.
“This brings the number of confirmed cases in Oyo State to 11. Two cases have been discharged. So, there are nine active cases.”
He urged residents of the state to follow the directives of the Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force and always wash their hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser regularly.
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Originally broadcast live on 06 April 2020, the daily press briefing on coronavirus COVID-19, direct from WHO Headquarters, Geneva Switzerland with Dr Tedros WHO Director-General, Dr Micheal Ryan, Executive Director of the Health Emergencies Programme, and Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Technical lead, WHO Health Emergencies Programme with special guests Lady Gaga and Hugh Evans, CEO and Co-founder of Global Citizen.
Transcript:
Speaker key:
TJ Tarik Jasarevic
TAG Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
LG Lady Gaga
HE Hugh Evans
MR Dr Michael Ryan JA Jamie
MK Dr Maria Van Kerkhove KA Kai
KT Kate
IN Innocent
YA Yang
00:00:19
TJ Good evening to everyone from Geneva and WHO headquarters. Welcome to the regular press conference on COVID-19. Journalists who are online can ask their questions by clicking raise hand if you are
on Zoom. Today we have a special guest but I will let Dr Tedros do his opening remarks and introduce them. Before I give the floor to Dr Tedros, just to remind you, we will also be sending you some news from other
WHO offices around the world with the audio file from this press briefing a little bit later. I give the floor immediately to Dr Tedros.
00:01:07
TAG Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a heavy toll on families, communities and nations the world over but it’s also giving rise to incredible acts of generosity,
solidarity and co-operation. We have said consistently that we’re all in this together and we can only succeed together. We need an all- of-society approach with everyone playing their part. That includes people in the entertainment
industry.
Today I’m very delighted to be joined by one of the biggest names in entertainment in the world, Lady Gaga, and my friend Hugh Evans, the founder and CEO of Global Citizen.
WHO has been working with Global Citizen for several weeks on the Together At Home concert series with artists like Chris Martin and John Legend giving free online performances.
Now we’re working with Lady Gaga and Global Citizen to take this concept and make it even bigger through the One World Together At Home virtual global special on Saturday 18th April. It’s now my great pleasure to invite
Lady Gaga and Hugh Evans to say more about this very special event, One World.
00:03:10
LG Thank you very much, Dr Tedros. Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to everyone who’s listening and watching. I would like to thank the World Health Organization and the
United Nations as well as Global Citizen; thank you very much, Dr Tedros and Hugh Evans, for all of your leadership in this fight against COVID-19 and thank you very much to the World Health Organization for asking me to collaborate
with you on this special.
We are also very grateful to all of the healthcare professionals across the country and around the world who are on the front lines during COVID-19. This global pandemic is a catastrophe. I’m so thankful to them and I’m also
praying for those who are sick. It’s been a pleasure to partner with Global Citizen and we’ve been working all together behind the scenes to raise money for the World Health Organization.
I would also like to send my prayers as well to people that are losing their jobs and are having a hard time feeding themselves and their children. We are raising money for the World Health
Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund and seven days ago we held a call with more than 68 corporate leaders from some of the world’s biggest and most generous companies and I asked them to join my corporate kindness
list as there have been many corporations and philanthropists that have been very, very generous during this time.
00:04:38
Since then we have also been calling on philanthropists around the world as well and tech companies included. I’d like to reiterate our deep gratitude to the medical community. My heart is very, very aching and warm for those
who are ER doctors as well as nurses who are sleeping in cars to make sure they don’t infect their families or their patients. What you’re doing is putting yourselves in harm’s way to help the world
and we all salute you and you are a triumph truly.
I am proud to say that over the past seven days we’ve raised a total of $35 million for the Solidarity Fund. This money will [inaudible] essential PPE, supplies and testing kits around the world and will help improve lab capacity
to rapidly process tests. It will also [inaudible] research development. It is so important to think globally and to support the World Health Organization to curb the pandemic and prevent future outbreaks.
I know Dr Tedros is particularly concerned about Africa and [inaudible]. We also need to act globally by supporting local charities and initiatives so that the front-line health workers in most immediate need have the resources they need
to survive during this time. It has been an honour to help with this huge broadcast event, which will take place on April 18th, where we need to tell the stories of and celebrate the front-line community, healthcare workers and their acts of kindness.
We will be on different networks, many networks actually and I want to [inaudible] about what we’re going to be doing. What’s very important is that two things happen for all of us; that we celebrate and we highlight the singular, kind global community
that is arising right now. Two, we want to highlight the gravity of this historically unprecedented cultural movement and, three, we want to celebrate and encourage the power of the human spirit.
00:06:47
I would like to, on behalf of the World Health Organization and Global Citizen, thank Dr Tedros as well as everyone that has donated so far. We are going to continue fundraising but I would like to also let you know that
this broadcast special is not actually a fundraiser. We all wanted to raise the money before we went on air so when we do air live on April 18th put your wallets away, put your credit cards away, anything
away that you need to and just sit back and enjoy the show that you all very much deserve.
I’d like to pass this now to Hugh Evans, who’s been a wonderful partner of mine. Hugh, thank you so much and thank you, Dr Tedros.
HE Good morning, good afternoon, good evening and thank you, Dr Tedros and thank you, Lady Gaga. Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen; Lady Gaga, Dr Tedros,
you’ve both demonstrated extraordinary leadership at an unprecedented moment when our society is being challenged like never before and we are so thankful for your leadership. I’d like to echo Lady Gaga’s sentiment and commend the incredible acts
of bravery demonstrated by the front-line community health workers around the world and I hope that we as a shared humanity emerge from this moment forever grateful for the work of doctors, nurses, teachers, grocery store workers and all of those who are
the backbone of our communities.
Global health is at the very core of the global citizen mission and we must ensure that the world’s poorest and most marginalised people have access to resources to cope with and tackle this health crisis. Through One
World: Together At Home on April 18th we’ll be calling on philanthropists, corporations and governments to fund critical global COVID-19 response efforts including distribution of resources and PPE to critical front-line healthcare
workers.
00:09:09
In our partnership with the WHO and United Nations Global Citizen is committed to driving action to help ensure our global health systems are strong enough to stop a future pandemic before it happens. April 18th is going to be a moment of global unity
connecting the world through a historic global broadcast. We are bringing together the greatest artists in the world under the passionate and extremely talented curation of Lady Gaga.
In alphabetical order some of the artists we’ll be announcing today include Alanis Morissette, Andrea Bocelli, Billie Eilish, Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Burna Boy, Chris Martin, Sir David Beckham, Eddie Vedder,
Sir Elton John, Finneas, Idris and Sabrina Elba, J Balvin, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kerry Washington, Lang Lang, Lizzo, Maluma, Sir Paul McCartney, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Shah Rukh Khan, Stevie Wonder and many more to be announced over the coming weeks from all corners of the globe under the passionate and extremely talented curation of Lady Gaga.
We’re grateful to all of you for participating and supporting this critical effort. One World Together At Home will be broadcast live on Saturday April 18th 2020 at 5:00pm PDT, 8:00pm EDT and 12:00am BST, airing on ABC, NBC, Viacom and CBS networks,
IHeartMedia, and Bell media networks and platforms in Canada. Internationally BBC1 will run the programme on Sunday April 19th and additional international broadcasters include BN Media Group, Multi-Choice Group and RTE in Ireland.
00:11:43
The digital broadcast will celebrate and support brave community health workers who are doing life-saving work on the front line and we’ve all seen the limitations of world leaders around this world to step up and face this extraordinary challenge
and we want to do our best to support the essential work of the World Health Organization, driving action and raising critical funds. Thank you again, Dr Tedros, and thank you, Lady Gaga, for your leadership.
Thank you all.
TJ Thank you very much to our guests for their remarks. Dr Tedros, I guess you would like to thank them too.
TAG Once again I would like to thank Lady Gaga and Hugh Evans for their partnership. We had a call last week and I was so amazed by the energy and passion of Lady Gaga. It’s incredible commitment to humanity and that’s
when I said, I think what she has planned can happen. It’s bringing the world together to improve awareness and to mobilise resources to fight the pandemic so I thank her for her incredible passion and commitment and leadership and
also to my friend, Hugh Evans, for connecting all the dots and for his leadership.
We all look forward to joining you for the One World: Together At Home concert on 18th April. As the pandemic continues we recognise that individuals and governments want to do everything they can to protect themselves and others and so do we.
We understand that some countries have recommended or are considering the use of both medical and non-medical masks in the general population to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
00:14:21
First and foremost medical masks must be prioritised for health workers on the front lines of the response. We know medical masks can help to protect health workers but they’re in short supply globally. We’re concerned that the mass
use of medical masks by the general population could exacerbate the shortage of these specialised masks for the people who need them most. In some places these shortages are putting health workers in real danger.
In healthcare facilities WHO continues to recommend the use of medical masks, respirators and other personal protective equipment for health workers. In the community we recommend the use of medical masks by people who are sick and those who
are caring for a sick person at home.
WHO has been evaluating the use of medical and non-medical masks for COVID-19 more widely. Today WHO is issuing guidance and criteria to support countries in making that decision. For example countries could consider using masks in communities where other measures such as cleaning hands and physical distancing are harder to achieve because of lack of water or cramped living conditions.
If masks are worn they must be used safely and properly. WHO has guidance on how to put on, take off and dispose of masks. What’s clear is that there is limited research in this area. We encourage countries that are considering the use
of masks for the general population to study their effectiveness so we can all learn. Most importantly masks should only ever be used as part of a comprehensive package of interventions. There is no black or white answer and no silver bullet.
Masks alone cannot stop the pandemic. Countries must continue to find, test, isolate and treat every case and trace every contact. Mask or no mask, there are proven things all of us can do to protect ourselves and others.
00:17:13
Keep your distance, clean your hands, cough or sneeze into your elbow and avoid touching your face. Less than 100 days since WHO was notified about the new coronavirus research has accelerated at incredible speed. The viral genome
was mapped in early January and shared globally, which enabled tests to be developed and vaccine research to start. More than 70 countries have joined WHO’s Solidarity Trial to accelerate the search for an effective treatment and about
20 institutions and companies are racing to develop a vaccine.
WHO is committed to ensuring that as medicines and vaccines are developed they’re shared equitably with all countries and people. I want to thank the Medicines Patent Pool and Unitaid for the initiative they announced last
Friday to include medicines and diagnostics for COVID-19 in their licensing pool.
I also want to thank the President of Costa Rica, President Carlos Alvadaro, and the Health Minister, Daniel Salas, for their proposal to create a pool of rights to tests, medicines and vaccines with free access or licensing on reasonable and affordable
terms for all countries. Muchas gracias, Mr President. I support this proposal and we’re working with Costa Rica to finalise the details.
00:19:09
Poorer countries and fragile economies stand to face the biggest shock from this pandemic and leaving anyone unprotected will only prolong the health crisis and harm economies more. I call
on all countries, companies and research institutions to support open data, open science and open collaboration so that all people can enjoy the benefits of science and research.
Finally we’re nearing the end of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is one piece of good news. If there are no more cases the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo could declare the outbreak over as early
as this Sunday. We’re not there yet and we remain in full response mode. We’re continuing to investigate alerts and to test samples.
This would not have been possible without the incredible health workers who have put themselves at risk for more than 18 months to stop this outbreak, just as health workers are putting themselves in danger to save lives from COVID-19. Health
workers in DRC faced the double threat of fighting a deadly virus in one of the world’s most dangerous and unstable regions, exposing themselves to Ebola and bullets.
Tomorrow, as you know, is WHO’s birthday, a day we celebrate each year as World Health Day. This year we’re paying tribute to the incredible contribution of all health workers, especially nurses and midwives. Nurses and midwives are the backbone of
every health system. They’re there from the first moments of life to the last. Tomorrow we’re publishing our first report on the state of the world’s nursing which highlights gaps and makes recommendations for all countries.
00:22:00
One of the lessons I hope the world learns from COVID-19 is that we must invest in health workers, not only to protect lives but also to protect livelihoods. I thank you.
TJ Thank you very much, Dr Tedros. Also, as always, we have Dr Mike Ryan and Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, who will be answering questions. We will now open the floor. I will go to one question
that I received by email this morning and I promised to answer; that’s Ankit Kumar from India Today. Ankit is asking; we have recently seen a spike in cases caused through religious gatherings in India, in fact almost a third of new cases
were linked to one gathering in India. We have also seen incidents of violence against health workers due to fear and misinformation. Is WHO concerned with these developments, what is WHO’s message to religious and community leaders and their
followers?
MR First and foremost the idea of violence against health workers is driven by fear and it’s driven by misunderstanding but it’s really unacceptable. We ask everyone and every community to see our health workers
as our heroes and to support them in every way we can.
With regard to gatherings of any type, be they religious or be they for other purposes, there are always risks associated with such gatherings in the midst of a major epidemic. WHO has issued guidance on that. Many of these gatherings
are now postponed or cancelled. We’ve been working very, very closely with religious and faith-based organisations all over the world including groups from the Islamic tradition, Christian
traditions and others and continue to work through faith-based organisations to communicate using our Epiwin platform.
00:24:21
We’re also continuing to develop guidance specifically for the holy month of Ramadan and are working through our Eastern Mediterranean regional office to be able to advise governments and religious institutions on how best to manage
the risks associated with such holy events.
But it’s very important again; having COVID-19 is not anybody’s fault. Every case is a victim and every case needs to be treated with sensitivity, as the health workers who treat them so it’s very important that we’re not profiling COVID-19
along racial, along religious, along ethnic lines. This is not helpful.
TJ Thank you very much. This was a question from Ankit Kumar from India Today. Now we will go to journalists online. We will start with Jamie from Associated Press. Jamie, can you hear us?
JA Hi, yes. Can you hear me? TJ Yes. Please go ahead.
JA Great, thank you very much. I wanted to ask you about… Over the weekend Dr Anthony Fauci mentioned that – if I understood it correctly – as much as 50% of transmission could be asymptomatic. Just aligned
with that, if you could give us a little bit more about what you’re thinking about the fact that some countries have said that this outbreak is more infectious than influenza. The CDC is saying that it’s up
to three times more infectious than influenza so what do you have to say about that? Thanks.
00:26:13
MK I’ll start and then perhaps Mike or DG would like to supplement. The modes of transmission and the way in which this virus is transmitted are of significant interest to all of us. What we are doing is working
with member states, we’re working with everyone that’s affected by this, looking through the research and trying to understand when most transmission is happening, when any transmission is happening.
What we know from reports, what we know from published literature is that the predominant way in which transmission is occurring is amongst symptomatic individuals and these are people that can be very early on in symptoms, even when they start
to feel a little bit unwell. This is supported by some data that attempts to catch a virus from individuals who are symptomatic.
We also know that it’s possible that people can transmit in the few days before they become symptomatic or in their pre-symptomatic phase. There have been some studies that have come out and we learned about this when we were on mission
in China back in January or early February, that there are individuals that can shed virus one to three days before they develop symptoms.
However it’s very important to note that even if you are pre-symptomatic or even if you don’t have any recognised symptoms you still have to transmit through droplets, you still have to have these infectious particles that come out
of your nose and your mouth. So while we know that that is possible we do not believe that it’s a major driver of transmission.
00:27:42
We’ve also seen modelling estimates that suggest that there’re large numbers of unrecognised transmission and I used unrecognised on purpose because I’m not saying asymptomatic. I’m saying that we may be missing people who are out there who are infected
but we’re missing them because of current surveillance strategies. That is certainly possible in many parts of the globe.
Whether or not those individuals are asymptomatic; we will have to wait until we see the results of serologic studies, which we hope we’ll be seeing in the coming days if not weeks.
So what we can say is that most people are transmitting this virus while they are symptomatic.
JA Hi, Jamie. Just in addition because I think – I would never in any way contradict my good friend, Tony Fauci, such an eminent man. There are many different estimations of what might represent asymptomatic
transmission or other infections in the community and we do know and everyone accepts that when the seroepidemiology studies do come online we will probably find more people who’ve been infected unknowingly; there’s no question of that.
The thing we need to address in all of this is very often the idea of severity versus infection and there is a huge association between the dose of exposure and the severity of infection. We see this in many other
infectious diseases so we also probably need to look at who is getting sick and very sick and is the dose and the type of exposure they’re getting different to those who may be exposed and seroconverted in the community.
00:29:26
So it’s not just a matter of looking at how many people in the community are infected but are there specific elements of exposure that cause individuals to have a higher dose of exposure or a specific route of exposure
that causes more severe infection? There is also that concept of infectious dose when we talk about the different types of transmission. If somebody is exposed to a high dose from another individual directly or from a surface that’s
heavily contaminated you can imagine the large dose.
In other circumstances individual particles or virus particles potentially floating through the air; it can be demonstrated that that may happen in certain circumstances, certainly in healthcare settings. But is that significant in
terms of driving infection, is that significant, does that produce an infectious dose that can successfully infect another individual?
These are all very important things that still need to be studied. Again we’re only a number of weeks into this. I think we need to have the seroepi studies. I think we need more information on what is the infectious dose and particularly
the relationship between the dose of exposure or infection and the severity of disease subsequently, which has been seen with many, many other diseases in the past including cholera, Ebola and others.
TJ Thank you very much, Mike and Maria. We will go now to our next question; that’s Kai Kupferschmidt. Kai, can you hear us?
00:31:01
KA Yes, Tarik. Thanks a lot for taking my question. I wanted to ask about the global push to try and find a pre-exposure prophylaxis or a post-exposure prophylaxis. I understand there’re
several trials going on, most of them with chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine. I was just wondering whether you can speak a little bit to what role this could potentially play.
Of course also there’re a lot of smaller studies going on. Is there any way to make sure that they all lead to results that can be proved in the end?
MR Maria can give you more detail but certainly one of the Solidarity trials – I think Solidarity 3 or 4 – we have one of the trials under design which will be a multi-centre study which will look at prophylaxis in healthcare workers to see whether there’s evidence that giving lower doses of drugs like chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine to healthcare workers would reduce their risk of becoming infected in a healthcare environment.
Those studies are certainly underway and again there are a number of those studies underway in smaller studies around the world but again as WHO we’re trying to bring together a larger set of collaborative studies that will give
us the answers we need.
In terms of post-exposure prophylaxis I don’t believe we have at the moment studies planned but Maria can speak to that but there is certainly evidence for the use of – not proven evidence of effectiveness but there are a number
of studies underway and trials underway that use hyperimmune globulin in the treatment of disease; in other words they use that purified plasma of recovered individuals to give an antibody boost to people who are
suffering the disease.
00:32:49
Similar approaches have been used in post-exposure prophylaxis for other diseases but Maria may be aware of studies underway in that area.
MK Only to add that, as you mentioned, there are a number of smaller studies that are happening globally and across a large number of countries. We have teams through our science division and through GOARN,
through the Global Outbreak Alert Network, who are pulling together available literature on a number of topics, one of which is looking at different types of therapeutics and drugs.
The idea is until we can have a study that pulls together enough of a sample size to get these answers to these questions we’re trying to evaluate every piece of evidence that is published so that we can look at the way in
which these studies were done, we can look at the strengths, we can look at the limitations so that can help guide us closer towards an effective treatment for COVID-19.
TJ Thank you very much. The next question is from BFM Radio. Is is Kate who is with us?
KT Yes, hi. Good evening or good morning. I’m from BFM Radio Malaysia. My question is, many countries around the world have imposed lock-downs or some sort of restrictions on movement. I was wondering
what WHO’s guidance would be; what’s the sweet spot, the kind of data that governments need to consider before lifting or relaxing some of these lock- downs? Thank you very much.
00:34:29
MR Thank you. It is a difficulty for governments right now because the lock-downs in many situations are proving effective in dampening the flames of the epidemic in those countries but those
lock-downs are also causing great economic hardship and everybody especially in the developing world needs to get to a more sustainable way of managing this epidemic and controlling COVID-19 without continuing to damage economic and social life.
The transition strategy out of lock-down requires a calibrated, step-wise approach. It would be probably very inadvisable just to lift a complete lock-down, all of the measures because lock-downs are a general term that
include closure of schools, closure of churches, stay-at- home orders, closure of workplaces. It’s a mixture of different things and I think each government needs to break out, what does our lock-down actually constitute, what are the elements
of our lock-down, where is that happening in the country, do we now understand the epidemiology of the disease in each area in which we have an element of lock-down or shut- down.
Then to chart the path out, you have to build strong public health capacity to take over from the lock-down. In other words the lock-down is pushing the disease down by putting people back in their homes, by separating communities. Once you raise
the lock-down you have to have an alternative method to suppress the infection. The way to do that is active case finding, testing, isolation of cases, tracking of contacts, quarantining of contacts and strong community education and
participation and ownership around normal physical distancing, hygiene and giving communities the power to control infection by in effect managing their own physical distance, managing their own capacities to support the response.
00:36:32
In that situation, if you’ve strong public health capacity, if you’ve got a community that’s mobilised and empowered and if you’ve strengthened your health system then you’re potentially in a position to start unlocking or unwinding the lock-down.
The specific parameters you need to be looking at are on two sides.
One is, it would be very inadvisable to lock down [sic] if the number of cases coming through the hospital is already at a level where your occupancy of beds is nearly at 100%. You need to be in a position where
you now have free beds in your system so that you’re managing and coping with the caseload and that means you have some absorption capacity left.
You need to look at things like the doubling rate; how many days does it take for the number of cases to double? You need to look at positivity rates; what proportion of all samples that we test are positive? You’ll see in
somewhere like Korea two to 6% of the samples they test are positive. Last week in New York 37% of tested samples were positive so you need to carefully look at what proportion of people you test are positive.
00:37:45
You need to look at the number of contacts that are generated per case and it goes on and on and WHO will be issuing guidance to countries that is a much more specific around the parameters they should be looking at. There are no absolutes here, there
are no answers, there are no numbers that say if this number is this then you do that. That doesn’t exist but what we can do is offer countries very specific measurements that they need to look at to chart the path out of lock-down.
That step-wise approach of unlocking somewhat and then waiting to see; I think you need to say, we will stop doing this element of the shut-down and then we will wait and we will look at the data and if that works we go to the next
stage and the next stage. So a careful, calibrated, step-wise exit from lock-down with putting in place public health capacities, putting in place community capacity, building the capacity of the health system to cope should the disease bounce back up; that’s the safe path out of lock-down.
We want to achieve it as quickly as possible and we want to avoid many countries going into that circumstance and we still have many countries around the world who are not in a locked- down situation. In fact their epidemiology would suggest
they can avoid the worst of this and we need to support them to avoid them going into that situation.
The most damaging lock-downs are in many developing countries where people – as the DG has said many times – can live from hand to mouth, not from pay cheque to pay cheque but from day to day and we have to find adaptive solutions
around lock-down and around disease control in vulnerable periurban populations living in poverty, in poor rural communities. We have to find alternative, adapted ways to manage lock-downs or slow-downs or shut-downs in
those situations.
00:39:41
TJ Thank you very much. This was Kate from BFM Radio in Malaysia. Now we will go to Nigeria to Natural Star and it’s Innocent. Innocent, can you hear us?
IN Thank you. Can you hear me?
TJ Not very well but we will try. Please go ahead.
IN Okay, thank you for taking my questions. I have two questions to ask. One; how will WHO assess African countries on what they’ve done concerning the lock-down and management of COVID-19?
Then the second one; there’s news going around that vaccines are to be tested on Africans when they’re developed. How true is that and is there a window that’s in the nearer future when a vaccine will be developed for COVID-19? Thank you.
Hello?
TJ Yes, we are just trying to make sure that we understood the question but we will try. MR I think this is Nigeria. Is it?
TJ Yes.
00:41:08
MR Maria may answer the question around vaccine development. With regard to our general assessment on lock-down – and the Director-General may wish to comment on this because he’s been speaking with many leaders in Africa
and, I believe, spoke with the whole of the African Union leadership and countries late last week so therefore is in a much better position than me to speak about that.
We would characterise so far, Africa’s actually doing well in this response thus far. Countries have essential capacities for testing, many countries are taking strong action and want to really focus on finding cases and doing contact tracing and trying to stop this disease becoming much more extensive given the fact that health systems are not as strong in many countries.
They need support in that though, they need support in testing, they need support with protective gear and they need to be given the resources to be able to mount those types of responses so I would characterise that Africa has not suffered the worst
of this pandemic so far. The worst of it can be avoided with very, very swift action to support those countries in Africa who really do want to take a comprehensive approach to this disease.
With the many vulnerable people including refugees and migrants who live in those countries it is our responsibility to provide that support but, DG, you may wish to speak about your interactions with the African
Union countries.
00:42:46
MK I’ll answer the question around vaccines. What we can say is that there are a number of vaccines that are in development and vaccines will be tested through clinical trials with all ethical considerations
in place in whichever populations are under study with informed consent, with open and transparent communication. This is of the utmost importance, that not only do we have strong, robust scientific evidence
but we ensure that all of the studies that are done are done with appropriate and the highest level of ethical considerations.
One thing on the first question around Africa is that there are a number of countries in Africa right now which have very few cases and Mike has alluded to this in his earlier response.
Some only have imported cases and there is an opportunity here, this window of opportunity that the DG has spoken about exists in many countries still. There is an opportunity to prevent the worst from happening
in a number of countries across Africa and across countries that are still seeing their first case; in some island countries.
We need to support those governments, those countries, all of the people in those areas to prevent the worst from happening, to prevent these individual cases from becoming clusters, these clusters from becoming community transmission. I think that’s
where we need to put a lot of emphasis and support so that we can prevent countries from reaching a point where they need to put in these very restrictive movement restrictions.
TAG Thank you. Thank you for that question, my brother from Nigeria. On the situation, as Mike said, of course when you see the number of cases the African continent has the lowest number of cases so far but that doesn’t mean that
the situation will not deteriorate. It may.
00:45:06
So Africa should do everything to prevent this situation from getting worse and that’s why African leaders are doing their best. I had a chance to participate in a meeting, a Leaders’ Coalition which was arranged or invited by the current Chairperson
of the African Union, the President of South Africa, President Ramaphoza and many leaders from all corners of the continent have actually participated.
The main agenda is to have a continental strategy and also make sure that that continental strategy helps the national strategy but in addition to a coalition of political leaders or the heads of state and government they have also agreed to have a coalition of business leaders. Business leaders in Africa are also getting together because Africa will need resources and one of the major problems that was identified during the discussion
was especially shortage of equipment starting from medical equipment, PPE and test kits and so on.
The leaders have agreed to look for concrete solutions to address the problem and they also believe that considering the number of cases we have in the continent testing cases, tracing contacts and isolating them, meaning using the comprehensive approach,
will actually help. They believe that lock-downs alone may not help or the physical distancing alone cannot help and they have agreed to do everything to follow the comprehensive approach.
From WHO’s side we have been supporting and we increased, improved the testing capacity in Africa significantly in the past two months and many countries in Africa have now testing capability although we may have a shortage of test kits but
we’re working on that too and we’re finding different ways of addressing the gap.
00:48:06
But we will support the African Union, we will support the Africa CDC and also we will continue working through our WHO regional office in Congo Brazzaville and continue to support and fight the pandemic together.
Then on the vaccines issue there was, I think, a comment last week from a couple of
scientists who said the testing ground for the new vaccines will be Africa. To be honest, I was so appalled and it was a time when I said, when we needed solidarity these kind of racist remarks actually would not help, it goes against the solidarity.
Africa cannot and will not be a testing ground for any vaccine. We will follow all the rules to test any vaccine or therapeutics all over the world using exactly the same rules. Whether it’s
in Europe, Africa or wherever we will use the same protocol and if there is a need to be tested elsewhere to treat human beings the same way, equally.
The hangover from a colonial mentality has to stop — and WHO will not allow this to happen. It was a disgrace actually and appalling to hear during the 21st century from scientists that kind of remark and we condemn
this in the strongest terms possible but we assure you that this will not happen in Africa and will not happen elsewhere, in any country. Proper protocols will be followed and human beings will be treated as human
beings because we’re all human beings.
00:50:37
Then after saying this the vaccine development; we’re addressing two issues and we will be announcing as soon as possible, hopefully during this week, a big initiative to accelerate the research and development and production of vaccines and also
design mechanisms for equitable distribution of the vaccines.
While we’re looking for vaccines, unless we break the barriers to equitable distribution of the products, whether it’s vaccines or therapeutics, we will have a problem, so we need to address the problem ahead of time, we need to address the problem
of access or challenges to access ahead of time.
That’s why we will put together a mechanism and we will appoint senior people from the North and South that will work out the details on how they can accelerate production but at the same time how they can ensure equitable distribution. Solidarity
is very important here. When a vaccine or a medicine is ready we have to be able to deliver it all over the world.
There should not be a divide between the haves and the have-nots.
If we say solidarity, solidarity should be in its full form and I hope each and every individual, each and every human being will go for that kind of solidarity. I thank you.
TJ Thank you, Dr Tedros. We’ll take a couple more questions. We go to Yang from Xinhua news agency. Yang, can you hear us?
00:52:58
YA Can I hear you?
TJ Yes, we can hear you. Please go ahead.
YA As World Health Day is approaching what do you have to say to the front-line medical workers in China and around the world in the global anti-virus efforts? This question is
for Dr Tedros. Thank you.
TJ If we understood well, the question is what is the message to health workers in China and around the world. Maybe you can repeat the question one more time, please.
YA Okay. As World Health Day is approaching what would you say and what message do you want to deliver to the front-line medical workers in China and around the world in the global anti-virus effort?
TAG I think I have said it earlier; as you know, this is the year of the nurse and the midwife, 2020. We were ready to celebrate it in a big way and it was supposed to be the main event in our
Assembly in mid-May. Unfortunately we’re in this situation but we will be launching a report tomorrow which is the first of its kind. It’s a report on the state of nursing. We will launch it tomorrow during the World Health
Day.
00:55:01
But while launching that report, although it’s about nursing, we will celebrate all health workers, midwives, pharmacists, doctors, you name it. I think the world is now seeing the importance and the central role that health workers play. People,
when they’re asked, of course, to choose they would say health first because it’s only when you’re healthy that you can aspire to anything, whether it’s wealth or fame or anything. It doesn’t matter if you’re not healthy.
If you’re not healthy the first thing you ask for is to get back your health and our health workers are making sure that happens and they’re central and very important for any individual. So not only during COVID but during other times too health
professionals are very important because they are safeguarding that very important aspect of life — that’s health.
So we have to celebrate them every day. Of course during COVID we can see to what extent they’re sacrificing. We have lost many of them. They’re dying while saving lives so my message first is to the public at large; that each and every individual
should recognise, whether it’s during normal times or pandemics like now, the role of health professionals and help them, protect them, really appreciate and respect what they are doing.
To the health workers, although especially during this COVID pandemic you’re working in a difficult situation you should know that your work is the most blessed one, your work is something special to the extent of losing your life
while helping others to live. We respect you and appreciate you for that and we also believe in you and that you will do everything to control this pandemic.
00:58:11
But you should know that you have – and the world understands – the most important job. We can see the humility which is coming from some leaders because of this pandemic. I know they’re seeing, starting from their own lives, the whole world through
a different prism and they will also see your role.
But the most important is not the recognition from the public or from leaders but the internal commitment and passion you have and believing that you’re doing the most blessed thing and you have all our respect and appreciation and we believe in
you, that together we will finish this pandemic. All the respect and appreciation we have to you, the greatest respect and appreciation ever. Thank you.
TJ Thank you very much, Dr Tedros. I think this important message will be heard from everyone and we will conclude this press briefing with these important words from Dr Tedros. We will
have an audio file available in the minutes to come and we invite you for our next briefing on Wednesday. Thank you.
TAG [Inaudible] and see you on Wednesday – tomorrow actually for the launch. Yes, see you tomorrow.
01:00:18
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‘One World: Together At Home’ global special to air on Saturday, 18 April 2020 in celebration and support of healthcare workers, broadcast to feature real experiences from doctors, nurses and families around the world.
Powered by commitments from supporters and corporate partners in benefit of the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, Broadcast special to also benefit local and regional charities that provide food, shelter and healthcare to those that need help most.
Historic broadcast to be hosted by Jimmy Fallon of ‘The Tonight Show,’ Jimmy Kimmel of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ and Stephen Colbert of ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,’ Friends from Sesame Street Also on hand to help unify and inspire people around the world to take meaningful actions that increase support for the global COVID-19 response.
Curated in collaboration with Lady Gaga, broadcast to include Alanis Morissette, Andrea Bocelli, Billie Eilish, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Burna Boy, Chris Martin, David Beckham, Eddie Vedder, Elton John, FINNEAS, Idris and Sabrina Elba, J Balvin, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves, Keith Urban, Kerry Washington, Lang Lang, Lizzo, Maluma, Paul McCartney, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Shah Rukh Khan and Stevie Wonder.
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Geneva/New York – International advocacy organization Global Citizen and the World Health Organization today
announced the One World: Together At Home — a globally televised and streamed special in support of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. One World: Together At Home will be broadcast live on Saturday, 18 April 2020 at 5:00
p.m. PDT/8:00 p.m. EDT/12:00 a.m. GMT airing on ABC, NBC, ViacomCBS Networks, iHeartMedia and Bell Media networks and platforms in Canada. Internationally, BBC One will run the program on Sunday 19 April 2020. Additional
international broadcasters include beIN Media Group, MultiChoice Group and RTE. The virtual broadcast will show unity among all people who are affected by COVID-19 and will also celebrate and support brave healthcare
workers doing life-saving work on the front lines.
Hugh Evans, Co-Founder and CEO of Global Citizen, said “As we honor and support the heroic efforts of community health workers, ‘One World: Together At Home’ aims to serve as a source of unity and encouragement in the global fight
to end COVID-19. Through music, entertainment and impact, the global live-cast will celebrate those who risk their own health to safeguard everyone else’s.”
One World: Together At Home will also be a multi-hour digital broadcast streaming online on multiple global platforms, including: Alibaba, Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, LiveXLive, Tencent, Tencent Music Entertainment Group, TIDAL, TuneIn, Twitch, Twitter, Yahoo and
YouTube. This digital special will include additional artists and performances from all over the globe as well as unique stories from the world’s healthcare heroes. For information about how to tune in and take action, visit
www.globalcitizen.org/togetherathome.
“The World Health Organization is committed to defeating the coronavirus pandemic with science and public health measures, and supporting the health workers who are on the frontlines of the response,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,
Director-General of WHO. “We may have to be apart physically for a while, but we can still come together virtually to enjoy great music. The ‘One World: Together At Home’ concert represents a powerful show of solidarity against
a common threat.”
“The United Nations system is fully mobilized: supporting country responses, placing our supply chains at the world’s disposal and advocating for a global cease-fire. We are proud to join forces with ‘One World: Together At Home’
to help suppress the transmission of the virus, minimize social-economic impacts on the global community and work together now to advance Global Goals for the future,” said António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.
“There is no greater case for collective action than our joint response to COVID-19 – we are in this together and we will get through this together.”
Last month in response to the global pandemic, Global Citizen launched an urgent campaign in support of the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO, powered by the UN Foundation. Calling on individuals to take action,
and asking world leaders and corporations to support the response with sufficient resources, Global Citizens from over 130 countries around the world have taken tens of thousands of actions in support of the response fund.
At this critical moment in history, Global Citizen is also calling on philanthropists to join and support immediate COVID-19 response efforts as part of the organization’s Give While You Live effort. Investors, changemakers and foundation
leaders are being urged to actualize their giving and invest quickly in related efforts like stronger health systems and vaccine development.
Over the past three weeks, the Together At Home series has featured performances from artists including,
Chris Martin, John Legend, Charlie Puth, Common, Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, Niall Horan, Steve Aoki, Jennifer Hudson, Miguel, H.E.R., Anthony Hamilton, Rufus Wainwright, Hozier and Julianne Hough, among others in
support of WHO and Global Citizen’s campaign.
Commitments from supporters and corporate partners will go to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO to support and equip frontline healthcare workers around the world, with masks, gowns and other vital equipment, and to local charities that provide food, shelter, and healthcare to those that need it most. These local groups have been verified
to ensure that they are helping communities impacted by COVID-19.
For more information about Global Citizen and the campaign to support the WHO’s Solidarity Response Fund, please visit globalcitizen.org and
follow @GlblCtzn Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using #GlobalCitizen.
To learn more about WHO’s response to the pandemic and the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, please go to www.who.int/COVID-19 and follow @WHO on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,
LinkedIn and TikTok.
###
About Global Citizen:
Global Citizen is the world’s largest movement of action takers and impact makers dedicated to ending extreme poverty by 2030. With over 10 million monthly advocates, our voices have the power to drive lasting change around sustainability, equality,
and humanity. We post, tweet, message, vote, sign, and call to inspire those who can make things happen to act — government leaders, businesses, philanthropists, artists, and citizens — together improving lives. By downloading our
app, Global Citizens learn about the systemic causes of extreme poverty, take action on those issues, and earn rewards, which can be redeemed for tickets to concerts, events, and experiences all over the world. To date, the actions of our community,
along with high-level advocacy efforts and work with partners, has resulted in commitments and policy announcements from leaders valued at over $48 billion, affecting the lives of more than 2.25 billion people by 2030. For more information, visit
www.GlobalCitizen.org.
About the World Health Organization:
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the United Nations’ specialized agency for health. It is an inter-governmental organization and works in collaboration with its Member States usually through the Ministries of Health. The World Health Organization
is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing
health trends. Learn more at www.who.int.
About the United Nations Foundation:
The UN Foundation brings together the ideas, people, and resources the United Nations needs to drive global progress and tackle urgent problems. To support the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) in its global work on COVID-19, UN Foundation
helped launch the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund that has raised more than $100 million in less than two weeks for lifesaving work around the world. Learn more about the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund at www.covid19responsefund.org. Learn more about the UN Foundation at www.unfoundation.org.
Follow @unfoundation on Twitter and Instagram, and @United Nations Foundation on Facebook.
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Note to Editors:
Resources donated to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund will be spent in alignment with the WHO Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan and support the work of multiple organizations. These include WHO, for tracking the virus spread, equipping
health workers, making lab and testing tools available, and providing communities and frontline responders with the latest guidance; enabling UNICEF to equip children and families globally with evidence-based guidance to protect them from COVID-19,
providing water, sanitation and hygiene, and basic infection prevention and control measures to vulnerable countries, and caring for vulnerable families and children; and to CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, a key partner
leading the financing for research and development for novel vaccines to combat COVID-19.
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