United Nations

Unicef secures deal to buy pentavalent vaccine at half its current price

The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) has secured a deal to purchase the pentavalent vaccine — a combination of five vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type b — at an average price of US$0.84, half what the agency pays …

Transforming our workforce: an International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) report

Claire Anderson, vice-chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s English Pharmacy Board, reflects on the launch of the ‘Transforming Our Workforce’ report at the 2016 International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) World Congress of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, from her rol…

World Health Organization to send 1 million doses of cholera vaccine to Haiti to avert new cases

The World Health Organization will send 1 million doses of oral cholera vaccine to Haiti because of concerns that the hurricane-devastated country will experience a spike in new cholera cases.…

Global declaration to fight antimicrobial resistance

A declaration to tackle drug-resistant infections is due to be signed by 193 countries at the United Nations General Assembly on 21 September 2016.…

Community pharmacies could provide vaccines across the globe, says FIP

Community pharmacies have the potential to deliver vaccinations to one in eight people globally, finds a report published by the International Pharmaceutical Federation, which represents 3 million pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists worldwide.…

Anaesthesiologists call on UN to resist making ketamine a controlled substance

The World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) has called for support to protect the status of the anaesthetic ketamine as an essential medicine.  The plea comes in response to repeated attempts by China and other south-east Asian countries that have problems with ketamine…

Q&A: Increasing global access to medicines for non-communicable diseases

Nicola Magrini from the World Health Organization discusses improving access to affordable medicines for non-communicable diseases and warns that treatments for cancer lag behind.…

European region most sceptical of vaccine safety, study finds

Results of an international study suggest that lack of confidence, rather than lack of access, is the main barrier to vaccination in some countries.…

US$1 test card can detect poor quality ceftriaxone antibiotic

A paper-based tool that can be used to detect counterfeit or degraded medicines and costs around US$1 is effective in detecting poor quality samples of the injectable antibiotic ceftriaxone.…

Why on earth is the NHS spending even a single penny on homeopathy?

A recent article in The Independent has, once again, highlighted NHS spending on homeopathic remedies (‘NHS has spent more than £1.75m on homeopathy, despite admitting there is no good-quality evidence it works’, 7 August 2016). Although the piece cited a spend of £1.75m in t…