Jason Nickerson

J.M. Berger @intelwire.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 16, 2024 at 23:44 UTC

No matter how bad you think this will be just from the post and headline, you will not be prepared for how bad it is when you click on the link

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 10, 2024 at 00:53 UTC

That’s great! Thanks very much, I didn’t know this existed! ✌️

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 13:37 UTC

I spoke with CBC last night about the plan to build a pier - which won’t be operational for weeks - to deliver aid to Gaza, and why this is not a viable solution for addressing emergency needs that exist today. This is no a logistics problem, it is a political problem. www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 12:13 UTC

Measles is a disease that is preventable with a highly effective vaccine, that too many people have not received in many countries with fragile public health systems. Scaling up global vaccinations is, once again, what's needed to protect people at home and abroad.

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 12:13 UTC

So, what needs to happen? We need catch-up vaccination campaigns around the world to target children who have missed doses or received none, up to at least age 5. In countries affected by crisis there are large pockets of zero-dose children that need to be prioritized.

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 12:13 UTC

There have been significant efforts to scale-up routine immunizations around the world, and this is indeed a major success. But the reality is that disease outbreaks like measles, diphtheria, cholera, etc. too often go unresponded to, with little attention. Until it's too late.

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 12:13 UTC

This all comes as countries debate how to respond to pandemics and strengthen global health security, and it highlights the absurdity of many of these discussions which are really about how rich countries should protect themselves, not how best to improve global public health.

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 12:12 UTC

Also of major concern is cholera, which has been seeing massive outbreaks around the world for the past several years. There is so much cholera right now, and so few vaccines, that the global cholera vaccine stockpile was empty in January and meets very little demand today. This is a major problem.

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 12:11 UTC

Unfortunately, it's not just measles that the world needs to be concerned about. We're seeing a rise in other vaccine-preventable illnesses like diphtheria. Right now, the world is facing the largest diphtheria outbreak in history with thousands of cases. IDSky

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 12:11 UTC

The consequence of low global vaccination coverage is that for several years, MSF teams have been responding to very large outbreaks of measles in places like DRC, Afghanistan, Somalia, and a record-breaking spike in measles cases in Nigeria. MedSky www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/recor...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 12:09 UTC

We need to launch these measles vaccination campaigns because there are a lot of people globally who are unprotected. Some of this is because of COVID disruptions - in 2021 40 million children missed a measles vaccine dose, for example. www.who.int/news/item/23...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 12:08 UTC

Measles spreads extremely rapidly, particularly in a population under stress and living in overcrowded conditions (e.g. camps). Measles vaccination is one of our top priorities in an emergency: In 2022 we vaccinated 4.1 million people against measles in response to outbreaks.

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 12:08 UTC

There is likely community transmission of measles in some parts of Canada, but there's a risk of importation of measles cases following international travel - this links to what we @msf.bsky.social have been warning of for years: there are huge gaps in vaccination coverage globally.

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 01:43 UTC

MSF's reaction to the US announcement about building a temporary pier to bring aid into Gaza is here. It is clear that this is not the solution that people in Gaza, and humanitarian organizations working in Gaza, urgently need.

www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/us-pl...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 01:43 UTC

Existing border crossings into Gaza are an immediately viable and usable option - food and medicines are literally sitting at the Rafah border crossing, waiting to enter Gaza. Focusing on a temporary pier as a solution weeks from now is a distraction from the real problem.

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 09, 2024 at 01:42 UTC

Building a temporary pier to bring aid into Gaza - which will take weeks to build - is not a practical option for an emergency of this scale or urgency. People need food, medicine, fuel, and water today, not weeks from now. There are trucks sitting at existing border crossings into Gaza.

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 02, 2024 at 13:50 UTC

We are aware of statements about 🇨🇦 plans to airdrop aid into Gaza and emphasize that airdropping aid is in no way a substitute for humanitarian access and regular border crossings that allow medical supplies, food, fuel, and other relief items to enter. www.theglobeandmail.com/world/articl...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 26, 2024 at 11:50 UTC

It’s so weird how when financial incentives are introduced as the main driver of patient care and essential health services, things get super gross and twisted really quick. Who’d have guessed?

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 24, 2024 at 10:06 UTC

Wow! Wild story! Was the antivenom readily available where you were, or was there some delay in getting it? Hope that you’ve made a full recovery!

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 23, 2024 at 03:36 UTC

Around 100,000 people die from venomous snakebites each year, and we are lacking effective, affordable antivenoms.
R&D for new antivenoms is underfunded, typical of many diseases that simply aren't profitable enough to attract investment.
But there's hope: MedSky 🧪

www.statnews.com/2024/02/21/a...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 09, 2024 at 15:31 UTC

The conditions in the centres where people are detained arbitrarily and indefinitely, has had a detrimental effect on the physical and mental health of detainees. MSF is calling for long-term solutions that prioritize the rights and dignity of refugees: doctorswithoutborders-apac.org/en/doctors-w...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 09, 2024 at 15:31 UTC

Last week, more than 100 Rohingya people fled a Malaysian detention centre. There are currently around 2,000 Rohingya refugees in detention in Malaysia, who remain stateless with no recourse to obtain legal status. toronto.citynews.ca/2024/02/02/m...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 09, 2024 at 15:03 UTC

You can also send a letter to the Ministers and MPs who can influence Canada's response to the crisis in DRC and make sure they know that Canadians care about this emergency that's had dire consequences for millions of people: action.msf.ca/site/Advocac...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 09, 2024 at 15:02 UTC

We at MSF are calling on the Canadian government to urgently scale-up its response to the humanitarian crisis in DRC. If you're in Canada, you can help by signing a Parliamentary Petition to push for Canada to act now: www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 09, 2024 at 15:01 UTC

For months, MSF has been calling on Canada and other donors, and other humanitarian organizations, to urgently scale-up their response to this crisis. So far, the response from Canada has been minimal despite high and escalating needs. www.msf.org/drc-msf-call...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 09, 2024 at 15:01 UTC

This is the latest escalation in fighting in DRC's North Kivu province, where more than 1 million people have been displaced by violence since March 2022 in a province that's been affected by conflict for more than 30 years.

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Feb 09, 2024 at 15:01 UTC

MSF's medical teams in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have received huge influxes of war-wounded patients in the last 2 weeks as thousands of people flee fighting.

www.msf.org/people-and-m...

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Jason Nickerson @jwnickerson.bsky.social [ View ] Jan 23, 2024 at 15:55 UTC

There are massive gaps in access to pain medicines in many low- and middle-income countries, which often leads to the use of second or third line analgesics. Central African Republic just announced the withdrawal of metamizole from the market, for example. MedSky lengosongo.cf/2024/01/22/l...

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