Reposted by Jason Nickerson
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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That’s great! Thanks very much, I didn’t know this existed! ✌️
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Reposted by Jason Nickerson
Important work well worth reading. Kudos to Retraction Watch and Science.
www.science.org/content/arti...
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People with moderate to severe asthma have a growing list of treatment options - however, it's still not entirely clear how to bring them all together, how to use them, and when to stop using them (and they're expensive!). In today's Lancet: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... MedSky 🧪
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The last confirmed detection of a B/Yamagata flu virus was in March 2020, but it's still included in our flu vaccines and will be for some time. Removing it isn't straightforward.
Fascinating read by @helenbranswell.bsky.social in @statnews.bsky.social 🧪 MedSky www.statnews.com/2024/01/16/f...
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This is a thoughtful and helpful read on the challenges/differences of free speech and academic freedom. Academic freedom is extremely important - people and society deserve the benefit and generosity of our academic curiosity. In today's The Line: www.readtheline.ca/p/andrew-pot...
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Many of these patents are spurious at best - inhaler caps, cartridge pins and springs, etc. - though some devices offer significant benefits for particle deposition. The inhalers in question, here, are not those. Good to see a government taking a hard look at this. MedSky 🧪
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By playing the patent game and linking approval to the drug/device combo, pharma companies have been able to keep lower cost generics from entering the market. It's a complicated thing because in theory a generic could enter the market - but they don't: it's hard to compete.
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Here's the rub in all of this: these are all old, off-patent drugs, being sold at ridiculous prices. The game by pharma companies has been to patent the drugs, then patent the devices several years later, and obtain approval for the drug/device combo.
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Just taking one example from the above story on the price of inhalers, you can see how absurd the price differences are between different jurisdictions. This makes absolutely no sense. Advair HFA costs $319 in the US, but $26 in the UK? Wild. (It's $122-$173 in Canada, btw)
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The second related story is that a group of US Senators are investigating the pricing of asthma and COPD inhalers - good, because (and I can't reiterate this enough) the way these things are priced is insane. thehill.com/policy/healt...
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Because the way medicines are priced and sold - particularly in the US - is absolutely nonsensical, the launch of new "generic" fluticasone inhaler may actually cost patients more because of discounts and rebates, meaning some insurance may not cover it. www.statnews.com/2024/01/05/f...
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First is that GSK discontinued their brand-name fluticasone inhalers (FLOVENT) on January 1st, and will instead sell authorized generics. Sounds good at first, but really this is a sleight of hand since GSK will still control the generics. www.npr.org/sections/hea...
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Two big asthma and COPD medication stories coming out of the US this week, both highlighting the absurd way that inhalers - many of which are decades-old drugs delivered by decades-old device technologies - are priced out of reach of patients that need them.
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Reposted by Jason Nickerson
Looking forward to my (very grouchy) chapter on Canada & COVID-19 vaccine (in)equity in this long-gestating volume, alongside pieces from folks like @roojin.bsky.social @jwnickerson.bsky.social @dfisman.bsky.social @deonandan.bsky.social and plenty more.🇨🇦💉🌐⚖️
www.routledge.com/Pandemics-Pu...
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Reposted by Jason Nickerson
Our book includes contributions from @roojin.bsky.social, Colleen Flood, @jwnickerson.bsky.social,
@dfisman.bsky.social, @siouxsiew.bsky.social, and many others & is due out in 2 months: "Pandemics, Public Health, and the Regulation of BordersLessons from COVID-19"
www.routledge.com/Pandemics-Pu...
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Sudanese authorities have informed MSF of a ban on importing surgical supplies to hospitals in areas of Khartoum controlled by RSF forces. This is unconscionable & will directly impact our ability to provide trauma surgical care & also caesarean sections.
www.msf.org/surgical-sup...
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An MSF convoy trying to evacuate our staff and their families was attacked in North Gaza today. One person was killed, another injured.
This is absolutely unacceptable and horrific. We condemn this in the strongest terms.
Ceasefire now.
www.msf.org/gaza-msf-con...
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Gaza update.
Patients and medical staff are trapped in hospitals: Al-Shifa hospital has been hit several times, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries.
MSF urgently reiterates its calls to stop the attacks against hospitals & for an immediate ceasefire.
t.co/yfcAa0IsyJ
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Reposted by Jason Nickerson
The "unexpected" in the headline is slightly irksome. This was the main fear I expressed back in December 2017 when first asked about deepfakes and repeatedly since then. I have expressed this to every journalist who has called me about AI fakes since.
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Reposted by Jason Nickerson
Oh wow. Sufjan Stevens just came out in the most heartbreaking way possible. sufjan.com/post/7304464...
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Reposted by Jason Nickerson
Twitter/X is now removing headlines from links and Threads/Meta is prohibiting searches of public health terms like Covid and vaccines.
Billionaires are dangerously restricting people’s access to news.
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