Pfizer strikes global licensing deal for Covid pill

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, November 16, 2021 

Pfizer's Covid pill showed an 89 percent reduction in hospitalisation and
death in clinical trials. (AFP/Don EMMERT)

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer on Tuesday announced a deal to make its prospective antiviral Covid-19 pill available more cheaply in the world's least wealthy countries. 

Pfizer will sub-licence production of its promising Paxlovid pill to generic drug manufacturers for supply in 95 low- and middle-income nations covering around 53 percent of the world's population. 

Under the deal struck with the global Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), Pfizer -- which also produces one of the most widely-used Covid vaccines with German lab BioNTech -- will not receive royalties from the generic manufacturers, making the treatment cheaper. 

The agreement is subject to the oral antiviral medication passing ongoing trials and regulatory approval. 

The Pfizer drug is to be taken with the HIV medicine ritonavir. 

Interim data from ongoing trials demonstrated an 89 percent reduction in the risk of Covid-19-related hospitalisation or death compared to a placebo, in non-hospitalised high-risk adults with Covid-19 within three days of symptom onset, said Pfizer. 

Similar results were seen within five days of symptom onset, it added. 

The Geneva-based MPP is a United Nations-backed international organisation that works to facilitate the development of medicines for low- and middle-income nations. 

If approved, the pill could be on the market in "a matter of months", MPP policy chief Esteban Burrone told AFP. 

HIV drug mix

Pfizer will forego royalties on sales in all countries covered by the agreement while Covid-19 remains classified as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization. 

Last month, the WHO maintained the highest level of alert over the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. 

Paxlovid, or PF-07321332, is an investigational antiviral therapy designed to block the activity of the SARS-CoV-2-3CL protease -- an enzyme that the coronavirus needs to replicate. 

Taking it together with a low dose of ritonavir helps slow the breakdown of PF-07321332. It therefore remains active in the body for a longer period at a high concentration, to help combat the virus. 

The pill could potentially help patients avoid severe illness, which can lead to hospitalisation and death, Pfizer said. 

"We believe oral antiviral treatments can play a vital role in reducing the severity of Covid-19 infections, decreasing the strain on our healthcare systems and saving lives," said Pfizer chairman and chief executive Albert Bourla. 

While a multitude of vaccines have been rolled out in the pandemic, the hunt for treatments for those who have already caught the disease has not been as fruitful. 

Agreement follows Merck deal 

The MPP was founded by Unitaid, which works on innovations to prevent, diagnose and treat major diseases in poorer countries. 

"During a pandemic, saving time means saving lives. This agreement could help us to reach more people more quickly as soon as the medicine is approved," said Unitaid executive director Philippe Duneton. 

Potential sublicensees have until December 6 to register an expression of interest. 

The announcement comes after the MPP signed a similar voluntary licensing deal with Pfizer's US rivals Merck & Co last month for its investigational oral antiviral medicine molnupiravir. 

Subject to regulatory approval, the deal will help create broad access to molnupiravir in 105 low- and middle-income countries. 

Pills are easier to make than vaccines, do not require a cold chain for delivery and can be self-administered by the patient. 

In terms of relieving health systems by preventing hospitalisations, "it's a game changer", said Burrone. 

He said pricing for the Pfizer pill had not yet been set, but said that "in a competitive environment... the prices tend to come down" to a low level. 

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) meanwhile suggested it might cost around $700 per Pfizer treatment course, in line with molnupiravir. 

The medical charity said it was disheartened by the deal, saying restrictive voluntary licences were no substitute for guaranteed global access to Covid tools to bring the pandemic under control.

Virtual reality: Dutch firm wins prize for gaming pain away

DutchNews, December 19, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com

 A Frisian company which has developed a virtual reality headset to combat chronic pain has won the prestigious UN World SummitAward. 

Exactly how many people are suffering from chronic pain in the Netherlands is not known but their number runs into the thousands, medical experts say. Often the pain has no clear cause. The conventional treatment is painkillers but these are costly and don’t always work. 

The VR treatment tackles the pain by training the brain, psychologist Louis Zantema, who founded Reducept, told broadcaster NOS. 

‘People with chronic pain are oversensitive to the pain signal sent by the body to the brain. The therapy helps the nervous system because the brain believes healing is taking place,’ he said. 

Shooting down the pain 

‘When you put on the VR headset you travel into in your own nervous system. The painful spots show up as small red dots which you shoot at, as if you were playing a game,’ Zantema explained. 

After ‘shooting down’ the pain the next step is a mindfulness exercise focusing on the spinal cord. ‘There we are using a psychological trick which also works for people suffering from trauma. The patient does a complicated exercise which is alternated with an intensive focusing on the pain.’ 

Professor Harry van Goor tested the VR headset on 40 people all of whom experienced a reduction in pain symptoms. He says the treatment offers hope to many while saving money at the same time. 

‘Chronic pain is causing depression and is putting a lot of pressure on the health system. The medication either doesn’t help or is addictive and waiting lists for the specialist pain clinics are very long,’ he told NOS. 

The treatment is available at over 50 healthcare institutions but is not covered by health insurers. A session costs €15 apart from the cost of buying a VR headset.

Related Article:

Science & Spiritually Conference 2018, BC – Canada (4), June 16-17, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version “Predictions”)

“….Let me close with this: I'm going to give you the same concept that I gave those few on their way to the beautiful garden a few days ago [channelling on the way to Butchart Gardens in Vancouver Island]. There are things in your field for you that will save your life unless you look back and say, "Impossible!" Some of you have an old habit where you look at your life and say, "Well, for others, but not for me." Sometimes you pull on your old logic and further say, "Well, it's never happened before, so why should it happen now?" Dear ones, that exactly reflects the earlier teaching of the day. Don't let the past predict your future. If you do, then you are actually creating your own demise.

What is in the field for you? What is it you can see and imagine? Have you heard this question from the scientists this week - not a channeller, but the scientists? Did you hear that the visualization of your health from your consciousness goes inside and is seen by your own cellular structure? Does this science sound like Kryon? Did you hear that the field is there to push it forward? Do you believe in homeopathy? Do you see how it works? For example, you have a tincture that is too small to be recognized by any part of the body as a chemical change, yet the body sees the signal from the tincture and corrects the issue! Dear one, homeopathy is not something unknown on the planet. It's everywhere! So understand this: The principles of homeopathy are NOT homeopathic principles. They are Universal principles of the field.

So, how about consciousness homeopathy? What's the difference between putting a tincture together to create a signal for healing and life extension or putting strong consciousness together that does the same? This is here and already has been proven. It's just means changing the mechanics a little. With the new energy that I have told you is here, and the amount of love that is pouring to you that is greater than ever before because of what you're doing, old soul, this is doable for you. More than doable. It awaits manifestation. ..…”

UN says online anti-vaxxers fuelling Samoa measles deaths

Yahoo – AFP, December 5, 2019

The measles outbreak in Samoa has claimed 62 lives since mid-October
(AFP Photo/ALLAN STEPHEN)

Social media giants must crack down on anti-vaccination posts that are fuelling Samoa's deadly measles epidemic from afar, UNICEF's Pacific islands chief said Thursday.

Sheldon Yett, the regional representative for the UN children's agency, said "incredibly irresponsible" online material on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram had exacerbated the Samoa measles outbreak -- which has claimed 62 lives since mid-October -- by discouraging immunisation.

"It's quite clear that they have a corporate responsibility to step up to the plate and make sure that populations, particularly vulnerable populations, get accurate information that's going to keep children alive," Yett told AFP.

Immunisation rates in Samoa dropped to just over 30 percent before the outbreak, well below accepted best practice of around 90 percent, making the island nation extremely vulnerable to infection.

The World Health Organisation blamed an anti-vaccine messaging campaign, which Yett said was carried out largely online by overseas-based activists.

"It's quite obvious that there are very loud people on social media making very false claims about vaccines," he said.

"Unfortunately it's found a ready audience in Samoa, where some people are suspicious about the quality of healthcare and may have issues with local (vaccine) providers."

Immunisation rates in Samoa dropped to just over 30 percent before the outbreak, 

well below accepted best practice of around 90 percent, making the island nation 

extremely vulnerable to infection (AFP Photo/ALLAN STEPHEN)

He said activists posting anti-vaccine material from wealthy developed countries such as the United States and Australia needed to realise the impact of their actions in developing nations.

"It's devastating, it can be a death sentence for a child here where there's low immunisation and possibly other health issues going on in the background," he said from the capital Apia.

'No easy fix'

Yett said suspicion of vaccines in Samoa stemmed from a case last year when two babies died after receiving measles shots, leading to an eight-month suspension of the country's immunisation programme.

Subsequent investigations found there was no problem with the vaccine itself, but the nurses administering it accidentally mixed it with anaesthetic, instead of water.

However, trust in the immunisation programme was dented and anti-vaxxers stepped up efforts to push their agenda online, creating what Yett described as "a perfect formula" for an uncontrollable epidemic.

The activists have also hindered efforts to control the outbreak, with one prominent Australian-based blogger last week comparing compulsory vaccinations to Nazi Germany and saying "fascism is well and truly alive in Samoa".

Yett said health authorities' focus at the moment was containing an epidemic 

that was still raging (AFP Photo/ALLAN STEPHEN)

Others have promoted quick remedies such as "kangen water", an alkaline water which supporters say can cure measles, despite no scientific evidence.

Yett said health authorities' focus at the moment was containing an epidemic that was still raging, resulting in fresh infections and child deaths every day.

But he said once it was over there had to be discussion with platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram about their approach to anti-vaccine material.

He said informed debate was important but it was wrong to allow online activists to question the effectiveness of vaccines, which the WHO estimates have saved the lives of 21 million children over the past 20 years.

"It's not easy, nobody wants to be a censor," he said.

"Companies have a responsibility to do it, but we also have to be honest and say there's no easy fix where they can flick a switch."

He conceded the clicks generated by heated online debate about vaccines could prevent the platforms from wanting to take swift action on the issue.

"We shouldn't be naive, there are many counter incentives here for social media giants as well," he said.

Related Articles:

New York mandates vaccine to contain Brooklyn measles outbreak

Kryon Q&A

Question (2003): Dear Kryon, I have a new grandson. He's going for his first vaccination in the next few weeks. If we're beginning to transmute toxins with reconnections to our endocrine system through our DNA, then what happens to our babies, who by law have to be vaccinated? What are your thoughts on this subject?

Answer: First, know that vaccinations are a God-given science that humanity earned. They're a tried and proven homeopathic method that have been with you for years. You were probably vaccinated yourself, and it worked.

We have three answers: (1) God is not in a vacuum. Even the vaccinated Human Being who's older can modify and rework their DNA. So there's no time limit, and there are no rules that say "Once vaccinated, you're ruined." (2) The Human who is of the age of awareness can say, even as they are vaccinated, "Let nothing inappropriate enter my chemistry." This is a conscious instruction given to your "intelligent cellular structure" (the same one responsible for kinesiology and homeopathic results). This will result in your cells only using what they need and casting away everything else. (3) Finally, about babies: There has been a push by your science lately to vaccinate against many things at the same time. You'd be advised to seek out a doctor who will only vaccinate your child for only the basic diseases that have been known in the last 40 years. Eliminate the vaccinations for the new ones. This leaves you with approximately seven or eight - the very ones that have been used for years. What your science is not appreciating yet is the results of combining all the vaccination substances together. There's a problem that will show itself in time. Stick with the basic ones.

Pope warns overeating is 'avenue of personal destruction'

France24 – AFP, 16 October 2019

Vatican City (AFP) - The pope on Wednesday contrasted the world's 820 million hungry people with those who turn food into "an avenue of personal destruction" through overeating, in comments to mark World Food Day.

Pope Francis noted that the "distorted relationship between food and nutrition" has left almost 700 million people overweight, "victims of improper dietary habits".

"We are in fact witnessing how food is ceasing to be a means of subsistence and turning into an avenue of personal destruction," the pontiff said in a message to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation.

People suffer from diabetes and heart disease because of overeating, but also from anorexia and bulimia through deliberate undereating, the pope said.

He called for "the cultivation of lifestyles inspired by gratitude for the gifts we have received and the adoption of a spirit of temperance (and) moderation."

"By adopting such a lifestyle, we will grow in a fraternal solidarity that seeks the common good and avoids the individualism and egocentrism that serve only to generate hunger and social inequality."

"It is a cruel, unjust and paradoxical reality that, today, there is food for everyone and yet not everyone has access to it, and that in some areas of the world food is wasted, discarded and consumed in excess."

Big Tobacco cries foul after hard-line UN treaty

Yahoo - AFP, Nina LARSON, 11 October 2018

Tobacco companies argue that so-called "harm reduction" products like
e-cigarettes should not face the same restrictions as cigarettes

Big tobacco companies moved Thursday to counter the hard line taken by a global tobacco control treaty, including its decision that new "vaping" products should face the same restrictions as cigarettes.

A meeting of state parties to the UN health agency's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) concluded last week with a number of anti-industry rulings, including increased efforts to curb industry influence and a call to crack down on new products.

Philip Morris International (PMI) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) responded by releasing surveys suggesting the public would prefer a more industry-friendly approach.

On Thursday, PMI published a poll it commissioned from Ipsos about attitudes to new so-called "harm-reduction" products such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco sticks.

The survey of 31,000 people across 31 countries, conducted in September, showed that "77 percent of adults agree that governments should do all they can to encourage men and women who would otherwise keep smoking cigarettes to completely switch to better alternatives," PMI said in a statement.

Safer alternatives?

PMI and other companies say such products are far less dangerous than traditional cigarettes, and insist they can help smokers unable to quit completely switch to "safer" alternatives.

These alternatives are key to halting a smoking epidemic that causes some seven million deaths annually, the industry says.

But the World Health Organisation's FCTC dismissed that argument, calling Saturday for the same bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship deals that apply to cigarettes.

FCTC chief Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva argued that the tobacco industry was disingenuously trying to suggest that promoting heated tobacco could be part "of a harm reduction strategy."

PMI lamented Thursday that the decision by treaty members "will mean that millions of smokers will not know about better alternatives to cigarettes."

Moira Gilchrist, PMI's vice president of scientific and public communications, insisted that "the science is clear. The evidence shows that switching to a smoke-free product is a better choice than continuing to smoke."

Anti-tobacco activists are meanwhile quick to point out that the companies' claims that their new products are safer are based only on industry-backed scientific studies.

"On multiple occasions, they have duped governments about the relative safety of their new products," Matthew Myers, head of Tobacco Free Kids, told AFP last week, pointing to past industry claims when filtered cigarettes and low-tar cigarettes first emerged.

JTI also published a survey this week, commissioned from Populus also using Ipsos fieldwork, which it said showed the public wants regulators to work with the industry rather than keep them in the cold.

The treaty parties decided to strengthen measures to keep tobacco company representatives and anyone with tobacco ties out of its meetings.

But JTI said its survey of nearly 8,500 people in eight European countries, conducted between September 28 and October 4, showed that "72 percent believed that it is either very important or somewhat important that the policy-making process is open to dialogue between governmental authorities and all parties who are potentially impacted by it, including businesses."

Slamming the FCTC meeting as an "echo chamber", JTI said its poll showed that "the public wants politicians and officials to consider all the facts and viewpoints, including from businesses."

Related Articles:

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Dutch dentists, doctors throw weight behind big tobacco court case
Addiction clinics join Dutch criminal case against big tobacco

Top Dutch cancer hospital joins tobacco class action lawsuit

Doctors and physiotherapists join Dutch law suit against big tobacco

Doctors help finance lawsuit against tobacco companies


"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…  The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. ...”

"Menstruation is a gift from God" - UNICEF rolls out "girls club" scheme to encourage Ethiopians going through puberty to stay in school

"Menstruation is a gift from God" - UNICEF rolls out "girls club" scheme to encourage Ethiopians going through puberty to stay in school https://t.co/M9aGACCGCW

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 16, 2017

WHO chief 'rethinking' after Mugabe honour outrage

Yahoo – AFP, Ben Simon, October 21, 2017

WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had praised Zimbabwe's health
coverage -- but announced a rethink after critics observed its president tends to get
 his treatment abroad (AFP Photo/MIGUEL ROJO)

Geneva (AFP) - The head of the World Health Organization said Saturday that he was "rethinking" his decision to name Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe a goodwill ambassador, as global outrage over the move mounted.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the UN health agency, had this week asked Zimbabwe's 93-year-old authoritarian leader to serve in the role to help tackle non-communicable diseases like heart attacks, strokes and asthma across Africa.

The decision triggered confusion and anger among key WHO member states and activists who noted that Zimbabwe's healthcare system, like many of its public services, has collapsed under Mugabe's regime.

"I’m listening. I hear your concerns. Rethinking the approach in light of WHO values. I will issue a statement as soon as possible", Tedros, a former Ethiopian health minister, said on Twitter.

Tedros took charge of WHO in July, becoming the first African to lead the powerful UN agency.

In announcing the appointment in Uruguay's capital this week, Tedros had praised Zimbabwe as "a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the centre of its policies to provide health care to all."

'Sickening'

Britain on Saturday joined the widening chorus of critics, calling the decision "surprising and disappointing, particularly in light of the current US and EU sanctions against him."

"We have registered our concerns with WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus," a foreign office spokesperson said in an email.

"Although President Mugabe will not have an executive role, his appointment risks overshadowing the work undertaken globally by the WHO on Non-Communicable Diseases", the spokesperson added.

Zimbabwean activist and human rights lawyer Doug Coltart said on Twitter that a "man who flies to Singapore for treatment because he has destroyed Zimbabwe's health sector is WHO's goodwill ambassador."

Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, is in increasingly fragile health and makes regular trips abroad for medical treatment.

"Mugabe doesn’t trust Zimbabwe health care he destroyed (he travels abroad) but @WHO’s Tedros names him ambassador", the head of Human Rights Watch, Ken Roth, added in a tweet.

UN Watch, a group primarily known for defending Israel at the world body, called the decision "sickening."

"Amid reports of ongoing human rights abuses, the tyrant of Zimbabwe is the last person who should be legitimized by a UN position of any kind," the group's executive director Hillel Neuer said in a statement.

WHO had earlier on Saturday pointed to Zimbabwe's record on tobacco, NCDs and Tedro's desire to engage senior politicians as justifications for the Mugabe honour.

"Dr. Tedros has frequently talked of his determination to build a global movement to promote high level political leadership for health," spokesman Christian Lindmeier said in an email.

"Zimbabwe has ratified the WHO FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) in 2014 and the government has launched a levy fund for NCDs to generate revenues for health promotion, including NCD prevention and control," he added.

UN agencies often name high profile personalities as goodwill ambassadors to draw attention to their work, including actress Angelina Jolie with the refugee agency UNHCR.

The naming of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador for the 

World Health Organization has triggered widespread outrage (AFP Photo/Phill Magakoe)

Related Articles:

WHO chief rescinds Mugabe ambassador role after outcry - New

"Dual Channeling" + "Unexpected Change" (4) - Mar 18 - 19, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version "Change")

"...Light and Dark Balance

The light and dark balance on the planet is starting to rearrange itself and is going to create more wild cards. Wild cards are "unexpected shifts", things that are often shocking in ways that are not positive or negative, but rather are changes in the paradigm of what was. They often push the future, both in consciousness and science.

There are several coming in the form of Human Beings making changes in ways and in places you don't expect. There's one that is way overdue in New York City at the United Nations. It's an old organization with wonderful ideas about helping the planet, but stuck in its own old-energy politics. What will happen there? If you don't see much soon, it may actually cease functioning. Wildcards are not guaranteed. They are timed to match the free choice of those around them. That's what makes a wild card - totally unexpected events. Think of this: An organization set out to create peace on Earth may become more dysfunctional and even fail, or a wild card may come and restructure it all at great controversy and almost no funding. That's what wild cards do.

You may find it in business, in banking or in politics. New ideas never tried before that are radical may exist soon. Expect these kinds of things, but they have to grow on you. There may be some starts and stops. There may be seed planters who don't make it. Then others may come in and make the seeds start growing. That means ideas that were not accepted yesterday may actually be accepted now or in the future. This is because as you evolve, you will see the new wisdom in them. This is all part of the growth process through time.

So this is where you are currently in the change pattern. You are at the beginning of the growth process. All this with a new grid, with very few time fractals to undo, and with a clean slate from historic energies. Are you ready?

Listen: No prophecy at all has been written about what is happening on your planet now. Zero. There are no elders anywhere or channellers anywhere at the moment giving you good, solid prophecy about what's next. This is because you just went through the tunnel of old energy, the old prophecies, and are barely free of them. This is a new energy that you have never experienced before on the planet. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go read the prophecies.

According to the best and most popular and accepted prophecies of your time, where are you supposed to be right now? The answer is "dead".

Where is the earth supposed to be right now? The answer is "radioactive". No one can exist on a planet that has had a massive nuclear exchange, no matter what your movies say. It's "goodbye" to Humans on the planet. The whole idea of a post-apocalyptic earth is a fantasy. You don't live when there's that much radiation. It affects everything in the air, in the oceans and the very dust that would have been kicked up by thousands of nuclear explosions would be circling the planet and blocking the sun for decades. Dark - life gone.

Dear one, that is the apocalypse that never took place. Instead, you stand here with your kids and a new planet with hope. You may wonder why I'm enamored with all of you, but you don't really know it, not yet.

In a generation or two, somebody will raise a hand and say, "I couldn't help but notice we're different from those before." This is how long it takes, especially to rewrite the old consciousness of expected doom. Two generations may have to go by before someone raises a hand to say, "Look, the sun's coming out [a metaphor]. It's different." Humans are slow to change, but they may notice attitudes changing and that they have a new road to walk on.

So you want to know what your task is at the moment, dear old soul? Your task is to encourage those around you using your compassion and balance. When you hear them talk about the fact that they cannot get ahead, or that things are horrible on the planet, or what the news said last night, speak up in a loving way. When timed correctly. you can say, "I'm really not onboard with that. I feel we have a positive time ahead. Things are different. Can't you feel it, can't you see it? I think we've got a brighter future. We just need to be patient with it and stop wallowing in the drama others are giving us that influences us and makes us fear everything."   .."

UN plans response to rising antibiotic resistance

Global drugmakers say they will clean up factories making antibiotics and take steps to curb overuse to fight the increase in drug-resistant superbugs. The UN is also planning a high-level meeting on the problem.

Deutsche Welle, 22 Sep 2016

World leaders at the UN General Assembly are expected to sign up to a declaration seeking to fight antibiotic-resistant superbugs on Wednesday. The draft agreement included governments committing to bolster controls over the drug market, step up awareness programs and encourage research in alternative treatments.

Ahead of this, 13 leading pharmaceutical companies worldwide - including Pfizer, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Allergan, Cipla, Wockhardt and Germany's Merck - signed the declaration. The group planned to work with independent experts, who would alter factory supply chains and standards, aiming to ensure that antibiotics did not enter waterways and lead to the breeding of superbugs.

They also agreed to raise awareness on the overuse of antibiotics for humans and for livestock, and sought to remove incentives for selling the drugs in large quantities.

Owing to short life spans and rapid reproduction, bacteria can evolve at speeds far more rapid than those of larger animals like mammals; exposure to antibiotics can therefore lead to diseases developing resistance to the medication. This chance increases if patients fail to complete a course of antibiotics, or if the drug is widely present in low concentrations - for instance in the water supply.

The World Health Organization (WHO) hoped the meeting would attract public funding to tackle the issue. "We are losing our ability to treat infections," Keiji Fukuda, a senior WHO official, told reporters. "Not only does it threaten to increase deaths, but our whole ability to handle patients is threatened. It also threatens our ability to grow enough food," he added, referring to the effects of drug-resistance bacteria on crops.

Drug-resistance means an increasing
 inability to treat infections

'A big social threat'

Drug-resistant microbes were predicted by Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, decades ago. But according to Fukuda, the problem has accellerated in the last few decades, compounded by little research into the development of new antibiotics. Commonplace problems like skin and blood ailments and urinary tract infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat with antibiotics.

The UN says tuberculosis is one of the most difficult infections to treat, with 480,000 people a year developing some form of the disease which is resistant to treatment. Sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhoea and infections transmitted in hospitals also pose a serious threat.

"We have not come up with any new class of antibiotics in at least two decades. There is a dry pipeline," Fukuda told reporters. Superbugs have become a "big societal threat," he said.

A recent British study predicted that globally, by 2050, superbug infections could claim 10 million lives per year, comparable to the current annual death toll from cancer. The same report estimated that 700,000 people per year were currently dying from antibiotic-reisistant illnesses.

mg/msh (Reuters, AP, AFP)

Global Fund collects almost $13 bn to fight AIDS, malaria and TB

Yahoo – AFP, Michel Comte, September 17, 2016

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a press conference following
 the conclusion of the Fifth Replenishment Conference of the Global Fund to Fight
 AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Montreal, Quebec, September 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/
Geoff Robins)

Montreal (AFP) - Donors pledged nearly $13 billion on Saturday in the fight to eradicate AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced at an international conference.

"It is my great honor to announce that for the fifth replenishment conference for the Global Fund to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, we have reached our goal together," he said at the close of the donors' meeting.

"We have raised almost $13 billion, and in doing so, we have saved eight million lives."

Trudeau hosted the conference, which was attended by several heads of states as well as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, and pop singer Bono -- who co-founded the nonprofit group ONE, which works to reduce poverty and disease in Africa.

The U2 frontman praised world leaders for coming together to make "the single largest multilateral investment in a global health project in human history."

"We can deliver a knock-out punch to three of the deadliest killers of our time, and today's accomplishment makes that possible," he said.

Created as a public-private initiative, the Global Fund has so far spent $30 billion on programs to fight the three deadly diseases around the world, with most going to Africa.

It has been credited with helping to save 22 million lives and preventing 300 million infections over the past decade as it pursues a UN target of eradicating AIDS by 2030 and the other diseases even sooner.

But it needed to raise another $13 billion to fund its operations over the next three years through 2019.

The United States, which has provided nearly a third of the total funding so far, pledged an additional $4.3 billion.

The second-largest donor, Britain, pledged $1.4 billion, followed by France ($1.2 billion), Germany ($900 million), Japan ($800 million) and Canada ($600 million).

"We have the knowledge and tools to end HIV, TB and malaria by 2030," Ban said. "Let us work together to make this world healthier and better. I count on your strong commitment and leadership."

(L-R) Philanthropist Bill Gates, U2 siger Bono and Executive Director of the 

Global FundMark Dybuk hold an impromptu meeting with Canadian Prime Minister

 Justin Trudeau at the Fifth Replenishment Conference of the Global Fund to

Fight AIDS (AFP Photo/Paul Chiasson)

'The tipping point'

Global Fund executive director Mark Dybul told the conference: "We are the generation that can keep these diseases under control,"

"We are on the right side of the tipping point," he said.

"But the thing about tipping points is they can go in either direction, and these next three years will be absolutely essential to maintain the trajectory to get to the end of TB and malaria and the control of HIV."

Failure to do so now would risk allowing the diseases to come back stronger and in drug-resistant form -- a worrying possibility that world leaders are set to debate at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.

Growing drug resistance would cause the costs of treatment to soar. The average price for treating tuberculosis, for example, could jump from $400 per patient now to $15,000 for a drug-resistant version, Dybul said.

Ban warned that the emergence of antimicrobial resistance "threatens our response to all three diseases."

He called on the Global Fund to also join the fight against the "global health threat" drug resistance poses.

Explaining the need for continued research in an interview with AFP, Gates said that "if you keep using the same tools, all the three diseases (develop) resistance mechanisms."

His foundation pledged another $600 million to the fund on top of the $1.6 billion it has contributed since its inception.

Gates advocated simple measures to stem the spread of the diseases, such as forming youth clubs where boys and girls would learn how to avoid contracting HIV, and distributing mosquito nets to prevent malaria.

He also heralded scientific breakthroughs, including new insecticides, longer-lasting vaccines in the fight against malaria, and new diagnostic tools and drug regimens for identifying and treating tuberculosis.

"We still have a lot of work to do to end these epidemics," Gates said. "But I am optimistic that we can get there. A key critical reason for this is that we have science on our side."