14.04.23 | Issue 199

The Week Ahead April 17 – 21 2023

18 April 2023

WHO Virtual Press Briefing

A virtual press briefing by the WHO Director-General is scheduled for 18 April. A media advisory with dial-in and other details will be emailed in advance.

17-21 April 2023

High-level event: South African Technology Transfer Program for mRNA vaccines

WHO and the Medicines Patent Pool established a Technology Transfer Program for mRNA vaccines in South Africa in June 2021, supported by EU, France, Germany, Canada and other local and international partners. Their collective ambition is to build manufacturing capacity in LMICs to produce mRNA vaccines with a view to improve health security in LMICs through local and/or regional production of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, as a primary target.

Next week’s launch of the hub at Afrigen in Cape Town is a high-level event with over 200 participants coming together over 5 days. This end-to-end mRNA vaccine development and production facility at Afrigen will be soon be completed and ready for use. It is the first tangible deliverable of the mRNA vaccine technology transfer program.

The mRNA Technology Transfer Program has four main objectives: 1. Establish or enhance sustainable mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity in regions with no or limited capacity; 2. Introduce new technologies in LMICs and promote regional research and development (R&D); 3. Strengthen regional biomanufacturing know-how and workforce development; 4. Develop regulatory capabilities and workforce to support and accelerate regional approval and distribution of mRNA vaccines.

A media event will be held on Thursday, 20^th April, Cape Town, South Africa at 08.00 local time. Details will be announced next week.

17 April 2023

WHO Town Hall for civil society and affected communities on UNHLM on TB 2023

The World Health Organization (WHO) is convening a Civil Society Town Hall in close collaboration with WHO's Civil Society Task Force on TB, on preparations for the upcoming UN High-Level Meeting on TB. The event will be held on Monday, 17 April from 14h30 to 16h00 CEST. The event will aim to highlight the actions taken by the Task Force in the context of preparations for the upcoming UN High Level Meeting on TB, and consult with participants and harness their feedback and recommendations to strengthen civil society participation and input to the deliberations at the UN High Level Meeting on TB.

The event is open to all stakeholders in the fight to end TB, especially civil society and affected communities.

Details and registration links are here: WHO Town Hall for civil society and affected communities on UNHLM on TB 2023

17-20 April 2023

Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005)

The 3^rd meeting of the Working Group on Amendments to the IHR will be held April 17-20. It will consider a number of amendments to the regulations, and update on coordination with the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

The agenda and links are here: WHO | WGIHR . Part of the meeting will be webcast live

18-20 April 2023

Malaria Policy Advisory Group meeting

The 23rd meeting of the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) will take place on 18–20 April 2023. Participants will discuss issues including a report by the Global Malaria Programme, an update from the US President’s Malaria Initiative, a Roll Back Malaria evaluation of the high burden to high impact approach, updates on WHO guidelines for malaria, and related topics.

Details and registration links for the event can be found here: 23rd meeting of the Malaria Policy Advisory Group (MPAG) (who.int)

19 April 2023

EPI-WIN Webinar on Managing plague in the field

Plague, a disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans, is a severe disease with a high mortality rate, and remains a threat. This webinar, scheduled for 19 April 2023 at 13:00 CEST, will explore how plague is spread and how it can be managed through the One Health approach. Speakers include Dr Sylvie Briand, Director, Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention (EPP), Dr Maria Van Kerkhove (TBC), Technical Lead, COVID-19 Response, EPP, Dr Eric Berherat, Medical Officer, EPP, Dr Minoarisoa Rajerison, Head of the Plague Unit, Institut Pasteur, Madagascar, and Dr Sandra Telfer, Population ecologist and plague expert, University of Aberdeen, UK

Details and registration links are here: EPI-WIN webinar: Managing plague in the field (who.int)

20 April 2023

Launch of the Health Inequality Data Repository database

Thursday, 20 April 2023 at 13:00 – 14:15 CET

In high-income countries, hypertension is more common among men than women and obesity rates are similar among men and women. By contrast, in low-income countries, hypertension rates are similar among women and men but obesity rates are higher among women than men.

These, and other fascinating facts, are found in WHO’s new Health Inequality Data Depository (HIDR), which comes with a call on countries to monitor and analyze inequalities so they can improve health by adjusting health policies according to the latest data.

Speakers include Dr. Samira Asma, Assistant Director General, Data, Analytics and Delivery for Impact Division, and Dr Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor, Lead, Health Equity Monitoring, Department of Data and Analytics, followed by a panel discussion with experts from WHO Regional Offices. There will also be a demonstration of the Health Equity Assessment Toolkit (HEAT) v5.0 by the Health Inequality Monitoring team

The full details on the webinar can be found here: https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2023/04/20/default-calendar/launch-of-the-health-inequality-data-repository

24 April - 30 April

World Immunization Week: The Big Catch-up

In 2021 alone, 25 million children missed at least one essential vaccination.

Under the theme ‘The Big Catch-up’, this year’s World Immunization Week will focus on the need to reach the millions of children who missed out on vaccines during the pandemic and highlight the successes of countries already on the road to recovery.

Interviews with WHO immunization experts can be arranged in the run-up to and throughout World Immunization Week.

More details can be found here: https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-immunization-week/2023

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