Vaccine group Gavi seeks to broaden donor base as aid budgets shrink

RABAT, June 11 (Reuters) - Global vaccine group Gavi is seeking new donors for its work funding childhood immunisation in the world's poorest countries, its chief executive told Reuters, as many traditional funders cut international aid budgets.
Gavi is aiming to raise $9 billion at a summit in Brussels later this month for its work from 2026-2030, but countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and France have all signalled that they plan to slash global aid funding in the coming years, and their pledges remain uncertain.
"We want to broaden our donor base," Gavi's Sania Nishtar told Reuters in Rabat, where she met officials to encourage Morocco to join as a new donor.
She said that India and Indonesia, which had previously been supported by Gavi, were now contributing as donors to the organization, which works with low and middle-income countries to buy vaccines for diseases from measles to cholera.
Other countries like Portugal have also increased their funding commitment, she said.
During her Morocco visit, Nishtar toured a vaccine manufacturing facility near Casablanca under development by Marbio, a biopharmaceutical venture backed by Morocco.
She said the plant had "a good chance" of benefiting from Gavi's $1.2 billion African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, a scheme aimed at boosting vaccine production on the continent.
Gavi has already sought out more private sector donors, initiated cost-saving initiatives, and discussed closer collaboration with other global health groups as part of plans to try to tackle potential shortfalls in funding.
Nishtar said the organization was making contingency plans, but she hoped that donors at the June 25 summit would give enough that they would not be needed.
A U.S. government document showed in March that the U.S., which has previously given around $300 million to Gavi annually, did not plan any future funding.
Nishtar said that Gavi has not yet received this year's funding, which has already been approved by Congress.
Gavi is currently focused on combating a global measles outbreak and is responding to cholera outbreaks in Sudan, South Sudan, and Angola, where it has made special arrangements to supply vaccines from its stockpiles, Nishtar said.
It is also supporting Sierra Leone, where the spread of mpox has accelerated.

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BBC News

2 days ago

• BBC News

Top 10 health benefits of beetroot according to sabi pipo

Sabi pipo say one of di powers of beetroot na say e dey rich in nitrates. Wen we digest food or drink wey dey rich in nitrate, nitric oxide dey dey produced, wey dey known to cause di blood vessels to widen. Sabi pipo believe say dis fit lead to some health benefits. One study find say a daily dose of beetroot juice fit get a significant effect on blood pressure. Di study find say just a few weeks of eating some beets a day lead to a fall in average blood pressure of about 5 millimetres of mercury, if maintained, e dey enough to reduce di risk of stroke and heart attack by 10% . Studies don also find say beetroot fit get effect on blood pressure within a few hours of intake. Prof Andy Jones, Professor of Applied Physiology from di University of Exeter wey spend years investigating di effects of beetroot on sport performance explain how di nitrates inside beetroot improve dey improve di blood flow to our lungs and muscles, resulting in a faster delivery of oxygen. "Di potential dey for di muscle to dey receive more oxygen and to distribute dat oxygen within imsef more effectively because of di effects of nitric oxide", e tok. Not only dis, dem dey help you make more efficient use of oxygen during exercise, so you fit work harder, without feeling di strain. Wetin be beetroot? E belong to di same family as chard and spinach, pesin fit eat both di leaves and root of beetroot fit dey eaten – di leaves get bitter taste whereas di root dey sweet. Although dem dey available all year round, beets dey di sweetest and most tender during dia peak season, wey for kontri like UK na from June to October. While varieties like white and yellow beets dey make pretty dishes, only red beets get cancer-fighting compound betacyanin. How much I fit dey eat? Prof Jones bin advise say two-three medium beetroots, or one shot of beetroot juice, na all you need to see positive effects. Getting about 6 to 10 millimoles of nitrate a day na wetin dey important. E advise to dey keep steady intake of nitrates every day and every week for long term benefit. Researchers from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry say to drink one cup of beetroot juice fit lower blood pressure. "If you dey drink 250ml (8oz) e go cut high blood pressure readings by 10mm of mercury (mmHg)." One study of 15 patients, bring some into di normal range, di journal Hypertension, external bin report. Afta three to six hours, dem detect di effect one day later. But di researchers, from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, wey study beetroot blood pressure lowering effects for years, also warn say more work still dey needed. And dem warn say to dey drink beetroot juice fit get one unexpected consequence - e fit turn your urine pink. Nitrate dey naturally inside soil, wia big vegetables dey take am in through roots to help dem grow. Researcher Dr Amrita Ahluwalia tok: "We dey surprised by how little nitrate dey needed to see dat kind large effect. "Our hope na say to increase one intake of vegetables wit high dietary nitrate content, like green leafy vegetables or beetroot, fit be lifestyle approach wey pesin fit easily employ to improve cardiovascular health." Prof Peter Weissberg, medical director for di British Heart Foundation, wey bin fund di research, tok say: "e dey support current advice say make we all dey eat plenty of green vegetables. "But we need larger studies in patients to determine if nitrate-rich vegetables dey effective to lower blood pressure over di long term." Also, di nitrates dey water-soluble though, so you need dey careful wen you dey boiling beets. To boil your beets go allow nitrates to come out into di cooking liquid, so you no go get as many benefits. Sabi pipo say if you really wan get di most out of dis vegetable e fit be best to buy am raw and bake am, or drink di juice! Top 10 health benefits of beetroot 1. E dey rich in protective antioxidants Red beetroots dey ranked as one of di 10 most potent antioxidant vegetables. Dis mean say dem dey help di body combat di damaging effects of di process weyndem call oxidation. Di plant compounds wey dey responsible for di root purple-crimson colour, anthocyanins, don show to get high anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory capabilities. 2. E fit get anti-cancer properties. Betacyanin, di powerful plant pigment wey dey give beetroot im rich colour, also dey help suppress di development of some types of cancer, including bladder cancer. Beetroot contain oda potential cancer-fighting compounds including ferric acid, ruin and kaempferol. 3. E fit get anti-inflammatory properties. Some research suggests say betalains, di family of natural colour pigments wey betacyanin belong to, fit help reduce di symptoms and markers of inflammation. Dis include potentially relieving discomfort of inflamed joints, like knees. 4. E fit lower blood pressure Beetroot naturally dey rich in compounds wey dem dey call nitrates, and na dis make beetroot so heart-friendly. Dis na sake of say nitrates dey help to improve blood flow by relaxing di blood vessels, wey potentially dey lower blood pressure. Reduced blood. Studies suggest say nitrate-rich foods, like beetroot, fit also help in heart attack survival. 5. E fit improve exercise performance and support energy levels Studies suggest say wen athletes add beetroot juice to dia regime, e fit support exercise endurance and improve performance. No be all be dat: wen muscles dey resting state afta exercise, di nitrates in beetroot dey help bring more oxygen to di muscle cells wey dey promote efficient recovery. For di rest of us, to dey add beetroot in our diets fit be di energy boost wey we need. 6. E fit improve digestive health. Beetroots dey rich in fibre wey, as well as supporting bowel function, dey help promote healthy environment in di gut. Alongside di fibre, betawains dey help increase di production of short chain fatty acids by di beneficial bacteria wey dey live inside di gut. 7. E fit protect di gut. Beetroots na one of di richest vegetable sources of glutamine, one amino acid wey dey key to di maintenance of our gut lining. E also fit be say di glutamine fit play a role to protect di gut lining from injury and stress. 8. E fit support brain health and reaction time Further studies also suggest say higher nitrate intake appear to lead to significant improvement in motor functions, including reaction time. 9. E fit be useful addition to a post-menopause diet. Afta menopause, blood pressure and heart disease risk dey increase. Dietary changes like di inclusion of nitrate-rich vegetables show to be useful strategy to help keep arteries flexible and in turn manage blood pressure. To drink beetroot juice before exercise fit also help improve mobility and cardio-metabolic outcomes in dis age group. All of wey suggest say beetroot fit get useful inclusion as part of a balanced diet for post-menopausal women. Any improvement in blood flow go also benefit di brain. Studies suggest say to include beetroot in di diet, combined wit exercise, fit improve blood flow to di frontal lobe of di brain - one area wey involve for decision making and memory. 10. E fit relieve symptoms of Raynaud phenomenon. Raynaud phenomenon na one uncomfortable condition wia di blood to di fingers and feet no dey flow properly. Symptoms include pain, numbness and pins and needles. One initial study wey dey examine di effects of beetroot juice demonstrate improvements in blood flow to di thumb and forearm as well as reduction in blood pressure and inflammation. Caution Although dis findings look promising, sabi pipo say more trials dey needed to validate dem. Also, remember to consult sabi person and your doctor if you get any health issue and before you make any change to diet.

BBC News

2 days ago

• BBC News

Lily King's parents call for caution after allergy death on holiday

The parents of a teenage girl who died in Morocco from an allergic reaction have urged others to be extra cautious eating out while on King, 18, from Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, had gone for a drink with her mum Aicha, who comes from Morocco and speaks fluent Arabic."The restaurant staff said we had to eat something, and I told them she had allergies and we would rather not eat, but they insisted it would be fine. I told them to be careful and they didn't listen," Aicha told the inquest at Milton Keynes Coroner's Court this week confirmed Lily died on 23 June 2024 from a cardio-respiratory arrest caused by anaphylaxis and triggered by food. "Every time you eat out, especially abroad, it's Russian roulette," said Lily's dad Michael."Most restaurants in the UK are very careful, but many other countries don't have compulsory training programmes for staff around allergies. "Someone needs to warn people who are going on holiday to other countries – not only Morocco – to be very, very wary of eating out. Especially if you don't have the language," he said. Lily had a catalogue of allergies for most of her life, the most severe being seafood, nuts and leaving home to study economics at Exeter University, her parents said the allergies became worse."She wanted to be like her friends – a normal person. That led to her eating out more, but she was always very careful and carried her EpiPen and antihistamine suffered her first ever anaphylactic shock that year while at a festival, and was treated by St John afterwards she travelled to Morocco with her mum to visit family and celebrate completing her first year at chose a restaurant that Lily loved and had been to before. Her mother said she told restaurant staff three times about Lily's food allergies and what she could not eat, before ordering chicken and meal arrived with other food and a sauce on the plate."She literally took a tiny piece of food – we think it was carrot - and tasted it. She got an itchy tongue which she always had before a reaction."She took a Piriton (antihistamine tablet) and used her EpiPen. She said 'I'm going outside to get some air'," explained mum rushed out to join her and gave a second EpiPen injection."She was being very, very strong, because she said, 'Don't stress mum, you know I love you. I love you. I'm very sorry, I'm going', and then she passed out," she said.A trip to the hospital was then delayed by two issues, the family said. The ambulance did not arrive, and Aicha said the restaurant insisted she paid for the food before leaving in her nephew's car."The next day, she came around temporarily but then had a seizure. Later they did a brain scan, but there was no activity," said Michael. His daughter passed away in hospital four days after her visit to the restaurant."We never believed it would come to this. We're devastated."She meant the world to us, she was our baby. We had 18 marvellous years with her," he said. The family said it had tried to take the restaurant to court in order to raise the issue at a national level."We only want the Moroccan government to realise how important it is, and for their hospitality industry to recognise that restaurants should be told to educate their staff."I care about other families going through the same thing," said and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, whose daughter Natasha died in 2016 from an allergic reaction to a baguette, said: "Lily's family did everything they could to keep her safe. "Yet on this occasion even though Lily and her mother flagged her allergies, it still went dreadfully wrong."Lily's death highlights how dangerous food allergies can be and the potential risks of travelling abroad with food allergies." What are the rules in the UK? The UK Food Standards Agency states that food retailers and caterers are required to provide allergen information, as set out in food must:Provide allergen information to the consumer for both prepacked and non-prepacked food and drinkHandle and manage food allergens effectively in food preparationMake sure that staff receive training on allergens Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

The Guardian

3 days ago

• The Guardian

CDC vaccine panel to review ingredient RFK Jr has targeted for removal

A key vaccine advisory panel reconstituted by health secretary and vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr is slated to discuss thimerosal-containing influenza vaccines in its first meeting – an ingredient which has been a fixation of anti-vaccine activists for decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will hold two separate votes later this month: one on 'influenza vaccines' and one on influenza vaccines that contain thimerosal. Thimerosal is an ethylmercury preservative used in multi-dose vaccine vials to prevent fungi and bacteria growth. The preservative has been studied and deemed safe, but was nevertheless removed from all routine childhood vaccines in 2001 as a precaution. 'I was there when we went through this the first time,' said Dr Paul Offit, director of the vaccine education center and an attending physician in the division of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, about debates over the preservative in the early 2000s. Offit served on the ACIP panel in question from 1998 to 2003. He said the issue of thimerosal was vigorously debated and found safe then, prompting him to ask: 'What's the point?' In a short history of the thimerosal controversy published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Offit described how some parents became convinced thimerosal gave their children autism, resulting in thousands of autistic children receiving heavy metal chelation treatments each year. Studies have found no link between thimerosal and autism, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has also denied claims of a thimerosal-autism link. Kennedy, however, has written a book arguing against the use of thimerosal. Offit said the discussion of thimerosal appeared to geared to, 'accomplish [Kennedy's] goals of making vaccines less affordable, less accessible and more feared', he said. 'Here's what you do know – you do know RFK Jr is an anti-vaccine, science-denying conspiracy theorist. He is devoted to this, he is a zealot, there is no middle ground with him,' said Offit. 'He believes we have merely substituted infectious diseases for chronic diseases.' The panel's advisory recommendations are critical because they result in vaccine 'schedules'. These schedules are relied on by health insurers to determine which vaccines to cover and by clinicians who use them as an evidence-based guide on immunization – effectively giving the American public access to the medicines. Although the CDC does not always take the panel's advice, the CDC typically affirms the panel's decisions. However, the agency is currently without a leader, as Senate hearings have not yet been held for nominee and CDC career official Susan Monarez. As a result, Kennedy has signed off on some previous ACIP recommendations. Kennedy wrote a book on the preservative thimerosal in 2014 called Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak, in which he argues that 'there is a broad consensus among research scientists that thimerosal is a dangerous neurotoxin that should be immediately removed from medicines'. Kennedy said in the book he is 'pro-vaccine'. Until 9 June, the ACIP was an independent panel of 17 experts who served staggered terms and were rigorously vetted by career CDC staff. Kennedy broke with tradition when he fired the entire panel, claiming in a Wall Street Journal editorial that he was working to 'restore public trust in vaccines'. The same week, Kennedy appointed eight new members to the committee, including medical professionals with little vaccine expertise and known vaccine skeptics. A wide spectrum of groups criticized the decision, from MomsRising, who said they were 'alarmed and disgusted', to major doctors' groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, to public health leaders who described Kennedy's actions as 'a coup,' to the former members of the committee, who warned the independent panel was at 'a crossroads'. The group is scheduled to meet the last week of June. Prior to Kennedy's changes, they had been expected to discuss reducing the number of shots needed for human papilloma virus (HPV) and a meningococcal vaccine. On Wednesday, the panel released a draft agenda for its upcoming meeting. A wide range of vaccines will be discussed – including those against influenza; the tropical disease chikungunya; the measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) vaccine; anthrax; Covid and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The agenda scheduled a vote on recommendations for flu vaccines, including the multidose versions that still contain thimerosal. These vaccines are used only in adolescents and adults. The panel is also scheduled to vote on recommendations for maternal and pediatric versions of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Notably, despite Kennedy's repeated pledges of 'radical transparency', the draft agenda does not include the names of many speakers, which are listed as 'TBD' (to be determined) for instance on 'Covid-19 safety update'. New ACIP members have not been added to a conflict of interest tracker for ACIP members developed by the Trump administration. A spokesperson for HHS said the new members ethics agreements 'will be made public' before they start work with the committee. In addition to the new draft agenda, there have also been changes to the committee's meeting times not reflected in the Federal Register, according to Politico. The group will meet for two days instead of three, and there does not appear to be a vote scheduled on Covid vaccines.