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The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said it is not clear yet whether the spread of monkeypox can be contained completely, but that its target was to contain the outbreak by preventing human-to-human transmission to the maximum extent possible. WHO in a statement said “Tools to manage it, including readily available diagnostics, vaccines and therapeutics, are not likely to be immediately or widely accessible to countries.” The WHO Technical Lead for monkeypox, Rosamund Lewis, while speaking during a live session on Monday said close contact with monkeypox patients is the most significant risk factor for monkeypox virus infection, adding that the virus is moving into older populations, even in the endemic setting.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has revealed that at least one person has died as a result of monkeypox disease while there are currently no fewer than 66 suspected cases. This was disclosed on Sunday in a monkeypox situation report signed by Director General, NCDC, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa.

Member-States of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday re-elected Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus to serve as the Director-General (DG) of the Organization for the second term of five years. His re-election was contained in a statement published on the WHO’s website which disclosed that he was the sole candidate and his second term commences officially on August 16, 2022.

The Federal Government has revealed that it has introduced a new telecommunication tax that is targeted to finance a subsidy cost for the provision of healthcare to vulnerable persons in the country. The new law was contained in the just concluded national Health Insurance Authority Bill 2021 and was just endorsed by President Muhammadu Buhari into law on May 19, 2022. As contained in the new law, section 26(1c) of the Act states that the source of the money for the funding of the new health law will include; telecommunication tax, at least a kobo per second of total GSM calls being made in Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the National Health Insurance Authority Bill 2022 into law which repeals the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Act, Cap N42, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. During the signing ceremony, President Buhari stated that a fund will be set up “to ensure coverage of 83 million poor Nigerians who cannot afford to pay premiums as recommended by the Lancet Nigeria Commission”.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration announced plans on Tuesday to nearly double the number of pharmacies that carry antiviral pills to combat covid-19 as many consumers report difficulty finding a doctor to prescribe the medication, or a pharmacy that carries it, when they get sick. Dozens have struggled to get Paxlovid pill amid the latest wave of infections driven by the highly transmissible omicron subvariant BA.2 Paxlovid was expected to be a major tool in the battle against COVID after it reduced hospitalizations or deaths in high-risk patients by around 90% in a clinical trial. Beginning from this week pharmacies participating in the federal pharmacy program for distributing antiviral treatments will be able to order the free treatments directly from the U.S. government.