health

Star UK chef redesigns menu for dieters on skinny jabs

BY CAROLINE TAÏX

  • Blumenthal is not the only chef to realise tastes are changing.
  • When Michelin-starred UK chef Heston Blumenthal turned to skinny jabs to lose weight, his appetite evaporated and he realised the popularity of such medications risked biting into restaurant sales.
  • Blumenthal is not the only chef to realise tastes are changing.
When Michelin-starred UK chef Heston Blumenthal turned to skinny jabs to lose weight, his appetite evaporated and he realised the popularity of such medications risked biting into restaurant sales.
So he devised a menu-lite, offering small plates of his star menu -- "The Journey" priced at £350 ($467) per person -- at his Fat Duck restaurant in the village of Bray, west of London.
His website describes the new "Mindful Experience" menu launched in October, costing £275 per person, as "a journey into the culinary creativity and Wonka-like wonderment of Hestonland".
It says the menu is "a scaled-back version of each dish", allowing diners to explore "mindfully, slowly savouring every mouthful, taking the time to detect flavours, textures, aroma".
Following the United States, injections to treat diabetes and weight loss soared in popularity in 2025 in the UK, where they can be bought after consultations at a high-street pharmacy or even prescribed by doctors.
There are no official UK figures for the use of the new generation of such appetite-suppressing drugs called GLP-1 agonists, which include the brands Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. 
But some studies say more than 3.5 million Britons could be using them.

'Not hungry'

"It's only just started. It's just beginning," the 59-year-old Blumenthal told AFP.
He opened The Fat Duck in 1995, which nine years later was crowned with three Michelin stars. His other restaurants in Dubai and London have also won Michelin accolades.
But the celebrity TV chef, known for his playful and innovative creations combining food and science, has openly talked about his struggles since being diagnosed with bipolar disorder two years ago. 
The medication he was prescribed led him to gain weight -- some 40 kilograms (88 pounds). His doctor proposed weight-loss drugs.
"When I first started to take it, I was not hungry at all. It was bizarre really. It didn't put me off eating but it was just I was full without being feeling full," Blumenthal said.
He lost 20 kgs in three months but happily the jabs did not kill his tastebuds.

'Nitro-poached'

But the chef "realised that there's a danger for restaurants".
"This is going to have a huge impact on how we eat, on eating out in general."
He saw it as "a big challenge but a thrilling one -- an opportunity to rethink, re-examine, reinvent".
His smaller plates menu starts with a "Nitro-poached aperitif" -- a lime and green tea mousse created with liquid nitrogen which melts in the mouth in seconds.
A signature dish, "Beside the Sea", transports diners to the seaside through taste, sound and smell. While customers dine on edible sand and a crab ice-cream, they listen to seagulls and the sounds of the waves through headphones.
UK government figures show that nearly two-thirds of adults are either overweight or obese, and the National Health Service is staggering under patient demand for the jabs.
Faced with long waiting lists, hundreds of thousands have flocked to UK pharmacies prepared to pay upwards of £175 for a month's worth of jabs, with the costs rising for higher doses. 

'Concentrating'

Blumenthal's smaller menu has been a huge success, with only one of the first 80 customers saying they were not full after eating.
The chef -- who these days finds himself spending 10 minutes chewing on a raisin, analysing the taste -- said he does not think he could now tuck into a full plate. "It's too big," he explained.
"When there's less food you can value it more."
"There's something about taking a mouthful and really concentrating on it which changes the way your body is receiving it."
Blumenthal is not the only chef to realise tastes are changing.
Indian chef Atul Kochhar told Britain's Channel 4 TV outlet that he had launched a smaller plates offering.
He "knew there would be an impact on our business" of the skinny jabs, he said, adding "I'd be lying if I was saying I wasn't worried".
"A lot of people were saying, 'It's a bit too much of food, we won't be able to eat it, we don't want to waste it'. So we decided to come with a kind of miniature plate."
ctx/jkb/jj/phz

health

US vaccine panel upends hepatitis B advice in latest Trump-era shift

BY CHARLOTTE CAUSIT AND DANIEL STUBLEN

  • - Panel overhaul - After becoming health secretary, Kennedy sacked every member of the once-staid Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), replacing them with figures whose vaccine-skeptic views track more closely with his own.
  • An advisory panel appointed by President Donald Trump's vaccine-skeptic health secretary voted Friday to stop recommending that all newborns in the United States receive a hepatitis B vaccine.
  • - Panel overhaul - After becoming health secretary, Kennedy sacked every member of the once-staid Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), replacing them with figures whose vaccine-skeptic views track more closely with his own.
An advisory panel appointed by President Donald Trump's vaccine-skeptic health secretary voted Friday to stop recommending that all newborns in the United States receive a hepatitis B vaccine.
The move to end the decades-old recommendation is the panel's latest contentious about-face on vaccine policy since its overhaul by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. earlier this year.
US health authorities previously recommended that all babies, not just those born to mothers believed to have hepatitis B, receive the first of three vaccine doses just after birth.
The approach aimed, in part, to prevent transfers from mothers who unknowingly had hepatitis B or had falsely tested negative, and had virtually eradicated infections of the potentially deadly liver disease among young people in the country.
After delaying the vote by a day, the panel on Friday passed its new recommendation for "individual-based decision-making," in consultation with a health care provider, when children are born to mothers testing negatively for the disease.
The decision to vaccinate at birth should "consider vaccine benefits, vaccine risks, and infection risks."
Trump hailed the move as "a very good decision" on his Truth Social platform.
But the new recommendation was immediately condemned by several medical groups who noted widespread shortcomings in US maternal health screening as well as the possibility of infections from others.
"This irresponsible and purposely misleading guidance will lead to more hepatitis B infections in infants and children," American Academy of Pediatrics President Susan J. Kressly said in a statement.
The vote was 8-3. Trump-appointed officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are expected to formally adopt the recommendations at a later date.
The panel also voted to recommend that babies who are not vaccinated at birth wait at least two months to get the initial dose, and that blood tests be done to measure antibodies before a second dose.

Panel overhaul

After becoming health secretary, Kennedy sacked every member of the once-staid Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), replacing them with figures whose vaccine-skeptic views track more closely with his own.
It has since set to work on reviewing prior recommendations -- already tweaking advice on Covid-19 and measles shots.
Medical experts fear the push could further contribute to declining vaccination rates in the United States.
The panel on Friday also began a broader review of the childhood vaccination schedule, and sparked further controversy by allowing testimony from lawyer Aaron Siri, a close Kennedy associate known for spreading unfounded theories on the subject.
While Trump vocally supports Kennedy's policies, some in the Republican Party have pushed back, notably Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy.
Cassidy, a medical doctor, condemned the ACIP decision, noting the original recommendation was never "a mandate" to get the jab.
CDC officials "should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach," he said on X.
Cassidy's expression of alarm, like his prior statements against Kennedy, provoked criticism after he provided the key vote to confirm the health secretary in February.

'Do no harm'

The United States had urged universal vaccination at birth against hepatitis B since 1991, advice also recommended by China, Australia and the World Health Organization.
But several ACIP members argued that Friday's decision would align the United States with other economically developed countries such as France and Britain.
The repercussions of the ACIP's vaccine recommendations are broad because federal guidelines often dictate whether vaccines are paid for by health insurance companies in the United States, where a vaccine can cost hundreds of dollars.
But the committee's influence is waning amid withering criticism from the US scientific and medical community, with Democratic-led states announcing they will no longer follow its recommendations.
Ahead of the vote, Cody Meissner, one of the few dissenting voices on the advisory committee, urged his colleagues not to change the current recommendations. 
"Do no harm is a moral imperative. We are doing harm by changing this wording," he warned.
cha-des/sst/iv

treaty

WHO chief upbeat on missing piece of pandemic treaty

  • "As we get ready to close out this year, we are in a strong position to forge consensus, finalise the draft, and prepare for adoption at next year's World Health Assembly.
  • The World Health Organization chief said Friday that countries were in a strong position to finalise the vital missing piece of the pandemic treaty, which will determine how vaccines are shared.
  • "As we get ready to close out this year, we are in a strong position to forge consensus, finalise the draft, and prepare for adoption at next year's World Health Assembly.
The World Health Organization chief said Friday that countries were in a strong position to finalise the vital missing piece of the pandemic treaty, which will determine how vaccines are shared.
In April, WHO member states concluded a landmark Pandemic Agreement on tackling future health crises, after more than three years of negotiations sparked by the shock of Covid-19.
The accord aims to prevent the disjointed responses and international disarray that surrounded the Covid-19 pandemic by improving global coordination and surveillance, and access to vaccines, in any future pandemics.
But the heartbeat of the treaty, the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system, was left aside in order to get the deal over the line.
Countries were given another year to thrash out the details of how it will work.
The PABS mechanism deals with sharing access to pathogens with pandemic potential, then sharing the benefits derived from them: vaccines, tests and treatments.
Countries are tasked with getting the PABS system finalised by the next World Health Assembly in mid-May. The annual gathering of member states is the WHO's decision-making body.
"This is both a generational opportunity and a generational responsibility," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, after countries wrapped up a week of talks.
"As we get ready to close out this year, we are in a strong position to forge consensus, finalise the draft, and prepare for adoption at next year's World Health Assembly.
"Together, we are moving toward a world that is better prepared for future pandemics."
Countries will resume their fourth round of talks on January 20-22.
Once the PABS system is finalised, the entire agreement can then be ratified by members, with 60 ratifications required for the treaty to enter into force.
"As we cross the half-way mark in negotiations on the PABS system, I am encouraged by the progress we've made towards enabling a faster and more equitable global response to future pandemics," said Matthew Harpur, co-chair of the talks.
Co-chair Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes of Brazil added: "We are confident we can build a strong and balanced PABS system that will benefit all people."
rjm/jj

plague

Volcanic eruptions may have brought Black Death to Europe

BY FRéDéRIC BOURIGAULT

  • While the story encompasses natural, demographic, economic and political events in the area, it was ultimately the previously unidentified volcanic eruption that paved the way for one of history's greatest disasters, the researchers argued.
  • Previously unknown volcanic eruptions may have kicked off an unlikely series of events that brought the Black Death -- the most devastating pandemic in human history -- to the shores of mediaeval Europe, new research has revealed.
  • While the story encompasses natural, demographic, economic and political events in the area, it was ultimately the previously unidentified volcanic eruption that paved the way for one of history's greatest disasters, the researchers argued.
Previously unknown volcanic eruptions may have kicked off an unlikely series of events that brought the Black Death -- the most devastating pandemic in human history -- to the shores of mediaeval Europe, new research has revealed.
The outbreak of bubonic plague known as the Black Death killed tens of millions and wiped out up to 60 percent of the population in parts of Europe during the mid-14th century.
How it came to Europe -- and why it spread so quickly on such a massive scale -- have long been debated by historians and scientists. 
Now two researchers studying tree rings have suggested that a volcanic eruption may have been the first domino to fall.
By analysing the tree rings from the Pyrenees mountain range in Spain, the pair established that southern Europe had unusually cold and wet summers from 1345 to 1347.
Comparing climate data with written accounts from the time, the researchers demonstrated that temperatures likely dropped because there was less sunlight following one or more volcanic eruptions in 1345.
The change in climate ruined harvests, leading to failed crops and the beginnings of famine.
Fortunately -- or so it seemed -- "powerful Italian city states had established long-distance trade routes across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, allowing them to activate a highly efficient system to prevent starvation," said Martin Bauch, a historian at Germany's Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe.
"But ultimately, these would inadvertently lead to a far bigger catastrophe," he said in a statement.

Deadly stowaways

The city states of Venice, Genoa and Pisa had ships bring grain from the Mongols of the Golden Horde in central Asia, which is where the plague is thought to have first emerged.
Previous research has suggested that these grain ships brought along unwelcome passengers: rats carrying fleas infected with Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague.
Between 25 and 50 million people are estimated to have died over the next six years.
While the story encompasses natural, demographic, economic and political events in the area, it was ultimately the previously unidentified volcanic eruption that paved the way for one of history's greatest disasters, the researchers argued.
"Although the coincidence of factors that contributed to the Black Death seems rare, the probability of zoonotic diseases emerging under climate change and translating into pandemics is likely to increase in a globalised world," study co-author Ulf Buentgen of Cambridge University in the UK said in a statement.
"This is especially relevant given our recent experiences with Covid-19."
The study was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment on Thursday.
fbr/dl/rlp

vaccines

Penguins queue in Paris zoo for their bird flu jabs

BY BéNéDICTE SALVETAT REY

  • The only birds to get a jab at the zoo are those that live outdoors, or in enclosures with mesh that could allow them contact with wild birds.
  • A curious seagull strolled nonchalantly through the penguin enclosure at a zoo in Paris. 
  • The only birds to get a jab at the zoo are those that live outdoors, or in enclosures with mesh that could allow them contact with wild birds.
A curious seagull strolled nonchalantly through the penguin enclosure at a zoo in Paris. 
It looked harmless enough but the seagull could pose an existential threat to the penguins with a devastating bird flu outbreak killing hundreds of millions of birds across the world over the last few years.
That is why 41 Humboldt penguins were queued up near their pool in the Paris Zoological Park on a cold December morning at the start of influenza season.
A zookeeper whispered some reassuring words to one called Cissou as a veterinarian injected him with his annual bird flu vaccine shot.
After getting his jab, Cissou waddled off back into his enclosure.
Around 10 zoo staff took the chance to weigh and measure the penguins, collecting feathers, taking blood samples, examining their feet and checking their microchips.
In a month, the young penguins born this year will get a booster shot. 
The zoo, which is in Vincennes park in the east of the French capital, has never detected a case of bird flu. 
But it is home to wild birds such as crows, magpies, geese and parakeets, and an outbreak would be catastrophic for the zoo animals.
Last week French health authorities warned this bird flu season is already looking like it will be the worst in a couple of years.

Decades of experience with jab

Bird flu was detected in Antarctica for the first time early last year, causing concern among scientists about the fate of the penguins there.
Sylvie Laidebeure, a vet at the Paris zoo, told AFP "these animals are generally threatened in their natural habitat" as she inserted a needle into the breast of a Humboldt penguin, which are classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Laidebeure said the zoo carries out a "risk-benefit ratio" before vaccinating each species.
There can be problems such as inflammatory reactions and "restraining them is also extremely stressful for the birds", she said.
The only birds to get a jab at the zoo are those that live outdoors, or in enclosures with mesh that could allow them contact with wild birds. These include hornbills, vultures, rheas and ostriches, marabou storks and cranes. 
Though the practice remains rare across Europe, France has been vaccinating birds against avian influenza in zoos since 2006.
That was long before it became the first European country to vaccinate ducks in farms nationwide in 2023, using the same vaccine at a different dosage. 
That extra two decades of experience  has led to several scientific publications, Laidebeure said.
It also helped scientists learn how well the vaccine worked on different species -- and showed that it was safe and effective.
"I think that helped reassure people" before it was rolled out on farms, Laidebeure said.
ber/dl/fg

energy

In India's mining belt, women spark hope with solar lamps

BY JULIE FRAYSSE

  • With their sick husbands out of work, the training has allowed these women to make a living and support their families.
  • Santosh Devi is proud to have brought light -- and hope -- to her hamlet in western India, taking up solar engineering through a programme for women like her whose husbands suffer chronic disease from mining work.
  • With their sick husbands out of work, the training has allowed these women to make a living and support their families.
Santosh Devi is proud to have brought light -- and hope -- to her hamlet in western India, taking up solar engineering through a programme for women like her whose husbands suffer chronic disease from mining work.
Her husband is bedridden with silicosis, a respiratory illness caused by inhaling fine silica dust which is common across some 33,000 mines in Rajasthan state, where the couple and their four children live.
Santosh, 36, has joined seven other women for a three-month course at Barefoot College in Tilonia, a two-hour drive from her village in the desert state's Beawar district.
There, the group learned the basics of solar engineering -- installing panels, wiring them, and assembling and repairing lamps -- to help light up homes and provide electricity for anything from charging phones to powering fans.
With their sick husbands out of work, the training has allowed these women to make a living and support their families.
Barefoot College has trained more than 3,000 women from 96 countries since it was set up in 1972, according to Kamlesh Bisht, the technical manager of the institute.
The college offers rural women new skills with the aim of making them independent in an environment where jobs are scarce and healthcare generally inaccessible.
Santosh, who is illiterate, said she wants to "offer a good education and a better future" to her children, aged five to 20.
She now earns a small income by installing solar panels, and hopes to eventually make the equivalent of $170 a month.
The time away from her family was tough, but Santosh said it was worth it.
"At first, I was very scared," she recalled. "But this training gave me confidence and courage."
She showed with enthusiasm the three houses where she had installed a photovoltaic panel powering lamps, fans and chargers.

Slow killer

Her husband used to cut sandstone for pavers exported around the world.
But now he can barely walk, needs costly medication and relies on a meagre state allowance of $16 a month.
Wiping away tears with the edge of her bright red scarf, Santosh said she has had to borrow money from relatives, sell her jewellery and mortgage her precious mangalsutra, the traditional Hindu wedding necklace, to make ends meet.
The family share a similar fate with many others in Rajasthan state's mining belt, where tens of thousands of people suffer from silicosis.
According to pulmonologist Lokesh Kumar Gupta, there are between 5,000 and 6,000 cases in just a single district, Ajmer.
In Santosh's village of 400 households, 70 people have been diagnosed with silicosis, a condition that kills slowly and, in many cases, has no cure.
An estimated 2.5 million people work in mines across Rajasthan, extracting sandstone, marble or granite for less than $6 a day.
Those using jackhammers earn double but face even higher exposure to toxic dust.
Vinod Ram, whose wife has also graduated from the Barefoot College course, has been suffering from silicosis for six years and struggles to breathe.
"The medication only calms my cough for a few minutes," said Vinod, 34, who now weighs just 45 kilos (99 pounds).
He started mining at age 15, working for years without a mask or any other protective gear.

No choice but to work

His wife Champa Devi, 30, did not even know how to write her name when she arrived at Barefoot College in June.
Now back home, at a village not far from Santosh's, she is proud of her newfound expertise.
But her life remains overshadowed by illness and poverty.
Champa, who has dark circles under her eyes, has installed solar panels in four nearby homes but has not yet been paid.
For now, she earns about 300 rupees ($3.35) a day working at construction sites -- hardly enough to cover her husband's medical bills, which come up to some $80 a month.
The couple live in a single dark room with thin blankets covering the floor, and the near-contact sound of detonations from nearby mines.
"There is no treatment for silicosis," said pulmonologist Gupta.
Early treatment can help, but most patients come only after five to seven years, he said.
Under state aid schemes, patients receive $2,310 upon diagnosis, and their families get another $3,465 in the case of death.
Ill miners, who are physically capable, sometimes continue to cut sandstone for a pittance to support their families, despite the dire health risks.
Sohan Lal, a 55-year-old mine worker who suffers from shortness of breath and severe cough, sees no other option but to keep working.
"If I were diagnosed, what difference would it make?" he said.
juf/pa/abh/ami/abs

abortion

Abortion in Afghanistan: 'My mother crushed my stomach with a stone'

BY CLAIRE GOUNON

  • Nesa, a mother of eight daughters and one son, found out she was pregnant with another girl at four months.
  • When Bahara was four months pregnant, she went to a Kabul hospital to beg for an abortion.
  • Nesa, a mother of eight daughters and one son, found out she was pregnant with another girl at four months.
When Bahara was four months pregnant, she went to a Kabul hospital to beg for an abortion. "We're not allowed," a doctor told her. "If someone finds out, we will all end up in prison."
Abortion in Afghanistan is illegal and you can be locked up for having or assisting one. 
But Bahara was desperate. Her jobless husband had ordered her to "find a solution" -- he did not want a fifth daughter.
"We can barely afford to feed" the girls as it is, Bahara, 35, told AFP. "If it was a boy, he could go to school and work." 
But there are no such prospects for a girl, with women banned from secondary schools, universities and most jobs since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
So Bahara took a neighbour's advice and bought -- for the equivalent of two dollars -- a herbal tea at the market made from a type of mallow that induces contractions.
The bleeding was so bad she had to go back to the hospital. "I told them that I had fallen, but they knew I was lying because I had no marks on my body. They were angry but did not report me," said the mother-of-four. 
"They operated and removed the remains of the foetus. Since then I have felt very weak."
The plant she used can be "very risky", said ethnobotanist Guadalupe Maldonado Andrade from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. A wrong dose can cause organ damage and severe haemorrhaging. 
Bahara's is not an isolated case.
Two other women AFP talked to during our months-long investigation also risked their lives to abort. Nesa took tablets toxic to the embryo and Mariam crushed her stomach with a heavy stone.
Of the dozen women AFP talked to about their clandestine abortions, only five agreed to be interviewed on condition we protected their anonymity and changed their names. Even outside Taliban circles, the fear of being stigmatised, and arrested, is strong in Afghanistan's deeply conservative society.

More 'miscarriages'

With such a taboo, and no real statistics, Sharafat Zaman of the Afghan health ministry insisted "few" women are affected. 
The Taliban -- who follow a strict interpretation of Islam -- did not change the abortion laws when they returned to power in 2021.
But officials check more often that terminations are not being carried out in hospitals, panicking doctors and pushing women to have abortions in secret, according to many health sector workers AFP interviewed.
Several doctors said the number of miscarriages has increased since 2021, which they suspect may conceal clandestine abortions given the injuries patients present and their psychological state. 
Two international medical organisations also said they noticed the same trend, while access to contraception has become more difficult. 
"Budget constraints and the forced closure of family planning services endanger access to modern contraception," a UN source told AFP, saying less than half of Afghan women have access to methods such as condoms, implants or pills.
Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world, with young women banned from training as midwives or nurses in medical schools since last year.
While health ministry spokesman Zaman acknowledged the dangers of clandestine abortions, and that some women face "problems", he said it was not the government's fault.
Abortion is permitted when the life of a pregnant woman is in grave danger. However, in practice it is rarely granted. For the Taliban abortion is "taking a life", Zaman said.

He didn't want another girl

"Before (the Taliban's return) we were able to perform more abortions, there were NGOs helping us and no government checks," said a 58-year-old gynaecologist in Kabul. 
"Now doctors are afraid because if they check prescriptions at a pharmacy, it's very dangerous" for them.
Women are afraid to ask for a termination in hospital, she said, "so more are trying it at home, and then they go to hospital saying they have had a miscarriage." 
Some pharmacies sell them the abortion drug misoprostol without a prescription, the doctor said.
While some healthcare workers are compassionate, others can demand exorbitant sums in what is one of the world's poorest countries.
Nesa, a mother of eight daughters and one son, found out she was pregnant with another girl at four months.
"I knew if my husband found out, he would throw me out. He thinks we do better with boys," the 35-year-old farmer said.
"I begged a clinic to help me. They asked for 10,000 Afghanis (130 euros), which I didn't have. I went to the pharmacy without a prescription and they gave me a malaria drug, saying it would help."
The only antimalarial drugs available in Kabul pharmacies are chloroquine and primaquine, drugs that should not be used during pregnancy, according to the French agency for medicine safety (ANSM), because they are potentially toxic to the foetus.
"I started bleeding and lost consciousness," Nesa said. "I was taken to the hospital and I begged the doctors not to report me and they removed the remains of the foetus."

 Constant pain

Mariam, 22, had an affair. While abortion is a source of shame in Afghanistan and weighs on the entire family, sex outside marriage is often dangerous, sometimes leading to femicides known as "honour killings". 
One month into her pregnancy, "my mother contacted a midwife, but she asked for too much money. So my mother brought me home, placed a very heavy stone on my belly and crushed my stomach. 
"I screamed and started bleeding," Mariam said. "I went to the hospital and they told me the embryo was gone. Now I am depressed and constantly have stomach pain."
Only one third of women globally live in countries where abortion is allowed on demand, according to the US NGO Center for Reproductive Rights. Illegal abortions result in 39,000 deaths a year worldwide, it estimates. 
A Kabul midwife told AFP she feels "helpless and weak for not being able to help (women) more." A gynecologist in the Nangarhar region in the east of the country was equally despairing. 
"I feel for these women -- I vowed to help them by becoming a doctor. But we can't," she said.
cgo/jma/dp/fg/gv

diplomacy

US signs health aid deal with Kenya in Trump first

BY SHAUN TANDON

  • Trump, on his return to the White House this year, shut down the US Agency for International Development, the world's largest aid agency, as he vowed an "America First" policy.
  • The United States on Thursday signed a $2.5 billion health aid deal with Kenya, the first such bilateral agreement after President Donald Trump tore down the historic US aid agency and sidelined NGOs. Trump administration officials said the agreement would be the first in a series of agreements with developing countries' governments, which will be asked to share the bill and cooperate with Washington on other priorities.
  • Trump, on his return to the White House this year, shut down the US Agency for International Development, the world's largest aid agency, as he vowed an "America First" policy.
The United States on Thursday signed a $2.5 billion health aid deal with Kenya, the first such bilateral agreement after President Donald Trump tore down the historic US aid agency and sidelined NGOs.
Trump administration officials said the agreement would be the first in a series of agreements with developing countries' governments, which will be asked to share the bill and cooperate with Washington on other priorities.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed the agreement in Washington with Kenyan President William Ruto, whom he praised for the longtime US partner's assistance in troubled Haiti.
"If we had five or 10 countries willing to step forward and do just half of what Kenya has done already, it would be an extraordinary achievement," Rubio said.
Kenya has led a security force to stabilize Haiti, wracked by years of violence.
Under the agreement, the United States will provide $1.6 billion over five years to Kenya to work on health issues including combating HIV/AIDS and malaria and preventing polio.
Kenya will contribute another $850 million with an agreement to gradually take on more responsibility.
Ruto said the agreement would contribute to Kenya's priorities including buying modern equipment for hospitals and boosting the health workforce.
"The framework we sign today adds momentum to my administration's universal health coverage," Ruto said.
Trump, on his return to the White House this year, shut down the US Agency for International Development, the world's largest aid agency, as he vowed an "America First" policy.
An international group of researchers last month found that cuts by the United States and other countries could lead to the preventable deaths of more than 22 million people, many of them children, by 2030. 
Rubio has previously denied any deaths from aid cuts and has railed against Western non-governmental organizations with long involvement in the developing world.
"We are not going to spend billions of dollars funding the NGO industrial complex while close and important partners like Kenya either have no role to play or have very little influence over how health care money is being spent," Rubio said.

Keeping eye on AIDS

US assistance cuts met wide criticism from the development world, but the United Nations agency in charge of combatting HIV/AIDS praised the Kenya agreement.
UNAIDS said the agreement marks "a milestone in the future of global health cooperation," and is consistent with its goal of reducing new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths by 90 precent by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.
Jeremy Lewin, who is in charge of foreign assistance at the State Department under Trump, said the United States would refuse accords with countries with which it has disagreements and named South Africa, which has the world's largest population of HIV-positive people.
Trump has accused post-apartheid South Africa of targeting killings of the white minority. The government denies the claims, which have been fanned by far-right social media accounts.
Lewin said the United States would also direct aid increasingly to religious groups.
He rejected criticism that the new approach could sideline marginalized and at-risk people, such as gay men in Uganda, where homosexuality can technically be punishable by death.
"We believe that the structure that we've set up will reduce cases, whether they're from the LGBT community or other people that are at high risk," he said.
sct/mlm

health

Hepatitis B vaccine for newborns faces scrutiny in US

BY CHARLOTTE CAUSIT

  • Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, ACIP is now composed largely of figures criticized by the scientific community for lack of expertise or their promotion of vaccine-skeptic theories.
  • Experts appointed by the Trump administration's vaccine-skeptic health secretary reviewed on Thursday the routine practice of administering hepatitis B vaccines to newborns, considering whether to delay the shot.
  • Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, ACIP is now composed largely of figures criticized by the scientific community for lack of expertise or their promotion of vaccine-skeptic theories.
Experts appointed by the Trump administration's vaccine-skeptic health secretary reviewed on Thursday the routine practice of administering hepatitis B vaccines to newborns, considering whether to delay the shot.
The reorganized Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is convening for two days in Atlanta, Georgia, to follow up on a September meeting that resulted in new recommendations for Covid-19 and measles vaccinations.
But it had to postpone until Friday its decision on doing the same for hepatitis B shots due to confusion and resistance from some committee members who sought more time to evaluate the implications of the proposed change.
Under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, ACIP is now composed largely of figures criticized by the scientific community for lack of expertise or their promotion of vaccine-skeptic theories.
It has initiated a broad review of the safety of several vaccines, some of which have been in use for decades.
The shift led by the nation's health chief -- who has long voiced anti-vaccine rhetoric despite his lack of medical credentials -- is causing alarm in the American medical and scientific community. 
Experts have warned about dropping immunization rates and the return of deadly contagious diseases like the measles, which caused several deaths in 2025.

First 24 hours

Since 1991, US health officials have recommended the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns, as is done in countries like China and Australia and is recommended by the World Health Organization.
The viral liver disease exposes infected individuals to a high risk of death from cirrhosis or liver cancer.
Vaccination of newborns has virtually eradicated hepatitis B infections among young people in the United States.
But a proposal unveiled Thursday said the shot should be limited to babies whose mothers are carriers of the disease. Other children would receive their first dose at two months.
According to several ACIP members, such a change would align the US vaccination schedule with those of other developed countries like France and Britain.
But medical experts said such a change is risky in the United States, pointing to shortcomings in maternal screening, with delays likely to cause a drop in vaccination rates in a country where access to health care can be complicated.
Delaying the hepatitis B vaccine is "irresponsible, disrespectful and very damaging," Flor Munoz of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases said Thursday, warning of risks to the most vulnerable patients.
"Ninety percent of babies infected with hepatitis B will go on to have chronic liver disease. Of those, a quarter will die from their hepatitis B infection. These are entirely preventable deaths," said Sean O'Leary, an infectious disease and pediatric specialist who has been critical of the lack of qualifications among ACIP's new members.
But anti-vax groups and President Donald Trump have pushed back, with Trump insisting that children should not be vaccinated against hepatitis B until the age of 12, saying: "Hepatitis B is sexually transmitted. There's no reason to give a baby that's almost just born hepatitis B."
Medical experts condemned Trump's assertions, saying newborns can be infected by their mother during pregnancy or childbirth.
An analysis published University of Minnesota researchers this week looked at more than 400 studies, concluding there was no benefit to delaying the hepatitis B vaccine, but there are "critical risks of changing current US recommendations."

Loss of trust

The repercussions of the ACIP's vaccine recommendations are broad because federal guidelines often dictate whether vaccines are paid for by health insurance companies in the United States, where a vaccine can cost hundreds of dollars.
But the committee's influence is waning amid withering criticism from the American scientific and medical community, with Democratic-led states announcing they will no longer follow its recommendations.
cha/sla/ceg/acb/bgs/msp/jgc

health

S.Africa must tackle 'xenophobic' health clinic protests, court says

  • Members of a vigilante group known as Operation Dudula have for months protested at clinics in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, checking identity cards and refusing access to non-South Africans.
  • South African authorities must do more to tackle a spate of "xenophobic" protests aimed at blocking access to clinics and hospitals to undocumented foreigners, a court ruled on Thursday.
  • Members of a vigilante group known as Operation Dudula have for months protested at clinics in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, checking identity cards and refusing access to non-South Africans.
South African authorities must do more to tackle a spate of "xenophobic" protests aimed at blocking access to clinics and hospitals to undocumented foreigners, a court ruled on Thursday.
Members of a vigilante group known as Operation Dudula have for months protested at clinics in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, checking identity cards and refusing access to non-South Africans.
Human rights groups including Doctors without Borders (MSF) and the Treatment Action Campaign argued in court that the authorities had not done enough to stop the group.
The High Court in Johannesburg ordered officials to "take all reasonable measures to ensure safe and unhindered physical access... for all persons seeking health services".
The court singled out municipalities, the health department and the police as having a "duty to take the necessary steps to prevent xenophobic vigilantes from blocking access to public healthcare facilities".
"It is, in my view, a great pity that litigation was required to address what has happened at the clinics," Judge Stuart Wilson said in his ruling.
"The weakness of the state's response to a direct and apparently well-organised attack on its efforts to secure basic healthcare for some of the most vulnerable people in our society is of grave concern."
Operation Dudula -- meaning "push back" in Zulu -- has channelled public anger over crime and unemployment toward foreign nationals.
Formed in 2020 as a "vibrant civil movement", it has grown more visible as mostly young Black South Africans join its military-styled actions, which have included shutting foreign-owned shops and blocking migrant children from public schools.

'Greatest threat'

MSF said in August that the group's activities had severely affected thousands of patients at dozens of clinics, including heavily pregnant women, children and people with serious conditions from diabetes to HIV.
The NGO had also witnessed security and hospital staff "collaborating" with vigilantes at two clinics.
The High Court in November ordered Operation Dudula to stop the "unlawful" blockages, but sporadic pickets have continued.
"Xenophobia is one of the greatest threats to democracy and human rights we presently face," Judge Wilson said, describing it as "merely another kind of racism".
As the continent's most industrialised economy, South Africa is a prime destination for people seeking work even though its own unemployment rate is around 32 percent.
It is home to about 2.4 million immigrants, according to official figures from 2022, making up nearly four percent of the population.
The influx, coupled with a dim economic outlook, has led to sporadic bursts of anti-immigrant violence in recent years. 
jcb/ho/jxb

entertainment

Doctor jailed for supplying ketamine to 'Friends' star Matthew Perry

BY HUW GRIFFITH

  • In a victim impact statement filed with the court, Perry's mother Suzanne Perry and his stepfather, Keith Morrison, said Plasencia -- who did not supply the fatal dose of the drug -- had neglected his duty as a doctor.
  • A doctor who supplied "Friends" star Matthew Perry with ketamine in the months before he fatally overdosed, musing to a fellow physician over "how much this moron will pay" for the drug, was jailed in California on Wednesday.
  • In a victim impact statement filed with the court, Perry's mother Suzanne Perry and his stepfather, Keith Morrison, said Plasencia -- who did not supply the fatal dose of the drug -- had neglected his duty as a doctor.
A doctor who supplied "Friends" star Matthew Perry with ketamine in the months before he fatally overdosed, musing to a fellow physician over "how much this moron will pay" for the drug, was jailed in California on Wednesday.
Salvador Plasencia, 44, is the first of five people to face justice over Perry's 2023 death in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home.
Plasencia was ordered to serve 30 months in prison for supplying the drug to the actor -- who had well documented struggles with addiction -- at grossly inflated prices.
In a victim impact statement filed with the court, Perry's mother Suzanne Perry and his stepfather, Keith Morrison, said Plasencia -- who did not supply the fatal dose of the drug -- had neglected his duty as a doctor.
"Matthew's recovery counted on you saying NO," they wrote. 
"Your motives? I can't imagine. A doctor whose life is devoted to helping people?"
Plasencia's attorneys, Karen Goldstein and Debra White, who had argued for a probationary sentence, said their client, who has surrendered his medical license, was filled with regret.
"He is not a villain. He is someone who made serious mistakes in his treatment decisions involving the off-label use of ketamine -- a drug commonly used for depression that does not have uniform standards," they said after the sentencing.
"The mistakes he made over the 13 days during which he treated Mr. Perry will stay with him forever."
Another doctor, Mark Chavez, pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry.
Plasencia allegedly bought ketamine off Chavez and sold it to the American-Canadian actor at hugely inflated prices.
"I wonder how much this moron will pay," Plasencia wrote in one text message presented by prosecutors.
The four other people who have also admitted their part in supplying drugs to the actor will be sentenced over the coming months.
They include Jasveen Sangha, the alleged "Ketamine Queen" who supplied drugs to high-end clients and celebrities, who could be jailed for up to 65 years.
Perry's live-in personal assistant and another man pleaded guilty in August to charges of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.

Addiction struggles

The actor's lengthy struggles with substance addiction were well-documented, but his death at age 54 sent shockwaves through the global legions of "Friends" fans.
A criminal investigation was launched soon after an autopsy discovered he had high levels of ketamine -- an anesthetic -- in his system.
In a plea deal with prosecutors, Plasencia said he went to Perry's home to administer ketamine by injection and distributed 20 vials of the drug over a roughly two-week period in autumn 2023.
Perry had been taking ketamine as part of supervised therapy for depression.
But prosecutors say that before his death he became addicted to the substance, which also has psychedelic properties and is a popular party drug.
First airing between 1994 and 2004, the televised comedy "Friends" followed the lives of six New Yorkers navigating adulthood, dating and careers, drew a massive following and made megastars of previously unknown actors.
Perry's role as the sarcastic man-child Chandler brought him fabulous wealth, but hid a dark struggle with addiction to painkillers and alcohol.
In 2018, he suffered a drug-related burst colon and underwent multiple surgeries.
In his 2022 memoir "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing," Perry described going through detox dozens of times.
"I have mostly been sober since 2001," he wrote, "save for about sixty or seventy little mishaps."
hg/sla

health

Delhi records over 200,000 respiratory illness cases due to toxic air

  • More than 30,000 people with respiratory illnesses had to be hospitalised in the three years.
  • New Delhi recorded more than 200,000 cases of acute respiratory illnesses at six state-run hospitals between 2022 and 2024, government numbers showed, highlighting the adverse effects of toxic air on health.
  • More than 30,000 people with respiratory illnesses had to be hospitalised in the three years.
New Delhi recorded more than 200,000 cases of acute respiratory illnesses at six state-run hospitals between 2022 and 2024, government numbers showed, highlighting the adverse effects of toxic air on health.
Delhi, with its sprawling metropolitan region of 30 million residents, is regularly ranked among the world's most polluted capitals.
India's health ministry told parliament on Tuesday that air pollution was one of the triggering factors for respiratory ailments.
"Analysis suggests that increase in pollution levels was associated with increase in number of patients attending emergency rooms," junior health minister Prataprao Jadhav said in a written reply.  
More than 30,000 people with respiratory illnesses had to be hospitalised in the three years.
Acrid smog blankets Delhi's skyline each winter, when cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground, creating a deadly mix of emissions from crop burning, factories and heavy traffic.
Levels of PM2.5 -- cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream -- sometimes rise to as much as 60 times the UN's daily health limits.
A study in The Lancet Planetary Health last year estimated that 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.
The United Nations children's agency warns that polluted air puts children at heightened risk of acute respiratory infections.
The health ministry, however, added that air pollution could not alone be blamed for the hospitalisations.  
"Health effects of air pollution are synergistic manifestation of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc," it said. 
ash/abh/jm

alcohol

Thailand lifts ban on afternoon alcohol sales

BY MONTIRA RUNGJIRAJITTRANON WITH SALLY JENSEN

  • - 'Good for tourists' - In central Bangkok on Wednesday afternoon, several businesses told AFP journalists they had yet to notice a shift on the first day of the relaxed sales rules. 
  • Thailand on Wednesday relaxed decades-old alcohol sales restrictions, allowing consumers to buy wine, beer and spirits during previously prohibited afternoon hours in a six-month trial.
  • - 'Good for tourists' - In central Bangkok on Wednesday afternoon, several businesses told AFP journalists they had yet to notice a shift on the first day of the relaxed sales rules. 
Thailand on Wednesday relaxed decades-old alcohol sales restrictions, allowing consumers to buy wine, beer and spirits during previously prohibited afternoon hours in a six-month trial.
The predominantly Buddhist country still maintains strict alcohol laws, limiting sales to specific hours and banning them on religious holidays.
Liquor stores, bars and other purveyors were previously banned from selling alcohol from 2:00-5:00 pm, but the eased rules permit sales from 11:00 am to midnight during the trial while a committee studies its impacts.
Officials last month reviewed the long-standing 2:00-5:00 pm sales ban, a rule originally introduced to prevent government employees from drinking alcohol during work hours and often puzzling foreign visitors.
"In the past, there were concerns that government employees would sneak out to drink, but it's a different time now," deputy prime minister Sophon Saram told reporters last month. 
Health Minister Pattana Promphat said the move was "appropriate to the present situation", according to a statement in the Royal Gazette published on Tuesday.
Despite its reputation as a tourism and nightlife hub, Thailand's alcohol laws remained rooted in Buddhist teachings that view imbibing as a moral transgression. 
The country has some of the highest alcohol consumption rates in Asia, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with locals typically reaching for the ubiquitous Chang, Singha and Leo beers.
Thailand ranked 16th out of nearly 200 countries for the most road traffic deaths per capita in 2021, WHO data shows.
Nearly 33,000 people were killed in drunk driving incidents in the country from 2019 to 2023, according to public health ministry figures.

'Good for tourists'

In central Bangkok on Wednesday afternoon, several businesses told AFP journalists they had yet to notice a shift on the first day of the relaxed sales rules. 
"There haven't been many people because customers still don't know about the new law," said a shop assistant at Gourmet Wine Cellar who declined to give their name.
Shoppers at a 7-Eleven opted for soda over alcoholic beverages, despite signs posted on refrigerator doors noting the extended sales hours.
At a nearly empty beer garden where a few customers were ordering pints, a server told AFP that she had heard of the rule change on TikTok.
But, she said, "There's almost no change because we usually don't get any customers during this time."
Apple, a Thai marathon-runner, told AFP the loosened restrictions were "good for tourists".
"Tourists like to drink a lot. But for Thai people, maybe not, as we don't normally drink at that time anyway," she said.
Matthew, a 23-year-old British traveller, said he hadn't heard about the long-time sales ban or it being lifted.
"Sounds like it would be terrible for the economy. So many tourists come here. Why would they do that? Religious reasons?"
tak-sjc/sco/jm

HIV

'HIV-free generations': prevention drug rollout brings hope to South Africa

BY JULIE BOURDIN

  • Until now, the best available prevention drug for HIV-negative people was through a daily pill.
  • Kegoratile Aphane did not flinch when the needle pierced the skin of her right buttock, injecting a yellow-coloured drug touted as a revolution that could end the HIV pandemic.
  • Until now, the best available prevention drug for HIV-negative people was through a daily pill.
Kegoratile Aphane did not flinch when the needle pierced the skin of her right buttock, injecting a yellow-coloured drug touted as a revolution that could end the HIV pandemic.
The 32-year-old was among the very first South Africans -- and Africans -- to receive a dose of lenacapavir, a drug taken twice a year that has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by more than 99.9 percent, making it functionally akin to a powerful vaccine.
"I didn’t even feel any pain," she said with a relieved smile after receiving the two injections that form the first dose.
Five other patients received lenacapavir Tuesday at a clinic outside of Pretoria as part of an implementation study by a Wits University research unit and funded by the international health agency Unitaid, which works on ensuring equitable access to medical innovations.
The study would enrol 2,000 people and "follow them for at least a year to understand how this prevention option works in real life", according to the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (RHI)'s Saiqa Mullick.

'Life-changing'

With close to one in five adults living with HIV, South Africa has one of the highest rates in the world, and reported last year the highest number of new infections for any single country -- 170,000.
Until now, the best available prevention drug for HIV-negative people was through a daily pill.
The twice-yearly lenacapavir jab would be "life-changing", said the clinic’s manager Magdaline Ngwato, especially for young people who struggled to maintain the daily schedule of the pill and groups like sex workers or LGBTQ patients who wanted to be discreet.
"Now with the injection it will be fine, because you can do it secretly," she told AFP, adding that many people had already expressed interest.
"Even mothers said they will send their children to come get it," Ngwato enthused. "I think we are going to have a lot of HIV-free generations."
For Aphane, the decision to take the groundbreaking treatment was deeply personal. 
"I just lost my mom in 2021 -- she was HIV positive," she told AFP with emotion.
"It's a very, very, very painful disease. So that's why I (am) so serious about this. Let me be safe and try this."
Twenty-year-old student Katlego, who asked to speak under a pseudonym, was "proud" to have received one of the very first doses.
"You won't know what the future holds, you might get raped or your partner might infect you without knowing. So it's important for us to take care of ourselves," she said.
A broader national rollout is expected next year, starting with 400,000 doses that would be received through a deal between lenacapavir's manufacturer Gilead Sciences and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.
While lenacapavir currently costs around $28,000 a year in the United States, generic versions are expected to be available from 2027 at around $40 per year in more than 100 countries through agreements by Unitaid and the Gates Foundation with Indian pharmaceutical companies.
The rollout could usher in a different world for Aphane's daughters and future grandchildren, she said.
"The more they introduce, the more they talk about it, the more they show (it) everywhere, it will save lives," she said.
jcb/br/cw

food

San Francisco sues producers over ultra-processed food

  • "These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods," San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said. 
  • San Francisco is suing makers of the ultra-processed food that health experts say has led millions of Americans into obesity during decades of over-consumption, the city said Tuesday.
  • "These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods," San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said. 
San Francisco is suing makers of the ultra-processed food that health experts say has led millions of Americans into obesity during decades of over-consumption, the city said Tuesday.
In what officials said was a first-of-a-kind lawsuit, the liberal California city is taking to task some of the largest names in groceries, including Kraft Heinz, Coca-Cola, Nestle and Kellogg.
"These companies created a public health crisis with the engineering and marketing of ultra-processed foods," San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said. 
"They took food and made it unrecognizable and harmful to the human body."
Ultra-processed food, including candies, chips, sodas and breakfast cereals, are typically made from ingredients that have been broken down, chemically modified and combined with artificial additives.
They frequently contain colors, flavor enhancers, sweeteners, thickeners, foaming agents and emulsifiers, and typically cannot be produced in the home.
"Americans want to avoid ultra-processed foods, but we are inundated by them. These companies engineered a public health crisis, they profited handsomely, and now they need to take responsibility for the harm they have caused," Chiu said.

A common cause

With its lawsuit, lodged in San Francisco Superior Court, the Democratic-run city is making common cause with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement that has coalesced around Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy.
The movement is a significant part of the fractious coalition that President Donald Trump rode to the White House for his second term in office.
Kennedy has frequently taken aim at processed foods, calling them "poison" and blaming them for rising obesity, chronic illness and poor health, especially among young people.
The US Centers for Disease Control says 40 percent of Americans are obese, and almost 16 percent have diabetes, a condition that can result from being excessively overweight.
The lawsuit lodged Tuesday, which is demanding unspecified damages, claims that around 70 percent of the products sold in US supermarkets are ultra-processed.
It says manufacturers employed a similar strategy to that of tobacco companies, pushing a product they knew was harmful with marketing that ignored or obscured the risks.
"Just like Big Tobacco, the ultra-processed food industry targeted children to increase their profits," a statement said.
"The companies surrounded children with consistent product messages and inundated them with advertising using cartoon mascots like Tony the Tiger and Fred Flintstone.
"Despite having actual knowledge of the harm they had caused, the ultra-processed food industry continued to inundate children with targeted marketing and make increasingly addictive products with little nutritional value.
Sarah Gallo of the Consumer Brands Association, an umbrella grouping of many of the companies targeted in the suit, said manufacturers "support Americans in making healthier choices and enhancing product transparency."
"There is currently no agreed upon scientific definition of ultra-processed foods and attempting to classify foods as unhealthy simply because they are processed, or demonizing food by ignoring its full nutrient content, misleads consumers and exacerbates health disparities.
"Companies adhere to the rigorous evidence-based safety standards established by the (government) to deliver safe, affordable and convenient products that consumers depend on every day."
hg/iv

animal

US medical agency will scale back testing on monkeys

BY ISSAM AHMED AND CHARLOTTE CAUSIT

  • Deborah Fuller, director of the Washington National Primate Research Center -- one of seven such centers established by the NIH in the 1960s -- said the FDA's decision to reduce antibody-toxicity testing in monkeys was "very reasonable" noting that non-animal methods are suitable for this purpose.
  • The United States will scale back certain drug-safety testing requirements on monkeys, federal regulators said Tuesday, as President Donald Trump's administration pushes ahead with its pledge to reduce animal use in research.
  • Deborah Fuller, director of the Washington National Primate Research Center -- one of seven such centers established by the NIH in the 1960s -- said the FDA's decision to reduce antibody-toxicity testing in monkeys was "very reasonable" noting that non-animal methods are suitable for this purpose.
The United States will scale back certain drug-safety testing requirements on monkeys, federal regulators said Tuesday, as President Donald Trump's administration pushes ahead with its pledge to reduce animal use in research.
Under new draft guidance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), computer models, lab-grown mini-organs, and human studies will replace six-month repeat-dose toxicity tests in monkeys for monoclonal antibodies -- lab-engineered proteins used to treat cancers, autoimmune conditions and more.
"We are delivering on our roadmap commitment to eliminate animal testing requirements in drug evaluation and our promise to accelerate cures and meaningful treatments for Americans," FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said in a statement.
The statement added that typical nonclinical programs involving monoclonal antibodies could include more than 100 macaque monkeys -- apes are no longer used in any invasive research in the US -- yet often do not yield human-approved treatments.
The move was welcomed by animal-advocacy groups.
Zaher Nahle, a former animal researcher who is now the senior scientific advisor for nonprofit Center for a Humane Economy, told AFP the move was an "important step."
"These primates are not reliable in terms of predicting the toxicity, so you can get at least equal or better results in terms of your accuracy in predicting toxicology using other approaches," he added.
What's more, he noted, studies show that more than 90 percent of drugs deemed safe and effective in animals fail to win approval for human use.
The FDA's announcement follows a report in the journal Science last month that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would close its primate labs, and comes amid broader efforts by federal agencies to shift animal research toward newer technologies.
It "moves us one step closer to wiping out the federal government's wasteful monkey business," Justin Goodman of White Coat Waste Project told AFP.
But the National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- the country's primary biomedical research agency -- remains a notable "outlier," he added. According to public data collected by his organization, 7,700 primates are confined in federal government labs and breeding facilities, of which 6,700 are at NIH.

'We still need animals'

Among researchers, the move sparked concern about moving too far, too fast.
Deborah Fuller, director of the Washington National Primate Research Center -- one of seven such centers established by the NIH in the 1960s -- said the FDA's decision to reduce antibody-toxicity testing in monkeys was "very reasonable" noting that non-animal methods are suitable for this purpose.
But she warned that moving too quickly in other areas could jeopardize drug development.
"This needs to be driven by the science and the data, not by (the) ideology of people just wanting to suddenly end animal research because it feels good and sounds good," she told AFP.
"In terms of the next cures and biomedical advances, we still need animals," she said, adding that non-animal methods aren't yet as capable and that preclinical animal safety testing is the reason "you're not hearing about people dying" during clinical trials.
Proponents of animal testing also argue the research has been indispensable for major medical advances, including vaccines for diphtheria, yellow fever, measles and Covid-19.
Critics counter that decades-old laws have created regulatory lock-in, that publication incentives reward animal studies in top journals, and that a lucrative "animal-industrial complex" has helped entrench the status quo.
ia-cha/aha/sla

crime

Defense challenge evidence in killing of US health insurance CEO

  • Luigi Mangione is charged with the second-degree murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest US health insurer.
  • The defense for the 27-year-old suspect accused of killing a top health insurance executive in New York sought to exclude evidence presented by the prosecution as he appeared in court for a second day Tuesday.
  • Luigi Mangione is charged with the second-degree murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest US health insurer.
The defense for the 27-year-old suspect accused of killing a top health insurance executive in New York sought to exclude evidence presented by the prosecution as he appeared in court for a second day Tuesday.
Luigi Mangione is charged with the second-degree murder of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest US health insurer. Thompson, 50, was shot dead on a Manhattan street on December 4, 2024.
Mangione, who comes from a wealthy Boston family, has become a lightning rod for anger against the US commercial healthcare system, but also a reminder of growing incidents of deadly violence perpetrated against public figures in the country.
His lawyers requested a preliminary hearing in the murder case brought by the State of New York.
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald's restaurant in the state of Pennsylvania, days after last year's shooting.
Police found in his backpack a pistol equipped with a silencer and a notebook where he wrote grievances against the healthcare system.
According to police, the bullet shell casings at the murder scene matched the weapon Mangione was carrying.
But Mangione's lawyers argue that the defendant's rights were violated.
In their motion, seen by AFP, they say that the evidence recovered from his backpack "must be suppressed because law enforcement failed to obtain a search warrant before searching the backpack."
They also argue that Mangione's statements to police inside the McDonald's should be excluded "as they were the result of custodial interrogation without Miranda warnings" about his rights.  
In September, a judge threw out two terror charges against Mangione, but he is still accused of second degree murder. If convicted he could face life imprisonment without parole. He also faces federal charges.
rh/ev/msp/bgs

HIV

Twice-a-year HIV prevention shots begin in Africa

BY HILLARY ORINDE WITH AFP CORRESPONDENTS IN ESWATINI AND ZAMBIA

  • "The first individuals have begun using lenacapavir for HIV prevention in South Africa... making it among the first real-world use of the six-monthly injectable in low- and middle-income countries," Unitaid said in a statement.
  • South Africa, Eswatini and Zambia on Monday began administering a groundbreaking HIV-prevention injection in the drug's first public rollouts in Africa, which has the world's highest HIV burden.
  • "The first individuals have begun using lenacapavir for HIV prevention in South Africa... making it among the first real-world use of the six-monthly injectable in low- and middle-income countries," Unitaid said in a statement.
South Africa, Eswatini and Zambia on Monday began administering a groundbreaking HIV-prevention injection in the drug's first public rollouts in Africa, which has the world's highest HIV burden.
Lenacapavir, which is taken twice a year, has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by more than 99.9 percent, making it functionally akin to a powerful vaccine.
In South Africa, where one in five adults lives with HIV, a Wits University research unit oversaw the rollout as part of an initiative funded by the international health agency Unitaid, which works on ensuring equitable access to medical innovations.
"The first individuals have begun using lenacapavir for HIV prevention in South Africa... making it among the first real-world use of the six-monthly injectable in low- and middle-income countries," Unitaid said in a statement.
The implementation study would enrol 2,000 people and "follow them for at least a year to understand how this prevention option works in real life", explained the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (RHI)'s Saiqa Mullick.
A broader national rollout is expected next year, starting with 400,000 doses that would be received through an international group, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Mullick said.

US programme

Neighbouring Zambia and Eswatini received 1,000 doses last month as part of a US programme and launched the drug at World AIDS Day ceremonies on Monday.
In Eswatini's Hhukwini constituency, dozens lined up for the shot at a lively public event filled with song and dance.
"Today marks a turning point in our national HIV response," said Prime Minister Russell Dlamini, adding that the injection "gives us fresh hope and a powerful tool to protect our citizens".
In Zambia, hundreds marched two kilometres (one mile) to Chawama township of the capital Lusaka to mark the occasion.
Health Minister Elijah Muchima urged volunteers living with HIV to visit nearby hospitals to get the jab, saying it "brings renewed hope to young people and the vulnerable population".
Under the US programme, manufacturer Gilead Sciences has agreed to provide lenacapavir at no profit to two million people in countries with a high HIV burden over three years. 
But Washington -- at odds with Pretoria over several policy issues -- will not provide doses to South Africa despite its participation in clinical trials.
"Obviously, we encourage every country, especially countries like South Africa, that have significant means of their own to fund doses for their own population," Jeremy Lewin, a senior US State Department official, told reporters late last month.

Saving lives vs profit

It was "deeply disappointing" that South Africa would not receive any of the US-funded doses, Mullick told AFP, given that the country had contributed "enormously" to the global research and evidence base to develop the life-changing drug.
Critics say the US deliveries are far below the actual needs and that the market price -- at $28,000 per person a year in the United States -- is out of reach for most people.
Eastern and southern Africa account for about 52 percent of the 40.8 million people living with HIV worldwide, according to 2024 UNAIDS data. 
In Zambia alone, roughly 1.4 million people are living with HIV, with 30,000 new infections each year, according to the health ministry. Eswatini -- a tiny kingdom of 1.2 million -- has about 220,000 people living with the virus.
UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima criticised the drug's limited availability, saying drugmakers were neglecting Africa's needs. 
"If you don't care about those lives, at least you care about the profit! Bring the drug here," she told AFP.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that gains against HIV are "now at risk" after funding cuts and urged countries to rapidly scale up use of lenacapavir. 
"Progress against HIV has largely stalled," he told journalists. 
Generic versions of lenacapavir are expected to be available from 2027 at around $40 per year in more than 100 countries, through agreements by Unitaid and the Gates Foundation with Indian pharmaceutical companies.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, has been used for over a decade to prevent HIV but its reliance on a daily pill has limited its impact on global infections.
bur-ho/jcb/phz

Ebola

DR Congo says latest Ebola outbreak is over

  • The Congolese authorities officially declared an outbreak at the start of September.
  • Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday declared an end to the latest outbreak of Ebola, which has caused at least 34 deaths since August.
  • The Congolese authorities officially declared an outbreak at the start of September.
Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday declared an end to the latest outbreak of Ebola, which has caused at least 34 deaths since August.
The virus, which is often fatal despite recent advances in vaccines and treatment, has caused 15,000 deaths in Africa in the last 50 years.
The deadliest outbreak in DR Congo between 2018 and 2020 killed nearly 2,300 people out of 3,500 infected.
The head of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), Dieudonne Mwamba Kazadi, said the outbreak had "effectively ended".
Kazadi said there had been at least 34 fatalities from 53 confirmed cases. A further 11 deaths appear to have been caused by the virus, taking the likely total deaths to 45, he added.
All indications "attest that the chain of transmission of the virus have been broken," Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba told an official function in Kinshasa attended by World Health Organization representatives and from Africa's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). 
The latest outbreak was in an area marked by "extreme isolation, impassable roads, harsh weather conditions, and limited access to essential services", explained Emmanuel Lampaert, DRC representative of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
DR Congo has had 16 Ebola outbreaks since the virus was first identified in 1976, when the vast central African country was known as Zaire.
The last outbreak, in the central province of Kasai, started on August 20, when a 34-year-old pregnant woman was admitted to hospital.
The Congolese authorities officially declared an outbreak at the start of September.
A vaccination programme began in mid-September -- a challenge in a country four times the size of France and where transportation infrastructure is limited and often in poor condition.
The International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision, which manages global stocks, sent 45,000 extra doses of Ebola jabs to the DR Congo, which is one of the world's poorest countries.
Human transmission of Ebola happens through bodily fluids. The main symptoms are fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea.
The virus is contagious only when symptoms appear after an incubation period of two to 21 days.
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