Over 4,000 ministers, experts to attend WLPF in capital
Supported by the Emirates Drug Establishment (EDE), the third edition of the World Local Production Forum (WLPF) will be organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and hosted by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi from April 7 to 9, 2025.
This significant event will convene more than 4,000 ministers, senior government officials, international organisation leaders, private sector representatives, financial institutions, civil society members, and industry experts to exchange insights and develop strategies.
The forum will explore sustainable local production solutions to strengthen healthcare systems and economic stability, addressing key challenges in technology transfer and access to essential health products.
Under the theme 'Advancing Local Production for Health Equity, Global Health Security, and Sustainable Development,' the three-day event will cover eight critical themes:
l Theme 1: Strengthening Local Production Ecosystems: Policies, Regulatory Systems, Markets and Human Capital.
l Theme 2: Strengthening Local Production Ecosystems: Innovative Financing and Investment Strategies.
l Theme 3: Fostering Innovation, Technology Transfer and Production Along the Value Chain.
l Theme 4: Enhancing Pandemic Preparedness and Response through Scalable Manufacturing, Predictable Demand and Surge Financing.
l Theme 5: Transforming Local Manufacturing with AI, Digitalisation and Climate Change.
l Theme 6: Building Effective Partnerships for Thriving Local Production and Pandemic Preparedness.
l Theme 7: Local Production in Action - Sharing Member States' Experiences and Learning from Successes.
l Theme 8: CEOs Forum - Leading Successful Industry with Public Health Impact.
Dr Fatima Al Kaabi, Director General of EDE, highlighted the UAE's prominent position as a global leader in innovation, talent attraction, and the adoption of cutting-edge technologies.
She emphasised the EDE's pivotal role in advancing innovation within the healthcare sector, ensuring the quality and safety of pharmaceutical products and medical technologies, and its ongoing commitment to developing effective and safe healthcare solutions.
Al Kaabi noted that hosting the World Local Production Forum, in collaboration with World Health Organisation, further strengthens the UAE's strategic partnership with the organisation in supporting global health objectives.
It also underscores the country's dedication to adopting forward-thinking health policies that contribute to a sustainable healthcare ecosystem.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
8 hours ago
- Gulf Today
WHO warns of rising COVID-19 cases due to new variant
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of a rise in COVID-19 infections linked to the emergence of a new variant, NB.1.8.1, which is currently under investigation. While the organisation confirmed that the new variant does not pose a greater health risk than previous strains, it noted that the continued evolution of the virus could lead to new waves of infection. WHO stated that the current increase aligns with the virus's seasonal pattern and emphasised that the need for hospitalisation or intensive care remains limited due to widespread community immunity and vaccination coverage. The global health body classified the overall global risk level as "high', urging countries to strengthen health surveillance, integrate COVID-19 into seasonal respiratory disease strategies, combat misinformation, and encourage individuals to adhere to preventive measures. WAM
Gulf Today
12 hours ago
- Gulf Today
Man's extreme snake bite trials boost new antivenom research hope
Tim Friede was feeling particularly down on the day after the Sept.11 attacks, so he went to his basement and let two of the world's deadliest snakes bite him. Four days later, he woke up from a coma. "I know what it feels like to die from snakebite," Friede told AFP via video call from his home in the small US town of Two Rivers, Wisconsin. This experience might put most people off snakes entirely, but Friede simply vowed to be more careful next time. From 2000 to 2018, he allowed himself to be bitten by snakes more than 200 times. He also injected himself with their venom over 650 times. Friede endured this pain because he wanted to achieve total immunity to venom, a practice called mithridatism which should not be tried at home. Tim Friede can be seen with a snake in this undated image. Instagrm photo After a couple of years, Friede started to believe he could be the basis for a better kind of antivenom. The former truck mechanic, who does not have a university degree, long struggled to be taken seriously by scientists. But last month, a study published in the prestigious Cell journal showed that antibodies from his blood protect against a range of snake venom. The researchers now hope Friede's hyper-immunity could even lead to the development of a universal antivenom. This would fill a major need, because currently most antivenoms only cover one or a few of the world's 600 venomous snakes. Up to 138,000 people are killed by snakebites a year, while 400,000 suffer amputations or other disabilities, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). These figures are believed to be vastly underestimated because snakebite victims typically live in poorer, remote areas. 'Pain every time' Friede's first bite was from a harmless garter snake when he was five years old. "I was afraid, I cried, I ran away," said Friede, now 57. Then he started bringing snakes home and hiding them in pickle jars. His mother sought counselling, but his interest in snakes persisted. Things escalated after Friede attended a class that taught him how to "milk" snakes for their venom. How antivenom is made has changed little over the last 125 years. Small doses of snake venom are injected into animals such as horses, which produce antibodies that can be extracted and used as antivenom. However this antivenom usually only works for bites from that particular species of snake — and it includes other antibodies from horse that can cause serious side-effects including anaphylactic shock. "I thought, well, if they make antivenom in horses, why can't I just use myself as a primate?" Friede said. He started working through the venom from all the deadly species he could get his hands on, such as cobras, taipans, black mambas and rattlesnakes. "There is pain every time," he said. Antibodies For years, the scientists he contacted to take advantage of his immunity refused to bite. Then in 2017, immunologist Jacob Glanville, who previously worked on universal vaccines, turned his attention towards antivenom. Glanville told AFP he had been looking for "a clumsy snake researcher who'd been bit accidentally a couple times," when he came across a video of Friede taking brutal back-to-back snake bites. When they first spoke, Glanville said he told Friede: "I know this is awkward, but I would love to get my hands on some of your blood." "I've been waiting for this call for a long time," came the response, Glanville said. The antivenom described in the Cell paper includes two antibodies from Friede's blood, as well as a drug called varespladib. It offered mice full protection against 13 of the 19 snake species tested, and partial protection for the remaining six. The researchers hope a future cocktail will cover far more snakes — particularly vipers — with further trials planned on dogs in Australia. Timothy Jackson of the Australian Venom Research Unit praised the immunological research, but questioned whether a human needed to be involved, pointing to synthetically developed antibodies. 'Proud' Glanville said the ultimate goal of his US-based firm Centivax was to develop a universal antivenom administered by something like an EpiPen, potentially produced in India to keep the costs down. Friede said he was "proud" to have made a "small difference" in medical history. Now working for Centivax, Friede stopped self-inflicting himself with venom in 2018 to save the firm from liability issues. But he hopes to get bitten by snakes again in the future. "I do miss it," he said. Agence France-Presse
The National
3 days ago
- The National
Europe wary of new Nimbus Covid wave as cases emerge in UK and Italy
A new Covid strain is rapidly spreading around the world, with European scientists the latest to sound the alarm. The variant, a descendant of Omicron, has been detected in small numbers in the UK, but data suggests it is growing as a proportion of all cases. It was detected for the first time in the world on January 22, 2025 and has spread rapidly. Nimbus, also known as NB. 1.8.1, has been designated a Variant Under Monitoring (VUM) by the World Health Organisation due to its increasing global presence. The World Health Network warned that Nimbus has been identified as responsible for a resurgence of cases in several Asian countries, including India, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand. At the end of May, the percentage of respiratory samples testing Covid-positive in Hong Kong reached its highest in a year. While the resurgence is yet to match the infection peaks seen in the past two years, rising viral load found in sewage water, as well as in Covid-related medical consultations and hospitalisations suggest the virus is actively spreading, with hospitalisations reaching their highest levels in a year. Singapore's health ministry released its first update on infection numbers in almost a year. The estimated number of cases jumped 28 per cent to 14,200 a week at the start of May, while daily hospitalisations rose around 30 per cent. Singapore only provides case updates when there is a noticeable spike. Thailand's Department of Disease Control has reported two cluster outbreaks this year, with cases rising after April's annual Songkran festival, which brings together crowds of people. Unlike other respiratory pathogens that tend to be more active during colder months, Covid's comeback just as much of the Northern Hemisphere enters summer shows the virus can still strike a large swathe of the population even in hot weather. In Italy, where it was detected for the first time in Genoa this week, there were warnings that the country had 'lowered its guard too much' on vaccination against Covid. Matteo Bassetti, director of the infectious diseases unit at San Martino Hospital in Genoa, said current policies are not working. 'Elderly and immunosuppressed people have problems with Covid,' he said. Dr Giancarlo Icardi, co-ordinator of the region's hygiene laboratory, said the Nimbus variant 'is more easily transmissible, but has nothing to do with the virulence of the virus at the beginning of the pandemic or the first variants'. The UK Health Security Agency urged those eligible for vaccination to ensure they received their jabs. Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, deputy director of the agency, said there was no evidence that the Nimbus variant causes more severe disease than previous variants or that current vaccines would be less effective. The UKHSA said: 'When a new variant appears on our radar, at the initial stages it is often quite difficult to know whether the mutations provide any advantages to the virus. Genetic mutations happen all the time, and in some cases have been known to make a virus less transmissible or cause a milder reaction in people.' The symptoms of the Nimbus variant remain the same as previous variants: high temperature, cough, sore throat and runny nose.
