CIDRAP News: Global officials urge more steps to drive down COVID spread “Health officials in different parts of the world urged people to double down on their individual actions to curb the spread of COVID-19 to avoid protracted lockdowns and to maintain and improve upon hard-fought gains against the virus…”…

CSIS’s AIDS 2021 Podcast: The Promise and Challenge of PrEP for Adolescent Girls and Young Women “In this episode of AIDS 2021, we discuss pre-exposure prophylaxis — PrEP — a critical HIV prevention tool for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in countries with high HIV burdens. Janet Fleischman speaks…

AP: African continent hits 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases “Africa has surpassed 2 million confirmed coronavirus cases as the continent’s top public health official warned Thursday that ‘we are inevitably edging toward a second wave’ of infections. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the 54-nation continent had…

Al Jazeera: Pacific’s Samoa records first case of coronavirus (11/19). Devex: Exclusive: FCDO to become ‘reserved’ department, will not be hiring foreign nationals (Worley, 11/18). New Humanitarian: In storm-hit Honduras, a climate crisis drives needs and fuels migration (Olson, 11/18). New York Times: How Profit Collided With Public Health in…

The Hill: 2 in 3 say coronavirus relief should be top priority for Biden in first 100 days: poll “Two-thirds of registered voters say a coronavirus relief package should be the top priority for President-elect Joe Biden in his first 100 days in office in a new Politico-Morning Consult poll…

POLITICO: FDA authorizes first at-home coronavirus test “The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the first prescription at-home coronavirus test, in a long-awaited milestone. The test, developed by Lucira Health, can be used by people who are at least 14 years old when their health provider suspects they have Covid-19,…

Devex: TB policies aren’t working. Here’s why. “Tuberculosis has long suffered from limited tools for testing and treatment, but a new report finds that it also faces policy disparities between what is recommended globally and what is rolled out in countries. … The Stop TB Partnership and Médecins Sans Frontières…

STAT: Fauci suggests he should have been ‘much more vocal’ about Covid-19 testing early in pandemic “Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday he should have more aggressively pushed the federal government to flood communities where the coronavirus was starting to spread with testing early in the…

AP: Internal email reveals 65 virus cases among WHO Geneva staff “The World Health Organization has recorded 65 cases of the coronavirus among staff based at its headquarters, including five people who worked on the premises and were in contact with one another, an internal email obtained by the Associated…

AFRICA AP: As schools reopen in Africa, relief is matched by anxiety (Muhumuza/Odula, 11/16). ASIA Reuters: China finds coronavirus on frozen meat, packaging from Latin America, New Zealand (Singh et al., 11/15). Reuters: N.Korea’s Kim orders tightening of anti-virus measures amid global pandemic — KCNA (Cha, 11/15). EUROPE The Guardian:…