November 2022

Throughout the past days Pakistan experienced a natural flood-hit that left a severe impact in the country and to its people. In connection with these developments, the Ministry for Home Affairs, Security, Reforms and Equality is going to provide Pakistan with humanitarian assistance through the Civil Protection mechanism.   The process as used by the Civil Protection Department with which our country assists foreign countries in need of urgent humanitarian aid, has therefore been initiated.   Minister for Home Affairs, Security, Reforms and Equality Byron Camilleri explained that once again Malta is offering urgent humanitarian assistance to other countries that

  Two of the largest U.S. pharmacy chains — CVS and Walgreens — are reported to have tentatively agreed to pay more than $10 billion to settle more than 3,000 state and local lawsuits involving the dispensing of opioid painkillers. In a statement released Wednesday, CVS Health said it agreed it will pay approximately $5 billion — with $4.9 billion to states and political subdivisions and approximately $130 million to Native American tribes — over the next 10 years beginning in 2023. In a similar statement, Walgreens said it would make $4.95 billion in remediation payments to be paid out

The World Health Organization warned Wednesday that Ebola’s arrival in the Ugandan capital highlighted the high risk of further spread of the deadly virus, calling on neighboring countries to boost their preparedness. Since Uganda’s health ministry first declared the outbreak on September 20, the country has registered more than 150 confirmed and probable cases, including 64 deaths, WHO said. And since the deadly disease spread to Kampala last week, 17 cases have been confirmed there, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. “Although these cases are linked to known clusters, the very fact that there are cases in a densely

  Research in Africa found a one-time dose of an experimental drug protected adults against malaria for at least six months, the latest approach in the fight against the mosquito-borne disease. Malaria killed more than 620,000 people in 2020 and sickened 241 million, mainly children under 5 in Africa. The World Health Organization is rolling out the first authorized malaria vaccine for children, but it is about 30% effective and requires four doses. The new study tested a very different approach — giving people a big dose of lab-made malaria-fighting antibodies instead of depending on the immune system to make enough

On Tuesday, Nov. 1, Australia’s most populous state is banning a range of single-use plastic, including straws, cutlery and bowls. Polystyrene foam food containers are also banned under the new rules in New South Wales, along with some face, body and hair products that contain plastic micro beads. Businesses that breach the regulations could face fines of tens of thousands of dollars. Minister for Environment and Heritage James Griffin said in a statement in September that the ban was just the start of a “massive shift away from single-use plastic.” He has predicted the ban would stop 2.7 billion items