Day: October 24, 2020

The World Health Organization and Wikimedia Foundation expand access to trusted information about COVID-19 on Wikipedia

Michael Gwarisa

The collaboration is part of a shared commitment from both organizations to ensure everyone has access to critical public health information surrounding the global coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that administers Wikipedia, announced today a collaboration to expand the public’s access to the latest and most reliable information about COVID-19.  The collaboration will make trusted, public health information available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license at a time when countries face continuing resurgences of COVID-19 and social stability increasingly depends on the…

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Steroids boost survival of preterm babies in low-resource settings, new study finds

Michael Gwarisa

Accurate pregnancy dating and quality care combined with the steroids are key to survival THE results of a new clinical trial, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that dexamethasone—a glucocorticoid used to treat many conditions, including rheumatic problems and severe COVID-19— can boost survival of premature babies when given to pregnant women at risk of preterm birth in low-resource settings. The WHO ACTION-I trial resolves an ongoing controversy about the efficacy of antenatal steroids for improving preterm newborn survival in low-income countries. Dexamethasone and similar drugs…

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