Mpox cases continue to spread, and other top health stories

Data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) shows that Mpox cases continue to spread on the African continent. Cases have increased over 500% from last year.

"The situation is not yet under control, we are still on the upward trend generally," Ngashi Ngongo from Africa CDC told a briefing.

Mpox was declared a global health emergency in August by the World Health Organization (WHO). Central Africa has been hardest hit and accounts for 85.7% of cases and 99.5% of deaths on the continent.

The new strain, first detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo and known as clade lb, has also been detected in Sweden, Germany and the UK.

"We need to continue mobilizing the political engagement and also mobilizing the financial support that is critical to get the current outbreak under control," Ngongo said. "We do not want this mpox, especially the clade 1b, to become another ... pandemic, which would be much more severe than COVID-19."

The latest vaccine bond has raised $1 billion to fund new global immunization efforts in the world's poorest nations. The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) said there was record demand from investors, Reuters reports.

The IFFIm raises funding for the Gavi vaccine alliance and had priced a $1 billion, three-year fixed-rate bond to "fund critical vaccine research and immunization programs". The order book for the bond exceeded $4 billion, making it the largest to date.

Gavi relies on 11 sovereign donors for its funding, but the IFFIm adds to this by bringing in immediate cash from investors to meet urgent needs.

"The success of this bond highlights the ongoing strength of IFFIm's model, which leverages sovereign support and strong financial structuring to offer investment opportunities that make a positive impact on children's health," Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, said in a statement.

China has announced plans to improve family planning and parenting measures, in an effort to boost the number of births, according to a statement from the state council, following two years of a shrinking population.

Fertility rates in England and Wales have also fallen to the lowest rate on record, with just 591,072 babies born last year, fewer than in any year since 1977.

A planned law in the UK would see smoking banned outside schools, hospitals and playgrounds, in a move designed to ease pressure on the state-run National Health Service and the cost to taxpayers.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended expanding the use of vaccines to protect against pneumococcal disease for adults between 50 and 64 years of age.

New research has warned that people from ethnic minority groups in the UK are twice as likely to be under-vaccinated against COVID-19, and therefore more likely to require hospital treatment or risk death as a result of the disease.

A study from King's College London has found that digital characters, or avatars, could help those with psychosis hear voices less often and reduce the distress this causes.

Research involving more than 10,000 people has found that working out just two days a week - for example at the weekend - has much the same physical and brain health benefits as regular workouts.

A trial of a new treatment for glioblastoma has seen one British patient's brain tumour shrink by half in just a few weeks. The treatment involves injecting low levels of radioactivity directly into the tumour to target and kill off cancer cells.

A clinical trial in 11 countries has found that a weight-loss drug - semaglutide - significantly reduces pain from obesity-related arthritis in the knees and improves patients' abilities to engage in activity.

Bird flu has been spreading quicker in the European Union than last year, which is raising concerns about the impact on poultry flocks, but also the risk of it spreading to humans.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has resumed negotiations for a legally binding international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

Research on ageing is advancing quickly, write Zili Huang and Kejun Albert Ying, and our ability to measure the 'true' health of our organs is improving. Turning these insights into actionable healthcare is the next step.

The menopause is the end of a woman's reproductive years and is marked by a reduction in two key hormones - oestrogen and progesterone. These changes have an impact on women's health more broadly, but a lack of understanding and disparities in care remain a significant hurdle.

Around 85% of people with mental health issues don't receive treatment, often as a result of provider shortages. AI could be used to improve mental health care and alleviate shortages, explain experts from Oliver Wyman, but it needs to complement human providers, not replace them.