Posts

7 days in healthcare (August 12th-18th, 2024)

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Summary

Biomedicine

  • The Lancet provides a clinical update on persistent covid. Defined as symptoms that persist for more than three months. Although the approach is based on symptoms, work is being done on identifying the molecular profile and biomarkers.
  • There is no benefit for adults who drink alcohol in moderation. A long study shows that adults have no benefit from moderate alcohol consumption. After following 135,103 adults over 60 years of age, the conclusion is that alcohol is associated with increased cancer and does not produce the benefits on the heart that were attributed to it for some time.

Global Health

  • The WHO declares the Mpox outbreak in African countries a global emergency. Despite the severity, there are two facts that differentiate this outbreak from that of covid: the first is that the infection is not transmitted through the air, with the great difficulties of control that this entails, but by direct contact; the second is that this time there are already vaccines and many countries, such as Spain, have them in stock. We are not, therefore, facing a pandemic threat like the one we saw a few years ago.
  • Vaccine shortages threaten the response to Mpox. The outbreak has been detected in 13 African countries, most of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Concerns about vaccine supply and distribution come after similar problems during Covid. Bavarian Nordic, the only company producing this vaccine, received an order for more than 175,000 doses from the EU Emergency Preparedness and Response Centre (HERA) and, for its part, donated 40,000 vaccines to HERA. But with vaccine shortages, other measures must be taken, such as contact control and testing. The seriousness of the failure of the WHO and the international community in the face of the Pandemic Treaty is now being seen.
  • High heat-related mortality in Europe during 2023. This year was the hottest globally on record and the second hottest in Europe. An estimated 47,690 heat-related deaths in Europe are estimated. Mortality is estimated to have been 80% higher in the absence of adaptation measures this century, especially for the elderly. Specific strategies are needed to address this major threat.
  • 4.4 billion people lack safe water. This requires three requirements: available on demand; accessible in homes and free of contaminants, such as Escherichia coli and specific chemicals.

International health policy

  • Agreement on the price of 10 drugs in the USA. Biden and Harris announce savings of 7.5 billion dollars, as a result of the agreement on the change in the price of 10 drugs. The affected companies are not minor: Merck, NovoNordisk, AstraZeneca, Immunex, Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen, BMS, Novartis, AbbVie, among others.
  • The Lancet sets out Kamala Harris’s health priorities in an editorial. The first thing to recognize is Biden’s merits in health policy: reestablishing funding for the WHO and the UN Fund for the population; returning to the Paris agreement on climate change (both Trump eccentricities); increasing credits for children; expanding Obamacare; and approving the law to reduce inflation (which has allowed the price agreement with the pharmaceutical industry). According to this editorial, Kamala Harris’ priorities would be four: 1. Reverse the decline in life expectancy in the USA (77.4 years in 2022, compared to 78.8 in 2019). The State of Mississippi has a life expectancy of 71.9 years, lower than Mongolia (72.6 years) and Syria (72.3 years); 2. Incentivize States with the poorest health indicators; 3. Regain confidence in science, lost by a large part of the population; and, 4. Strengthen the role of the USA in global health diplomacy. • The NHS launches a subscription system for antibiotics. The NHS will negotiate with pharmaceutical companies a subscription system of up to 20 million pounds per year per medicine. The tender will be launched next Monday and will reach 1.9 billion pounds in 16 years and will operate in the four nations of the United Kingdom.
  • The NHS “Pharmacy First” is not working properly. Pharmacies do not reach the minimum number of consultations. In the programme, seven specific pathologies had been defined to be attended to by pharmacies, which would receive extra payment. The programme is not working as well as expected, in the eyes of the pharmacies attached to the initiative.
  • Health strategies in the European Union are not given priority. According to an editorial in The Lancet Regional Health-Europe.

National Health Policy (Spain)

  • Spain faces Mpox. The Ministry of Health brings together technicians and autonomous communities in response to the Mpox health emergency and negotiates with the European Union the joint purchase of smallpox vaccines. It is known that the cases registered in Spain are unvaccinated people.
  • Health will reduce the time for drug approval. The Royal Decree that will define from now on the process of approval and financing of drugs has been made public. Deadlines are established for the approval of a new drug, which will go from the current average of 650 days to 210 days, a substantial change.
  • Extraordinary good reception of the Minister Olga Pané by the Catalan health sector. Some comments on this:
    • Apart from the outstanding qualities of the new Minister, it is not precisely the lack of competent councillors that has been seen in Catalonia. What was lacking was rather a good government concerned about “things”, as Ortega would say. Without a good government (with a project and willing to carry out a reformist project) there can be no success in health policy.
    • Catalonia can make an important contribution to its system and to the national system if it advances in the reform of the public management model and in personnel policy, key issues for the Catalan Society of Health Management, to which the minister is linked.
    • Far from emphasizing these issues, the PSC-ERC agreement insists above all on an endless list of infrastructure works, which apart from being difficult to fulfill, rather seems something similar to Gonzalo Fernández de la Mora’s “State of Works”. Logically, a plan for works is not a health policy. On the other hand, in this same section there is talk of “continuing with the processes of republification”, the scope of which is not specified, but which may contain worrying connotations.

Companies

  • International
    • Eight super drugs will lose their patent in the next five years. This affects Merck-MSD, BMS, Bayer, Pfizer, Lilly or Roche. The eight blockbusters that will lose their patent at the end of this decade are among the thirty best-selling drugs in the world.
    • Who is Bavarian Nordic, the company that makes the only vaccine against Mpox. It rises 38% on the stock market in four days. The CEO of this company, Paul Chaplin, assured that it will be able to meet the immunization needs of African nations. “We have inventory and we have the capacities. What we lack are the orders,” he said.
  • National
    • Problems continue at Grifols. Stock market crash and demand in the USA.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

  • USA
    • Biden and Harris announce savings of 7.5 billion dollars, as a result of the agreement on the change of prices of 10 drugs. The affected companies are not minor: Merck, NovoNordisk, AstraZeneca, Immunex, Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen, BMS, Novartis, AbbVie, among others. (https://www.ft.com/content/718b52e8-9c57-4dcf-b2f4-84cf8d7da21c)
    • The Lancet editorial: Kamala Harris’s health priorities. The first thing to recognize are Biden’s merits in health policy: reestablishing the funding of the WHO and the UN Fund for the population; returning to the Paris agreement on climate change; increasing credits for children; expanding Obamacare; and approving the law to reduce inflation (which has allowed the price agreement with the pharmaceutical industry). According to this editorial, Kamala Harris has four priorities: 1. Reverse the decline in life expectancy in the USA (77.4 years in 2022, compared to 78.8 in 2019). The state of Mississippi has a life expectancy of 71.9 years, lower than Mongolia (72.6 years) and Syria (72.3 years); 2. Incentivize states with the poorest health indicators; 3. Restore trust in science, lost by a large part of the population; and, 4. Strengthen the role of the USA in global health diplomacy (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01687-8/fulltext)
    • Medicare expansion of obesity drugs could mean an increase in spending of between 3.1 and 6.1 billion dollars (https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.00356)

National health policy

Companies

7 days in healthcare (November 7th-13th, 2022)

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Summary

From the point of view of biomedicine, to highlight the blood transfusion with cells generated in the laboratory from donor stem cells, carried out in the United Kingdom, which opens up possibilities for what has been pursued for years: the so-called “artificial blood”. Likewise, two advances that originate in Spain: the discovery of a genetic variant that favors thinness (CNIO) and the fact that malignant cells break off from cancer and cause deaths by metastasis (Institute of Medical Research of Barcelona).

As regards Global Health, Nature insists in an editorial, following the COP27 meeting, that rich countries must advance compensation for polluting. Important challenges for the new Brazilian President in health matters, particularly in primary care.

Regarding International Health Policy, debate on the covid-zero policy in China, on the one hand, there seem to be signs that China is easing quarantines, on the other hand, according to José Luis Puerta in an article, this policy is a death trap , since its abandonment may mean assuming a high number of deaths, given the low percentage of vaccination in China. In the United Kingdom (NHS) a nurses’ strike for salary demands is raised for the first time, which. according to the Government, they are unaffordable.

If we talk about National Health Policy (Spain), it seems that the crisis of Primary Care, long incubated, has exploded. Although the problems of low wages, poor working conditions for doctors and flight or refusal to go to Primary Care is a national problem, the crisis has broken out above all, although not only, in Madrid, which has some peculiarities that aggravate the situation: 1. the closure of out-of-hospital emergencies for two years; 2. the low funding of the health system in Madrid and of Primary Care; and, 3. some confrontation practice. The truth is that the “white tide” has been activated, with a large demonstration in defense of public healthcare in the center of Madrid, which was a great success for the organizers. As always in these cases, the defense of public healthcare is mixed with the rejection of any form of public/private collaboration. Tensions in primary care also in the rest of Spain. Highly recommendable is the video on YouTube entitled “Doctors are lacking in Spain”?

In the field of companies, at the international level Bavarian Nordic increases its growth due to the monkeypox vaccine, while BioNTech’s revenues fall, due to the drop in sales of the covid vaccine. In Spain, changes in the CEO of Quirón, to whom Víctor Madera, the company’s founder, returns to executive positions. Success for Ribera, which is awarded an important contract for a hospital concession in Cascais (Portugal). New delays in the approval by the EMA of the HIPRA vaccine.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

  • COVID-19
    • China eases quarantine rules, with Guangzhou close to lockdown. There is speculation that Beijing is considering a relaxation of the covid-zero policy (https://www.ft.com/content/709e95e6-cc63-4fe0-9c4a-5683c87f7e7b)
    • Interesting article by José Luis Puerta: “China: the deadly trap of the covid-zero policy”. If the government lifts the restrictions, which are sinking the economy, the country risks suffering a tsunami of infections, due to the low level of vaccination. It is estimated that this could cause 1.6 million deaths and a demand for intensive care that exceeds its current capacity by 15.6 times (https://theobjective.com/internacional/2022-11-12/china-covid-zero/ )

National health policy

Companies

 

7 days in healthcare (August 15-21, 2022)

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Summary

From the point of view of biomedicine, the first drug is prepared using CRISPR (gene editing) technology. Important publication from The Lancet in the largest effort yet to identify risk factors in relation to cancer. Not surprisingly, however, tobacco and alcohol are the biggest risk factors, particularly tobacco.

As far as Global Health is concerned, polio is back and the UK is now offering vaccinations to children in London between the ages of 1 and 9.

Regarding international health policy, the famous North American Inflation Reduction Act has been signed by President Biden. Despite its name, the law has more to do with climate change and health, especially drug prices. No large growth in monkeypox is predicted, based on modeling carried out by The Economist. Deaths from covid remain high (15,000 a week globally) warns the Director General of the WHO. The Director of the American CDC denounces serious failures in the management of covid and announces substantial changes in the functioning of this body. A clear contrast to what is happening in Spain, where no conclusions seem to be drawn from the management of covid, despite being one of the most affected countries in terms of the number of cases and mortality in relation to the population.

If we talk about national health policy (Spain), the good news are that covid continues to decline, although there are still 62 deaths per day. The approval of the State Center for Public Health, scheduled for next week, is possibly the biggest consequence of covid. The birth rate in Spain falls to historical lows.

In the field of companies, drug prices break historical records in the USA. In Spain, HIPRA is preparing to manufacture 250 million doses of covid vaccines, pending approval by the EMA.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

National health policy

Companies

 

7 days in healthcare (25th-31st July, 2022)

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Summary

From the point of view of biomedicine, it should be noted that the origin of acute childhood hepatitis has been discovered, it turns out to be due to a co-infection of two viruses, ruling out covid as the cause of this disease. Major advances by a group of Yale scientists in the treatment of brain tumors, specifically aggressive glioblastoma multiforme, using molecules that attack tumor DNA. Deep Mind (a company of the Alphabet group, parent of Google) launches an algorithm capable of identifying the structure of proteins. It seems that this advance may be of great importance for the discovery of new drugs.

As far as Global Health is concerned, air pollution is a public health emergency, according to the British Medical Journal. The WHO reaches an agreement on a treaty on pandemics, which should be agreed in May-2024.

Regarding international health policy, mention should be made of the declaration by the WHO of monkeypox as a global public health emergency, which is justified by the existence of more than 17,300 cases in more than 70 countries. It seems that it is confirmed that covid-19 originated in the live animal market in Wuhan (China).

If we talk about national health policy (Spain), two deaths in Spain as a result of monkeypox (in both cases due to encephalitis). At the present time there is only one other case of death from this disease in Brazil. The incidence of covid-19 drops very significantly, moving us away from the peak of the seventh wave.

In the field of companies, it should be noted that Fujijilm is going to be transformed into a health company. Teladoc’s notable financial losses. Vivalto Santé, an important French group, acquires the property of Ribera through the sale of Centene Corporation.

Biomedicine

Global Health

International health policy

National health policy

Companies

 

7 days in healthcare (May 23th-29th, 2022)

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Summary

From the point of view of biomedicine, the most important are the advances in the study of the microbiota, published in the journal Science.

As far as Global Health is concerned, the tragic mistake of the donation of vaccines by Europe should be highlighted, since many of those sent were close to expiration. Reappearance of polio in Africa, always worrying.

Regarding international health policy, the European health agency asks governments to be prepared against possible vaccination against monkeypox. Health bursts into the spotlight at the Davos Economic Forum.

If we talk about national health policy (Spain), Spain joins the European system for the purchase of vaccines against monkeypox. The MIR call leaves 200 vacancies for family doctors. An emergency situation is addressed, but not the underlying problem: the unattractive nature of these places.

In the field of companies, it should be noted that, according to Expansión, private insurance customers are dissatisfied with the massive use of the service. Between this and the unhappiness of both doctors and providers with the fees, it seems that significant changes are coming in this sector.

Biomedicine

Global health

International health policy

  • Monkeypox

o The European health agency asks governments to be prepared for vaccination against monkeypox (https://www.ft.com/content/11df80f5-32d5-4bb3-8215-420574f276c4)

o The monkeypox virus, what we know so far that alarms countries (https://www.ft.com/content/d951bd2b-0470-4d74-827d-0c06d9bf5056)

o Monkeypox, more than 180 cases outside Africa, countries prepare to vaccinate (https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/05/25/variole-du-singe-plus-de- 180-cas-confirmes-hors-d-afrique-des-pays-se-preparent-a-vacciner_6127608_3244.html)

o A study published in The Lancet points to an antiviral as a possible treatment for monkeypox (https://www.eldiario.es/sociedad/estudio-publicado-the-lancet-senala-antiviral-posible-tratamiento-viruela- monkey_1_9018642.html)

  • COVID-19

o Lessons from Japan on dealing with covid, since this country had six waves and the number of cases and deaths per capita has been lower than other G7 countries, despite having an aging and highly concentrated population (https ://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-022-01385-9/d41586-022-01385-9.pdf)

o More than 1 in 5 COVID survivors may develop long covid in the United States (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/24/health/long-covid-infections.html)

o Pfizer warns of constant waves of covid-19, while complacency grows (https://www.ft.com/content/8244af52-26ba-4676-961a-c57f1d4892e8)

o What justifies the zero-covid policy in China?, an analysis by Zhang Jun, director of the China Center for Economic Studies in Shanghai (https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/shanghai-lockdown-why-china -keeps-its-zero-covid-strategy-by-zhang-jun-2022-05)

o A study suggests that women are twice as likely to suffer from persistent covid (https://www.ft.com/content/ea2d58c5-ae62-442c-b721-364c95852209)

  • Other themes

o Health bursts into the spotlight at the return of the Davos Economic Forum, with the presence of Bill Gates, the CEO of Pfizer and the president of AstraZeneca, among others (https://www.plantadoce.com/entorno/la- health-breaks-in-as-protagonist-in-the-return-of-the-davos-economic-forum.html)

o Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus re-elected as WHO Director General (https://www.ft.com/content/75de7a67-f850-4fe2-8911-8f6237f38514)

o Oklahoma Governor signs law strictly banning abortion (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/26/oklahoma-strictest-abortion-ban-law-us-governor)

National health policy (Spain)

  • Monkeypox

o At least six countries have detected cases of monkeypox in travelers from Spain (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2022-05-28/al-menos-seis-paises-han-detectado-casos-de- monkeypox-in-travelers-from-spain.html)

o 41% of monkeypox cases are in Spain (https://www.larazon.es/sociedad/20220523/6t2hw3xhhveq3e7oho5hnj3zxa.html)

o Spain will enter the European system for the purchase of the monkeypox vaccine (https://www.diariofarma.com/2022/05/25/espana-entrara-en-la-compra-centralizada-de-la -eu-to-deal-with-monkeypox)

  • COVID

o The cumulative incidence, down (728.2 cases in the last 14 days; there were 848 the previous Friday. Hospital occupancy due to covid: 5.6%; ICUs: 4.2%) (https://www.consalud .es/patients/special-coronavirus/covid-19-spain-coronavirus-data_115366_102.html)

  • Regulatory announcements

o New Framework Statute, at the table of the Advisory Council on June 2 (https://www.redaccionmedica.com/secciones/ministerio-sanidad/nuevo-estatuto-marco-y-10-puntos-mas-al-consejo- advisory-of-june-2-5764)

o A new draft of the Preliminary Draft Law is published, which modifies various regulations to consolidate the equity, universality and cohesion of the National Health System, after its approval in the Interterritorial Council of April 2022 (https://www.diariofarma .com/2022/04/06/el-cisns-da-luz-verde-a-la-ley-de-equidad), held in Toledo. In relation to the previous version of 11/15/2021, more requirements are introduced for agreement, incorporating the concept of “effective cost” previously established and reviewable by the Administration

  • Other themes

o The Ministry of Health marks November for the new palliative strategy (https://www.redaccionmedica.com/secciones/ministerio-sanidad/sanidad-marca-noviembre-para-activar-la-nueva-estrategia-de-paliativos- 6597)

o The public debt to suppliers amounts to 2,000 million (https://www.diariofarma.com/2022/05/23/la-deuda-publica-a-proveedores-sanitarios-asciende-a-2-000-millones)

o Warning from Brussels to Spain due to the “shortage” of health professionals and primary care financing (https://www.consalud.es/politica/toque-bruselas-espana-por-escasez-sanitarios-finacion-primaria_115145_102.html)

o Podemos takes the “deprivatization” of the SNS to Congress (https://www.redaccionmedica.com/secciones/parlamentarios/podemos-aprieta-al-psoe-llevando-al-congreso-la-desprivatizacion-del-sns-1224)

o The lack of family doctors worsens as the MIR call leaves 200 places vacant (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2022-05-24/la-falta-de-medicos-de-familia-se-agrava- la-convocatoria-de-mir-deja-200-plazas-vacantes.html), for which it is agreed to increase the number of MIR vacancies for non-EU people to fill the vacancies (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia- y-salud/salud/2022/05/25/628e86d3e4d4d85f418b45e6.html

Companies

  • International News

o Pfizer intends to obtain approval in the USA for the covid vaccine for children under 5 years of age (https://www.ft.com/content/48c88652-502c-4b33-9866-589eeafcf302)

o Medtronic and DaVita announce the creation of a kidney health technology company (https://www.consalud.es/ecsalud/internacional/medtronic-davita-anuncian-creacion-empresa-tecnologia-salud-renal_115348_102.html)

o The USA will deploy the Bavarian Nordic monkeypox vaccine (https://www.consalud.es/ecsalud/internacional/eeuu-desplegara-vacuna-contra-viruela-mono-bavarian-nordic-entre-poblacion-vulnerable_115091_102. html)

o The IFPMA (global employers association of pharmaceutical manufacturers) proposes 10 measures to fight the next pandemic (https://www.diariofarma.com/2022/05/25/la-ifpma-propone-10-medidas-para-luchar- against-the-next-pandemic)

  • National News

o Grupo Juste, a Spanish pharmaceutical company that turns 100 (https://www.redaccionmedica.com/secciones/industria/una-farmaceutica-espanola-cumple-100-anos-7009)

o Esteve intends to double its turnover, reaching 1,000 million euros (https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2022/05/26/companias/1653591656_508050.html)

o Clients of private health insurance, disappointed by the mass use of the service (https://www.expansion.com/empresas/banca/2022/05/28/6290b63c468aebbe018b45d8.html)

o The private sector of assisted reproduction moves 500 million in 2021, 9% more than in 2020 (https://www.plantadoce.com/entorno/el-sector-privado-de-reproduccion-asistida-mueve-500-millones -in-2021-a-9-more-than-in-2020.html)

o FENIN registers a 27% decrease in investment in 2021 (https://www.actasanitaria.com/tecnologia/fenin-registra-descenso-27-en-inversion-tecnologia-sanitaria_2002610_102.html)

o Sanitas and the San Pablo CEU University sign an agreement for the training of health professionals (https://www.servimedia.es/noticias/sanitas-universidad-ceu-san-pablo-firman-acuerdo-para-formacion-profesionales- assistance-future/3406605)

o Malaga will have a new public hospital in 2023, after the agreement with the Pascual group (https://www.vidaeconomica.com/2022/05/hospital-malaga/)

 

 

 

 

 

7 days in healthcare (May 16th-22nd, 2022)

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Summary

From the point of view of biomedicine, there seems to be new evidence of the relationship between acute childhood hepatitis and COVID. Interesting articles on how COVID can affect the brain, generating a kind of “dementia epidemic” and what long covid is and how to treat it.

Regarding Global Health, possible alarming effects of a global food crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine and its consequences. Report on serious deficiencies of “assisted technologies” (basically, wheelchairs, glasses and hearing aids) in a large part of the world’s population. The shortage of covid vaccine production in African countries continues to be denounced.

As for international health policy, an article in The Economist takes the drama out of “monkey pox”, saying that it is nothing comparable to what covid represented. Catastrophe due to covid in North Korea, a country that did not take advantage of its total closure during the pandemic to favor the immunization of its population and the reinforcement of its health system. Also, very reluctant to accept foreign aid. Isolated dictatorship things. Interesting experiment in New Zealand on a generation without tobacco.

If we talk about national health policy (Spain), the Ministry of Health has issued a protocol on monkeypox, about which there are some interesting statements by López Acuña, who also takes the drama out of this epidemic. Approved in the Council of Ministers the new abortion law, destined, probably, not to solve anything and to generate artificial problems. The SEMFYC (association of primary care doctors) warns about the need for 10,000 primary care doctors, to cover the generational change.

In the field of companies, the initiative of the Government of Catalonia to create a commission to study the new location of the Hospital Clínic should be highlighted. Surely an avant-garde and innovative hospital does not fit well in the current old building. A true revolution in the hospital and urban world of Barcelona. The AESEG warns about the low price of certain basic medicines, which discourages their production.

Biomedicine

Global health

International health policy

  • Monkeypox

o Monkeypox spreads to several countries: after originating from a traveler from Nigeria, the disease has spread to the United States, Australia, Canada and 8 European countries. According to The Economist, there is nothing to worry about and it has nothing to do with the covid pandemic, which took the world unprepared, without vaccines or treatments (https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022 /05/20/monkeypox-is-popping-up-in-more-countries-how-worrying-is-this)

o What is Monkeypox, article in the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-monkeypox.html)

o We will see more cases of monkeypox, warns a British scientist (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/21/we-will-see-more-cases-of-monkeypox-warn-british- scientists)

  • COVID-19

o Taiwan gradually renounces the “zero-covid” policy, assuming that the number of cases will increase (https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/05/16/taiwan-renonce-peu -a-peu-a-politique-zero-covid_6126267_3244.html)

o Catastrophe in North Korea. The country was closed during the pandemic, but it was not used to immunize the population or strengthen the health system (https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/05/17/covid-19-is-spreading-like -wildfire-in-north-korea)

o Shanghai is going to open its commerce in stages (https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/05/15/covid-19-shanghai-va-rouvrir-ses-commerces-par-etapes-apres- deux-mois-de-confinement_6126204_3244.html)

o How Australia saved thousands of lives from covid, in contrast to what happened in the United States (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/world/australia/covid-deaths.html)

  • Other themes

o The policy on the possible annulment of the Roe v Wade judgment in the United States continues, important editorial in Science (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adc9968)

o A generation without tobacco in New Zealand, prohibited for all those born since January 1, 2009. Malaysia and Denmark are also considering similar measures (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140- 6736(22)00925-4/fulltext)

o The United States, Switzerland and Norway lead the world in spending on health per capita (https://www.plantadoce.com/entorno/estados-unidos-suiza-y-noruega-lideran-el-gasto-per-inhabitante- in-medical-care.html)

o The NHS needs access to medical data to save lives, interesting article in the Financial Times (https://www.ft.com/content/dc01b30f-472d-4da6-b694-28486383aeff)

o A report commissioned by the Minister for Health proposes that the legal smoking age in the UK be 21 (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/may/21/legal-smoking-age -in-england-could-be-raised-to-21-report)

National health policy

  • Monkeypox

o Protocol of the Ministry of Health against monkeypox (https://www.consalud.es/pacientes/protocolo-contra-viruela-mono-aislamiento-cuarentena-solo-confirmados-sopechosos_115004_102.html)

o Interesting statements by López Acuña: there is no reason for social alarm over monkeypox (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2022/05/22/62890984e4d4d80e098b4591.html)

o Spain will buy thousands of vaccines for the monkeypox disease (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2022-05-19/espana-prepara-la-compra-de-miles-de-vacunas-frente-a -the-traditional-smallpox-to-deal-with-the-monkey-virus-outbreak.html)

  • COVID

o The cumulative incidence, on the rise: 848 points (https://www.consalud.es/pacientes/especial-coronavirus/covid-19-espana-notifica-58839-nuevos-casos-305-muertes-ia-sube-848 -points_114982_102.html)

  • Regulatory announcements

o The new abortion law approved by the Council of Ministers (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/ginecologia/politica/montero-las-mujeres-podran-abortar-en-el-hospital-publico-mas-cercano- your-address.html)

  • Other themes

o Spain, leader in the consumption of benzodiazepines for anxiety and insomnia (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2022/05/15/627e8bf0fdddffa9638b458b.html)

o The National Health System (SNS) would need 10,000 family doctors for generational turnover, according to a study by the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SEMFYC) (https://www.plantadoce.com/entorno/el-sns-necesita-10000-medicos -of-family-more-to-guarantee-the-generational-handover.html)

o The strike of specialist doctors in Madrid, suspended after an agreement (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/profesion/madrid-medicos-desconvocan-la-huelga-con-la-promesa-de-2500-plazas- contest.html)

o Spain, last in mental health, there are only 2,800 psychologists in public health, only 344 in Primary Care (https://www.elespanol.com/invertia/observatorios/sanidad/20220522/espana-mental-invierte-europa -psychologists-public-health/672183163_0.html)

o Private healthcare works on a code of good practice: joint initiative of ATA (Association of Self-Employed) and ASPE (https://www.redaccionmedica.com/secciones/privada/la-sanidad-privada-espanola-trabajo-en- your-own-code-of-good-practices-4162)

Companies

  • International News

o Big Pharma pressures the G20 to prepare for the next pandemic (https://www.ft.com/content/ca71ee0e-9b4b-4c2e-b60b-bbd841415697)

o Monkeypox shoots up the stock of the only company that manufactures them: Bavarian Nordic (https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2022/05/20/companias/1653035794_646119.html)

  • National News

o Dependency insurance grows 71.4% and closes the first quarter with 132,000 users (https://www.plantadoce.com/entorno/el-seguro-de-dependencia-crece-un-714-y-cierra- the-first-quarter-with-132000-users.html)

o Catalonia constitutes the commission that will decide the location of the new Clinic Hospital (https://www.plantadoce.com/publico/cataluna-constitución-la-comision-que-decidira-el-emplazamiento-del-nuevo-hospital-clinic. html)

o Colgate-Palmolive breaks into the bid for Lácer (https://cincodias.elpais.com/cincodias/2022/05/19/companias/1652978299_749683.html)

o AESEG asks to raise the price of essential medicines to produce them (https://www.eleconomista.es/salud/noticias/11768114/05/22/El-generico-pide-subir-el-precio-de-los-farmacos -essential-to-produce-them.html)