FROM THE MARGINS January is National Microinsurance Month. Microinsurance is crucial to financial inclusion and has immense social and economic benefits because it provides poor people with safety nets to help them cope with unexpected shocks. Its growth was facilitated by the Insurance Commission...
The Philippines has urged fellow ASEAN members to remain united as the region plays a key role being now the center of global economy. This was stressed by Trade and Industry Assistant Secretary Allan Gepty, who represented the Philippines at the First Meeting of the ASEAN Senior Economic Officials...
Debunking the latest fake Covid-19 news and updates on XBB.1.5 and bivalent vaccines CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA It’s a new year and so far, so good! The first week of 2023 showed less than 500 Covid-19 cases per day and only one severe case a day for the entire week. Healthcare...
CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA What a wonderful holiday season we just had. Face-to-face gatherings are once again the norm after two years of keeping to our own households, and celebrations have been on par or exceeded pre-pandemic festivities. The fireworks on New Year’s Eve were as noisy...
CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA If global trends continue, it will definitely be a happy new year in 2023 as the end of the pandemic is at hand. Citing the continued decline in cases and deaths, World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Ghebreyesus is hopeful that the emergency...
Why common sense isn’t so common CLINICAL MATTERS Throughout the pandemic, there were many instances when scientists and doctors were attacked by a mix of anti-science trolls, anti-vaxxers, and Covid-19 denialists. As authorities and healthcare workers raced to save lives using evidence-based...
CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA It has been more than a month since we shifted to voluntary masking. Full face-to-face classes have been going on for some time now. Despite many misgivings, Covid-19 cases in the Philippines have remained stable. Healthcare utilization remains low. Many are...
Since before Covid-19, infectious diseases experts have been raising the alarm on rising antimicrobial resistance CLINICAL MATTERS DR. EDSEL SALVANA Before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, infectious diseases experts were already raising the alarm on the threat of antimicrobial resistance. In...
DR. EDSEL SALVANA CLINICAL MATTERS It is now over two weeks from the lifting of mask mandates indoors. As expected, cases are up by about 43 percent. This is from less than 1,000 cases a day the week before to 1,296 through the week of Nov. 7 to 13. During this period, there were only six new...
Many Filipinos will wake up today not knowing that in a place called Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt, a very important two-week event called COP 27 has started, shaping up as perhaps the most consequential gathering of world leaders that will determine the future of this planet and the lives of the most...
Will we need to get vaccines periodically? CLINICAL MATTERS With the seemingly unending emergence of new Covid-19 variants, many people are starting to question whether the pandemic will truly end. Despite an unprecedented vaccination rollout, daily case numbers remain in the thousands and many...
Monkeypox, Centaurus, and the future of the pandemic CLINICAL MATTERS As an infectious diseases doctor, I know the names of hundreds of pathogens that can kill you in many horrible ways. From brain-eating amoeba to a virus that liquefies your internal organs into a bloody mess, to bacteria that eat...
