India, 12 November, 2025: According to the World Health Organization, about 630 million people are living with diabetes, a majority of whom are from low-and middle-income countries.  In India, nearly 50% of people remain undiagnosed, until serious complications appear, including cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, and vision loss. On World Diabetes Day, St. George’s University (SGU) School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies, is urging people in India to prioritize diabetes awareness, routine screening, and prevention.

The IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) will provide eligible member countries with long-term, low-interest financing to implement reforms addressing structural challenges, such as pandemics, while improving the resilience of health systems. The World Bank Group will offer additional financial and technical backing, while WHO will contribute its in-country expertise and operational capabilities.

By combining their strengths, these institutions will enhance pandemic preparedness efforts. The IMF will focus on policy and institutional reforms through its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), the WBG will drive investments and policy reforms, and WHO will provide technical support on the ground. This partnership seeks to ensure that member countries improve the resilience of their health systems and are better equipped to respond to future health emergencies.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Entamoeba histolytica is the third-leading cause of morbidity and mortality due to parasitic disease in humans. It causes amoebiasis or amoebic dysentery, which is highly prevalent in developing countries. A team of researchers from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has developed new drug molecules against the protozoa that causes amoebiasis.

This protozoan is anaerobic or micro-aerophilic in nature such that it cannot survive high concentrations of oxygen. However, during infection, it faces a high surge of oxygen inside the human body. The organism synthesizes large amounts of cysteine to counter oxidative stress.

This pathogen deploys cysteine as one of the essential molecules in its defence mechanism against high oxygen levels. Entamoeba expresses two crucial enzymes for synthesizing cysteine. Researchers from JNU has characterized and determined the molecular structures of both these crucial enzymes. “We have also successfully screened for potent inhibitors for one of the enzymes, O-acetyl L-serine sulfhydrylase (OASS). Some of these inhibitors can check the growth of this organism with high efficacy,” said Prof. Samudrala Gourinath, lead researcher, School of Life Sciences, JNU, while speaking with India Science Wire.

“Cysteine biosynthesis is crucial for the survival of E. histolytica and may be similar protozoan parasites. These can be targeted by inhibiting their pathways, which we have successfully done. The identified molecules can be lead to the development of drug molecules” said Dr Gourinath.

The research team includes Sudhaker Dharavath, Ramachandran Vijayan, Khushboo Kumari, and Priya Tomar. The study has been published in the journal European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

According to Worldometer, a website which compiles new cases of COVID-19, till Sunday evening at least 33,546 Americans, including Republican Senator from Kentucky Rand Paul, were confirmed infected with coronavirus while the death toll increased to 419.

Mr. Paul was the first Senator to have tested positive for coronavirus and he has gone into quarantine.
New York tops the list with more than 15,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 5,418 new cases added in the 24 hours alone. As many as 114 people in New York have died of which 58 were reported in a day.

Painting a grim picture, Mayor Bill de Blasio said New York is headed towards a major shortage of essential medical supply in next 10 days.

“We’re about 10 days away from seeing widespread shortages. If we don’t get more ventilators people will die,” he said.

In White House, Vice President Mike Pence told reporters that so far, more than 2,50,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus.

Mr. Trump said that he was rushing all necessary supplies to New York. He has issued Major Disaster Declarations for New York, California and Washington.

“We have large quantities of medical equipment and supplies on the way to those states… Respirators, surgical masks and gowns, face shields, coveralls and gloves in large quantities are already being delivered to Washington and New York,” he said.

The World Health Organization’s top emergency expert Mike Ryan said that there need to be public health measures to avoid a resurgence of the virus later on.

“What we really need to focus on is finding those who are sick, those who have the virus, and isolate them, find their contacts and isolate them,” Mike Ryan said