ISLAMABAD – Pakistan was once considered a low-prevalence country for HIV, but a series of outbreaks has infected hundreds of children and exposed fundamental weaknesses in its healthcare system. Southern Pakistan has been particularly affected, with HIV outbreaks linked to healthcare facilities documented at Taunsa in Punjab, Karachi’s Kulsim Bai Valika (KBV) Hospital, and […] Continue reading ->
United Nations member states are almost certain to break the silence on the final draft of the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) that was sent to them recently– but likely for all the wrong reasons. Armenia and Rwanda, the co-facilitators of the declaration negotiations, put the “final” text of the declaration […] Continue reading ->
A finance ministry official can now draft in an afternoon what used to take a WHO mission, a consultant and a wait of weeks. That single fact, multiplied across almost everything WHO produces, is the real story behind this year’s budget cuts — and almost nobody in Geneva is telling it yet. Picture a health […] Continue reading ->
Eastern Mediterranean Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy will take immediate leave effective Tuesday to formally launch her campaign in the WHO Director-General Election, according to an internal notice from DG Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus seen by Health Policy Watch. Balkhy becomes the first serving regional director required to take leave after Tedros issued newly tightened […] Continue reading ->
VITAL SIGNS COLUMN: Eighteen months into the dismantling of the global AIDS response, how many have died? The honest answer is that nobody knows. Rio’s numbers are inferences, its assumptions and projections disputable. But 30 years and tens of billions of dollars into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we should not still be guessing. The week’s Vital […] Continue reading ->