Amidst fresh calls from US President Joe Biden ordering the science and intelligence community to come up with a more detailed account of how the SARS-CoV2 virus emerged – it’s unclear how much action the World Health Assembly will really see on the issue. Language in the the final-agreed draft of a WHA resolution, Strengthening […] Continue reading ->
With vaccine deliveries delayed by India’s decision to prioritise local vaccination over export requests, Africa’s leading disease control agency suggested COVID-19 could become endemic. John Nkengasong, director of Africa’s CDC, told reporters on Thursday that Africa needs to immunise population majorities quickly, but the vaccine delays make this unlikely.  “With the rate of immunisation in […] Continue reading ->
While the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in huge setbacks for health systems – it has also highlighted the needs. And one of the biggest is the need for greater investment in basic primary health care systems as a pathway for ensuring  Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Delegates speaking during a high-level strategic session on the third […] Continue reading ->
China told the World Health Assembly on Wednesday it will continue to support developing countries’ access to affordable COVID-19 vaccines – but it stopped short of any commitment to supplying its recently-approved Sinopharm vaccine to the WHO co-sponsored Global COVAX vaccine facility.  WHO officials had said they hoped China would join the COVAX facility, following […] Continue reading ->
Controlling a disease outbreak requires cooperation both behind borders and between countries, experts said at a Wednesday event co-organised by the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Global Health Centre.  And one key, neglected area of international cooperation has been travel restrictions, where countries worldwide have created a cacophony of different measures to control COVID.   “Travel measures are […] Continue reading ->
EXCLUSIVE: The Geneva Observer has learned that Transparency International and a broad coalition of organizations advocating for a more robust protection mechanism for UN whistleblowers has sent an open letter to the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) urging WHO Member States to call for an independent review of the disclosures made by former WHO researcher […] Continue reading ->
Although gender is increasingly factored into health research, much remains to be done, experts reported at a Tuesday event co-organised by the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Global Health Centre. But despite growing awareness, health research continues to conceptualize gender in binary terms. Very little research concerns those who identify as LGBTQ+, according to speakers at the […] Continue reading ->