A new plan to improve collaboration across 12 United Nations and multilateral agencies to support UN member states to reach 2030 targets on health includes not only the ambitious aim of reducing bureaucracy and increasing efficiency, but of working better across sectors to address environmental, commercial and social factors that harm health. These factors, which […] Continue reading ->
A UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for countries to combat childhood, early and forced marriages, and supported by over 60 UN member states, ran into heavy criticism today prior to its final approval. A number of countries in the Middle East, South-East Asia and North Africa publicly disassociated themselves from clauses promoting girls access […] Continue reading ->
Kawaldip Sehmi, CEO of the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO), answers 5 questions on why the Essential Medicines List is important for patients. IAPO is a United Kingdom-based alliance of 276 member organisations from 71 countries representing 50 disease areas, and working in collaboration with civil society, UN agencies and the healthcare industry. Sehmi holds a […] Continue reading ->
WHO has added ten new cancer drugs, including some pricey ones, to its 2019 Essential Medicines List, which provides global guidance to countries and health systems about drugs deemed most essential to patients and public health systems. The addition of major new cancer treatments in five categories, melanoma (skin), lung, blood and prostate cancers, reflects […] Continue reading ->
Nairobi, Kenya – The World Health Organization has commended efforts by the government of Uganda for keeping the deadly Ebola virus from spreading eastwards into the country from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where a prolonged outbreak has claimed approximately 1,600 lives since last August. The East African country has recorded only three […] Continue reading ->
[Republished from The Lancet] Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet, examines the issues around the pending appointment of a new executive director for UNAIDS, as well as the candidates for the post, following the May resignation of executive director Michel Sidibé. The selection process has fueled questions about who may now be best positioned to […] Continue reading ->
The Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP) has announced its new “5 BY 25” strategy to mobilise global stakeholders to raise the €500 million needed to develop and deliver five new antibiotic treatments by 2025, to help tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Drug-resistant infections already cause at least 700,000 deaths globally each year, and affect […] Continue reading ->
Globally, political resistance to assertive climate action remains an enormous barrier to change, despite mounting evidence about the impacts of climate change on people’s well-being and health, said Angel Gurria, secretary general of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), before an audience of several hundred people in Geneva today. Reframing the climate debate […] Continue reading ->