More dedicated to scientific research and much more “colourful” than the World Health Summit were descriptions for the 14th Global Grand Challenges Meeting 2018 that ended last night in Berlin and brought together some top researchers, policymakers and civil society. Like the WHS, the Grand Challenges Meeting focused on antimicrobial resistances and pandemic pathogens. But it also talked a little more on the issue of how better to incentivize R&D to fulfil SDG3, the UN Sustainable Development Goal on health, according to participants. Continue reading ->
BERLIN -- Answering the call by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ghana's President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg for a global action plan for pushing global health, heads of 11 major health organisations today signed “a commitment to find new ways of working together to accelerate progress towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals” at the close of the World Health Summit in Berlin. Continue reading ->
The United Nations late last month sought to hold landmark high-level meetings on ending tuberculosis and fighting noncommunicable diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease, with mixed results. Now a Swiss-based expert is looking at the outcomes and what comes next, and in a webinar talked about the political trade-offs resulting from the meetings, the need to push for an integrated agenda on Universal Health Coverage, and how the private sector should be engaged. Continue reading ->
BERLIN -- Ten years after establishing the Berlin World Health Summit, the M8 alliance of medical institutes around the globe sees some noticeable progress in political commitment to the health agenda. “Gifts” presented at the opening ceremony yesterday in the German capital include the announcement of German Health Minister Jens Spahn to establish a Hub for Global Health and step up its financial contributions to the World Health Organization (WHO) to 115 million euros over the next four years. The three-day summit also will receive a global action plan to catch up with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 on health and well-being for all. Continue reading ->
Hospitals in the Indian state of Rajasthan will be assessed next month to gauge whether upgrades, paid for with a new international innovative financing model, have brought them up to the new government quality standards. At least 92 small private healthcare organisations (SHCOs) - small private rural and urban hospitals - are being upgraded this year, and 360 in total over three years. If they manage to improve, 600,000 pregnant women would have improved care during delivery and potentially save the lives of up to 10,000 women and newborns over five years, according to one of the funders, the US government’s donor arm, USAID. The innovative financing model, called a development impact bond, has been put together by a consortium of philanthropic, NGOs, private organisations with USAID. But importantly, according to Priya Sharma, senior policy and innovative financing adviser at USAID, the model is advantageous for funders – whether they be governments or donors - wanting to make improvements with better outcomes. Continue reading ->