Polio remains a public health emergency of international concern despite a continued decline in case numbers, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General report presented to the Executive Board. The report warns that progress toward eradication remains fragile. Some 38 cases of wild poliovirus type 1 had been reported globally by 22 October 2025, […] Continue reading ->
Ukraine and its front-line allies unleashed a storm of criticism over Russia’s relentless attacks on Ukraine’s energy and health infrastructure in WHO’s Executive Board meeting Wednesday – condemning the Russian Federation for “weaponizing winter to make cities go dark, hospitals fail and civilians suffer.” “Russia is systematically attacking healthcare and the civilian lifelines it depends […] Continue reading ->
The US House of Representatives passed a more than $1 trillion spending package, bringing an end to a five-day partial government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding. Among the allocations is a $9.42 billion package for global health programs – signaling strong bipartisan support and maintaining significant global health aid. The Fiscal Year 2026 […] Continue reading ->
A dispute over technology transfer rights pushed the World Health Organization (WHO) to delay its Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) for further informal talks. Instead, the Executive Board approved a compromise drafted by Nepal and Ethiopia on Wednesday to reopen negotiations on intellectual property, specifically regarding “voluntary and mutually agreed technology transfers.” This […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) is set for a massive shift in global health priorities with a new emergency care strategy, moving away from isolated hospital “silos” toward a seamless continuum of care. On Tuesday, the Executive Board unanimously adopted a 10-year strategy (2026 to 2035) for Integrated Emergency, Critical, and Operative Care (ECO), positioning […] Continue reading ->
Ongoing conflicts and vaccine hesitancy are undermining efforts to immunize all children, according to a report tabled at the World Health Organization’s Executive Board meeting. Over 120 million people were displaced by conflicts in 2024 alone, according to the WHO. Countries will have to put in significant efforts to achieve the 2030 target of averting […] Continue reading ->
This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. Chaos, confusion, and more ethical dilemmas: Humanitarians are still trying to understand the impacts of a sweeping expansion to the so-called “global gag rule” on US funding. The Trump administration expanded the on-again, off-again anti-abortion care directive known as the Mexico City policy to include nearly […] Continue reading ->
Almost 40% of global cancer cases could be prevented, according to a new global study from the World Health Organization (WHO) and its International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), published in Nature Medicine on Tuesday. The study attributed some 7.1 million cancer cases in 2022 to 30 “modifiable risk factors”. Tobacco was the leading […] Continue reading ->
Proposals to include steatotic liver disease and haemophilia, and other inherited bleeding disorders, into the definition of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) will be tabled at the World Health Assembly in May, the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board (EB) resolved on Tuesday. Egypt, which sponsored the resolution on steatotic liver disease (formerly known as fatty liver […] Continue reading ->
Countries are significantly off track in meeting global targets set to transform mental health systems, according to the latest Director-General report tabled at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Executive Board meeting. Around 1.1 billion people were estimated to be living with a mental health disorder, according to the latest WHO data available for 2021. Financial […] Continue reading ->