Proposed amendments to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR) focus on improving accountability and compliance, according to Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Speaking at the start of last week’s meeting of the IHR review committee, Tedros said that he expected a report from the committee, which is considering the amendments, by […] Continue reading ->
The existing international framework for sharing pathogens is ‘transactional’ and undermines global health security, according to research commissioned by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). Produced by legal consultancy Covington, the research was developed partly from interviews with 82 public health experts. There were drawn from the pharmaceutical companies (44% of respondents), […] Continue reading ->
Diminishing democracy, growing nationalism, widening social inequality, growing climate-related crises and debt are part of the “unprecedented” trends of 2023, according to world leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Tuesday. “Our generation has reached a turning point confronted by truly existential problems: climate change, exploitation of nature, nuclear possible incidents or even worse, […] Continue reading ->
European countries that plan to introduce “precautionary measures” in light of the huge COVID-19 surge in China should ensure these are “rooted in science, proportionate and non-discriminatory”, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Europe director has urged. However, Dr Hans Kluge added that, based on information available to WHO, “the SARS-CoV-2 virus variants circulating in China […] Continue reading ->
China should make full use of all available COVID-19 vaccines to combat its current Omicron surge, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) – including mRNA vaccines that are more effective than China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines. “Vaccination is the exit strategy from the impact [of Omicron],” Dr Mike Ryan, WHO head of health emergencies, […] Continue reading ->