The HIV Deaths Nobody Can Count 04/08/2026 Mukesh Kapila Eighteen months into the dismantling of the global AIDS response, how many have died? The honest answer is that nobody knows. Rio’s numbers are inferences, its assumptions and projections disputable. But 30 years and tens of billions of dollars into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we should not still be guessing. The week’s Vital Signs came from […] Continue reading -> Markets Offer Costly Cures while Courts Ensnare Prevention; meanwhile Ebola Response Stumbles 27/07/2026 Mukesh Kapila A trillion-dollar food industry sues to keep prevention at bay while governments spend billions subsidising the drugs that treat what bad diets do. Meanwhile, Ebola outruns a hollowed-out WHO, and its Director-General’s legacy hangs on whether he can get a grip. ‘If all else fails, sue’ Last week’s most telling global health story was not […] Continue reading -> Vital Signs: Reading Critical Developments in Global Health 20/07/2026 Mukesh Kapila Last week, one phrase — “self-reliance” — did more work in global health than any medicine, as global agencies continue operationalising donor retreats they can no longer disguise. The strategy’s real-world test is unfolding in eastern Congo, where the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record is outrunning a struggling response. The institutions of global health spent […] Continue reading -> It Is Time to Streamline the Global HIV/AIDS Architecture 01/12/2023 Mukesh Kapila I endured a dreary weekend in a Paris hotel while others rushed home. As the junior English speaker of a task force of United Nations (UN) member states, it fell to me to finalise our report. It was the early 1990s and we had travelled across Asia, Africa and Latin America collating confusing evidence and […] Continue reading -> Geopolitics at Heart of Elections for New Director of WHO Western Pacific Region 28/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila The World Health Organization (WHO) is busy electing new leaders in three of its six regions. Previous articles have considered the issues at stake and the candidates competing for the position of regional director in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) and the South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO). This article, the final one in the […] Continue reading -> Shenanigans in WHO South-East Asia as Politician’s Daughter Contests Regional Director Election 18/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila Election fever is sweeping through the World Health Organization (WHO) in three of its six regions – Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO), South-East Asia (SEARO), and Western Pacific (WPRO). It matters who becomes their regional directors because they have considerable decentralised authority to influence the health chances of billions. Its regions also make or break WHO globally. […] Continue reading -> Eastern Mediterranean Countries Deserve Better Health: Will the New WHO Regional Director Deliver That? 24/08/2023 Mukesh Kapila For most people, electing the regional director – or chief health officer – for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO) will not set the pulse racing. Is this just another shuffling of chairs around the world’s bureaucratic table? Even among global health nerds, it will trigger just a faint tremor. […] Continue reading ->
Markets Offer Costly Cures while Courts Ensnare Prevention; meanwhile Ebola Response Stumbles 27/07/2026 Mukesh Kapila A trillion-dollar food industry sues to keep prevention at bay while governments spend billions subsidising the drugs that treat what bad diets do. Meanwhile, Ebola outruns a hollowed-out WHO, and its Director-General’s legacy hangs on whether he can get a grip. ‘If all else fails, sue’ Last week’s most telling global health story was not […] Continue reading -> Vital Signs: Reading Critical Developments in Global Health 20/07/2026 Mukesh Kapila Last week, one phrase — “self-reliance” — did more work in global health than any medicine, as global agencies continue operationalising donor retreats they can no longer disguise. The strategy’s real-world test is unfolding in eastern Congo, where the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record is outrunning a struggling response. The institutions of global health spent […] Continue reading -> It Is Time to Streamline the Global HIV/AIDS Architecture 01/12/2023 Mukesh Kapila I endured a dreary weekend in a Paris hotel while others rushed home. As the junior English speaker of a task force of United Nations (UN) member states, it fell to me to finalise our report. It was the early 1990s and we had travelled across Asia, Africa and Latin America collating confusing evidence and […] Continue reading -> Geopolitics at Heart of Elections for New Director of WHO Western Pacific Region 28/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila The World Health Organization (WHO) is busy electing new leaders in three of its six regions. Previous articles have considered the issues at stake and the candidates competing for the position of regional director in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) and the South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO). This article, the final one in the […] Continue reading -> Shenanigans in WHO South-East Asia as Politician’s Daughter Contests Regional Director Election 18/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila Election fever is sweeping through the World Health Organization (WHO) in three of its six regions – Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO), South-East Asia (SEARO), and Western Pacific (WPRO). It matters who becomes their regional directors because they have considerable decentralised authority to influence the health chances of billions. Its regions also make or break WHO globally. […] Continue reading -> Eastern Mediterranean Countries Deserve Better Health: Will the New WHO Regional Director Deliver That? 24/08/2023 Mukesh Kapila For most people, electing the regional director – or chief health officer – for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO) will not set the pulse racing. Is this just another shuffling of chairs around the world’s bureaucratic table? Even among global health nerds, it will trigger just a faint tremor. […] Continue reading ->
Vital Signs: Reading Critical Developments in Global Health 20/07/2026 Mukesh Kapila Last week, one phrase — “self-reliance” — did more work in global health than any medicine, as global agencies continue operationalising donor retreats they can no longer disguise. The strategy’s real-world test is unfolding in eastern Congo, where the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record is outrunning a struggling response. The institutions of global health spent […] Continue reading -> It Is Time to Streamline the Global HIV/AIDS Architecture 01/12/2023 Mukesh Kapila I endured a dreary weekend in a Paris hotel while others rushed home. As the junior English speaker of a task force of United Nations (UN) member states, it fell to me to finalise our report. It was the early 1990s and we had travelled across Asia, Africa and Latin America collating confusing evidence and […] Continue reading -> Geopolitics at Heart of Elections for New Director of WHO Western Pacific Region 28/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila The World Health Organization (WHO) is busy electing new leaders in three of its six regions. Previous articles have considered the issues at stake and the candidates competing for the position of regional director in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) and the South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO). This article, the final one in the […] Continue reading -> Shenanigans in WHO South-East Asia as Politician’s Daughter Contests Regional Director Election 18/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila Election fever is sweeping through the World Health Organization (WHO) in three of its six regions – Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO), South-East Asia (SEARO), and Western Pacific (WPRO). It matters who becomes their regional directors because they have considerable decentralised authority to influence the health chances of billions. Its regions also make or break WHO globally. […] Continue reading -> Eastern Mediterranean Countries Deserve Better Health: Will the New WHO Regional Director Deliver That? 24/08/2023 Mukesh Kapila For most people, electing the regional director – or chief health officer – for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO) will not set the pulse racing. Is this just another shuffling of chairs around the world’s bureaucratic table? Even among global health nerds, it will trigger just a faint tremor. […] Continue reading ->
It Is Time to Streamline the Global HIV/AIDS Architecture 01/12/2023 Mukesh Kapila I endured a dreary weekend in a Paris hotel while others rushed home. As the junior English speaker of a task force of United Nations (UN) member states, it fell to me to finalise our report. It was the early 1990s and we had travelled across Asia, Africa and Latin America collating confusing evidence and […] Continue reading -> Geopolitics at Heart of Elections for New Director of WHO Western Pacific Region 28/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila The World Health Organization (WHO) is busy electing new leaders in three of its six regions. Previous articles have considered the issues at stake and the candidates competing for the position of regional director in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) and the South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO). This article, the final one in the […] Continue reading -> Shenanigans in WHO South-East Asia as Politician’s Daughter Contests Regional Director Election 18/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila Election fever is sweeping through the World Health Organization (WHO) in three of its six regions – Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO), South-East Asia (SEARO), and Western Pacific (WPRO). It matters who becomes their regional directors because they have considerable decentralised authority to influence the health chances of billions. Its regions also make or break WHO globally. […] Continue reading -> Eastern Mediterranean Countries Deserve Better Health: Will the New WHO Regional Director Deliver That? 24/08/2023 Mukesh Kapila For most people, electing the regional director – or chief health officer – for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO) will not set the pulse racing. Is this just another shuffling of chairs around the world’s bureaucratic table? Even among global health nerds, it will trigger just a faint tremor. […] Continue reading ->
Geopolitics at Heart of Elections for New Director of WHO Western Pacific Region 28/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila The World Health Organization (WHO) is busy electing new leaders in three of its six regions. Previous articles have considered the issues at stake and the candidates competing for the position of regional director in WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) and the South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO). This article, the final one in the […] Continue reading -> Shenanigans in WHO South-East Asia as Politician’s Daughter Contests Regional Director Election 18/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila Election fever is sweeping through the World Health Organization (WHO) in three of its six regions – Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO), South-East Asia (SEARO), and Western Pacific (WPRO). It matters who becomes their regional directors because they have considerable decentralised authority to influence the health chances of billions. Its regions also make or break WHO globally. […] Continue reading -> Eastern Mediterranean Countries Deserve Better Health: Will the New WHO Regional Director Deliver That? 24/08/2023 Mukesh Kapila For most people, electing the regional director – or chief health officer – for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO) will not set the pulse racing. Is this just another shuffling of chairs around the world’s bureaucratic table? Even among global health nerds, it will trigger just a faint tremor. […] Continue reading ->
Shenanigans in WHO South-East Asia as Politician’s Daughter Contests Regional Director Election 18/09/2023 Mukesh Kapila Election fever is sweeping through the World Health Organization (WHO) in three of its six regions – Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO), South-East Asia (SEARO), and Western Pacific (WPRO). It matters who becomes their regional directors because they have considerable decentralised authority to influence the health chances of billions. Its regions also make or break WHO globally. […] Continue reading -> Eastern Mediterranean Countries Deserve Better Health: Will the New WHO Regional Director Deliver That? 24/08/2023 Mukesh Kapila For most people, electing the regional director – or chief health officer – for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO) will not set the pulse racing. Is this just another shuffling of chairs around the world’s bureaucratic table? Even among global health nerds, it will trigger just a faint tremor. […] Continue reading ->
Eastern Mediterranean Countries Deserve Better Health: Will the New WHO Regional Director Deliver That? 24/08/2023 Mukesh Kapila For most people, electing the regional director – or chief health officer – for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) of the World Health Organization (WHO) will not set the pulse racing. Is this just another shuffling of chairs around the world’s bureaucratic table? Even among global health nerds, it will trigger just a faint tremor. […] Continue reading ->