No Pandemic Accord Without Intellectual Property Protection, says German Health Minister

16/10/2023 Stefan Anderson

BERLIN, Germany — Hours before the release of the second draft of the Pandemic Accord on Monday, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach told the World Health Summit that a pandemic agreement with “major limitations” on intellectual property (IP) rights protection will “not fly” for Germany and most of its fellow European Union (EU) members. “For […] Continue reading ->

Ukraine’s Health System Under Siege: Lessons in Resilience from a Country at War

14/10/2023 Stefan Anderson

On the morning of October 10, 2022, Russia launched a barrage of over 100 cruise missiles and suicide drones at Ukraine’s power grid and water supply, striking civilian areas across the country. One of the first targets hit were the streets around Kyiv City Clinical Hospital 5, a medical facility with hundreds of beds in […] Continue reading ->

First Stocktake of Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Adaptation Agenda to Release on COP28 Health Day

09/10/2023 Stefan Anderson

The inaugural Health Day at COP28, the upcoming UN climate summit in Dubai, will launch the one-year progress report of the Sharm el-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, a key outcome of last year’s summit in Egypt. The agenda, which was agreed at COP27, includes a number of commitments to increase finance and investment in climate change adaptation, […] Continue reading ->

Belgium to Put Health Workforce Crisis on EU Presidency Agenda for First Time in a Decade

29/09/2023 Stefan Anderson

BAD HOFGASTEIN, Austria — Belgium, which takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union in January 2024, plans to make the healthcare workforce crisis a central item on its agenda, the first time the issue will be prioritized at the highest level of EU policymaking in over a decade. “We are actively […] Continue reading ->

Europe Is Struggling to Keep its Health Systems Afloat

28/09/2023 Stefan Anderson

BAD HOFGASTEIN, Austria – European health systems, among the best-funded and most equitable in the world, face a barrage of threats to their long-term stability, highlighting the difficulty of achieving and maintaining universal health coverage even in the world’s wealthiest regions. Experts and political leaders from across the World Health Organization’s (WHO) European region are […] Continue reading ->

UN Chief Excludes World’s Top Polluters from Climate Summit

21/09/2023 Stefan Anderson

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, explicitly excluded the world’s five largest emitters of greenhouse gasses – China, the United States, Russia, India and Japan – from his Climate Ambition Summit, held Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The United Kingdom, another major polluter, was notably absent from the summit, amid reports […] Continue reading ->

Global Leaders Sound Alarm on Sustainable Development Goals at UN SDG Summit

18/09/2023 Stefan Anderson

NEW YORK CITY – World leaders issued a political declaration Monday warning that the world is nowhere close to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) it set in 2015. The declaration, adopted at the first UN high-level political forum on the SDGs since 2019, comes at a time when progress on the goals has been […] Continue reading ->

European Battle for Air Quality Heats Up as EU Parliament Votes to Toughen Rules

15/09/2023 Stefan Anderson

European air quality activists have won a key victory in the European Parliament, which approved tough new air pollution rules that would require countries to meet stricter WHO air quality guidelines by 2035, and allow EU citizens to sue for financial compensation for air pollution-related health damage. But the draft legislation still faces an uphill […] Continue reading ->

Thousands to March on UN to Demand Biden End Fossil Fuels Ahead of Climate Summit

12/09/2023 Stefan Anderson

Thousands of people and hundreds of civil society organisations are expected to march in New York City this weekend to call on US President Joe Biden to use his executive powers to stop the expansion of fossil fuel projects in the country. The march is one of over 400 marches, rallies and protests worldwide coordinated […] Continue reading ->

WHO Announces Air Pollution Summit in Accra to Tackle ‘Public Health Emergency’

07/09/2023 Stefan Anderson

The World Health Organization (WHO) will host a summit on air pollution in Accra, Ghana in 2024, the organization announced on Thursday. The summit will be the second ever to address air pollution, which is responsible for millions of premature deaths each year, and the first to be held in Africa. The announcement was made […] Continue reading ->