In a powerful ruling that could increase transparency and thus, industry compliance, India’s National Green Tribunal has directed state and central pollution control boards to chart and openly share with the public detailed data from online continuous emissions/effluents monitoring systems (OCEMS) operating in the country’s highly-polluting industrial sector.  These powerful industrial interests – ranging from […] Continue reading ->
The debate around technology transfer is proving to be critical in addressing shortages in the production of vaccines. We wanted to know from developing country manufacturers on the challenges they face in making vaccines for COVID-19. Geneva Health Files brings you an interview with Abdul Muktadir, Chairman and Managing Director of the Dhaka-based company Incepta […] Continue reading ->
Tuberculosis care is quintessentially colonial, even in 2021. While many countries have been emancipated from their colonizers, the heritage of the colonial mindset, culture and even entire economies is deeply embedded within high burden TB countries in the post-colonial era.   A disease of poverty, TB has historically been terribly neglected. Although the number one infectious […] Continue reading ->
One year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on 11 March 2020, a new report by the Foundation for Geneva has traced the success and the failures of the WHO and other international Geneva organisations in their response – as well as the implications for the future of multilateralism. […] Continue reading ->
EXCLUSIVE – A series of recent leaks of emails and documents surrounding the EMA’s approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer/BioNTech  highlight the  intense political pressures regulatory agencies are under during the pandemic – as well as an oft-forgotten aspect of vaccine approvals – the quality control of vaccines during the leap from clinical […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the profound dangers of having social, economic and health care systems that marginalize public health. To go forward, we must start by looking back. We must build a stronger foundation with better systems that can prevent future pandemics and also weave health into all aspects of society, from our workplaces […] Continue reading ->
Discussions on WHO’s state of financing were addressed by member states during the on-going Executive Board meeting. As we reported last week, WHO is keen on defining independence and sustainability of its financing to be better prepared to address emergencies in the future. We spoke to Björn Kümmel, Deputy Head of Unit, Global Health, German Federal Ministry […] Continue reading ->
The demands of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic are draining resources from global health research and development (R&D) programs and disrupting clinical trials and other work, presenting a potential post-pandemic scenario of a world more vulnerable to a host of infectious threats. That’s what our organization, the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), learned after conducting extensive, […] Continue reading ->