Italian Health Minister Giulia Grillo has proposed that sweeping reforms be considered by the World Health Organization and its member states to increase global transparency of drug prices -- which may be unaffordable to most people in the developing world and increasingly costly for patients and health systems in high-income countries. Continue reading ->
Grammy award-winning musician Ricky Kej performed a “Sound of Life” concert at the World Health Organization to help launch the first-ever global standard for safe listening devices, aimed at raising awareness and inspiring action to prevent sound-induced hearing loss. Continue reading ->
An innovative five-year agreement between the Australian government and pharmaceutical companies, involving a lump sum payment of about US$ 766 million for an unlimited five-year supply of the most advanced Hepatitis C (HCV) drugs, has reduced the per-patient costs of these cutting-edge treatments by roughly 85%, according to a study today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization today announced the membership of its advisory committee that will assist in the development of global standards for the governance and oversight of human genome editing. Continue reading ->
A new corporate accountability platform launched in the United States aims to hold companies accountable by inviting shareholders and consumers to vote on how companies should address issues of the public interest. As its inaugural issue, the platform takes aim at high drug prices. Continue reading ->
Unitaid has launched two separate calls for proposals for the development of improved technologies to better diagnose and treat Plasmodium vivax malaria, and to more effectively treat HIV and its coinfections, including tuberculosis and malaria, in low and middle-income countries. Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have partnered to develop the first-ever international standard for “safe listening” devices, including smartphones and audio players, to raise awareness and to prevent sound-induced hearing loss. Over 1 billion teenagers and young adults are at risk of hearing loss around the world due to unsafe levels of sound, according to the WHO. Continue reading ->
A ground-breaking new high-tech patient safety system to catch falsified medicines in the supply chain in Europe went into effect today, allowing prescription medicines to undergo verification for authenticity before reaching patients. Continue reading ->
Switzerland, considered to be one of the richest countries in the world and home to significant medical research and development, has begun feeling the pressure of high drug prices for its citizens. This has led it to begin talking with other countries exploring joint procurement initiatives aimed at lowering prices, the Swiss global health ambassador told Health Policy Watch in a recent interview. Continue reading ->
Universal health coverage, access to medicines, and noncommunicable diseases are priorities for Switzerland in global health policy. Amb. Nora Kronig Romero is the head of the International Affairs Division and Vice Director General of the Federal Office of Public Health, as well as Swiss Ambassador for Global Health. She sat down with Health Policy Watch while in Geneva last week for the meeting of the World Health Organization Executive Board, which Switzerland attended as an observer to the governing board comprised of 34 WHO member states. Continue reading ->