The World Health Assembly chooses a new chief for the World Health Organization in May 2027. Before judging the candidates, assess the predecessors. Eight people have held the post over 78 years. Their varied track record offers pointers for selecting the future incumbent. Every five years, WHO rediscovers that its Director-Generalship is a political office […] Continue reading ->
The world has ridden fast to rescue DRC from Ebola. But four months on, nobody can say for sure how many agencies are responding, how many people they employ, how much money has arrived, or what it bought. There are, however, coordinators galore. But the virus is still outwitting them. Time and again, we learn […] Continue reading ->
The lethality of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is not just in its genome. Neither is it entirely explained by the country’s internal instability and defunded, broken health infrastructure. Have we allowed the virus to outsmart us by overlooking past lessons? The signs around the DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak indicate […] Continue reading ->
Two sets of dogmas contend in Afghanistan: those of the Taliban and the West. Neither side pays the real price for their beliefs. Ordinary Afghans do with their lives. Some aid agencies labour quietly to bring help and hope through a dozen practical ways that bypass competing doctrines. They deserve support. In March last year, […] Continue reading ->
Twenty-five democracies managed to examine their COVID pandemics without smashing their national crockery. The United States produced a partisan committee and a pre-emptive pardon that silenced the one man who could explain to millions of angry, confused Americans why they suffered so badly. But in his final martyrdom, Anthony Fauci may have done the rest […] Continue reading ->
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 ->
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 ->
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 ->