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 ->
BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Victorine Ngwobu Kasemi is the director of nursing at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia, the epicentre of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s record-breaking Ebola epidemic. In recent weeks she’s had to watch colleagues succumb to the virus, and her children isolate themselves from her to keep safe. “I’m afraid […] Continue reading ->
The dramatic global health budget cutbacks in services for maternal and reproductive health and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have produced 17 million unintended pregnancies, and more than 34,000 preventable maternal deaths in just the first year since cuts were made. That recent assessment by French and Washington DC-based analyses, was cited by Guyana’s UN Ambassador […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s estimate of the number of suspected, but as yet unconfirmed, cases of the deadly Ebola Bundibugyo virus has sharply declined from over 1000 a week ago to just 116 today, WHO on Wednesday. That doesn’t mean that the tide has yet turned on the outbreak. But WHO officials sounded notes of […] Continue reading ->
The world is in the last stretch of polio eradication, but closing this gap will require political commitment, the World Health Organization (WHO) told member states at the ongoing 79th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA). Polio virus has shown resurgence in conflict-hit or hard-to-reach areas like northern Yemen, Gaza, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Conflict […] Continue reading ->
Amid surging geopolitical tensions, increased global health threats, and strained public budgets, global health leaders and pharmaceutical executives converged in Geneva with a unified message: medical innovation must be treated as a critical investment not a healthcare drain. Showcasing this shift, Canada unveiled strategic investments and new regulations. GENEVA – Inside the packed ballroom of […] Continue reading ->
Philanthropy can help make every dollar deliver more impact. I often think about a boy I met in Kajiado County, Kenya. He was the same age as my son, but half his weight. A World Health Organization (WHO) colleague measured the circumference of his arm to confirm what was already painfully clear: he was severely […] Continue reading ->
The African Union and the European Commission have concluded three agreements worth €100 million aimed at strengthening Africa’s health systems. The first initiative supports the national public health institutes of 10 African countries to enhance disease surveillance, early warning systems, emergency response, research and laboratory services. The second, announced at the One Health Summit in […] Continue reading ->
People typically think of pandemics in terms of their biological consequences, but science journalist Laura Spinney argues that their impact is shaped just as much by human behaviour and language. On a recent episode of “Dialogues,” part of the Global Health Matters podcast series, Spinney joined host Garry Aslanyan to discuss the lessons of the […] Continue reading ->
Global health is facing a funding crisis. Aid is shrinking, debt is rising, and the needs are only increasing. According to Christoph Benn of the Joep Lange Institute and Patrik Silborn of UNICEF Afghanistan, health systems will need to fundamentally rethink how they finance and sustain care. On a recent episode of the Global Health […] Continue reading ->