A major leadership shake-up is rocking the WHO, with two assistant directors-general, Dr Jeremy Farrar and Dr  Yukiko Nakatani, leaving the organisation in quick succession. For now, Dr Bruce Aylward will take over Farrar’s role while Dr Sylvie Briand will step in for Nakatani. Moreover, following allegations of corruption against Saima Wazed, the regional director […] Continue reading ->
Twice in three years – at its 75th anniversary and again this July at the Constitution’s 80th – the World Health Oganization (WHO) has told the official story of what it has achieved. Twice, water, sanitation, air, chemicals and climate have been left out. The former head of WHO’s environmental health programme argues this is […] Continue reading ->
France’s planned youth social media ban for minors under the age of 15 violates fundamental rights, the country’s Constitutional Council ruled on Friday. Critics had warned of a predictable legal defeat following a rushed legislative process. French President Emmanuel Macron announced a revision of the flagship legislation by spring 2027. The European Commission is also […] Continue reading ->
Top World Health Organization (WHO) officials are concerned that the United States President Donald Trump’s move to alter his country’s childhood vaccinations via an executive order will endanger children. “WHO is concerned that the changes to immunisation policy in the US are not aligned with the best science,” Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a […] Continue reading ->
United Nations member states are almost certain to break the silence on the final draft of the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) that was sent to them recently– but likely for all the wrong reasons. Armenia and Rwanda, the co-facilitators of the declaration negotiations, put the “final” text of the declaration […] Continue reading ->
A finance ministry official can now draft in an afternoon what used to take a WHO mission, a consultant and a wait of weeks. That single fact, multiplied across almost everything WHO produces, is the real story behind this year’s budget cuts — and almost nobody in Geneva is telling it yet. Picture a health […] Continue reading ->
Eastern Mediterranean Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy will take immediate leave effective Tuesday to formally launch her campaign in the WHO Director-General Election, according to an internal notice from DG Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus seen by Health Policy Watch. Balkhy becomes the first serving regional director required to take leave after Tedros issued newly tightened […] Continue reading ->
As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading ->
The United States has unlocked frozen Gavi funding, resolving a bitter political impasse in Washington while doubling down against the WHO. But can the alliance eliminate thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative, from its stockpiles without leaving millions of vulnerable children unprotected? The United States will immediately release $600 million for fiscal years 2025–2026 in frozen Gavi […] Continue reading ->