Vaccine access advocates issued increasingly desperate, last minute calls upon the World Trade Organization to take action over a stalled initiative to impose a temporary waiver on intellectual property for COVID medicines, tests and vaccines – even as the initiative appeared doomed to a stalemate for the rest of the summer.  Ahead of the opening […] Continue reading ->
Proponents of a sweeping World Trade Organization ‘waiver’ on intellectual property rights for all COVID-19 treatments, tests and vaccines face an uphill battle to reach consensus on a text ahead of a WTO General Council meeting scheduled for 27-28 July.  This is despite the recent agreement of the initiative’s opponents, including the European Union, Korea, […] Continue reading ->
Africa’s brutal experiences battling Ebola and a range of other deadly diseases helped prepare health systems to deal with COVID-19.  And by the time the SARS-CoV2 virus landed on the continent, its Centre for Disease Control (CDC) had already “established regional coordinating centres, increased lab capacity and unified surveillance networks”.  The lessons in emergency response […] 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 ->
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 ->
NEW YORK/ GENEVA. The World Health Organization, UNICEF and two leading international health and humanitarian civil society organizations announced on Tuesday the establishment of a global Ebola vaccine stockpile to ensure rapid response to future outbreaks. Establishment of the stockpile was led by the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision, which also includes the […] Continue reading ->