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 ->
‘Planetary health’ describes how the limits of natural resources like clean air, water and food production shape our long-term health, with climate change as a “threat-multiplier” for future COVID-19 like crises. Experts at the Geneva Health Forum explored the links, ahead of next week’s launch of the 2020 Lancet Countdown Report on Health and Climate […] Continue reading ->
The current power dynamics in global health are a barrier to achieving health equity, partly because too many high-profile politicians are simply reluctant to listen to, or act upon, scientific evidence, and partly because of countries and institutions that wield disproportionate influence in today’s global health architecture aren’t willing to relinquish their power: a left-over […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic did not so much create cracks in healthcare systems around the world, as it exposed weaknesses in them, participants at the Geneva Health Forum said Wednesday at a session on how health systems have fared during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have found fragility everywhere,” said Edward Kelley, Director of Integrated Health Services […] Continue reading ->