The WHO-sponsored COVAX facility raised another US $2.4 billion on Wednesday from donors to fund more COVID vaccines for low- and middle-income countries – exceeding their total funding target and bringing the total pledged to the COVAX AMC to US $9.6 billion, following a GAVI COVAX AMC Summit “One World Protected” virtual event. But the […] Continue reading ->
A $50-billion plan to end the COVID-19 pandemic developed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), would generate an additional $9 trillion in global economic returns by 2025, said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Tuesday. The plan is supported by the World Bank Group, World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and […] Continue reading ->
Researchers engaged in mosquito gene drive technologies are optimistic that new World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on best research practices will ensure that their work is safe and ethical. Such guidance also helps research results advance from laboratories to be used in the field, the researchers told Health Policy Watch. Due to limiting regulatory frameworks, […] Continue reading ->
“Mass trauma” from COVID-19 has worsened mental health worldwide, WHO officials said at the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday. The long neglected issue received special attention on the Assembly’s closing day, with member states expressing broad support for more action – after a year that saw new mental health issues emerge even while […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Assembly (WHA) passed a resolution on preventing violence against women and girls at Monday’s plenary – but only after heated discussion on Saturday resulted in a watered-down version with no reference to “sexuality education”. However, during the plenary session after the resolution had been adopted, Argentina’s representative, María Jimena Schiaffino, expressed disappointment […] Continue reading ->
Women-led sectors and nations have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 response – despite only a quarter of global leaders being women, speakers at a World Health Assembly side-event noted on Friday. “Women have been delivering good health pre-pandemic – and during the pandemic,” said Dr Farah Shroff, head of the Maternal and Infant […] Continue reading ->
Debate Over WHO Investigation of SARS-CoV2 Virus Origins Heads For Showdown in World Health Assembly
The debate over the future direction of WHO’s investigation into the origins of SARS-CoV2 appeared to be heading for a showdown in the closing days of the World Health Assembly – following another sharp statement from the United States on the issue – this time directed squarely at WHO and WHA member states. The terse […] Continue reading ->
Indonesia could manufacture 550 million COVID-19 vaccine doses a year if pharmaceutical companies were prepared to share the know-how, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin told a World Health Organization event Friday. Sadikin was addressing the first anniversary of the WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), set up to encourage countries and manufacturers of COVID-19 products […] Continue reading ->
A special strategic meeting at the 74th World Health Assembly on Friday discussed how the World Health Organization (WHO) is scaling up powers to investigate sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment in emergency situations. WHO officials said this effort involves a “mass of inspectors” to prioritise investigations in at least eight countries. The intervention comes in […] Continue reading ->
In two decades of work on World Bank digital health initiatives, global health policy specialist Akiko Maeda found many fell short of their promises. She suggested these underperforming digital health initiatives focused too much on delivering hardware — but they failed to provide means to ensure stable electricity supplies, and similarly failed to provide adequate […] Continue reading ->