The UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) has rejected the proposal by the United Nations Secretary-General that it is “sunsetted” by the end of this year, opting instead to transform into a smaller “hub”. This emerged after the PCB’s special meeting on Monday, which considered a report by a working group on the body’s future. The […] Continue reading ->
Under Germany’s tightly constrained draft budget proposal for 2027, the government is set to reduce global health funding substantially. While mandatory assessed contributions to the World Health Organization (WHO) will rise slightly, flexible budgets for pandemic preparedness are planned to be cut by 15.3%. As part of a broader budget overhaul, the German government is […] Continue reading ->
Precipitous aid cuts are casting a huge shadow over the United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV on 22-23 June, with new research indicating that some countries could face almost total cuts in aid from the United States by 2030. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned last week that the world is far from achieving […] Continue reading ->
The poorest people and countries suffer the most during pandemics, setting in motion a “vicious cycle” of inequality where those who suffer the most are least equipped to address disease outbreaks, according to the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics in a report released on Monday (3 November). The COVID-19 pandemic pushed 165 million […] Continue reading ->
BERLIN — A top UNAIDS official told delegates at the World Health Summit this week that it would be “very difficult” to envision shutting down the agency by the end of 2026, pushing back against a controversial proposal from UN Secretary-General António Guterres that has triggered an outcry from civil society groups and member states. […] Continue reading ->
Merging WHO and UNAIDs, and combining the “operational” component of WHO’s Emergencies response with that of other agencies are just two among the several dozen ideas pitched by the UN80 Initiative Task Force – in the full text of options for interagency budget cuts and efficiencies, obtained by Health Policy Watch. The list of over […] Continue reading ->
The richest man in the world and the President of the United States sent a message over the weekend to USAID, the world’s largest provider of humanitarian assistance depended on for survival by millions of the world’s poorest people: “Time to die.” Two weeks into Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office, the Washington headquarters […] Continue reading ->
UNAIDS expressed “deep concern” Wednesday over Georgia’s newly adopted anti-LGBTQ+ law, saying that it could threaten progress made over the past decade to end AIDS in the former Soviet republic of 3.7 million people at the crossroads between Europe and Asia. The new legislation exacerbates stigma and hinders “LGBTQ+ people’s access to essential health services” […] Continue reading ->
On the morning of October 10, 2022, Russia launched a barrage of over 100 cruise missiles and suicide drones at Ukraine’s power grid and water supply, striking civilian areas across the country. One of the first targets hit were the streets around Kyiv City Clinical Hospital 5, a medical facility with hundreds of beds in […] Continue reading ->
Despite the giant strides the world has made in combating the HIV epidemic, the high rate of infections among women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as childhood HIV infections, continue to hamper progress. “Four thousand adolescent girls and young women acquired HIV every single week. That’s a crisis every single week. 3,100 of […] Continue reading ->