The UN World Health Organization today announced it has established a new high-level global commission on noncommunicable diseases, to be chaired by former WHO director general candidate Sania Nishtar of Pakistan. Continue reading ->
A mechanism to systematically assess trade agreements from a public health perspective, including accession agreements of the World Trade Organization and European Patent Office’s validation agreements is needed, says Ellen ´t Hoen, senior researcher at the Global Health Unit of the University Medical Centre, Groningen, The Netherlands. who publishes the Medicines Law and Policy website. Continue reading ->
The 2017 Social Forum, an annual meeting convened by the Human Rights Council, is being held next week in Geneva, and will focus on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of the HIV epidemic and other communicable diseases and epidemics. Continue reading ->
Despite a massive worldwide push to improve access to contraceptives, generic manufacturers say they’re not yet getting a good share of the pie. [Updated with response from UNFPA] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK -- A range of speakers, including top health officials from both a developed and developing country, last week laid out the case for why the world’s leaders must now launch a shift in the way medicines all populations need are developed and priced. The need for global collaboration is clear, speakers said, but who will lead? Continue reading ->
For the first time, more than half of people in the world living with HIV have access to treatment, UNAIDS said in a report released today in Geneva. In addition, AIDS-related deaths have been nearly cut in half since 2005, it said. As of 2016, nearly 20 million people were living with HIV. Continue reading ->
Access to affordable and quality medicines for all is one of the major commitments of the World Health Organization, and its new medicines and health products strategic framework for the next 15 years calls for new research and development (R&D) models, including delinkage of the R&D costs from the price of products, and fair pricing. Continue reading ->
If governments have the obligation to help keep their citizens healthy, many of them are struggling to strengthen their health systems. A variety of hurdles is in the way, and lack of access to medicines is one of them, as underlined by the World Health Organization director general in her address to the United Nations Human Rights Council yesterday. Continue reading ->
For artificial intelligence enthusiasts, the future is bright. Soon intelligent machines will help humankind solve most problems, and according to one speaker at an artificial intelligence summit in Geneva this week, humans will be outsmarted by robots in the foreseeable future, in an artificial intelligence bliss. For others, artificial intelligence is far from delivering a fully positive outcome, and for several United Nations representatives, such as the World Health Organization, the world should not be entrusted to robots just yet. Continue reading ->
The opinions of the World Health Organization member states on the just-completed election process for a WHO director general showed divisions, according to statements at last week’s meeting of the WHO Executive Board. Continue reading ->