A formal procedure for investigating allegations of misconduct against WHO’s Director General got the greenlight from the World Health Assembly on Tuesday – after six years of mostly closed door debate and deliberations. The procedure is the first ever to be approved by the global health body for investigating any current or future head of […] 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 ->
Maternal mortality rates have dropped by 40% since 2000, largely due to improved access to essential health services. But WHO officials warn that the recent, deep cuts to international aid could be as disruptive as the COVID-19 pandemic, if not more so, to a woman’s chances of surviving pregnancy and childbirth. And in 2023, more […] Continue reading ->
Russia has rejected a World Health Organization initiative to update its assessment of the health effects of nuclear weapons use, breaking with nations still grappling with the devastating legacy of Cold War-era explosions. The opposition comes as Russia has threatened to resume nuclear testing amid its war in Ukraine. In regions known as “sacrifice zones,” […] 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 ->
If the United States withdraws from the World Health Organization (WHO) when Donald Trump assumes the presidency next week (20 January), will other member states – particularly China – step up to safeguard global health? “The signs coming out of Trump’s transition team paint a bleak picture for the WHO. Trump tried to pull out […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was back in Geneva this week, after surviving a near miss from an Israeli Air Force strike on Sana’a International Airport, Thursday. Airport TV footage aired Monday by the DG on X showed his entourage fleeing the VIP departures hall, where they had been waiting to board a […] Continue reading ->
The “Kick Big Soda Out!” campaign launched on July 8, 2024 ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics and ran through the end of the Paralympics. It’s all about holding sugary drinks companies – especially Coca-Cola – accountable for their impact on health and the environment. To discuss the campaign, Health Policy Watch spoke to Trish […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) received $1.7 billion in new pledges of financial support at the G20 meeting this week, taking the total of voluntary pledges so far to $3.8 billion for the coming four years. With this, the WHO has met 53% of its investment requirement for its 2025–2028 strategy, in WHO parlance, the 14th […] Continue reading ->
The director-general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is “back to work” following an overnight stay in a Rio hospital during his trip to the G20 summit, the WHO chief said Thursday. The reason for the hospital visit, first reported by the Brazilian paper O Globo, was not disclosed in a statement […] Continue reading ->