World leaders recommitted to reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50% by 2030 at the United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Road Safety this week – including by introducing measurable national targets, timelines and budgets.  However, the United States voted against the UN consensus progress declaration adopted on Monday afternoon, while all […] Continue reading ->
Two practical – and contrary – proposals were tabled at pandemic talks last week, detailing how information about dangerous pathogens should be shared. Health Policy Watch is sharing the two options – Africa’s Federated Model and the European Union’s Hybrid Model – to enable all interested parties to interrogate them before the next round of talks from 14-18 […] Continue reading ->
Two largely opposing proposals for a pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS) system – the last outstanding piece of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Pandemic Agreement – were tabled during the seventh round of negotiations, which ended on Friday. Africa consolidated behind a “federated” model, while the European Union and its developed-country allies backed a “hybrid” […] Continue reading ->
Unitaid is quietly searching for its next leader behind closed doors amidst growing demands for transparency. Whoever takes the helm of the market-shaping agency will inherit an organisation that faces acute financial shortfalls and mounting pressure for institutional reform. As Unitaid celebrates its 20th anniversary, severe cuts to the agency’s funding threaten to disrupt the […] Continue reading ->
Two months after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared an outbreak of Ebola Bundibugyo, the outbreak is “continuing to outpace the response” – and with 2,073 people infected and 796 dead, this is the fastest outbreak ever, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus told a media briefing on Thursday. “Intense […] Continue reading ->
The Pandemic Agreement talks resumed at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) headquarters on Monday, kicking off with a public “debriefing” summarising the incremental progress made during informal talks conducted over May and June, followed by a closed session on existing models for sharing data on pathogens with pandemic potential. Speaking at the opening of the […] Continue reading ->
A lack of youth online safety is a global public health crisis that demands systemic platform regulation to protect children from harm, according to a joint declaration by the French government and the World Health Organization (WHO). They demand urgent digital governance to mandate safe platform redesigns, as nations struggle to enforce easily bypassed social […] Continue reading ->
The dramatic global health budget cutbacks in services for maternal and reproductive health and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have produced 17 million unintended pregnancies, and more than 34,000 preventable maternal deaths in just the first year since cuts were made.  That recent assessment by French and Washington DC-based analyses, was cited by Guyana’s UN Ambassador […] Continue reading ->