African countries at the World Health Assembly called for increased support to health systems across the continent following major cuts to all World Health Organization (WHO) regional office budgets amid a financial crisis triggered by the US withdrawal from the agency and falling global health spending. The African region suffered the largest total cut, losing […] Continue reading ->
In a region where war, displacement, and weak health systems fuel a deadly disease, nine African governments are trying a new approach: eliminate visceral leishmaniasis by working together. As neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) continue to strain underfunded health systems across Africa, a regional political coalition has formalised its intent to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis (VL) through […] Continue reading ->
There are tensions between World Health Organization (WHO) member states about how to approach the final negotiations on the pandemic agreement – an annex on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system (PABS), according to Precious Matsoso, who co-chaired the negotiations. “There’s an argument about whether you invite experts to start working on a technical document […] Continue reading ->
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 ->
Saima Wazed, WHO’s South East Asia Regional is attending the World Health Assembly in Geneva, and presiding over official events, even while her home country, Bangladesh, has a warrant outstanding for her arrest. The warrant follows the filing of charges in March against Wazed in March by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) alleging fraud, forgery and […] Continue reading ->
Presidents, prime ministers and even opera singers, celebrated the unanimous adoption of the world’s first Pandemic Agreement by consensus at the World Health Assembly (WHA) plenary on Tuesday morning. Despite the 11th-hour insistence of Slovakia on a vote on the agreement in Committee A on Monday night, none of the World Health Organization (WHO) member […] Continue reading ->
In a surprise appearance Tuesday before WHO member states via pre-recorded video, new US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr extended a kind of olive branch to the World Health Organization, calling for “a new era of international health cooperation, free from political influence and corporate bias.” While Kennedy did not say […] Continue reading ->
An enormous list of World Health Organization (WHO) member states, 173 in all, lined up to speak in favour of the pandemic agreement at the World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday – an extraordinary demonstration of the breadth of support for the document. By the end yesterday’s meeting of Committee A, member states passed […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) is confronting an unprecedented financial crisis, with a projected shortfall of $2.5 billion for the 2025–2027 period. In his official remarks to the Programme, Budget and Administration Committee (PBAC) on 14 May 2025, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that the Organization may be forced to close certain country […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) faces “significant challenges” amid “significant achievements”, characterised by a 21% budget cut alongside the imminent adoption of a pandemic agreement, Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of the World Health Assembly on Monday. Tedros appealed to member states to support its “extremely modest” budget, reduced from $5.3 billion […] Continue reading ->