Right-wing African Members of Parliament (MPs), including some of the continent’s most vociferous anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ lawmakers, united with anti-vaxx conspiracy theorists for the first time at a conference in early May which plotted how to restrict human rights on the continent in the name of “family values”. Aside from the expected rhetoric against abortion and […] Continue reading ->
“The world is off track to reach most of the Triple Billion targets and the health-related Sustainable Development Goals,” said World Health Organization (WHO) Director General  Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.  His comments were part of the WHO Results Report 2023 released on Tuesday. The triple billion targets involve one billion more people benefitting from universal […] Continue reading ->
“Get this done” – and if you disagree, don’t block consensus, was the heartfelt plea made by World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyessus to member states negotiating a pandemic agreement on Friday (3 May). Tedros was addressing the ‘stocktake’ in the middle of the final 10-day meeting of the intergovernmental negotiating body […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic agreement negotiations begin their final two-week stretch on Monday (28 April) amid a gamble with the process, a show of unity from African member states – and more suggestions for the draft text. This final intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) meeting will focus on finding “common ground and consensus”, according […] Continue reading ->
Speaking out on World Health Day, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus decried the destruction of Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital and blamed Israel for the devastation, saying that the “atrocity” of the Hamas attacks on Israeli communities 7 October, did not justify “the horrific ongoing bombardment, seige and health system demolition by Israel in Gaza.” […] Continue reading ->
Two final – and likely sleepless – weeks of negotiation on the pandemic agreement begin on Monday, and negotiators have been urged to bring in their principals to ensure speed up decision-making. The negotiations may well be extended but, for now, this ninth meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) is […] Continue reading ->
COPENHAGEN –  In Lebanon, international donors are supporting a network of public primary health care centers to test for diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), offering treatment equally to Lebanese nationals and Syrian refugees who are unlikely to return anytime soon to their war-torn homeland.  In Kenya, a new national insurance law aims to make […] Continue reading ->
COPENHAGEN –  While conflict and natural disasters are usually played out in the media against dramatic scenes of mass casualty response and rescue teams, there’s an iceberg of chronic health conditions that can be even more life threatening and these need far greater attention in emergency response.  That is the theme of a global high […] Continue reading ->