GENEVA – The world is still not ready to handle pandemics despite all of the international efforts to improve health care in recent years, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned in a wide-ranging opening address to the World Health Assembly’s 194 member nations. The World Health Organization must respond to dozens of global emergencies — cyclones, […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA – Russia’s attacks on healthcare facilities amid its war in Ukraine took center stage on the first full day of the World Health Assembly (WHA), where 46 mostly European nations including Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States proposed a draft resolution “condemning in the strongest terms” Russia’s invasion and the attacks on health facilities, […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA – Opening the World Health Assembly under a “health for peace” banner that is this year’s theme, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned WHA member states that achieving ambitious global health goals – from snuffing out COVID-19 to expanding universal health coverage – will be virtually impossible if regional conflicts like ones ongoing in Ukraine, […] Continue reading ->
More stable funding for WHO, but only incremental progress on reforms in global pandemic response are expected out of the upcoming World Health Assembly, where member states also will debate and discuss over two dozen other critical health issues that don’t always make the headlines.   The 75th World Health Assembly, WHO’s annual meeting of member […] Continue reading ->
The United States will support Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a second term as head of the World Health Organization – a move that is largely symbolic insofar as Tedros is running unopposed in the elections, scheduled for the 75th World Health Assembly, 22-28 May.  Although over a dozen countries in Europe and elsewhere lined […] Continue reading ->
In the wake of the chaotic, and often failed, global response to the COVID pandemic, the United States is not waiting for an elaborate international treaty or convention on future pandemics, which will take years to negotiate.  Instead, Washington wants to fast track a series of nitty-gritty, but far- reaching changes in the existing International […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) is considering changing how it relates to non-state actors (NSAs), but some of these organisations are concerned that the changes envisaged by the global body may weaken their voices. In 2016, the WHO’s World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted a Framework for Engagement with NSAs – known as FENSA –  to […] Continue reading ->
An innovative WHO “Health for Peace Initiative” that aims to build bridges in conflict zone and humanitarian settings through global health initiatives ran into some rough waters at last week’s Executive Board meeting – with the United States saying that it should include a human rights element – while Russia warned WHO against “politicizing” its […] Continue reading ->