The World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), its highest alarm level, twice within two years, in 2022 and 2024. But “preventable health emergencies are a sign of failure”, said Helen Clark, co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. “They happen when community health care […] Continue reading ->
Action is lagging far behind the milestone commitments of the 2024 UN High Level Declaration on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). But a Ministerial Meeting scheduled for 6-8 December in Abuja offers an opportunity to pick up the baton. Ahead of that, civil society gropus will convene in mid-November in Rome. Two years after the UN General […] Continue reading ->
Who will steer the World Health Organization through its next chapter? Explore Health Policy Watch’s daily series examining the platforms, records, and institutional hurdles facing each contender for WHO Director-General, continuing today with Song Li. Access all candidate profiles on our dedicated election site. The formal confirmation of Dr Song Li’s candidacy by the People’s […] Continue reading ->
Speaking at a flagship World Health Summit panel global health officials and pharmaceutical executives urged governments to reframe pandemic preparedness as ‘biodefence’ – a core national security asset and not a discretionary health expenditure. BERLIN – That strategic pivot is becoming urgent as both global health and aid budgets shrink and multilateral diplomacy on pandemic […] Continue reading ->
A polio-free Africa is within reach, but only if we make it a priority. Ending the disease will not only protect our children, but it will also strengthen our health systems and safeguard us against future threats. The Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, with several cases of polio lurking in the shadows, remains an instructive […] Continue reading ->
In the face of dwindling health budgets, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) expert committee on immunisation has made several suggestions to enable countries to optimise existing vaccine supplies. Countries can continue giving a single dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to girls aged 9-14 years to prevent cervical cancer – instead of two doses, […] Continue reading ->
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR) by a substantial majority at a plenary meeting in New York on Monday, with 153 countries voting in favor and only three against. The declaration went to a vote after the UN High-Level Meeting on 25 September could not […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked the Russian government for more information about the death of an employee at a Siberian plague research unit, including details about the laboratory tests conducted on her, the WHO Director-General told a media briefing on Thursday. The WHO has also asked Russia for more details about the public […] Continue reading ->
The Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response was not approved by consensus by the United Nations General Assembly, and is likely to be put to a vote at a later stage on the UN calendar. Objections by the United States and a few other states appeared to block a consensus agreement on the […] Continue reading ->
The world has ridden fast to rescue DRC from Ebola. But four months on, nobody can say for sure how many agencies are responding, how many people they employ, how much money has arrived, or what it bought. There are, however, coordinators galore. But the virus is still outwitting them. Time and again, we learn […] Continue reading ->