The World Health Organiztion (WHO) has been far too slow in providing financial, psychological and legal assistance to victims of sexual assault and exploitation committed by its staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during the 2018-2020 Ebola response, a veteran international investigator said at a WHO press conference on Friday. Hervé Gogo, presenting […] Continue reading ->
With a drop in government spending on preparedness and woefully inadequate donor pledges, how can the ambitious new commitments envisioned for a WHO Pandemic Accord ever be financed? This second issue of Governing Pandemics Snapshot, looks at this conundrum and possible solutions, including creative forms of debt relief for low-income nations.  This issue also provides […] Continue reading ->
In one of its last decisions before concluding, the World Health Assembly Tuesday asked WHO’s Director General to continue developing a draft roadmap for WHO’s new  Global Health and Peace initiative – but stopped short of adopting the proposed plan after some member states balked over elements of the strategy. Instead the Assembly agreed to […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Assembly has re-elected India to serve as WHO’s external auditor for the next four years – but there was a steep price tag attached to this year’s appointment. WHO will pay nearly $1 million for India’s services over the coming three-year term of 2024-2027  – amounting to US$ 2.268 million, according to […] Continue reading ->
 GENEVA – Global health conversations are much deeper at present because everyone has been affected by COVID-19 – and this opens up the possibility of building an “all-of-society” approach before the next pandemic, said Sylvie Brand, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention. “We have seen during this pandemic […] Continue reading ->
In a strong statement against the ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution condemning the violence and calling for an immediate halt to Russian attacks on health facilities. Russia and Syria floated a resolution that made no mention of the Russian aggression, and which failed to find any support among […] Continue reading ->
As a wave of cholera outbreaks spreads around the world, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance said it expects the global shortage of oral cholera vaccines to continue until the end of 2025. Supply of oral cholera vaccines for preventative use could catch up to demand by 2026, but “urgent action is needed,” according to a vaccine […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has ended the global health emergency for mpox, marking the end of a 10-month juggling act by the UN health agency as it scrambled to deal with concurrent global pandemics.  The announcement arrives just days after WHO declared the end of the global health emergency for COVID-19 last Friday, three […] Continue reading ->
Equity and intellectual property (IP) rights are – unsurprisingly – the most important and trickiest issues facing countries negotiating the terms on which the next global pandemic will be addressed. This emerged at a World Health Organization (WHO) briefing on Thursday addressed by Precious Matsoso, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) crafting a pandemic […] Continue reading ->