Trauma surgeon and veteran field worker, Christos Christou, has taken over the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reins as International President, following his election by the organization’s International General Assembly last June. Christou, former president of the MSF Greece Board of Directors, will be faced with the leadership challenges of an organization that has grown from […] Continue reading ->
Against the background of increased cross-border infection risks, the World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – a decision that may help increase aid flows to the disease epicentre but also threaten free-wheeling patterns of […] Continue reading ->
In a little-publicised move, the WHA last week agreed to close a critical loophole in the WHO Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework that could have allowed commercial vaccine manufacturers to indirectly make use of biological information about flu strains from another country – without providing that country with any benefits from the vaccines or antivirals […] Continue reading ->
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an innovative collaboration of governments, UN agencies, foundations and the private sector, has reaffirmed its commitment to safeguard and promote equitable access to new vaccines under development to head off the risk of disease outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics that threaten global health. Image Credits: CEPI / CureVac. Continue reading ->
In a rare occasion, the World Health Organization Executive Board today resorted to recorded voting to decide on a politically-charged question, as Israel requested the deletion of an agenda item for the next World Health Assembly relating to the health of Palestinians in occupied territories. The Board ultimately voted against removing the agenda item for the next WHA in May. Continue reading ->
Poliomyelitis, a highly infectious and sometimes debilitating viral disease, is about to be eradicated from the world. However, the last mile is the hardest, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week at a member state discussion on polio eradication. Beyond the direct eradication of wild polioviruses in the three last endemic countries, and the steady supply of affordable inactivated poliovirus vaccines, the WHO is being called on to help countries keep the virus at bay, and implement a strategy to use polio-related structures to strengthen their national health systems, as polio funding is dwindling. Continue reading ->