A team of Israeli team of experts in law and gender have called on the United Nations to hold Hamas accountable for systematic use of sexual violence during attacks on Israeli communities near Gaza on 7 October, 2023, and in the course of holding some 251 Israelis and foreigners hostage over subsequent months. Speaking at […] Continue reading ->
The next – and tricky – phase of cementing the World Health Organization’s pandemic agreement resumes on Wednesday (9 July) with the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG). The IGWG’s main task is to negotiate an annex to the pandemic agreement on a pathogen access and benefit sharing (PABS) system. This system will […] Continue reading ->
Mass atrocities, rape, famine, sexual and ethnically targeted violence have plagued Sudan’s civil war since it erupted two years ago. With peace nowhere in sight, a new report released by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) recounts in devastating detail: nothing has changed. Based on interviews with over 80 civilians, MSF data and direct observations from its […] Continue reading ->
As the world observes World Zoonoses Day, it’s important to remember that human health is intimately tied to the health of animals, wild and domesticated. Five years after COVID-19, the world remains alert to health threats that can cross over from animals to people. Alongside growing concerns over high-profile spillovers like avian influenza, the silent […] Continue reading ->
The world faces a global health funding crisis, but John-Arne Røttingen believes the solution goes beyond money. It lies in stronger partnerships between governments, researchers, and citizens. “Science is not enough to change the world,” said Røttingen, the newly appointed CEO of Wellcome, one of the world’s largest global health foundations. “It must be allied […] Continue reading ->
World Health Organization Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced his new team of 36 directors at headquarters on Tuesday, according to an internal message to WHO staff, seen by Health Policy Watch. Nine of the appointments, including key positions heading the Departments of Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, and the newly-combined Department of Environment, […] Continue reading ->
A four year WHO-sponsored investigation of the origins of the COVID pandemic by an international group of experts has concluded that “most scientific data and accessible published scientific evidence” support the hypothesis that the novel SARS-CoV2 virus first entered the human population either directly from virus-carrying bats, or from bats to humans via intermediate hosts. […] Continue reading ->
This story was updated to reflect new developments on Friday, 27 June. Israel ordered a near-total halt to food and humanitarian aid deliveries to over two million Gazans facing a territory-wide threat of famine on Thursday after an AFP video surfaced showing dozens of armed men riding atop a convoy of flatbed trucks loaded with […] Continue reading ->
Africa is at a crossroads in its health journey – not simply because of shifting geopolitical dynamics or shrinking donor aid, although these are real challenges, but because we must confront a deeper structural flaw in how our health systems are designed. The continent, home to over 1.4 billion people and projected to house one […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization decried Thursday’s direct hit by Iran on one of Israel’s largest hospitals, Soroka Medical Center, which put the 1200-bed facility serving most of the country’s southern region largely out of operation. In an X post, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also deplored the deaths of three Iranian Red Crescent […] Continue reading ->