World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the first senior United Nations (UN) official to visit northwest Syria since the war began 12 years ago. The visit was a bid to underline the organization’s commitment to the region, which has provided around a third of all medicines to arrive in northwest Syria in […] Continue reading ->
A new study published in the BMJ has found that the United States invested at least $31.9 billion in public funds directly into the development, production and purchasing of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines through channels ranging from the National Institutes of Health to the Department of Defense. That vast pool of U.S. public funding was indispensable […] Continue reading ->
No date has yet been set for the recently-elected Director General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Jean Kaseya to take over his new tasks, said acting director Dr Ahmed Ogwell Ouma on Thursday. But he promised that the transition period would be a smooth one, saying: “After the decision by […] Continue reading ->
As World Health Organization (WHO) member states get into line-by-line negotiations on a proposed pandemic accord to guide the world’s approach to future pandemics, there are growing calls for independent monitoring to ensure that the terms of such an accord are implemented. Layth Hanbali explains. Health Policy Watch: You and other colleagues have noted that […] Continue reading ->
A US intelligence chief has claimed that COVID-19 most likely originated in a laboratory in China, a claim that was promptly dismissed by the Chinese government. “The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Christopher Wray, the head of […] Continue reading ->
Although the drafting of the proposed global pandemic accord will happen behind closed doors, civil society organisations want a say as they’re often on the ground dealing with health emergencies. This emerged during the second day of the meeting of the World Organization’s (WHO) intergovernmental negotiating board (INB), which is just starting to discuss the […] Continue reading ->
Concerns about equity and financing dominated day one of the negotiations on a global pandemic accord’s zero draft at the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Geneva head office on Monday. Opening the fourth meeting of the intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) that is steering the process, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyusus noted that various people had […] Continue reading ->
After five days of discussions last week on how to amend the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations to make them more able to combat future pandemics, the international working group has “agreed on a way forward”, according to the WHO. WHO member states have proposed 307 amendments, and much of last week’s meeting […] Continue reading ->
World Health Organization (WHO) officials have sounded alarm bells following the death of an 11-year-old girl in Cambodia from the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza, the first such death in the country in nearly 10 years. At least 12 people in Cambodia have now been tested for infection with H5N1 following the girl’s death, […] Continue reading ->
On the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the international community is grappling with how to hold Russia accountable for war crimes, while many Ukrainians are struggling mentally and physically. “Ukraine is a crime scene,” Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), told a United Nations (UN) session on the war in […] Continue reading ->