The World Health Organization (WHO) negotiations on the world’s first Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system resumed in Geneva on Tuesday – with only two more weeks of formal negotiations left before the May deadline. Symbolically, this week’s talks resumed on the first anniversary of US President Donald Trump’s announcement that his country would […] Continue reading ->
One year ago today (20 January), the Trump administration exploded the global health sector by immediately “pausing” all aid for 90 days – and dispensing with 83% of US Agency for International Development (USAID) projects six weeks later. Trillionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) “chainsawed” at USAID projects and contracts, folding […] Continue reading ->
The United States (US) aims to compel countries that receive its aid to fight HIV, tuberculosis and malaria to share all information about “pathogens with epidemic potential” in exchange. This is according to a US government document, the “PEPFAR [US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief] Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) template”, seen by Health Policy […] Continue reading ->
“Inadequate” and “unbalanced” were some of the complaints levelled against the first draft of a Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system when World Health Organization (WHO) member states met for text-based negotiations in Geneva on Monday. Once agreed, the PABS system will be an annex to the Pandemic Agreement, but several member states at the Intergovernmental […] Continue reading ->
Member states start text-based negotiations next week on the final outstanding piece of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Pandemic Agreement, the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system. They will have had nine days to consider the seven-page first draft of the PABS system, which was distributed late Friday (24 October) by the administration Bureau […] Continue reading ->
There is an urgent need for a more comprehensive pandemic risk monitoring system that tracks threats and preparedness in real time, according to the WHO-hosted Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, in a report launched at the World Health Summit. This followed the release of a new World Health Organization data documenting the sharp global rise in […] Continue reading ->