As the mandate of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus approaches its expiration in August 2027, the high-stakes manoeuvring for the next Director-General (DG) of the World Health Organization (WHO) has intensified in the halls of Geneva and capital cities worldwide. While the official call for nominations is expected in April 2026 and no candidate has formally […] Continue reading ->
A contentious debate at the World Health Organization’s Executive Board exposed the continued deep divisions between Israel and most other member states over the health situation in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territory, with delegates trading starkly different assessments of humanitarian conditions, access to aid, and the reliability of WHO reporting. Saudi Arabia’s delegate, speaking […] Continue reading ->
Polio remains a public health emergency of international concern despite a continued decline in case numbers, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General report presented to the Executive Board. The report warns that progress toward eradication remains fragile. Some 38 cases of wild poliovirus type 1 had been reported globally by 22 October 2025, […] Continue reading ->
Ukraine and its front-line allies unleashed a storm of criticism over Russia’s relentless attacks on Ukraine’s energy and health infrastructure in WHO’s Executive Board meeting Wednesday – condemning the Russian Federation for “weaponizing winter to make cities go dark, hospitals fail and civilians suffer.” “Russia is systematically attacking healthcare and the civilian lifelines it depends […] Continue reading ->
STRASBOURG – The European Parliament backed the EU’s Critical Medicines Act (CMA) on Tuesday in a decisive move to secure Europe’s pharmaceutical supply chains from geopolitical shocks. With an overwhelming majority of 503 votes in favour, 57 against, and 108 abstentions, MEPs endorsed a sweeping industrial policy designed to re-shore the production of active ingredients […] Continue reading ->
The $9.4 billion package agreed to by the US Senate and House Appropriations Committees, is more than double the $3.7 billion requested by the Trump Administration, and signals bipartisan support for maintaining significant global health aid – although the package still must be approved by both Senate and House, and could also be vetoed by […] Continue reading ->
Fears over the side effects of COVID-19 jabs, which led to initial vaccine hesitancy, mostly gave way to acceptance in the course of the pandemic, with only a small minority remaining unvaccinated due to deep-seated mistrust, a new major study published in The Lancet finds. For the first time, the study “Profiling vaccine attitudes and […] Continue reading ->
A US government-funded trial on the timing of hepatitis B vaccinations, which will delay vaccination for up to 7,000 newborns in Guinea-Bissau, is due to start this week. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded a controversial Danish research group a $1,6 million five-year grant to study the “optimal timing and […] Continue reading ->
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has said it is “deeply alarmed” by the worsening humanitarian situation in Burundi, which has reached a crisis point following a rapid influx of refugees and asylum-seekers fleeing a new wave of violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since early December, over 84,000 […] Continue reading ->
Two more senior WHO officials, Bruce Aylward and Ailan Li, who were among those dropped from WHO’s Senior Leadership Team during the first phase of an Agency shake-up, have now been appointed to leading roles elsewhere in the organisation, according to a memo from Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Li, a Chinese national and […] Continue reading ->