The US-based Boston Consulting Group has been working with WHO’s senior leadership, under contract, to develop the major reorganization and cost-saving plan, now pending final presentation to staff and member states next week, Health Policy Watch has learned. Members of the Staff Association Committee confirmed to WHO staff members on Thursday, that BCG has been […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s budget crisis is even bigger than previously thought. The global health organization is short nearly $1.9 billion from a planned $4.2 billion budget for 2026-27, along with a $600 million deficit through end-2025, senior WHO officials revealed at a global ‘Town Hall’ meeting of WHO staff on Tuesday, heard by Health Policy Watch. The […] Continue reading ->
To save the World Health Organization (WHO), move staff to regional and country offices; cut posts at the top not only bottom; reduce gig workers rationally; and create a merit- and equity-based HR strategy for all levels of the organization, urge critics The number of WHO’s top-ranked directors (D2), the highest level of staff before […] Continue reading ->
The WHO Executive Board voted to advance a resolution on aid to war-torn Gaza to May’s World Health Assembly, the first to be greenlighted while several dozen other initiatives remain on hold due to budget constraints. Meanwhile, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appealed to Israel to allow thousands of desperately sick and injured […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu has been appointed as Acting Regional Director of the African Regional Office, until a new regional director is nominated and confirmed by the Executive Board – moves all due to happen in May and early June. Meanwhile, the EB also confirmed the appointment of Hans Henri Kluge to a second five-year […] Continue reading ->
WHO welcomed Sunday’s Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release deal as the first Israeli hostages – three young women – were released to the Red Cross amidst throngs of masked Hamas operatives, who brandished guns atop the Red Cross vehicles and fired shots at times into the air to ward off the crowds of people that […] Continue reading ->
WHO and other UN and international relief agencies heartily welcomed Wednesday’s announcement of a long-awaited Israeli-Hamas ceasefire. Israelis and Palestinians, meanwhile, began an anxious countdown, hoping that the agreement would indeed take effect as planned Sunday – even as Israel and Hamas traded accusations Thursday that the other was trying to torpedo the accord. “Wednesday’s […] Continue reading ->
After an early surge of spending during the COVID pandemic, public health layouts by countries at all income levels declined in 2022, on average, as compared to 2021. Meanwhile, there was a 60% increase overall in per-capita health expenditures between 2000 and 2022 – but in low income countries this was largely driven by a […] Continue reading ->
Cities that fail to take meaningful climate action face a future of severe degradation with infrastructure collapse and environmental deterioration, warned climate and health experts at the yearly Academy of Medical Sciences & The Lancet International Health Lecture in London. “Madrid’s climate in 2050 will resemble Marrakech’s climate today. I don’t think we want that,” […] Continue reading ->
Helen Rochford-Brennan, a 72-year-old Irish woman living with Alzheimer’s, was first diagnosed at 57, with a more complete diagnosis following five years later. At the time, there were no life-enhancing medications, leaving her to face the grim reality of her brain’s gradual decline, enduring what she described as “many dark days.” “Imagine having a new […] Continue reading ->