Beijing confirmed the nomination of National Health Commission official Dr Song Li for WHO Director-General on Thursday (8 October). The move expands the candidate field to seven amidst severe geopolitical ruptures shaking up the agency, with experts warning this move could further heighten superpower tensions. In announcing the bid, Chinese officials framed the candidacy around […] Continue reading ->
China has nominated a prominent Chinese health official for WHO Director General in the 2027 elections, multiple diplomatic sources have confirmed to Health Policy Watch. But there are mixed reports about who that candidate actually may be. Some high-level sources have cited Song Li, a senior Chinese Communist Party official who mounted a failed bid […] Continue reading ->
HARARE – In March, 27-year-old Jemitius Gangata succumbed to malaria in Mahombokombe village in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West Province, becoming part of the country’s growing malaria statistics. By mid-April, the country had recorded over 65,000 malaria cases and 174 deaths, almost double the numbers from the same period last year, when 36,000 cases and 85 deaths […] Continue reading ->
Global health has moved from an area of mutual cooperation to one dominated by “high politics” and division, observed Ilona Kickbusch at the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG) last Friday (2 October). Leading the closing panel, the founder of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, highlighted how recent voting at the […] Continue reading ->
Rural farm fires and Diwali fireworks likely to trigger pollution emergencies in northern India during late autumn and early winter, despite the rollout of new pollution control measures in the capital city territory. DELHI, India – As India braces for the winter smog season, Delhi has announced a pollution mitigation plan for the expected peak […] Continue reading ->
ISRAELI-OCCUPIED WEST BANK – The oxygen mask slipped from three-month-old Ahmad Zaid’s face. He was in his father’s arms, in front of a closed Israeli military gate blocking the road between Deir Ammar refugee camp, northwest of Ramallah, where the family lives, and the city of Ramallah, with a hospital the family was desperate to […] Continue reading ->
At the opening of the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO)’s annual meeting on Monday, officials celebrated progress made in tackling regional health challenges – despite political and economic challenges. However, the US warned PAHO’s 63rd Directing Council not to stray into “ideological” issues, as it continues to withhold millions in unpaid members’ dues. The opening […] Continue reading ->
Thousands of people displaced by conflict in Yemen are at risk of cholera, measles, malaria and dengue as the El Niño season approaches, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean region warned this week. A four-year ceasefire between Iran-backed Houthi forces and the Saudi-based Yemeni government collapsed in August after Houthi forces attacked Saudi Arabian […] Continue reading ->
New research found that after the US administration suspended its embassy air pollution monitoring initiative, air pollution increased by 23-33%, particularly in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where reliable monitoring data is scarce. The US’s abrupt shutdown of its embassy air pollution monitoring program in 2025 hit regions with little publicly available data the hardest, […] Continue reading ->
The world has ridden fast to rescue DRC from Ebola. But four months on, nobody can say for sure how many agencies are responding, how many people they employ, how much money has arrived, or what it bought. There are, however, coordinators galore. But the virus is still outwitting them. Time and again, we learn […] Continue reading ->