‘I Couldn’t Just Stand By’: Syrians Step up With Earthquake Aid Despite Pressures

15/02/2023 Safaa Sallal

DAMASCUS/JABLEH – One week on from last week’s massive earthquakes, ordinary people across Syria – including in the large parts controlled by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces – have been scrambling to marshal whatever help they can for survivors, offering up their homes, supplies, and skills. While many of the areas al-Assad controls are further from […] Continue reading ->

Five Priorities for Global Pandemic Preparedness

14/02/2023 Thomas B. Cueni

On 27 February, World Health Organization member states will meet to commence formal negotiations on a global pandemic preparedness agreement – unofficially turning the page from responding to COVID-19 to readying ourselves for future health emergencies. While the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) of member states have already held a series of meetings, as well as […] Continue reading ->

Ukraine War Sparks Global Health Crisis

10/02/2023 Editorial team

Russia’s war in Ukraine has sparked a global health crisis – from the death, suffering and displacement of people in the country to the global food and fuel insecurity, and diminished donor funds to support other health issues. “The UN High Commission for Refugees estimated that about 17.6 million Ukrainians, which is about 43% of […] Continue reading ->

Mpox Vaccine Reduces Infection Risk by 86%; First Peer-Reviewed Study of Real World Results

08/02/2023 Maayan Hoffman

Just one shot of the Mpox vaccine reduces the risk of infection by 86% compared to those who are unvaccinated, according to a new study published recently in Nature Medicine. The real-world study – the first to be published in a peer-reviewed journal since the outbreak began last spring – tested the effectiveness of a […] Continue reading ->

Germany Promotes Stronger Role for WHO in Next Pandemic

02/02/2023 John Heilprin

Germany’s top health official put in a pitch for the UN health agency to play a stronger role in the next pandemic, which is exactly the aim of a global pandemic treaty. A day after the World Health Organization (WHO) released an initial proposal for a global pandemic treaty, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach plugged […] Continue reading ->

Israel’s Decision to Revoke Sugar Tax is ‘Grievous Blow to Public Health’

02/02/2023 Maayan Hoffman

Israeli and international public health professionals have published a letter in the Lancet expressing deep concern over an Israeli government decision to cancel the country’s sweetened beverage tax, which was only passed in November 2021. These senior scholars said the decision to revoke the tax sends a message that the government lacks respect for science […] Continue reading ->

Governing Pandemics Snapshot

27/01/2023 Gian Luca Burci, Suerie Moon, Daniela Morich, Adam Strobeyko & Seyed-Moeen Hosseinalipour

A briefing series on the status of moves to reform the global system of pandemic preparedness and response launches today, just ahead of the WHO Executive Board review of progress next week. Looking back at 2022 and forward into 2023, this series by the Global Health Center of the Geneva Graduate Institute, published in collaboration […] Continue reading ->

Africans Struggled to Get COVID-19 Tests – What Must Change Before the Next Pandemic?

26/01/2023 Kerry Cullinan

Most Africans could not get a COVID-19 test unless they were hospitalised or could afford to pay a private laboratory for a pricey test – yet rapid tests were being dished out free in the US and Europe. High prices, slow regulatory approval, and outdated ideas about self-testing were some of the barriers that prevented […] Continue reading ->

Too Early to Decide on Annual COVID-19 Boosters as Virus Has No Seasonal Pattern Yet

24/01/2023 Kerry Cullinan

While the World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergency committee on COVID-19 will decide this week whether the virus still constitutes a global health emergency, the body’s Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is “very concerned” about the pandemic. “While I will not pre-empt the advice of the emergency committee, I remain very concerned by the situation in […] Continue reading ->

China Downplays COVID Threat from Lunar New Year Travel

23/01/2023 Kerry Cullinan

Although some experts predict that the past weekend’s celebrations of China’s lunar new year will hasten the spread of COVID-19 to rural parts of the country, one of the country’s top scientists has disputed this. Wu Zunyou, China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s chief epidemiologist, downplayed the risk on the Chinese social media platform, […] Continue reading ->