WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made an emotional appeal to Israel on Thursday to end its 80-day blockade of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid into Gaza, asking “if you can have mercy?” and adding: “the war is hurting Israel, and it will not bring a lasting solution.” Fighting back tears, the Director […] Continue reading ->
Thirty-five million tons of plastic waste have been dumped into the world’s oceans since negotiations on the United Nations plastics treaty began in Uruguay two years ago. When delegates gather for the final session of UN Environment Programme (UNEP) led talks in Geneva in August, known as INC-5.2, around 1.2 billion tons of unrecycled plastic […] Continue reading ->
Addressing today’s global health challenges requires more than funding and innovation—it demands humility, open communication, and a shared commitment to collective action, according to IFPMA Director-General David Reddy. Reddy, speaking at an IFPMA side event during the 78th World Health Assembly, acknowledged the socio-political and financial barriers facing global health systems. However, he urged the […] Continue reading ->
African countries at the World Health Assembly called for increased support to health systems across the continent following major cuts to all World Health Organization (WHO) regional office budgets amid a financial crisis triggered by the US withdrawal from the agency and falling global health spending. The African region suffered the largest total cut, losing […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA – Although the past decade has seen progress in the fight against malnutrition, 148 million children remain stunted, 45 million suffer from wasting, and anaemia affects nearly one in three women globally, according to experts at the Geneva Health Forum (GHF). In 2023 alone, 733 million people experienced hunger—152 million more than in 2019—and […] Continue reading ->
There are tensions between World Health Organization (WHO) member states about how to approach the final negotiations on the pandemic agreement – an annex on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system (PABS), according to Precious Matsoso, who co-chaired the negotiations. “There’s an argument about whether you invite experts to start working on a technical document […] Continue reading ->
A formal procedure for investigating allegations of misconduct against WHO’s Director General got the greenlight from the World Health Assembly on Tuesday – after six years of mostly closed door debate and deliberations. The procedure is the first ever to be approved by the global health body for investigating any current or future head of […] Continue reading ->
Nations at the 78th World Health Assembly approved a new budget and a 20% increase in annual membership fees for the World Health Organisation (WHO), handing the embattled UN health agency a crucial lifeline as it grapples with the financial bomb dropped on Geneva by the United States’ withdrawal from international institutions. The vote marks […] Continue reading ->
Saima Wazed, WHO’s South East Asia Regional is attending the World Health Assembly in Geneva, and presiding over official events, even while her home country, Bangladesh, has a warrant outstanding for her arrest. The warrant follows the filing of charges in March against Wazed in March by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) alleging fraud, forgery and […] Continue reading ->
Presidents, prime ministers and even opera singers, celebrated the unanimous adoption of the world’s first Pandemic Agreement by consensus at the World Health Assembly (WHA) plenary on Tuesday morning. Despite the 11th-hour insistence of Slovakia on a vote on the agreement in Committee A on Monday night, none of the World Health Organization (WHO) member […] Continue reading ->
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