Measurable outputs are a key element of the World Health Organization transformation and its “triple billion” target. Last week, WHO Executive Board discussed the Impact Framework, a key measurement system. Board members asked clarifications on indicators and underlined the challenge of data collection in many countries. A consultation with country experts is expected to be held before the May World Health Assembly. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: Rikolto (Vredeseilanden).

The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) today announced the launch of the “Pandemic Response Box”, which offers researchers open access to 400 compounds that could lead to development of new treatments for pandemic diseases. In return, researchers “will be expected to share data resulting from research on the molecules from the box in the public domain within 2 years of its generation.” Continue reading ->

Policy leaders must redesign global economic incentives to advance healthy diets, and take a harder line against commercial interests promoting excessive production and consumption of unhealthy foods. Current trends are driving the inter-related pandemics of obesity and undernutrition as well as climate change, according to a new report by The Lancet Commission on Obesity. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: The Lancet.

Poliomyelitis, a highly infectious and sometimes debilitating viral disease, is about to be eradicated from the world. However, the last mile is the hardest, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week at a member state discussion on polio eradication.

Beyond the direct eradication of wild polioviruses in the three last endemic countries, and the steady supply of affordable inactivated poliovirus vaccines, the WHO is called on to help countries keep the virus at bay, and implement a strategy to use polio-related structures to strengthen their national health systems, as polio funding is dwindling. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: Flickr – Sanofi Pasteur.

[Reprinted from the World Economic Forum, which closed today here in Switzerland:]

A human embryo’s DNA is “edited” to take out a disease. Surgeons practice complicated procedures on models created by 3-D printers. A pre-programmed drone collects blood samples from residents of a rural village and travels back to the capital.

These awe-inspiring scenarios have all recently unfolded in what is undoubtedly a golden era of innovation in healthcare.

Continue reading ->

Image Credits: World Economic Forum.

By Nicoletta Dentico, director of Health Innovation in Practice (HIP)

[Note: translated from the original article in Italian which appeared in La Repubblica.]

Surely, the topic of human mobility has been the stumbling block in the common agenda of European countries for the last few years. In fact, the very existence of the European Union as we have known it so far is at stake, on this political issue. A certain degree of prudence would seem understandable, then, a few months ahead of the May EU elections. Surely, the intergovernmental nature of the UN agencies force them to interact with Member States, that is why exacerbating the political arena is a risky operation that may not pay off at all, in the long run. Moreover, for WHO Europe, the report on the health of refugees and migrant people in the 53 countries of the region is the first one of its kind, which may explain the hesitance of the beginner. But it is difficult to deny a bitter aftertaste, especially after the press conference. Continue reading ->

Image Credits: Gregorio Borgia / AP.