Despite the huge human and economic cost of COVID-19, over two years of negotiations and substantial diplomatic pressure, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) failed to reach consensus on a pandemic agreement by Friday (10 May), the last scheduled day of negotiations before the upcoming 77th World Health Assembly (WHA). But the […] Continue reading ->
A crucial stocktake of the state-of-play of the World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic agreement talks on Friday afternoon (3 May) will determine the way forward for the final five days’ negotiations. But progress has been slow in the past four days, according to reports – with differing opinions about whether a skeleton agreement can or […] Continue reading ->
PAUD, MAHARASHTRA STATE, INDIA – It is 11:15 on a Wednesday morning, and the March sun is hot but not yet punishing in this part of western India. Mathabai Jadhav, 65, waits patiently for her turn at the Paud Rural Hospital, some 30 kilometres from the city of Pune. At least two dozen patients like […] Continue reading ->
Pharmaceutical giants could support a formula whereby companies are guaranteed free and immediate access to pathogens with pandemic potential in exchange for binding equity agreements as part of a proposed World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic agreement, says a leading industry figure. The statement by Thomas Cueni, director-general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers […] Continue reading ->
In January, Ugandan LGBTQ activist Steven Kabuye was stabbed multiple times by two men travelling on a motorbike and left for dead on the outskirts of Kampala, the country’s capital city. The 25-year-old, who had received several death threats after Uganda’s Parliament passed its Anti-Homosexuality Act last May, criminalising LGBTQ people, said that the attackers […] Continue reading ->
A new report finds that the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea have been “dumping” used, and highly polluting trucks and buses on low- and middle-income countries. Heavy duty trucks and buses account for as much as 63% of PM2.5 pollution emissions from road vehicles globally. A new UN report has exposed a […] Continue reading ->
A wide array of stakeholders are looking toward the upcoming World Health Assembly this May to conclude negotiations on a new pandemic accord that seeks to make the world more prepared for the next pandemic. And most would agree that the primary task of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), established by the World Health Assembly […] Continue reading ->
The Tenth Conference of Parties (COP10) of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) sidestepped a controversial debate on e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products – effectively kicking the can on any decisions related to regulation of that swelling market to the next meeting in two years time. However, the parties at the conference, […] Continue reading ->
World leaders have a duty to deliver “an effective, legally-binding pandemic accord” by May to prevent the devastation wrought by COVID-19, according to a group of influential leaders and organisations. The call came in an open letter issued on Tuesday, the fourth anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a global emergency, and was signed by The […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s director general says the battle against maternal mortality has stalled; Somalia calls for a new WHA resolution committing to stepped-up action on maternal and child deaths, a leading global health inequality. The battle against maternal mortality has stagnated and high rates of deaths continue to plague sub-Saharan Africa, as well as other low- and […] Continue reading ->