Universal health coverage, access to medicines, and noncommunicable diseases are priorities for Switzerland in global health policy. Amb. Nora Kronig Romero is the head of the International Affairs Division and Vice Director General of the Federal Office of Public Health, as well as Swiss Ambassador for Global Health. She sat down with Health Policy Watch while in Geneva last week for the meeting of the World Health Organization Executive Board, which Switzerland attended as an observer to the governing board comprised of 34 WHO member states. Continue reading ->
Preventable environmental risks lead to a yearly death toll of 13 million people, 7 million of which are caused by air pollution, according to a World Health Organization report presented yesterday to its members attending the organisation’s Executive Board. Time is of the essence and the WHO draft global strategy on health, environment, and climate change received broad support, as well as a draft action plan for small island developing states, particularly vulnerable to climate change. Continue reading ->
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 being 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 ->
When historians look back, will this year mark a turning point in global health? Certainly some of the big issues on the agenda in 2019 might suggest that we are at a crossroads. We can expect to see an intensification of the push for universal health coverage (UHC), culminating with a first-ever high-level United Nations meeting, and a shift away from disease-specific interventions towards more integrated approaches. Health Policy Watch spoke with a range of leading global health policy experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), NGOs, industry and foundations to get their take on the top issues, and here is what they said to watch for in 2019 in five priority areas. Continue reading ->