As we approach the final months of member-state negotiations over a World Health Organization Pandemic Accord, due to come before the World Health Assembly in May, the efforts to forge a consensus have witnessed modest progress. However, the original divide between developed and developing countries on key issues such as finance, access and benefit sharing, […] Continue reading ->
Improving disease surveillance, strengthening primary healthcare, and being able to expand quickly during a crisis are some of the important lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic that can be applied to ‘Disease X’, according to health experts speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday. “Disease X is a placeholder for unknown diseases,” […] Continue reading ->
From earthquakes in Afghanistan to floods in Libya and the conflicts in Gaza and Sudan, WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region, is beset with one of the world’s largest concentrations of people trapped in humanitarian crises and in desperate need of emergency health services, food aid, as well as peace,  said Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director […] Continue reading ->
Days after government officials took a break from frenetic pandemic accord negotiations, news broke that European countries had destroyed at least 215 million unwanted COVID-19 vaccine doses valued at over €4 billion. The 19 countries surveyed dumped 0.7 doses per resident – with Estonia and Germany being the most wasteful, according to Politico, which broke […] Continue reading ->
This is a bumper week for pandemic negotiations – the last formal set for the year – with meetings of both the World Health Organization’s (WHO) intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) and the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (WGIHR). The INB, which is negotiating a pandemic agreement, meets until Wednesday, while the […] Continue reading ->
LUSAKA, Zambia – Ensuring that Africa can manufacture its own vaccines will represent “the second independence of Africa”, Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said at the start of the Conference for Public Health in Africa 2023 (CPHIA) on Monday. “Many African countries got their […] Continue reading ->
An effective pandemic agreement will need to include “accountability mechanisms” to ensure that countries implement the terms – and these will need to be independently monitored, according to new research published in BMJ. “Accountability mechanisms are used through a variety of methods across global treaties and governance mechanisms to varying degrees of effectiveness,” argue the […] Continue reading ->
BLANTYRE, Malawi – Boyden Ndlovu of Mzimba district, one of Malawi’s tobacco growing districts located in the northern region says that his lifetime has been synonymous with tobacco farming. Tobacco has been a mainstay of Malawi’s economy, historically generating about 70% of export revenue and now accounting for over half – yet the country finally […] Continue reading ->