Now, more than ever, the pharma industry has been thrust into the limelight – as the world races to find new drugs and a hoped-for vaccine to beat COVID-19 and ensure universal access to critical treatment. Thomas Cueni, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), talks about the old-new tensions […] Continue reading ->
Unlike China’s President Xi Jinping, United States President Donald Trump didn’t appear on camera yesterday at the opening of the first-ever virtual World Health Assembly. Instead he used Twitter to get his message across about China’s alledged coverup of early news about the novel coronavirus and WHO’s failure to act assertively vis a vis Beijing. […] Continue reading ->
China’s Xi Jinping announced a sweeping US$ 2 billion funding initiative for COVID-19 response in China’s opening speech at the World Health Assembly. Later in the day, the United States, disgruntled and having withdrawn funding from WHO, said it had spent US$ 9 billion on Covid-19 response and would soon be funneling over US$500 million […] Continue reading ->
World Health Organization member states reached initial agreement today on a European Union-led draft resolution on global COVID-19 response to go before the upcoming World Health Assembly – overriding some of the previous US objections to language referring to the rights of countries to override patent rules. The draft resolution to be submitted to the […] Continue reading ->
World Health Organization member states were close to an agreement Wednesday evening on a European Union-led draft resolution on global COVID-19 response to the upcoming World Health Assembly. If approved, it would pave the way for coordinated planning by the global health community to ensure wide and equitable access by people worldwide to COVID-19 medicines […] Continue reading ->
Life expectancy has increased, particularly in low income countries, but COVID-19 threatens to throw progress off track, according to the World Health Organization’s annual roundup of worldwide disease and mortality trends. “The good news is that people around the world are living longer and healthier lives. The bad news is the rate of progress is […] Continue reading ->
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there could be “a window of opportunity… that would be suicidal to miss” to revise the International Health Regulations that govern countries’ behaviour during health emergencies, said Gian Luca Burci, former World Health Organization head legal counsel and now professor of international law, at a panel hosted by […] Continue reading ->