Indonesia has officially nominated its Health Minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, for the WHO Director-General election – in what is also an unconventional candidacy for the global health agency that has traditionally been led by medical or public health professionals. Sadikin was posted as an official nominee on the WHO election website over the weekend. A […] Continue reading ->
Twice in three years – at its 75th anniversary and again this July at the Constitution’s 80th – the World Health Oganization (WHO) has told the official story of what it has achieved. Twice, water, sanitation, air, chemicals and climate have been left out. The former head of WHO’s environmental health programme argues this is […] Continue reading ->
The African Union held a special health summit this week, primarily aimed at mobilising high-level political support for more domestic health spending – particularly on HIV, tuberculosis and maternal health. The summit coincided with the release of two new studies reporting on the huge disruptions to HIV treatment throughout the world following the Trump administration’s […] Continue reading ->
Last week, one phrase — “self-reliance” — did more work in global health than any medicine, as global agencies continue operationalising donor retreats they can no longer disguise. The strategy’s real-world test is unfolding in eastern Congo, where the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record is outrunning a struggling response. The institutions of global health spent […] Continue reading ->
The dramatic global health budget cutbacks in services for maternal and reproductive health and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have produced 17 million unintended pregnancies, and more than 34,000 preventable maternal deaths in just the first year since cuts were made.  That recent assessment by French and Washington DC-based analyses, was cited by Guyana’s UN Ambassador […] Continue reading ->
Artificial intelligence promises huge efficiency gains for strained health systems, but algorithmic surveillance in long-term care systems also introduces profound ethical dilemmas. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled a comprehensive consultation draft on global long-term care standards to ensure digital innovation is balanced with fundamental human rights. Across the world, countries are […] Continue reading ->
The recent hantavirus outbreak triggered a wave of disinformation along similar lines to the COVID-19 pandemic: the virus was “fake”, “deliberately engineered”, and could be “cured” by Ivermectin. In the past week, furious community members have attacked and torched tents housing Ebola patients at Mongbwalu General Referral Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) […] Continue reading ->