The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa resolved to reopen nominations for a regional director at a special session last week. This follows the unexpected passing of director-elect Dr Faustine Ndugulile in November 2024. He was due to assume the post in February once his election had been confirmed by the WHO Executive Board. […] Continue reading ->
If the United States withdraws from the World Health Organization (WHO) when Donald Trump assumes the presidency next week (20 January), will other member states – particularly China – step up to safeguard global health? “The signs coming out of Trump’s transition team paint a bleak picture for the WHO. Trump tried to pull out […] Continue reading ->
In April 2022, amidst the continuing uproar of the COVID pandemic, four deans of schools of public health from the USA, China, Switzerland and Singapore, first got on a call with each other to see how they could ramp up cooperation – remotely. Barred by lockdowns from the usual academic meetings and conferences, the urge […] Continue reading ->
Robert Kennedy Jr, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the United States health system, arrived in Washington, D. C. on Monday to rally support from lawmakers for his candidacy amid fears from health experts that the anti-vaccine activist and lawyer could roll back hard-won public health gains credited with saving millions of lives and protecting […] Continue reading ->
Countries are most likely to have laws about health workers’ pay and least likely to provide them with mental health services and protection against discrimination. There is also little correlation between a country’s wealth and the protection it offers its health workers. These are some of the findings of a study of over 1,200 laws […] Continue reading ->
After an early surge of spending during the COVID pandemic, public health layouts by countries at all income levels declined in 2022, on average, as compared to 2021. Meanwhile, there was a 60% increase overall in per-capita health expenditures between 2000 and 2022 – but in low income countries this was largely driven by a […] Continue reading ->
WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebryesus urged a ‘wait and see’ attitude Tuesday in his first public comments on US President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F Kennedy Jr as Secretary of Health and Human Services – despite a flurry of fresh criticism by 77 Nobel Laureates over the controversial appointment. “It’s a transition […] Continue reading ->
Nearly two decades ago, South African researcher Kelly Chibale recalls participating in a pioneering World Health Organization (WHO) meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, organized by TDR, the WHO-hosted Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, focusing on the concept of an African drug discovery network. For Chibale, the main outcome of that encounter was […] Continue reading ->
There is still no clarity about the cause of the mystery disease affecting people in the Panzi district of Kwango province in south-west Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), despite hopes that it would be diagnosed by the past weekend. Getting laboratory test results is proving more challenging than previously hoped as the district’s “limited laboratory […] Continue reading ->
There will be no pandemic agreement by year-end and, with only 10 days of formal talks set aside in 2025, some parties doubt whether an agreement can be reached by the May 2025 deadline. The week-long extended 12th meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) made progress, particularly on research and development (Article 9) and […] Continue reading ->