A new Health Technology Access Pool (H-TAP), which aims to broaden the scope of IP and patent-sharing with low- and middle-income countries and a new African Union co-sponsored ‘manufacturing support platform’ were among the initiatives announced this week at the Second World Local Production forum in The Hague. The global forum, the second ever to […] 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 ->
Amidst a flurry of allegations of nepotism and political corruption, Saima Wazed, daughter of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has emerged victorious in the race for the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia (WHO-SEARO) regional director. Wazed’s limited international public health experience and expertise, confined to the narrow field of autism, have raised concerns among experts […] Continue reading ->
The world may soon have a new antibiotic to treat gonorrhoea after a successful phase 3 trial of an oral pill, zoliflodacin, that was led and sponsored by a non-profit organisation. The results were announced late Wednesday by the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP), which conducted the trial in collaboration with Innoviva Specialty […] Continue reading ->
The global health landscape is marked by paradoxes. The last several decades have been shaped by progress and setbacks – new medicines and emerging diseases, technological advancements and entrenched inequities.  The Ebola outbreaks and COVID-19 pandemic exposed many of the already existing inequities in our global health ecosystem, from unequal access to vaccines to restrictive […] Continue reading ->
 The world’s preparedness for the next pandemic is “perilously fragile”, with gaps that “leave us dangerously exposed to a future threat”, according to the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) in its 2023 annual report released on Monday. “We lack the solid foundations needed to ensure current efforts for preparedness can be brought together to build […] Continue reading ->
BERLIN, Germany — Last week, the World Health Summit in Berlin brought together experts, civil society, politicians, and international organizations from around the world to brainstorm solutions to the many threats facing healthcare systems today.  Climate change, the looming health workforce crisis, and the increasingly distant goal of universal health coverage were all on the […] Continue reading ->