EXCLUSIVE: Here is the ‘Final Text’ of UN Political Declaration on Pandemics – Although its Adoption is Far From Guaranteed 06/08/2026 Kerry Cullinan United Nations member states are almost certain to break the silence on the final draft of the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) that was sent to them recently– but likely for all the wrong reasons. Armenia and Rwanda, the co-facilitators of the declaration negotiations, put the “final” text of the declaration […] Continue reading -> The Machine in Geneva’s Basement 06/08/2026 K. Rifat Hossain A finance ministry official can now draft in an afternoon what used to take a WHO mission, a consultant and a wait of weeks. That single fact, multiplied across almost everything WHO produces, is the real story behind this year’s budget cuts — and almost nobody in Geneva is telling it yet. Picture a health […] Continue reading -> Zimbabweans Fleeing Xenophobia in South Africa Battle to Get HIV Medicine Back Home 05/08/2026 Jeffrey Moyo HARARE, Zimbabwe – For the past two decades, 49-year-old Renious Gumbi from Mberengwa in Zimbabwe lived in South Africa, where he worked as a bricklayer. Gumbi, who was living with HIV, received free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment from his local clinic in South Africa as, according to that country’s Constitution, “everyone has the right to have […] Continue reading -> First WHO Regional Director Takes Leave To Run for Director-General 04/08/2026 Felix Sassmannshausen Eastern Mediterranean Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy will take immediate leave effective Tuesday to formally launch her campaign in the WHO Director-General Election, according to an internal notice from DG Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus seen by Health Policy Watch. Balkhy becomes the first serving regional director required to take leave after Tedros issued newly tightened […] Continue reading -> The HIV Deaths Nobody Can Count 04/08/2026 Mukesh Kapila VITAL SIGNS COLUMN: Eighteen months into the dismantling of the global AIDS response, how many have died? The honest answer is that nobody knows. Rio’s numbers are inferences, its assumptions and projections disputable. But 30 years and tens of billions of dollars into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we should not still be guessing. The week’s Vital […] Continue reading -> Scientists Warn Drug-Resistant Malaria Mutation Is Spreading Across Lake Victoria Basin 03/08/2026 Kizito Makoye KARAGWE, Tanzania – Maria Mwijage had barely reached the footpath home from the village well when mosquitoes began circling her legs. Overnight rain had filled roadside puddles and cattle hoof prints with stagnant water, turning them into breeding grounds. She brushed the insects away, balanced the yellow jerry can on her head and continued towards […] Continue reading -> US Government Burns Goodwill With Incorrect Map of Africa 01/08/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – The United States’ rapid dismantling of its HIV funding since January 2025 has caused the worst financial crisis for the sector in decades – but the US government’s willingness to host an information session on its new America First Global Health Strategy on the eve of the International AIDS Conference earned […] Continue reading -> Fear and Fatigue Grip Congo’s Health Workers as Ebola Response Crumbles 31/07/2026 Anicet Kimonyo BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Victorine Ngwobu Kasemi is the director of nursing at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia, the epicentre of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s record-breaking Ebola epidemic. In recent weeks she’s had to watch colleagues succumb to the virus, and her children isolate themselves from her to keep safe. “I’m afraid […] Continue reading -> Climate Crisis in ‘Overdrive’ as Fossil Fuels Fan El Niño, UN Chief Warns 31/07/2026 Disha Shetty As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading -> Fiji Has The World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic – And it is Struggling 30/07/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – A graph showing the progression of HIV infections in Fiji resembles a cobra poised to strike. For years, the 330+ islands that make up Fiji had almost zero HIV cases, but the country’s 14-fold increase in infections over the past five years is represented by a near-vertical line rearing up over […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older posts
The Machine in Geneva’s Basement 06/08/2026 K. Rifat Hossain A finance ministry official can now draft in an afternoon what used to take a WHO mission, a consultant and a wait of weeks. That single fact, multiplied across almost everything WHO produces, is the real story behind this year’s budget cuts — and almost nobody in Geneva is telling it yet. Picture a health […] Continue reading -> Zimbabweans Fleeing Xenophobia in South Africa Battle to Get HIV Medicine Back Home 05/08/2026 Jeffrey Moyo HARARE, Zimbabwe – For the past two decades, 49-year-old Renious Gumbi from Mberengwa in Zimbabwe lived in South Africa, where he worked as a bricklayer. Gumbi, who was living with HIV, received free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment from his local clinic in South Africa as, according to that country’s Constitution, “everyone has the right to have […] Continue reading -> First WHO Regional Director Takes Leave To Run for Director-General 04/08/2026 Felix Sassmannshausen Eastern Mediterranean Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy will take immediate leave effective Tuesday to formally launch her campaign in the WHO Director-General Election, according to an internal notice from DG Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus seen by Health Policy Watch. Balkhy becomes the first serving regional director required to take leave after Tedros issued newly tightened […] Continue reading -> The HIV Deaths Nobody Can Count 04/08/2026 Mukesh Kapila VITAL SIGNS COLUMN: Eighteen months into the dismantling of the global AIDS response, how many have died? The honest answer is that nobody knows. Rio’s numbers are inferences, its assumptions and projections disputable. But 30 years and tens of billions of dollars into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we should not still be guessing. The week’s Vital […] Continue reading -> Scientists Warn Drug-Resistant Malaria Mutation Is Spreading Across Lake Victoria Basin 03/08/2026 Kizito Makoye KARAGWE, Tanzania – Maria Mwijage had barely reached the footpath home from the village well when mosquitoes began circling her legs. Overnight rain had filled roadside puddles and cattle hoof prints with stagnant water, turning them into breeding grounds. She brushed the insects away, balanced the yellow jerry can on her head and continued towards […] Continue reading -> US Government Burns Goodwill With Incorrect Map of Africa 01/08/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – The United States’ rapid dismantling of its HIV funding since January 2025 has caused the worst financial crisis for the sector in decades – but the US government’s willingness to host an information session on its new America First Global Health Strategy on the eve of the International AIDS Conference earned […] Continue reading -> Fear and Fatigue Grip Congo’s Health Workers as Ebola Response Crumbles 31/07/2026 Anicet Kimonyo BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Victorine Ngwobu Kasemi is the director of nursing at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia, the epicentre of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s record-breaking Ebola epidemic. In recent weeks she’s had to watch colleagues succumb to the virus, and her children isolate themselves from her to keep safe. “I’m afraid […] Continue reading -> Climate Crisis in ‘Overdrive’ as Fossil Fuels Fan El Niño, UN Chief Warns 31/07/2026 Disha Shetty As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading -> Fiji Has The World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic – And it is Struggling 30/07/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – A graph showing the progression of HIV infections in Fiji resembles a cobra poised to strike. For years, the 330+ islands that make up Fiji had almost zero HIV cases, but the country’s 14-fold increase in infections over the past five years is represented by a near-vertical line rearing up over […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older posts
Zimbabweans Fleeing Xenophobia in South Africa Battle to Get HIV Medicine Back Home 05/08/2026 Jeffrey Moyo HARARE, Zimbabwe – For the past two decades, 49-year-old Renious Gumbi from Mberengwa in Zimbabwe lived in South Africa, where he worked as a bricklayer. Gumbi, who was living with HIV, received free antiretroviral (ARV) treatment from his local clinic in South Africa as, according to that country’s Constitution, “everyone has the right to have […] Continue reading -> First WHO Regional Director Takes Leave To Run for Director-General 04/08/2026 Felix Sassmannshausen Eastern Mediterranean Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy will take immediate leave effective Tuesday to formally launch her campaign in the WHO Director-General Election, according to an internal notice from DG Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus seen by Health Policy Watch. Balkhy becomes the first serving regional director required to take leave after Tedros issued newly tightened […] Continue reading -> The HIV Deaths Nobody Can Count 04/08/2026 Mukesh Kapila VITAL SIGNS COLUMN: Eighteen months into the dismantling of the global AIDS response, how many have died? The honest answer is that nobody knows. Rio’s numbers are inferences, its assumptions and projections disputable. But 30 years and tens of billions of dollars into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we should not still be guessing. The week’s Vital […] Continue reading -> Scientists Warn Drug-Resistant Malaria Mutation Is Spreading Across Lake Victoria Basin 03/08/2026 Kizito Makoye KARAGWE, Tanzania – Maria Mwijage had barely reached the footpath home from the village well when mosquitoes began circling her legs. Overnight rain had filled roadside puddles and cattle hoof prints with stagnant water, turning them into breeding grounds. She brushed the insects away, balanced the yellow jerry can on her head and continued towards […] Continue reading -> US Government Burns Goodwill With Incorrect Map of Africa 01/08/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – The United States’ rapid dismantling of its HIV funding since January 2025 has caused the worst financial crisis for the sector in decades – but the US government’s willingness to host an information session on its new America First Global Health Strategy on the eve of the International AIDS Conference earned […] Continue reading -> Fear and Fatigue Grip Congo’s Health Workers as Ebola Response Crumbles 31/07/2026 Anicet Kimonyo BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Victorine Ngwobu Kasemi is the director of nursing at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia, the epicentre of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s record-breaking Ebola epidemic. In recent weeks she’s had to watch colleagues succumb to the virus, and her children isolate themselves from her to keep safe. “I’m afraid […] Continue reading -> Climate Crisis in ‘Overdrive’ as Fossil Fuels Fan El Niño, UN Chief Warns 31/07/2026 Disha Shetty As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading -> Fiji Has The World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic – And it is Struggling 30/07/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – A graph showing the progression of HIV infections in Fiji resembles a cobra poised to strike. For years, the 330+ islands that make up Fiji had almost zero HIV cases, but the country’s 14-fold increase in infections over the past five years is represented by a near-vertical line rearing up over […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older posts
First WHO Regional Director Takes Leave To Run for Director-General 04/08/2026 Felix Sassmannshausen Eastern Mediterranean Regional Director Dr Hanan Balkhy will take immediate leave effective Tuesday to formally launch her campaign in the WHO Director-General Election, according to an internal notice from DG Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus seen by Health Policy Watch. Balkhy becomes the first serving regional director required to take leave after Tedros issued newly tightened […] Continue reading -> The HIV Deaths Nobody Can Count 04/08/2026 Mukesh Kapila VITAL SIGNS COLUMN: Eighteen months into the dismantling of the global AIDS response, how many have died? The honest answer is that nobody knows. Rio’s numbers are inferences, its assumptions and projections disputable. But 30 years and tens of billions of dollars into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we should not still be guessing. The week’s Vital […] Continue reading -> Scientists Warn Drug-Resistant Malaria Mutation Is Spreading Across Lake Victoria Basin 03/08/2026 Kizito Makoye KARAGWE, Tanzania – Maria Mwijage had barely reached the footpath home from the village well when mosquitoes began circling her legs. Overnight rain had filled roadside puddles and cattle hoof prints with stagnant water, turning them into breeding grounds. She brushed the insects away, balanced the yellow jerry can on her head and continued towards […] Continue reading -> US Government Burns Goodwill With Incorrect Map of Africa 01/08/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – The United States’ rapid dismantling of its HIV funding since January 2025 has caused the worst financial crisis for the sector in decades – but the US government’s willingness to host an information session on its new America First Global Health Strategy on the eve of the International AIDS Conference earned […] Continue reading -> Fear and Fatigue Grip Congo’s Health Workers as Ebola Response Crumbles 31/07/2026 Anicet Kimonyo BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Victorine Ngwobu Kasemi is the director of nursing at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia, the epicentre of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s record-breaking Ebola epidemic. In recent weeks she’s had to watch colleagues succumb to the virus, and her children isolate themselves from her to keep safe. “I’m afraid […] Continue reading -> Climate Crisis in ‘Overdrive’ as Fossil Fuels Fan El Niño, UN Chief Warns 31/07/2026 Disha Shetty As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading -> Fiji Has The World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic – And it is Struggling 30/07/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – A graph showing the progression of HIV infections in Fiji resembles a cobra poised to strike. For years, the 330+ islands that make up Fiji had almost zero HIV cases, but the country’s 14-fold increase in infections over the past five years is represented by a near-vertical line rearing up over […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older posts
The HIV Deaths Nobody Can Count 04/08/2026 Mukesh Kapila VITAL SIGNS COLUMN: Eighteen months into the dismantling of the global AIDS response, how many have died? The honest answer is that nobody knows. Rio’s numbers are inferences, its assumptions and projections disputable. But 30 years and tens of billions of dollars into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we should not still be guessing. The week’s Vital […] Continue reading -> Scientists Warn Drug-Resistant Malaria Mutation Is Spreading Across Lake Victoria Basin 03/08/2026 Kizito Makoye KARAGWE, Tanzania – Maria Mwijage had barely reached the footpath home from the village well when mosquitoes began circling her legs. Overnight rain had filled roadside puddles and cattle hoof prints with stagnant water, turning them into breeding grounds. She brushed the insects away, balanced the yellow jerry can on her head and continued towards […] Continue reading -> US Government Burns Goodwill With Incorrect Map of Africa 01/08/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – The United States’ rapid dismantling of its HIV funding since January 2025 has caused the worst financial crisis for the sector in decades – but the US government’s willingness to host an information session on its new America First Global Health Strategy on the eve of the International AIDS Conference earned […] Continue reading -> Fear and Fatigue Grip Congo’s Health Workers as Ebola Response Crumbles 31/07/2026 Anicet Kimonyo BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Victorine Ngwobu Kasemi is the director of nursing at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia, the epicentre of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s record-breaking Ebola epidemic. In recent weeks she’s had to watch colleagues succumb to the virus, and her children isolate themselves from her to keep safe. “I’m afraid […] Continue reading -> Climate Crisis in ‘Overdrive’ as Fossil Fuels Fan El Niño, UN Chief Warns 31/07/2026 Disha Shetty As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading -> Fiji Has The World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic – And it is Struggling 30/07/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – A graph showing the progression of HIV infections in Fiji resembles a cobra poised to strike. For years, the 330+ islands that make up Fiji had almost zero HIV cases, but the country’s 14-fold increase in infections over the past five years is represented by a near-vertical line rearing up over […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older posts
Scientists Warn Drug-Resistant Malaria Mutation Is Spreading Across Lake Victoria Basin 03/08/2026 Kizito Makoye KARAGWE, Tanzania – Maria Mwijage had barely reached the footpath home from the village well when mosquitoes began circling her legs. Overnight rain had filled roadside puddles and cattle hoof prints with stagnant water, turning them into breeding grounds. She brushed the insects away, balanced the yellow jerry can on her head and continued towards […] Continue reading -> US Government Burns Goodwill With Incorrect Map of Africa 01/08/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – The United States’ rapid dismantling of its HIV funding since January 2025 has caused the worst financial crisis for the sector in decades – but the US government’s willingness to host an information session on its new America First Global Health Strategy on the eve of the International AIDS Conference earned […] Continue reading -> Fear and Fatigue Grip Congo’s Health Workers as Ebola Response Crumbles 31/07/2026 Anicet Kimonyo BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Victorine Ngwobu Kasemi is the director of nursing at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia, the epicentre of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s record-breaking Ebola epidemic. In recent weeks she’s had to watch colleagues succumb to the virus, and her children isolate themselves from her to keep safe. “I’m afraid […] Continue reading -> Climate Crisis in ‘Overdrive’ as Fossil Fuels Fan El Niño, UN Chief Warns 31/07/2026 Disha Shetty As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading -> Fiji Has The World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic – And it is Struggling 30/07/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – A graph showing the progression of HIV infections in Fiji resembles a cobra poised to strike. For years, the 330+ islands that make up Fiji had almost zero HIV cases, but the country’s 14-fold increase in infections over the past five years is represented by a near-vertical line rearing up over […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older posts
US Government Burns Goodwill With Incorrect Map of Africa 01/08/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – The United States’ rapid dismantling of its HIV funding since January 2025 has caused the worst financial crisis for the sector in decades – but the US government’s willingness to host an information session on its new America First Global Health Strategy on the eve of the International AIDS Conference earned […] Continue reading -> Fear and Fatigue Grip Congo’s Health Workers as Ebola Response Crumbles 31/07/2026 Anicet Kimonyo BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Victorine Ngwobu Kasemi is the director of nursing at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia, the epicentre of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s record-breaking Ebola epidemic. In recent weeks she’s had to watch colleagues succumb to the virus, and her children isolate themselves from her to keep safe. “I’m afraid […] Continue reading -> Climate Crisis in ‘Overdrive’ as Fossil Fuels Fan El Niño, UN Chief Warns 31/07/2026 Disha Shetty As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading -> Fiji Has The World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic – And it is Struggling 30/07/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – A graph showing the progression of HIV infections in Fiji resembles a cobra poised to strike. For years, the 330+ islands that make up Fiji had almost zero HIV cases, but the country’s 14-fold increase in infections over the past five years is represented by a near-vertical line rearing up over […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older posts
Fear and Fatigue Grip Congo’s Health Workers as Ebola Response Crumbles 31/07/2026 Anicet Kimonyo BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Victorine Ngwobu Kasemi is the director of nursing at the Evangelical Medical Centre in Bunia, the epicentre of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s record-breaking Ebola epidemic. In recent weeks she’s had to watch colleagues succumb to the virus, and her children isolate themselves from her to keep safe. “I’m afraid […] Continue reading -> Climate Crisis in ‘Overdrive’ as Fossil Fuels Fan El Niño, UN Chief Warns 31/07/2026 Disha Shetty As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading -> Fiji Has The World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic – And it is Struggling 30/07/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – A graph showing the progression of HIV infections in Fiji resembles a cobra poised to strike. For years, the 330+ islands that make up Fiji had almost zero HIV cases, but the country’s 14-fold increase in infections over the past five years is represented by a near-vertical line rearing up over […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older posts
Climate Crisis in ‘Overdrive’ as Fossil Fuels Fan El Niño, UN Chief Warns 31/07/2026 Disha Shetty As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading -> Fiji Has The World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic – And it is Struggling 30/07/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – A graph showing the progression of HIV infections in Fiji resembles a cobra poised to strike. For years, the 330+ islands that make up Fiji had almost zero HIV cases, but the country’s 14-fold increase in infections over the past five years is represented by a near-vertical line rearing up over […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older posts
Fiji Has The World’s Fastest Growing HIV Epidemic – And it is Struggling 30/07/2026 Kerry Cullinan RIO DE JANEIRO – A graph showing the progression of HIV infections in Fiji resembles a cobra poised to strike. For years, the 330+ islands that make up Fiji had almost zero HIV cases, but the country’s 14-fold increase in infections over the past five years is represented by a near-vertical line rearing up over […] Continue reading -> Posts navigation Older posts