In the face of dwindling health budgets, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) expert committee on immunisation has made several suggestions to enable countries to optimise existing vaccine supplies. Countries can continue giving a single dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to girls aged 9-14 years to prevent cervical cancer – instead of two doses, […] Continue reading ->
Six years after COVID-19, with Ebola Bundibugyo virus still raging in eastern Congo and the pandemic treaty stalled, a packed World Health Summit workshop asked why the world keeps paying for fire engines instead of fire prevention. BERLIN – By the time Katrín Jakobsdóttir opened the session, people were standing two deep along the back […] Continue reading ->
BERLIN – A new $100 million initiative to halve stillbirth rates across select countries over the next decade launched at the World Health Summit on Monday (12 October). Backed equally by the Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap, a spin-off of the UK-based Wellcome Trust, the effort will test and deploy a package of diagnostic technologies […] Continue reading ->
Over 800 million children have unsafe lead levels in their blood, according to the latest estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO). A toxic metal found in the Earth’s crust, humans are increasingly exposed to lead contained in a range of everyday products, including paint, cookware, cosmetics and spices. Informal recycling and contaminated environments can […] Continue reading ->
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response (PPPR) by a substantial majority at a plenary meeting in New York on Monday, with 153 countries voting in favor and only three against. The declaration went to a vote after the UN High-Level Meeting on 25 September could not […] Continue reading ->
BERLIN – As candidates to become WHO director-general squabbled in the halls of the InterContinental, a three-year effort by the Lancet on future health threats delivered a sombre if uncertain warning: There is a chance, however small, that humanity will not survive this century – and we may all die. Two of the extinction threats […] Continue reading ->
BERLIN – The WHO Director-General election process ignited its first public candidate conversation on Sunday (11 October) at the 2026 World Health Summit in Berlin, as four of the race’s seven declared contenders tackled the thorny question of how to make global health institutions more responsive and fit for purpose. The opening day’s flagship event […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Assembly chooses a new chief for the World Health Organization in May 2027. Before judging the candidates, assess the predecessors. Eight people have held the post over 78 years. Their varied track record offers pointers for selecting the future incumbent. Every five years, WHO rediscovers that its Director-Generalship is a political office […] Continue reading ->
More sexual misconduct and abusive claims were filed against WHO staff than closed over the previous month – with 361 open cases in 2026, as of the beginning of September, according to the agency’s own investigations dashboard. In August, the last month reported, investigators opened 37 new sexual and abusive conduct cases and closed 25, […] Continue reading ->
The WHO lists Germany as its largest donor in 2020-21 and second largest since. Those days are ending. The Bundestag is considering a 2027 budget that grows by almost 6%, mostly for defence, while cutting the health ministry’s operational fund to strengthen international health by 15.3%, from €55.9 million to €47.33 million. Of the $262 […] Continue reading ->