Plummeting vaccination rates have fueled a historic and prolonged wave of measles in the US – with the Pan American Health Organization expected to revoke the country’s elimination status it enjoyed since 2000. Experts told Health Policy Watch that the shifting vaccination landscape and persistent cases globally have fueled the worst outbreak since 1991. WASHINGTON […] Continue reading ->
The SEAHEARTS initiative in WHO’s South-East Asia Region offers an outstanding example of how we can build health systems that address diabetes and other related conditions – worth special attention on World Diabetes Day, as we grapple with the growing number of people worldwide living with the condition. When 64-year-old Wangmo from Pemagatshel District in […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) must rebuild public trust, protect its most important functions and resist across-the-board budget cuts as it confronts growing health threats and shrinking financial resources, according to Dr. Maria Neira, a candidate to become the agency’s next director-general. “One thing that I will never do is to cut across and saying, […] Continue reading ->
A coalition of senior medical professors and anti-corruption watchdogs from Indonesia has formally petitioned the World Health Organization’s Executive Board to reject Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin’s candidacy for Director-General. As health minister since 2020, Sadikin has pursued “a pattern of actions that have marginalized or penalized physicians, academics and health professionals who expressed […] Continue reading ->
Budi Sadikin, Indonesia’s Minister of Health and the country’s nominee for WHO Director-General, has in fact spent most of his career in finance – as a top executive at Indonesia’s largest bank, PT Bank Mandiri TBk. “Before, my job was to make my clients wealthy; now my job is to make my people healthy,” says […] Continue reading ->
Multilateral development banks (MDBs) are moving to centre stage in global health financing, driven by collapsing bilateral aid and political momentum from initiatives like the Accra Reset. Experts see the shift as an opportunity to deliver the predictable, large-scale investment needed to strengthen domestic health systems, provided governments and lenders can ensure transparent terms that […] Continue reading ->
WHO has greenlighted Phase 2/3 trials for two brand new vaccine candidates that specifically target the Ebola Bundibugyo virus species ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo. Actual trials could forseeably commence “within three to four weeks” – as soon as DRC regulators issue their own approval, said WHO’s Science Director Meg Doherty, at a Wednesday […] Continue reading ->
Hanan Balkhy, Saudi Arabia’s candidate for WHO Director General, is especially concerned about antibiotic resistance, the effects of climate change on health, and healthcare in conflict zones. She also warns about a “normalisation” of attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers in conflict regions. As a longtime WHO insider, she is also well aware that the […] Continue reading ->
France’s Ambassador for Global Health, Dr Anne-Claire Amprou, is joining the leadership of the World Health Organization (WHO) body negotiating the missing piece of the Pandemic Agreement at a crucial moment. Amprou co-chaired the last stage of Pandemic Agreement talks, which eventually found consensus. However, consensus has eluded WHO member states on the pathogen access […] Continue reading ->
Returning to lead the Global Fund, Mark Dybul argues that the future of global health lies with domestic health systems, not agency mergers in Geneva. Evoking the founding ambition of the early 2000s, the incoming executive director explains how the Accra Reset and US bilateral aid can align under unified national plans – and how […] Continue reading ->