WHO Contractor Killed in Gaza by Israeli Fire in Murky Circumstances

07/04/2026 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

The World Health Organization said it was “investigating” the circumstances around the Israeli shooting of a WHO contractor driving a vehicle in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Monday. Speaking at a UN press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, a WHO spokesperson refused to confirm or deny Israeli military claims that the vehicle […] Continue reading ->

Drastic UK Aid Cuts Hit Fragile African Health Systems

07/04/2026 Felix Sassmannshausen

Sweeping UK aid cuts have drastically reduced direct bilateral funding to African countries, posing a severe threat to the continent’s most fragile health systems. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officials recently confirmed a steep 31% multi-year reduction of the foreign aid budget, shrinking overall spending from £13.7 billion to an estimated £9.2 billion by […] Continue reading ->

Pandemic Agreement Talks Get Five More Negotiating Days

30/03/2026 Kerry Cullinan

With no agreement in sight, World Health Organization (WHO) member states curtailed talks on the Pandemic Agreement annex five hours earlier than scheduled on Saturday night, resolving to meet again within a month for a further five days of negotiations. Member states will reconvene between 27 April and 1 May to negotiate further on the […] Continue reading ->

New Funding Models Needed as Global Health Faces Growing Financial Strain

28/03/2026 Health Policy Watch

Global health is facing a funding crisis. Aid is shrinking, debt is rising, and the needs are only increasing. According to Christoph Benn of the Joep Lange Institute and Patrik Silborn of UNICEF Afghanistan, health systems will need to fundamentally rethink how they finance and sustain care. On a recent episode of the Global Health […] Continue reading ->

Talks Deadlock: Should Pandemic Agreement Annex Go to a Vote?

25/03/2026 Kerry Cullinan

A snail would have a faster passage than the Pandemic Agreement talks currently underway in Geneva, according to a briefing on Wednesday by civil society observers – some of whom mooted the possibility of World Health Organization (WHO) member states voting on the outstanding annex to break the deadlock. Only one portion of a single […] Continue reading ->

Devastating Sudan Hospital Attack Disrupts Medical Care, Deepens Humanitarian Crisis

25/03/2026 Felix Sassmannshausen

Millions of civilians in Sudan have lost their primary access to medical care following a lethal drone attack on the Al Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur on the evening of Eid al-Fitr. The death toll from the 20 March assault has risen to 70, with 146 people now documented as injured, according to the […] Continue reading ->

Tense Start to Final Pandemic Agreement Talks as Africa Rejects New Draft Text

23/03/2026 Kerry Cullinan

Tension was palpable at the start of the sixth – and supposedly final – round of talks on an annex to the Pandemic Agreement, with the African region rejecting the latest draft PABS Annex text. Pakistan also asserted that an agreement on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-sharing (PABS) annex should not be rushed simply […] Continue reading ->

Pandemic Talks: Europe is Blocking Health Equity – And It Knows It

23/03/2026 Guilherme Faviero & Nithin Ramakrishnan

Final talks on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system, the last outstanding piece of the Pandemic Agreement, are being held in Geneva this week. The Pandemic Agreement, being negotiated in Geneva, emerged to address the unacceptable inequities that defined the COVID-19 global health disaster. During this pandemic, delayed and inequitable access to vaccines may […] Continue reading ->

Attacks on Healthcare: Devastating New Norm as Hotspots Like Sudan Are Overlooked

20/03/2026 Felix Sassmannshausen

The year 2025 saw significant declines in the number of attacks on healthcare worldwide asa compared to 2024, but events still remain at record high levels in comparison to previous years, said a leading civil society group that tracks incidents last week in Geneva. This grim reality took centre stage at a seminar organized by […] Continue reading ->

Middle East Conflict Set to Drive Up Food and Medicine Costs, Exacerbate Hunger

18/03/2026 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Following Iranian missile attacks on Dubai, a major global logistics and humanitarian hub, the World Health Organization is struggling to revive the traffic of medicines and health care supplies in and around the Middle East and African regions most served by the hubs, a WHO official said on Wednesday. “We have managed to do a […] Continue reading ->