This is a bumper week for pandemic negotiations – the last formal set for the year – with meetings of both the World Health Organization’s (WHO) intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) and the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (WGIHR). The INB, which is negotiating a pandemic agreement, meets until Wednesday, while the […] Continue reading ->
Israel launched what it described as a “targeted operation” into Gaza’s besieged Shifa Hospital early Wednesday morning – which was immediately denounced by the World Health Organization as “unacceptable” and contrary to international law – regardless of whether Hamas made use of the facility for military purposes.  Meanwhile, on Tuesday, an Israeli delegation visiting Geneva […] Continue reading ->
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 ->
WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus repeated calls for a “humanitarian pause” in the fierce fighting between Israel and Hamas-controlled Gaza to allow for the resupply of Palestinian hospitals in Gaza, and treatment of injured and ill, saying “we are running out of words to describe the horror.” Speaking at a press briefing Thursday, […] Continue reading ->
The WHO and the International Red Cross both issued weekend appeals to Israel to rescind its evacuation order on Al Quds Hospital, a major  healthcare facility in the northern Gaza Strip.  Israel has said that Al Quds, along with Al Shifa Hospital, are both being used as command and control centers by Hamas militants. But […] Continue reading ->
UPDATED ( 22:30 CEST 22.10.2023) The first convoy of 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to besieged Palestinians, including four trucks of WHO emergency medical supplies, entered southern Gaza via Egypt’s Rafah crossing Saturday.  Another aid convoy of 14 trucks, including food water and medical supplies, entered Gaza on Sunday, UN officials  confirmed. They expressed hopes […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) is poised to begin the transfers of medical supplies to the embattled Gaza Strip on Friday as part of a humanitarian convoy of 20 trucks, said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Thursday.  But he and other senior WHO officials said the corridor needs to remain open permanently in order […] Continue reading ->