The global response to COVID-19 failed people in developing countries, women and health workers and must never be repeated, non-state actors told a meeting hosted by the United Nations (UN) in New York on Tuesday. The UN convened the four-hour multi-stakeholder meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR) in preparation for a High-Level Meeting […] Continue reading ->
Equity and intellectual property (IP) rights are – unsurprisingly – the most important and trickiest issues facing countries negotiating the terms on which the next global pandemic will be addressed. This emerged at a World Health Organization (WHO) briefing on Thursday addressed by Precious Matsoso, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) crafting a pandemic […] Continue reading ->
On 27 February, World Health Organization member states will meet to commence formal negotiations on a global pandemic preparedness agreement – unofficially turning the page from responding to COVID-19 to readying ourselves for future health emergencies. While the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) of member states have already held a series of meetings, as well as […] Continue reading ->
A new 10-point proposal by the World Health Organization’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for improving preparedness and response to health emergencies received mixed reviews from WHO member states in Monday’s opening session of this week’s Executive Board (EB) meeting, the agency’s 34-member governing body.  It was the first substantive issue to be tackled […] Continue reading ->
Proposed amendments to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR) focus on improving accountability and compliance, according to Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Speaking at the start of last week’s meeting of the IHR review committee, Tedros said that he expected a report from the committee, which is considering the amendments, by […] Continue reading ->