Next Steps: Tension About How to Settle the Pandemic Agreement’s Annex

21/05/2025 Kerry Cullinan

There are tensions between World Health Organization (WHO) member states about how to approach the final negotiations on the pandemic agreement – an annex on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system (PABS), according to Precious Matsoso, who co-chaired the negotiations. “There’s an argument about whether you invite experts to start working on a technical document […] Continue reading ->

Presidents and Prime Ministers Celebrate the Passing of the Pandemic Agreement

20/05/2025 Kerry Cullinan

Presidents, prime ministers and even opera singers, celebrated the unanimous adoption of the world’s first Pandemic Agreement by consensus at the World Health Assembly (WHA) plenary on Tuesday morning. Despite the 11th-hour insistence of Slovakia on a vote on the agreement in Committee A on Monday night, none of the World Health Organization (WHO) member […] Continue reading ->

BREAKING – US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr Extends Olive Branch to WHO – With Strings Attached

20/05/2025 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

In a surprise appearance Tuesday before WHO member states via pre-recorded video, new US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr extended a kind of olive branch to the World Health Organization, calling for “a new era of international health cooperation, free from political influence and corporate bias.” While Kennedy did not say […] Continue reading ->

Country After Country Endorse Pandemic Agreement in Enormous Show of Support

19/05/2025 Kerry Cullinan

An enormous list of World Health Organization (WHO) member states, 173 in all, lined up to speak in favour of the pandemic agreement at the World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday – an extraordinary demonstration of the breadth of support for the document. By the end yesterday’s meeting of Committee A, member states passed […] Continue reading ->

United States Appears Set to Skip World Health Assembly while China Sends Over 180 Delegates to Geneva

19/05/2025 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

The United States appears set to skip this year’s World Health Assembly at a historic moment when other WHO member states are expected to agree to a Pandemic Agreement, that has been nearly three years in the making. A provisional list of WHA delegates, published late Sunday night by WHO, included no reference at all […] Continue reading ->

WHO Outlines Long Road Ahead Before Pandemic Agreement Comes into Force

14/05/2025 Kerry Cullinan

The final draft of the pandemic agreement for the World Health Assembly (WHA) next week was published by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday – along with a document outlining the long road member states still have to travel before it is enforced. This follows the historic agreement reached on the text in the […] Continue reading ->

A Better World for Our Changemakers: Nurses and Their Well-Being

09/05/2025 Akhona Tshangela & Felistas Mpachika-Mfipa

With declining global spending on health, as the world prepares to observe International Nurses Day, Monday 12 May, there is renewed urgency to build health systems that respond to the needs of nurses and the people they serve. Investing in nurses yields high returns. It improves maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and outbreak response […] Continue reading ->

WHO’s Samira Asma Reportedly Leaving Tedros’ Leadership Team – UNAIDS Scraps Merger Plan

08/05/2025 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Samira Asma, assistant director of Data, Analytics and Delivery since 2020, is reportedly leaving WHO in the first of an expected departure of five senior leadership team members as the Organisation sets out to dramatically shrinks its Geneva footprint and staffing. Of the existing 11-member team, only six would remain, if a plan shared by […] Continue reading ->

Exclusive: Full Text of UN80 Task Force Pitch for Streamlined UN; UNAIDs Merger with WHO

02/05/2025 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Merging WHO and UNAIDs, and combining the “operational” component of WHO’s Emergencies response with that of other agencies are just two among the several dozen ideas pitched by the UN80 Initiative Task Force – in the full text of options for interagency budget cuts and efficiencies, obtained by Health Policy Watch. The list of over […] Continue reading ->

Immunisation Is the Future of Pandemic Survival

01/05/2025 Tian Johnson

African countries like Uganda and South Africa are rewriting the rules of emergency response. The rest of the world must follow – or fall behind. Every April, World Immunisation Week is observed with predictable rhetoric: health leaders celebrate progress, governments make declarations, and global agencies issue reports highlighting gains and gaps in vaccination. But as […] Continue reading ->