Geneva Graduate Institute

08.07.2024

The Governing Pandemics Snapshot – Issue 4

Graduate Institute - Global Health Centre "The Global Health Centre's Governing Pandemics Initiative just published its fourth Snapshot issue. Following the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA)’s endorsement of a delay of up to one-year for finalising a Pandemic Agreement, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) is set to resume its work with a two-day session on 16-17 July 2024. INB member states will be facing two potentially contentious procedural issues, as well as thorny debates over the resolution of substantive matters including: a system for Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS); references to One Health; and a formula assuring more equitable access to pandemic health products, where wide gaps remain. The debate around these outstanding issues is a focus of this latest issue, which also unpacks the WHA-approved amendments to the International Health Regulations and their meaning. Read!"

26. Mai 2024 – 26 May - 1 June 2024, Geneva Graduate Institute and online.

Geneva Health Week - International Geneva Global Health Platform

From 26 to 29 May 2024, Open Briefing to the WHA on Sunday and 3 side events from Monday to Wednesday, at the Geneva Graduate Institute and online.

Graduate Institute - Global Health Centre "Each year during the World Health Organization (WHO)’s World Health Assembly (WHA) happening in May, the Platform hosts a series of side events and discussions around critical global health issues, raising awareness among member states attending WHA meetings. During the Geneva Health Week, the Platform provides important exposure for a wide range of global health actors, enhancing collaborations and partnerships for future discussions and events."

Governing Pandemics Snapshot

A series of periodic briefings on the state of global reforms for pandemic preparedness and response - Second Issue

Graduate Institute - Global Health Centre "Welcome to the second issue of the Governing Pandemics Snapshot, a publication aiming to provide a concise, periodic overview on the state of efforts to strengthen global pandemic preparedness and response (PPR). This second issue provides updates on negotiations over the WHO Pandemic Accord and parallel talk on amendments to the International Health Regulations. It reexamines the financing of PPR and raises the question of how the ambitious new commitments envisioned for the WHO Pandemic Accord can be financed, especially considering the decrease in government spending on preparedness and insufficient donor pledges. Finally, it provides insights into the thorny question of how “medical countermeasures” might be handled in either accord, where North-South divides persist. In addition, there are questions about who will call the shots on a new global countermeasures platform – the G7, G20, or WHO?"

03.03.2023

Geneva Health Week

Call for Proposals - Global Health Centre side events for 76th WHA

Graduate Institute - Global Health Centre "(...) The 76th World Health Assembly (WHA), 21-30 May 2023, provides the key convening space for the global health community (...) to learn about and debate critical global health challenges. In the spirit of commitment to open global health and continuing the tradition from previous years, the International Geneva Global Health Platform will organise 5 days of diverse side events during the 76th WHA, starting with the Open Briefing for delegates on Sunday, 21 May. Using the short online form we invite you to submit a proposal for a side event to the WHA. (...) The deadline to submit the form is Friday, 17 March 2023, 23:59 (CET)."

03. Dezember 2021 – 15:00 - 16:15 CET I Online Event

Options, outcomes and opportunities: Reflecting on the WHA Special Session

World Health Assembly Open Briefing

Graduate Institute Geneva - Global Health Centre "In May 2021, the 74th World Health Assembly decided to convene a Special Session from November 29 to December 1 to consider the benefits of creating a new WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response. This Special Session will be critical for the governance of future health emergencies: countries will need to reach a decision on whether to strengthen the International Health Regulations or start the negotiation process for a new and potentially more comprehensive pandemic treaty, or both. Following on the heels of this important discussion, the Global Health Centre and the United Nations Foundation will hold a briefing to review the outcomes of the session and assess the implications for governance of future pandemics."

22.06.2021

Geneva Global Health Week: 20-28 May 2021

All the recordings of our #globalhealth events are now available

Graduate Institute Geneva - Global Health Centre To celebrate the 74th session of the World Health Assembly, the Global Health Centre and partners organised a series of virtual discussions on critical global health issues from 20-28 May 2021. Hosted by the International Geneva Global Health Platform, these online events focused on gender inequalities, the International Health Regulations, violence against health facilities, and the role of digital infrastructures as digital determinants of health.​

26.02.2021

A Guide to Global Health Diplomacy

Graduate Institute Geneva - Global Health Centre "The system of diplomacy has been facing several challenges with the Covid-19 pandemic and new political and economic realities. The mechanisms of global health diplomacy play a key role in coordinating, advancing, and resolving health issues at the global level. To better equip health diplomats and negotiators, the Global Health Centre published a guide to global health diplomacy, produced with the support of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and the World Health Organization. Written, reviewed and supported by global health experts from different backgrounds, countries and sectors, this training manual provides key concepts on global health diplomacy, outlines the major actors and activities shaping the global health ecosystem, and presents practical tools to strengthen negotiation skills."

26.02.2021

New Resource on COVID-19 Vaccine Access

Access to Covid-19 vaccines is an issue of high global public concern

Graduate Institute Geneva - Global Health Centre "The Covid-19 pandemic has driven extraordinary scientific efforts to develop effective and safe vaccines. With several vaccines being distributed and dozens of candidates in late-stage development, countries are concluding purchasing and manufacturing agreements with pharmaceutical companies to immunise their populations. In order to shed light on which countries may get access to which vaccine, at what prices and when, the Global Health Centre recently published an open dataset on Covid-19 vaccine purchasing and manufacturing arrangements. This new resource tracks and analyses publicly available data on agreements to manufacture, purchase, supply and/or donate Covid-19 vaccines. (...) Many high-income countries have now secured enough doses to cover their populations twice over, but most other countries have only secured doses to cover less than 50% of their populations."

30.11.2020

How European countries fund global health: Unpacking decision-making and priority-setting processes

A new study from the Global Health Centre

Graduate Institute Geneva - Global Health Centre "European countries play an important role in funding global health organisations and initiatives such as the Global Fund, Gavi, and the World Health Organization (WHO). Relatively little academic research has focused on European global health funders. Improved understanding of how European governments make decisions is even more relevant, since they have taken a central leadership role in funding the global Covid-19 response and supporting multilateral approaches to address the pandemic amidst a near collapse of international cooperation. A new study from the Global Health Centre "How European countries fund global health: Unpacking decision-making and priority-setting processes" describes trends and analyses the factors that drive global health funding decisions within European countries. This new paper, by GHC researchers Fumi Kurihara and Suerie Moon, explores how the ten largest European contributors to development assistance for health (DAH) – the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Denmark – decide upon priorities and channel funding for DAH and the WHO."

08. Dezember 2020

Pathogen and benefit-sharing: Where next in the global governance of outbreaks?

Online Event, 16:30 - 18:00 CET

Graduate Institute Geneva - Global Health Centre The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities in the global governance of outbreaks. In this event, we examine one of them—pathogen and benefit-sharing (PBS)—in more detail. Access to pathogen samples and the sharing of the benefits that arise from their use is a growing global health concern. (...) At the culmination of a 2-year research project, we will launch our research report on the politics and practices of how pathogens and related benefits are negotiated, both globally and in the specific cases of Liberia’s Ebola (2014-2016) and Brazil’s Zika (2015-2016) epidemics. This event will bring together experts to reflect on the adequacy of existing arrangements, the need for new governance approaches, and political opportunities in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

04.05.2020

Towards a Synergistic Global Health Strategy in the EU

Graduate Institute Geneva - Global Health Centre "The Global Health Centre published a new working paper in which Ilona Kickbusch and Christian Franz highlight the urgent need to reframe and refocus the role of the European Union in global health. - The 2010 European Union (EU) Commission Communication and the EU Council Conclusions on the EU’s role in global health were a milestone in the EU’s commitments to global health. However, neither the strategic guidance through these documents, nor the fact that the EU and its Member States contribute significantly to development assistance for health seem to have systematically translated into determined and sustained political action. Since the year 2010, the global situation as well as the environment in global health have changed substantially and a new political environment in the EU and its Member States has emerged." (Photo: Graduate Institute)