Nouveau dans ce dossier / Medicus Mundi Suisse

The Key to an Inclusive Recovery? Putting Women in Decision-Making Roles

"As the world sketches out post-pandemic plans, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the head of U.N. Women, explains why having more women in leadership positions could lead to better results. As she speaks, it’s like a drumbeat — how girls need to complete their education, how they need access to technology, how child marriage and pregnancy will set a girl on a path of economic hardship. You can hear it as she points to girls who are trafficked — “you know they are lost to society and their rights will be violated in unimaginable ways.” And you can hear it as she speaks of the cycles of violence, abuse and poverty that trap women and girls for life. If they raise their voices, the outcomes may be more dangerous than if they stay silent." (Photo: Peace Research Institute Oslo - PRIO/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Crafting a framework for Africa's COVID-19 vaccine access

"Drastic measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, such as strict lockdowns, are not sustainable on many parts of the African continent because of crowded living conditions and the need to keep economies afloat. That’s why an effective vaccine is one of the best chances African countries have to return to normalcy, experts said this week. “A COVID vaccine would allow member states to return to a fully functional economy and society,” said Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, during a virtual two-day conference focused on the role the continent hopes to play in the development, production, and distribution of future coronavirus vaccines." (Photo: KB Mpofu / International Labour Organization ILO/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

"Global health” is wasting the corona moment

"My assessmentof the current corona moment and how global health, so far,fails toseize it. See also the intro of this week. Our “global health financing toolbox”still seems, by and large, stuck in the neoliberal/Third Way MDG era. Anybody who believes that will suffice to deal with the challenges of the 21stcentury (not the leastthe climate emergency & widespread populism) can raise his/her hands. PS: that would include the fansof ‘Team Europe’." (Photo: Trinity Care Foundation/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Indirect Health Effects of COVID-19

"When the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic a year ago, many countries imposed stringent measures to limit the virus’s spread. Most of these policy approaches focused narrowly on limiting cases and deaths from COVID-19, without sufficient attention to the broader indirect impacts of the pandemic and various response measures across other health needs. While the evidence of disruptions to essential health services was largely anecdotal to begin with, and its health effects mostly modeled, increasingly detailed evidence is beginning to emerge from countries."

Le nouveau Vivre Debout est en ligne !

Le magazine destiné à nos donateurs est en ligne ! La pandémie à laquelle nous faisons face a obligé notre organisation a adapté 131 de ses projets. Notre action se focalise actuellement principalement sur la sensibilisation, la distribution de kits d'hygiène, l'inclusion, le soutien psychosocial et la distribution de nourriture. Découvrez tout cela dans ce nouveau numéro !

Democracy and Health

"The coronavirus pandemic is not an advertisement for the healthy effects of democracy. As of October 2020, 9 of the 10 nations with the highest cumulative cases of covid-19 are democracies. The mixed performance of democracies represents a departure from their success in confronting other health challenges, relative to other forms of governments. Democracy remains the preferred form of government on all continents, but this vision of democracy works in a crisis only if it is promoted in normal times. This collection takes a closer look at the progress of different political systems achieving universal health coverage, explanations for the links between democracy and health, and what measures must be undertaken to better “pandemic proof” this political system."

How is aid changing in the Covid-19 pandemic?

The Covid-19 pandemic presents the biggest global challenge we have faced since World War 2. The poorest people and places have been hit hardest by the economic and social effects of the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and are also the least resilient to its effects. Measures put in place by governments to suppress the virus have also had the greatest impact on those living in poverty. This is leading to rising needs, while resources are falling. Poverty is set to increase – with our projections suggesting extreme poverty will grow by 3% in 2020 alone. At the same time, domestic revenues in developing countries are projected to drop by US$1 trillion in 2020 from pre-Covid levels, and recovery is likely to take time. Many of these countries are heavily reliant on other critical forms of international finance – such as foreign direct investment, tourism receipts and remittances – which have also fallen steeply this year.

The Right On! Podcast

"Do we need to give up some human rights to bring the coronavirus outbreak under control? Could human rights offer us a way out of this global crisis? Every two weeks, a roundtable of inspiring activists from the global north and south will explore these questions for forty minutes — introducing the global human rights movement, one amazing activist at a time. Moderated by Meg Davis in Geneva, Switzerland."

With global push for COVID-19 vaccines, China aims to win friends and cut deals

"The first people in the world to receive a COVID-19 vaccine were not part of a clinical trial. No TV stations or newspapers covered the historic event. No company issued a statement. On 29 February, less than 2 months after the world awakened to the threat of the new disease, virologist Chen Wei, a major general in China’s army, and six military scientists on her team stood in front of a Chinese Communist Party flag and received injections of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine. Chen, a national hero for her work on Ebola vaccines, had come to the initial center of the pandemic, Wuhan, with her group from the Academy of Medical Military Sciences, in part to help make the candidate vaccine with a commercial company, CanSino Biologics. Commentators inside and outside of China later questioned whether the event, which received wide play on social media, was real."

La crise du COVID-19, un avertissement pour repenser le financement de la santé globale

Le COVID-19 est global, mais la réponse à cette menace mondiale est largement nationale. La réponse globale au financement de la pandémie se limite à des contributions provenant de l’aide au développement (ODA) et d’autres choses semblables et est insuffisante. Malgré de grands discours lors de leur dernier sommet, le groupe des 20 nations les plus industrialisées (G20) n’a pas osé s’attaquer à l’objectif consistant à distri-buer, d’ici fin 2021, deux milliards de doses de vaccins contre le COVID-19. Le G20 a failli: il n’y a pas eu de discussions sur la manière dont les biens communs doivent être financés et définis. Même au regard de la plus grande pandémie depuis un siècle, il n’y a aucune volonté politique de se pencher sur le financement des biens communs internationaux pour la santé. Cette négligence politique a également conduit au sous-financement d’importantes institu-tions telles que l’OMS. Un changement de paradigme dans le financement global de la santé est nécessaire, exige Ilona Kickbusch.

Migrants Struggle To Access Healthcare

"Despite the “enormous” contributions that migrants have made to society, they still face discrimination, social exclusion, and struggle to access health services even years after migrating, especially during the current pandemic, the first survey ever of migrant health during COVID-19 has found.

«Covid-19: quel impact sur la coopération au développement»: notre dossier thématique vient de paraître

Sous le titre «Covid-19: quel impact sur la coopération au développement», le 6e numéro du dossier thématique de la FGC Réflexions et Débats vient de paraître. Après une année 2020 qui a vu la pandémie de Covid-19 secouer la planète, faire remonter le taux d'extrême pauvreté et jeter une lumière crue sur les inégalités, ce numéro de la série Réflexions et Débats prend le pouls de la situation autant au niveau global que s'agissant des projets de développement soutenus par la FGC. Il dresse un premier bilan de l'impact de la crise sur la coopération au développement.

Mädchenheirat: 500'000 Mädchen wegen Covid-19 zusätzlich in Gefahr

Covid-19 schlägt sich dramatisch in der Anzahl neuer Kinderehen nieder. Warum das so ist und was Save the Children dagegen tut, erklärt unser Kommunikationsverantwortlicher Fabian Emmenegger im Interview.

Impact study of COVID-19 on older people and caregivers in Georgia

"Georgia is one of many countries having an increasingly ageing population demographically. Older population group face many challenges, a situation further exacerbated by the onset of COVID-19 which not only poses an increased direct risk for older people, but also sees them face serious secondary health, social and economic impacts. (...) This study looks at the impacts of COVID-19 on older people and professional caregivers and trained Red Cross (RC) volunteers in the context of general care provision in Georgia and provides recommendations for improving both the COVID-19 response and the situation for older people and caregivers."

COVID-19 yet not over, we must continue taking precautions:

"The countdown has begun for the world's largest immunisation drive as India gears up to vaccinate 3 crore frontline workers starting January 16. (...) So where are we in the COVID-19 curve? Is there an end in sight? In an exclusive interview to Archana Shukla, Dr Peter Piot, professor of global health at London School of Hygiene said, "We can look at 2021 with bit more optimism than the very difficult year that we just have behind us and that is thanks to science, to development of vaccine at unprecedented speed. It normally takes 5-10 years to bring a new vaccine to the market from the lab and to go through all the trials and approvals. Here we have it in about one year or less and that too without taking any shortcuts."

COVID-19: Second report on progress

"The COVID-19 pandemic has been much more than an outbreak of a new infectious disease. The direct health impact seen in the number of people infected and deaths caused has been magnified by substantial indirect impacts on essential health and other services and on people’s livelihoods and well-being. Across the planet, people have died, families have been left bereft, and societies and economies reshaped.Stark inequalities have been laid bare within and between countries. Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals has been halted and even reversed. The worst of the pandemic and its impact are yet to come as we write at the beginning of January 2021.

Vaccine nationalism puts world on brink of 'catastrophic moral failure': WHO chief

"The world is on the brink of “catastrophic moral failure” in sharing COVID-19 vaccines, the head of the World Health Organization said on Monday, urging countries and manufacturers to spread doses more fairly around the world. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the prospects for equitable distribution were at “serious risk” just as its COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme aimed to start distributing inoculations next month. He noted 44 bilateral deals were signed last year and at least 12 have already been signed this year."

Vaccins contre le Covid-19 : déroger aux règles de la propriété intellectuelle

Le régime actuel de propriété intellectuelle freine la distribution et l’accès aux vaccins contre le Covid-19 à travers le monde. Dans une lettre commune, Public Eye et Amnesty ainsi que près de 20 organisations de la société civile suisse demandent au Conseil fédéral de soutenir la proposition de dérogation aux règles internationales en matière de propriété intellectuelle afin de permettre une production décentralisée et démultipliée des moyens de lutte contre le Covid-19.

Covid-19: The road to equity and solidarity

"The covid-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the importance of equity and solidarity. As we move forward, it is vital that we explore the drivers of the pandemic, learn from the global response, and become more prepared for the future. This collection of articles analyses some of the major global issues arising from the pandemic, including the political economy of the response, the role of international institutions, overwhelmed health systems, the role of social determinants, the value of indices of preparedness, and the need for all countries to act together to reduce inequality, protect health, and organise a more effective response to climate change."

A global vaccine apartheid is unfolding. People’s lives must come before profit

"Nine months ago world leaders were queueing up to declare any Covid-19 vaccine a global public good. Today we are witness to a vaccine apartheid that is only serving the interests of powerful and profitable pharmaceutical corporations while costing us the quickest and least harmful route out of this crisis." By Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS

Until Africans get the Covid vaccinations they need, the whole world will suffer

"The current situation with regard to the access and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines vividly illustrates the decades-old contradictions of the world order. Rich and powerful nations have rushed to lock up supply of multiple vaccine candidates. Worse, some are hoarding vaccines – purchasing many times more doses than they need. This leaves African and other developing countries either far behind in the vaccine queue, or not in it at all."

Improving Access to COVID-19 Screening and Testing in African Countries

A new joint initiative from the Botnar Research Centre for Child Health and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership will support three COVID-19-related projects in low- and middle-income countries, including a project led by Swiss TPH and Zambart that improves access to COVID-19 screening and testing in Lesotho and Zambia.

Urgent needs of low-income and middle-income countries for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics

"WHO and partners have learnt from the mis-steps in the response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic and established the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator to promote equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. However, many high-income countries already have bilateral agreements with manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines. The COVAX Facility of the ACT Accelerator has agreements to access 2 billion doses of WHO pre-qualified vaccines during 2021, but this represents only 20% of the vaccine needs of participating countries. Most low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) face difficulties in accessing and delivering vaccines and therapeutics for COVID-19 to their populations. COVAX will require decisive action by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), supported by the countries they serve and with financing for vaccine purchasing, to ensure people worldwide have equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines."

Global Health Diplomacy in the COVID-19 Era

"More than a year into the world’s largest global health emergency, health diplomats have fought hard to ensure that every country across the globe secures access to lifesaving coronavirus health products, including vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics. That has not happened yet, given that 80% of countries that are now rolling out vaccines are either high-income or upper middle-income countries. (...) A panel of some two dozen leading diplomats and health policy experts from WHO, government, academia and media pondered the current state of affairs, at the Global Health Centre’s (GHC) launch of a new Guide to Global Health Diplomacy, authored by GHC founder Ilona Kickbusch along with a former Hungerian Health Minister, Haik Nikogosian, former head of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Mihály Kökény; and a preface from WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus."

Studie aus Sambia zeigt unerwartet hohe Zahl an Sars-CoV-2-positiven Toten

"Afrika ist nach wie vor ein grosses Corona-Rätsel: Das Virus scheint auf seinem Weg von Asien nach Europa und Amerika den Kontinent sozusagen fast überflogen zu haben. Nur in Südafrika wurde bisher ein intensives Infektionsgeschehen mit über 20 000 Toten, mehr als 750 000 Infizierten und nun sogar einer neuen Virusvariante festgestellt, gegen die die bisher zugelassenen Impfstoffe nur noch eingeschränkt wirksam sind. Laut einem Forscherteam aus Sambia und Boston um Lawrence Mwanayanda könnte des Rätsels Lösung so einfach wie beunruhigend sein: Die Sars-CoV-2-Ausbreitung werde in weiten Teilen Afrikas übersehen, weil nur wenig und lückenhaft getestet werde."

Barbara Kruspan, SolidarMed Landeskoordinatorin Mosambik, kennt selber auch Menschen, die fliehen mussten, einige kann sie bis heute nicht erreichen. Dies macht sie persönlich sehr betroffen. Christian Heuss

"Once again it hits the poorest"

Barbara Kruspan has lived in the province of Cabo Delgado for almost 30 years and has been working for SolidarMed for almost four years. Mozambique has become her home. She used to live in Mocímboa da Praia - where Islamist-motivated terrorists are now carrying out their attacks. She knows the situation very well. (....) What are you particularly concerned about in the current situation? It's especially hard to see that once again it hits the poorest. It is those who suffer the most, who have no means to build a new existence or flee far away. They have been plagued by so many crises over and over again; civil war, drought, floods, and hit very badly by Cyclone Kenneth in 2019. And then, in addition, there is this crisis. People just can't get out of this cycle. I'm also concerned that after each crisis there has never been something like a reconciliation.

5 Pandemic Mistakes We Keep Repeating

"When the polio vaccine was declared safe and effective, the news was met with jubilant celebration. Church bells rang across the nation, and factories blew their whistles. “Polio routed!” newspaper headlines exclaimed. “An historic victory,” “monumental,” “sensational,” newscasters declared. People erupted with joy across the United States. Some danced in the streets; others wept. Kids were sent home from school to celebrate. One might have expected the initial approval of the coronavirus vaccines to spark similar jubilation—especially after a brutal pandemic year. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the steady drumbeat of good news about the vaccines has been met with a chorus of relentless pessimism."

Une réflexion sur la pandémie au-delà des statistiques

Le débat sur le COVID-19 est surtout déterminé par les chiffres. C’est un flot constant de chiffres, de statistiques et de risques. Les scientifiques sont catapultés dans les médias pour expliquer, expliciter et préciser. Mais une urgence telle que le COVID-19 exige davantage que cela - elle requiert des moments où l’on réfléchit à ce que cette pandémie signifie pour nous, où l’on se questionne sur ses impacts plus profonds sur notre vie et sur ses conséquences pour notre avenir. Ce sont les philosophes, et non les scientifiques qui pourraient davantage nous aider, si nous aspirons à une réflexion plus étayée. Les philosophes posent les questions cruciales qui devraient être au cœur de la discussion publique.

COVID-19 : Avons-nous vraiment tiré les leçons du passé ? Dimensions mondiales avec un accent sur l’Afrique

La pandémie de SARS-CoV-2 a entraîné de graves dommages collatéraux dans de nombreux systèmes sanitaires et sociaux dans le monde, en particulier en Afrique. Dans le même temps, la crise révèle également un grand potentiel d’innovation dans la recherche et le développement de nouveaux médicaments et vaccins. Une analyse de Marcel Tanner, président des Académies suisses des sciences et ancien directeur de la SwissTPH.

Patently unfair: Can waivers help solve COVID vaccine inequality?

"The World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council gathered virtually on Monday for the first of two days of talks amid increasing calls from civil society, states and nongovernmental actors to temporarily waive patents for COVID-19 vaccines and other coronavirus-related medical products. Endorsing a waiver on Friday, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “If not now, when?”

WHO Director-General's opening remarks at Financing COVID-19 Vaccines for Africa

Speech by Dr Tedros: "(...) We are committed to fostering a closer working relationship between COVAX and AVATT to leverage their combined strength to ensure the rapid scale-up and distribution of all the vaccines we need to stop the pandemic across the continent. We also thank South Africa and India for their proposal to the World Trade Organization to waive patents on medical products for COVID-19 until the end of the pandemic. We encourage other African countries to support this initiative."

Is COVAX part of the problem or the solution?

"As a plane carrying 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines landed at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana, in late February, world leaders celebrated the milestone — it was the first country to get a delivery through COVAX, a global vaccine distribution facility established in mid-2020. Seth Berkley, CEO at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, called it “a historic moment” and said COVAX had to overcome “many hurdles” to reach it. But those hurdles are still standing: Countries that receive COVAX doses are often saddled with administrative costs, and questions remain about the mission and efficacy of the enterprise itself."

Drug companies defend vaccine monopolies in face of global outcry

"Abdul Muktadir, the chief executive of Bangladeshi pharmaceutical maker Incepta, has emailed executives of Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax offering his company’s help. He said he has enough capacity to fill vials for 600 million to 800 million doses of coronavirus vaccine a year to distribute throughout Asia. He never heard back from any of them."

L’«initiative ACT-A» investit-elle dans la mauvaise stratégie?

Le COVID-19 fait apparaître la fragilité du secteur mondial de la santé: l’effondrement des soins de base, le traitement différé d’autres maladies que le COVID-19 et l’incapacité des systèmes de santé de nombreux pays à donner une réponse efficace à la pandémie, sont l’expression de cette fragilité. D’autre part, le COVID-19 et avec lui, l’initiative ACT- A (Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator) offrent une chance énorme pour consolider les systèmes de santé. Toutefois, l’ACT-A devrait non seulement se concentrer sur la délivrance d’équipement de protection et d’oxygène médical, comme le souligne le rapport d’A. Usher, mais encore se focaliser sur des facteurs plus essentiels comme la mise à disposition de suffisamment de personnel de santé.

Global rollout of vaccines is no longer a guarantee of victory over Covid-19

"At the end of 2020, there was a strong hope that high levels of vaccination would see humanity finally gain the upper hand over Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. In an ideal scenario, the virus would then be contained at very low levels without further societal disruption or significant numbers of deaths. But since then, new “variants of concern” have emerged and spread worldwide, putting current pandemic control efforts, including vaccination, at risk of being derailed."

It’s time to consider a patent reprieve for COVID vaccines

"The world needs around 11 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine to immunize 70% of the world’s population, assuming two doses per person. As of last month, orders had been confirmed for 8.6 billion doses, a remarkable achievement. But some 6 billion of these will go to high- and upper-middle-income countries. Poorer nations — which account for 80% of the world’s population — so far have access to less than one-third of the available vaccines."

«Impfnationalismus» Corona-Impfung: Braucht es mehr Solidarität mit armen Ländern?

"Die reichen, westlichen Industrieländer, darunter auch die Schweiz, haben sich drei Viertel des weltweiten Impfstoffvorrats gesichert, obwohl sie nur rund 15 Prozent der Weltbevölkerung ausmachen. Während sich Industrieländer ein Vorkaufsrecht für Millionen Dosen gesichert haben, müssen die meisten Länder Afrikas wohl noch lange auf Impfstoffe warten und weiter an den Folgen der Pandemie leiden. Deshalb fordern immer mehr kirchliche und humanitäre Organisationen eine gerechtere Verteilung und prangern den grassierenden «Impfnationalismus» an."

COVID-19: Que fait la Genève Internationale?

À l'occasion de la publication du bulletin "COVID-19 : que fait la Genève internationale ?", la Fondation pour Genève organise, en partenariat avec Léman Bleu, une émission spéciale avec des experts de la santé globale. Avec la participation de : • Gaudenz Silberschmidt, Directeur du Département Partenariats sanitaires et multilatéraux à l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) • Bettina Borisch, Professeure à l'Institut de santé globale (UNIGE), Directrice exécutive de la Fédération internationale des associations de santé publique (WFPHA) • Thomas Cueni, Directeur général de la Fédération internationale de l'industrie du médicament (IFPMA) • Annick Chevillot, journaliste, auteure du bulletin L'émission sera animée par Philippe Verdier.

ONE YEAR OF COVID-19. What is the impact on Geneva-based NGOs?

"COVID-19 and measures taken in response to the pandemic continue to have an impact on all aspects of life locally, nationally and globally – International Geneva is no exception. Non-Governmental Organisations represent a key constituent of the International Geneva ecosystem, which is dependent on all its components functioning and interacting. One year on, what has been the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Geneva-based NGOs?"

A pandemic treaty: where are we now that the leaders have spoken?

"Devastated by covid-19, the world is braced for future pandemics. If we are to avoid this fate, then bolder global solutions will be required. On 30 March 2021, twenty eight world leaders called for an international pandemic treaty to be adopted. [1] They underline the necessity to approach our future pandemic response or pandemic preparedness with an all of government and all of society response. World leaders’ willingness to act provides a historic window of opportunity for global health diplomacy to create a new rulebook for collective action. Speed is of the essence."

Global Health Is In Disarray – But Is A Pandemic Treaty The Way Out ?

"Despite rising calls for a pandemic treaty, including from 25 world leaders in an open letter last month, some global health experts doubt that a treaty would be the most efficient way to quickly strengthen the world’s capacity to beat COVID – and prevent future pandemics. “I don’t think we have time to negotiate another treaty on vaccines. I mean, we really are in this emergency,” said Kelley Lee, Chair in Global Health at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada."

Des scientifiques exigent que la Grande-Bretagne partage les doses de vaccin

Compte tenu de la hausse dramatique du nombre de décès et d’infections dus au COVID-19 en Inde et au Brésil, des personnalités scientifiques éminentes ont demandé au Royaume-Uni de céder une dose vaccinale sur dix en faveur de l’initiative COVAX. La Grande-Bretagne (GB) qui a accaparé une grande partie de l’approvisionnement mondial en vaccins, doit, de toute urgence, commencer à partager ses doses. Cette situation est inacceptable. Tandis que l’initiative COVAX a été en mesure, jusqu’ici, de ne distribuer, dans les pays les plus pauvres, qu’un cinquième des doses vaccinales promises en raison de pénuries de vaccins et que seulement une personne sur 500 y est vaccinée, les pays industrialisés ont déjà vacciné une personne sur quatre. En Inde maintenant, il faut vacciner le plus grand nombre de personnes possible – cela est capital pour l’Inde et pour nous tous.

COVAX counts on dose-sharing to counter vaccine crunch, vaccine diplomacy makes it worse

"One increasingly gets the impression that the messaging from Geneva is not only literally far removed from realities elsewhere but figuratively as well. Take the one-year celebration of the ACT Accelerator, last week, which saw half a dozen leaders from around the world talk about the successes of the initiative. In that duration of 90 minutes, countries like India and Brazil witnessed scores of deaths from COVID-19. That WHO must use its time, resources, and name, to host such an event to promote its donors, at a time when every minute is precious is baffling. The time for symbolism is long gone. Quite literally a waste of breath, in our opinion."

India Is What Happens When Rich People Do Nothing

"This month, Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, India’s capital and home to millions, tweeted that the city was facing an “acute shortage” of medical oxygen. The message was illuminating on a number of levels: First, his resorting to social media, rather than working through official channels, points to a lack of confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government (though this is also at least partly because Kejriwal does not belong to Modi’s party); second, Kejriwal’s tweet emphasizes how Twitter has become a principal means by which Indians appeal for help. Individual tales of people finding oxygen or a hospital bed via Twitter cannot hide the reality: There will soon be no beds left. Medicines are running out."

Pharmaceutical Industry Dispatches Army of Lobbyists to Block Generic Covid-19 Vaccines

"The pharmaceutical industry is pouring resources into the growing political fight over generic coronavirus vaccines. Newly filed disclosure forms from the first quarter of 2021 show that over 100 lobbyists have been mobilized to contact lawmakers and members of the Biden administration, urging them to oppose a proposed temporary waiver on intellectual property rights by the World Trade Organization that would allow generic vaccines to be produced globally."

L’appel en faveur d’un traité international sur les pandémies comprenant des mesures préventives détaillées

Fin mars 2021, l’OMS et 25 chefs d’État et de gouvernement du monde se sont entendus sur le fait qu’un traité international sur les pandémies était devenu nécessaire. D’une part pour empêcher une future pandémie, d’autre part pour la combattre plus efficacement et plus équitablement. L’un des objectifs d’un tel contrat devrait être de réaliser une prévention plus approfondie que jusqu’à présent: au lieu de se concentrer sur l’endiguement des flambées de maladie, tel que le définit le Règlement sanitaire international (RSI), il faut davantage empêcher l’apparition de maladies. Des facteurs clés de la destruction environnementale, des constats issus de la perspective «une santé» (l’interdiction par ex. de faire du commerce avec des animaux sauvages) devraient, notamment, obtenir un accès dans des mesures de prévention plus détaillées pour réduire l’apparition d’affections zoonotiques. Un traité international sur les pandémies pourrait, entre autres, renforcer la cohérence entre des contrats environnementaux ratifiés et le Règlement sanitaire international et contribuer à rendre ces règlementations légales applicables et plus efficaces.

BREAKING – US Swings Weight Behind Global IP Waiver On COVID Vaccines; WTO Inches Towards ‘Text-Based’ Negotiations

"The United States has swung its weight behind a hotly-debated proposal by India and South Africa to suspend intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines for the duration of the pandemic. The dramatic turnabout in the US position, announced Wednesday evening by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, signals a sea change in the balance of powers around the debate over the IP waiver – which until now had been supported primarily by low- and middle-income countries."

Pandemic Treaty & Other New COVID Initiatives Grab Center Stage At World Health Assembly

"The annual World Health Assembly will open online on Monday, with ministers of health from the World Health Organization’s 194 member states tasked with wading through a heavy agenda dominated by how to fix the COVID-ridden global health system and step up global response to future crises. “It is time to elevate the threat of pandemics at the level of other existential threats such as nuclear accidents,” Dr Joanne Liu, former International president of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and a member of the Independent Panel for Pandemic and Preparedness Response (IPPR), said in an interview with Geneva Solutions."

Preparing for the next pandemic

“Make it the last pandemic,” urges the report of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, convened by the World Health Organization to assess the handling of covid-19.1 The report highlights how several governments and international organisations did too little to mitigate covid-19. It proposes a plan to end this pandemic—what it calls “the 21st century’s Chernobyl moment”—and prevent another one."

La violence envers le personnel de santé atteint de nouveaux sommets

L’année passée, un nombre inégalé de collaborateurs et de collaboratrices du secteur de la santé a été victime d’agressions, malmené, enlevé ou même assassiné en raison de la pandémie de COVID-19. À l’Assemblée mondiale de la Santé, lors d’une manifestation co-organisée par le Global Health Center, il a été rapporté que c’était surtout la frustration et la résistance aux mesures du COVID-19 qui avaient suscité cette violence, à l’échelle mondiale, envers le personnel de santé. En République centrafricaine, les agressions vis-à-vis du personnel de santé ont augmenté de 79%. À cela s’ajoutent les destructions croissantes d’établissements de santé dans des régions en conflit contre lesquelles une résolution des Nations Unies peu respectée avait été adoptée il y a cinq ans déjà. Avec cinq mesures concrètes, un représentant de Médecins Sans Frontières basé en Afghanistan revendique, après cinq ans d’inactivité, davantage de détermination de la part de l’OMS et de la communauté internationale.

Vaccine hesitancy slows Africa's COVID-19 inoculation drive

"When Edith Serem received her COVID-19 vaccination last month at a hospital in Nairobi where she works as a doctor, nurses jokingly warned she might start speaking in a foreign language. Serem said some colleagues got the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) shot after watching her closely for several days to see if she was okay, but others refused, still wary of possible side effects."

Let us join forces for providing sound civil society input in the "pandemic treaty" process

"On Monday, 400 people died of Covid-19 during the DG’s opening remarks. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the World Health Assembly discussed how to strengthen pandemic preparedness and response. What we have seen so far as concrete proposals for the way ahead is sobering. The report of the Independent Panel does not sufficiently address politically sensitive issues. As an example, it does not expose the grave human rights abuses in the Covid-19 response, and overall it still promotes vaccine charity instead of vaccine equity."

WHO: Special World Health Assembly session proposed on “pandemic treaty”

"The new draft decision on a so-called “pandemic treaty” proposes a special session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) in November to take a decision on the establishment of an intergovernmental process to negotiate a new agreement. The new draft decision dated 25 May, which is published as a WHA conference paper (A74/A/Conf./7) is the result of several rounds of informal talks over the last ten days, with strong push back from the United States, Brazil and Russia to the initial draft."

We Can’t Trust Big Pharma to Make Enough Vaccines

"lmost everyone agrees the world needs more Covid-19 vaccines. As we write, some countries have yet to administer even a single dose of vaccine, and current projections suggest many countries will have to wait until 2023 to start widespread vaccination. Yet debate rages as to why the world is short on vaccines, and what barriers need to be overcome in order to make and distribute more. Intellectual property has become a flashpoint in the discussion."

Bulletin #1: From the Frontlines of the World Health Assembly

"One year after the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading havoc worldwide, health ministers are once again gathering online for the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA74). WHA74 is being held in the midst of an erratic global vaccine rollout, in which rich countries have elbowed their way to most of the available doses, owned by big pharmaceutical companies. Advised by pharma advocates such as Bill Gates, they ignored their own early calls for global solidarity and relied on bilateral agreements with patent holders, allowing a flawed intellectual property system to compromise access for most of the world, and pushed the expected date of achieving wanted vaccination rates globally to 2024."

A pandemic treaty for a fragmented global polity

"The COVID-19 pandemic is the most disruptive global political and economic crisis since World War 2, which gave birth to the UN, Bretton Woods institutions, and WHO. Although COVID-19 has prompted calls for equally ambitious reforms, the global polity is far more fragmented than the victor-dominated post-World War 2 era. The president of the European Council called for a so-called pandemic treaty in December, 2020. This proposal has since been endorsed by 26 heads of state and by the director-general of WHO."

G20 Leaders Promise to Share More Vaccines While EU Digs in Against TRIPS Waiver

"The G20 Global Health Summit on Friday elicited more promises from wealthy nations to share COVID-19 vaccines, an undertaking by drug companies to make over a billion doses available by year-end – and an indication by the European Union that it would propose an alternative to the TRIPS waiver at the next World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting. Hosted by Italy and the European Commission (EC), the summit ended with the adoption of the Rome Declaration, a 16-point commitment to improving pandemic preparedness, increasing local manufacturing capacity and investing in worldwide health systems."

G7 Should Donate 100 Million More Vaccines by July – WHO; COVID-19 Cases Decline Globally but Rise in Latin America

"WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebryesus called on leaders of the G7 Group of the world’s most industrialized nations to share at least 100 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses with low- and middle-income countries in June and July and 250 million doses by September. His appeal, at a WHO press conference Monday, added to the growing chorus of voices being directed at G7 leaders to step up donations of vaccines and funding – when they meet this coming weekend in Cornwall, England for the first face-to-face meeting since the pandemic began."

Suerie Moon: We know how to end this pandemic, but we are missing political courage

"This year’s World Health Assembly agenda was jam packed with virtual conversations on how to end the pandemic and prevent future health crises. Still, different health priorities were discussed with over 30 resolutions adopted on topics ranging from local production of medicines to ending violence against children to oral health. Sitting on the terrace of the Graduate Institute, global health expert and co-director of the Global Health Centre professor Suerie Moon shares her thoughts with Geneva Solutions on some of the fundamental discussions that took place during the WHA and what should be done moving forward to address the current Covid-19 pandemic and future health crises."

South Africa to Become Africa’s First mRNA Vaccine Manufacturing Hub – WHO Asks Big Pharma to Support Scaleup

"Africa could start producing its own cutting-edge COVID-19 vaccines within a year via an mRNA technology transfer hub that is being set up in South Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Monday. But the speed at which the new hub may be able to swing into full-scale vaccine production depends on whether pharmaceutical companies with proven mRNA vaccines will commit to supporting the initiative, according to WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan."

Pandemic Treaty: US Proposes Amending Existing International Health Rules First; Germany Presses for Sanctions

"While a “pandemic treaty” could take years to establish, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR) could be revised more rapidly to significantly improve global disease outbreak response, top US officials are saying. The statements coincided with a 3-day working group meeting of WHO member states to discuss ways to strengthen the global muscle behind pandemic preparedness and response."

Bulletin #2: The struggle for vaccines

"On 14 June, we marked the birth anniversary of Ernesto Che Guevara, whose vision guided the development of the Cuban healthcare system. Today, healthcare in Cuba remains rooted in the ideals of social and revolutionary medicine fought for by Che. They are an inspiration in the current times of pandemic. Members of the Cuban international health brigades that went to support the pandemic response in 39 countries have already paid tribute to this vision. The upcoming Cuban vaccines will certainly do the same, as they have the potential to significantly boost vaccination drives in low and middle income countries. We bring an in-depth story on the vaccine research and development process in Cuba, as a tribute to the public health capacities that made it possible."

Avons-nous vraiment besoin d’un contrat de pandémie ?

Dans l’article, les auteurs soulèvent un certain nombre de questions clés qui, selon eux, devraient être examinées par les États membres de l’OMS quand les discussions sur un contrat de pandémie reprendront dans quelques semaines. Par exemple, il n’y a pas de distinction claire entre une pandémie et une urgence sanitaire – cette dernière étant définie dans le Règlement sanitaire international (RSI) de 2005. Quand une urgence sanitaire se transforme-t-elle en pandémie ? Pourquoi les réglementations existantes comme le RSI, qui ne nécessitent pas de mécanismes et de ressources institutionnels supplémentaires, ne pourraient-elles pas être renforcées ? Les auteurs sont convaincus que le renforcement du RSI pourrait permettre d’atteindre les objectifs d’un contrat de pandémie d’une portée plus large qu’un nouveau contrat. Cependant, ils préconisent une réforme urgente du RSI dans quatre domaines clés, en particulier pour mieux répondre aux besoins des pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire.

Forschungskooperation zur Entwicklung eines neuartigen Covid-Impfstoffes

Das Unispital Basel, die Universität Basel und das Schweizerische Tropen- und Public Health-Institut haben eine Kooperation mit dem Unternehmen RocketVax vereinbart und treiben gemeinsam Forschungsarbeiten zur Entwicklung eines neuartigen Impfstoffs gegen das Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 voran.

The long road ahead for COVID-19 vaccination in Africa

"It was more than 2 months after the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered in the UK that the first doses from the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access facility (COVAX) landed on the African continent—600 000 doses shipped to Ghana at the end of February, 2021. By that time, about 191 million doses had been administered globally, but just ten countries accounted for three-quarters of vaccinations given. Despite the slow start, there was an air of optimism as countries started receiving doses. But it was short lived. COVAX was overly dependent on one supplier—the Serum Institute of India—for its doses."

Epidemiologe Marcel Tanner: «Die Bürgerinnen und Bürger müssen wieder in der Pflicht sein. Sonst bleiben wir immer im Krisenmodus»

"In der Corona-Krise hätten zu oft «die Bodenhaftung und das Gefühl für den Kontext» gefehlt. Dies sagt das frühere Task-Force-Mitglied Marcel Tanner. Seine Erfahrungen bei der Seuchenbekämpfung in Afrika und Asien zeigten, dass der Faktor Mensch entscheidend sei."

Calcutta Rescue partage les résultats inquiétants de son enquête COVID

Près de deux tiers des habitants des bidonvilles de Kolkata souffrent aujourd’hui d’une grave insécurité alimentaire et un tiers des jeunes ont abandonné l’école. Tels sont les effets désastreux de la première année de la crise du covid, selon une enquête réalisée par Calcutta Rescue par téléphone auprès de 90 personnes dans 10 bidonvilles entre février et avril, avant que la deuxième vague de covid-19, plus meurtrière, ne frappe la ville.

African Union Special Envoy Slams COVAX as COVID Deaths Spike on the Continent, Urges Donors to ‘Pay up’ on Vaccine Pledges

"The African Union (AU) Special Envoy on COVID-19 has bluntly blamed the WHO co-sponsored COVAX facility for the dire vaccine shortage on the continent, saying that it had failed to disclose its vaccine supply problems early enough. Strive Masiyiwa, AU Special Envoy and head of the African COVID-19 Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT) said that had COVAX been honest about its lack of vaccine supplies at the start of the year, the continent might not be facing such a dire shortage of vaccines."

Collateral Damage of COVID-19 on Low- and Middle-Income Countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on both human health, the economy and society at large. There is no doubt that the disease and control measures indirectly effect people’s health and well-being, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where the crisis has amplified and deepened existing inequalities. To mitigate the collateral damage, Swiss TPH worked on a myriad of projects to support vulnerable populations around the globe.

US To ‘Terminate Relationship’ With The World Health Organization – Announcement Coincides With WHO Launch Of ‘COVID-19 Technology Access Pool’

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday he was terminating the US’ relationship with the World Health Organization. "Trump’s declaration came hours after WHO’s celebratory launch of a new ‘Solidarity Call to Action ,’ urging countries to make patents and data for COVID-19 treatments and vaccines freely available as ‘global public goods.’ Some 37 countries have supported the call." (Photo: Prachatai/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Africa Experiences ‘Worst Pandemic Week’

"As Africa recorded its worst pandemic week, the COVAX Facility announced on Thursday that it has taken steps to quickly resume the delivery of vaccines to African countries including diversifying its portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines. Aurélia Nguyen, Managing Director of the COVAX Facility based at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said the COVAX portfolio now consists of nine vaccines and vaccine candidates."

Bilateral Deals Will be Key to Nailing Down G20 Health Ministers’ Declaration

"G20 health ministers have agreed to share COVID-19 vaccine doses with low and middle-income countries (LMIC) and to support their capacity to produce their own vaccines, but failed to commit to numbers or a time frame. The two-day meeting of G20 health ministers ended on Monday with the adoption of a health declaration that reiterated the group’s support for strengthening “the resilience of [COVID-19 vaccine] supply chains, to increase and diversify global, local and regional vaccine manufacturing capacity, and building expertise for LMICs, including for the raw materials needed to produce vaccines”."

Averting Future Vaccine Injustice

"Both rapid innovation and equitable access to vaccines are necessary to protect the world from viral pandemics. Today, however, we face gross inequities in global access to Covid-19 vaccines. As high-income countries, such as the United States and European countries, have secured a majority of the world’s vaccine supply (more than twice the volumes needed to cover their populations1), many low-income countries have barely begun the immunization process. It will take political courage to end such vaccine injustice now and political vision to negotiate the binding international rules needed to avert similar inequities in the future."

In Berlin, a new WHO center aims to keep an eye on emerging diseases

"Germany and the World Health Organization (WHO) have teamed up to launch a new hub here that aims to accelerate efforts to detect and respond to new disease outbreaks. The German government pledged $100 million to stand up the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, which was formally inaugurated yesterday."

WHO Lambasts Pfizer, Moderna & Rich Countries for Planning COVID Vaccine ‘Boosters’ – While Billions Wait for First Jab

"WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus slammed plans by Pfizer and Moderna, as well as a handful of rich countries, to begin offering ‘booster’ COVID vaccines to some groups of people – saying that the world has evolved a “dangerous” two-tiered system of vaccinations, driven by greed instead of enlightened self-interest. “It’s becoming a two tier system, and higher income countries who are vaccinating their population significantly are starting to see the COVID-19 pandemic as if it’s not their problem. That is dangerous,” said the WHO Director General."

The COVID-19 pandemic & the reshaping of the international public health order

"If we were to make an account of the global health scenario today, we would have to start recognizing that health has continued to be the terrain of tremendous geopolitical gaming since the new coronavirus came to plague the world in 2020. We now know it: the pandemic should have never occurred in the first place. This is what the WHO Independent Panel for pandemic preparedness and response outspokenly told the international community in its report last May[1]. The world had all the technical knowledge and tools to confine the viral evolution and make SARS-CoV-2 a geographically controlled epidemic. It simply did not do it. The global health catastrophe, with its social and economic crises attached, is the consequence of governments’ failure to abide by the existing rules and cooperate with one another."

A Guide to a Pandemic Treaty

"Why this guide? The preparatory work towards the special session of the WHA in late November 2021 to consider a treaty or other international instrument for pandemic preparedness and response continues to trigger questions and debates on the subject matter. Many reviews, discussions and publications so far point to the need for synthesis and clarity on various aspects, important for countries as they engage in the process. (...) This guide therefore represents an independent academic attempt to systematise and shed light on some of the most frequently asked questions or issues otherwise important in the run up of the special session of the WHA, and potentially beyond. It is part of a project located at the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Geneva."

G20 urged to do more to support global vaccine distribution

"The worldwide economic recovery will be held back massively unless world leaders do more to end the growing divergence of vaccine distribution, a new alliance of the world multilateral institutions has said. The International Monetary Fund director, Kristalina Georgieva, said the G7 agreement in Cornwall to distribute 870m surplus vaccines this year was not enough, and urged the broader G20 group to show more ambition when she spoke alongside the heads of the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization (WTO)."

L’évolution du virus dans les prochains mois

La science n’est pas particulièrement optimiste en ce qui concerne l’évolution de la pandémie: la course entre les vaccinations et les nouvelles souches de virus se terminera uniquement si le Covid-19 a frappé presque tout le monde, soit par le biais d’une vaccination, soit par le biais d’une contamination. Étant donné que, dans le monde entier, des milliards de personnes ne sont pas encore vaccinées et que les chances d’éradiquer le virus sont très tenues, il faut s’attendre à d’autres apparitions pandémiques dans les prochains mois. L’un des principaux risques est le développement d’un variant résistant aux vaccins, quoique cela ne soit pas le seul risque.

Solidarity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

"The World Health Organization has repeatedly called for solidarity to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines how the world has responded to the call for solidarity."

Des vaccins uniquement aux plus offrants?

Un accès plus rapide et plus équitable à l’échelle mondiale aux vaccins contre le Covid-19 est désormais indispensable. Le développement, en un temps record, des premiers vaccins contre le Covid-19 a été un succès scientifique, mais un échec moral catastrophique. Au 1er septembre, les pays à faible revenu avaient vacciné moins de 2% de leur population. Covax, l’initiative multilatérale pour l’accès aux vaccins, a acheté des doses qui ne couvrent que 16,6% de la population des pays participants. Les gouvernements ont certes investi des milliards de fonds publics dans la recherche vaccinale, mais ils n’ont pas utilisé ce financement pour garantir l’accès mondial. Pour rendre la prochaine génération de vaccins contre le Covid-19 accessible, des conditions claires doivent être associées aux futurs investissements publics, comme par ex., la transmission de données, de technologie et de savoir-faire ainsi que l’engagement des fabricants à proposer les vaccins à des prix raisonnables et à approvisionner les pays sur la base de leurs besoins et non de leur richesse. Toutefois, l’actuelle approche fondée sur l’économie de marché récompense le contraire - le stockage de données, de savoir-faire et de propriété intellectuelle et la vente de vaccins aux plus offrants. C’est pourquoi, des experts et des expertes ont exigé la mise en place d’un fonds international à hauteur de 15 milliards de dollars par an destiné à la prévention de la pandémie.

Nach Corona ist vor der nächsten Pandemie

"Ich fürchte, dies wird keine angenehme Lektüre, denn es wird um Pandemien gehen. Nicht um jene, die seit März 2020 unser Leben in all seinen Facetten durchdringt. Sondern um die, die nach Sars-CoV-2 kommen mögen. Sars-CoV-2 hat uns vor Augen geführt, wie schnell ein neuer Krankheitserreger die Welt, wie wir sie kennen, lahmlegen kann. Und leider kann genau das jederzeit erneut passieren."

A New Pandemic Treaty, Revised International Health Regulations, or Both? What is the Actual Roadmap?

"The World Health Assembly is set to make a fateful decision in November over whether to negotiate a new international ‘Pandemic Treaty’ to improve future pandemic preparedness and response. However, major players like the United States, backed by some civil society groups, have suggested that revisions of the existing International Health Regulations (IHR) would be a better path. Amidst the hyperbole of oft-heated debate over which route might be easier, quicker or more effective, it’s important to understand that either option will require careful, systematic planning and execution of a process that is oft-misunderstood."

Access Advocates Urge 11th Hour WTO Action on COVID IP Waiver – COVAX Strikes World Bank Deal on Vaccine Finance

"Vaccine access advocates issued increasingly desperate, last minute calls upon the World Trade Organization to take action over a stalled initiative to impose a temporary waiver on intellectual property for COVID medicines, tests and vaccines – even as the initiative appeared doomed to a stalemate for the rest of the summer. Ahead of the opening of Tuesday’s two-day meeting of the WTO General Council, Médecins Sans Frontières urged the European Union (EU), Norway, the UK, and Switzerland “to stop stalling the landmark proposal to waive intellectual property (IP) on lifesaving COVID-19 medical tools at the WTO, and join forces with more than 100 countries supporting it by openly engaging in formal negotiations to expedite the consensus."

Medecins Sans Frontieres: 870m Vaccine Doses Being Hoarded by 10 Rich Countries – ‘Tragedy’ for Those Deprived of Jabs

"The hoarding of more than 870 million excess doses of COVID-19 vaccines in just 10 high-income countries is likely to deprive hundreds of millions of healthcare workers and vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries of the opportunity to get even a first vaccine dose, according to a new report by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The report maps doses that will be available until the end of 2021 in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia and seven other European countries – even after all people age 16 and over were fully vaccinated and third booster doses administered to those at risk."

Delta Variant is ‘More Transmissible Than Ebola’, and Vaccinated People May also be Highly Contagious

"The war against COVID-19 has changed with the emergence of the highly transmissible and deadly Delta variant, said an internal US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) slide presentation. The document, which has not yet been released, was obtained by the Washington Post and calls for a new and more aggressive masking and vaccination strategy in the US to combat the spread of the Delta variant. Most alarmingly, it warns that people with breakthrough infections, which are cases that occur despite full vaccination, may be as contagious as unvaccinated people."

COVID-19 in Africa: the spread and response

"Given the current trends in incidence and underlying healthcare systems vulnerabilities, Africa could become the next epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic transitions to more widespread community transmission, how can the lessons learned thus far be consolidated to effectively curb the spread of COVID-19 while minimizing social disruption and negative humanitarian and economic consequences?" (Photo: USAFRICOM/flickr, CC BY 2.0)

GOVERNING PANDEMICS

"GoverningPandemics.org is an initiative of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. This online portal launched in July 2021 provides a concise overview of six issue areas where change is needed at the global level to better prepare for and respond to potential pandemics. For each of these, the site offers key official documents, a selection of additional research and analysis, and regular updates on ongoing policy processes. This resource may be useful for a wide range of stakeholders, including governments, international organizations, journalists, civil society organizations, the private sector, academic researchers and students, as well as citizens concerned about building a more equitable and effective global system for governing potential pandemics."

Bulletin #4: Crackdown on health activists

"Shatha Odeh, a nurse and health activist from the organization Health Work Committees (HWC), was detained along with 9 other Palestinian activists by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) on 7 July, 2021. Her arrest comes a month after raids on HWC headquarters by the IOF. HWC’s role in the provision of healthcare to Palestinians is undeniable, and even more crucial as the pandemic enters a fourth wave in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This crackdown shows a complete disregard on the part of the IOF for the well-being of Palestinians. This is also widely seen as a strategy to crush Palestinian civil society."

Using socioeconomics to counter health disparities arising from the covid-19 pandemic

Principles and methods drawn from decades of work showing that lower socioeconomic status is associated with poorer health should guide efforts to monitor and mitigate the impact of the covid-19 pandemic argue Geoffrey Anderson and colleagues." (Photo: USAID U.S. Agency for International Development/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Right to Participation in Global Health Governance

"Drawing on human rights standards and principles, and on existing structures in the HIV, TB and malaria sectors, we argue that the human right to participation should extend to permanent seats and votes for civil society and affected communities on governance boards. Our argument is informed by an analysis by STOPAIDS, Aidsfonds, CSSN and Frontline AIDS, by consultations led by STOPAIDS, and by the examples of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (“the Global Fund”), Unitaid, and the Access to Covid Technologies-Accelerator (ACT-A)."

What The World Needs Now

"The COVID-19 pandemic which engulfed every corner of the globe in early 2020 has exacted a catastrophic toll, sowing 186 million infections and 4 million deaths by mid-July 2021. It also badly dented (and even shattered) the world economy and the interconnected supply chains that help nourish it – creating even more widespread misery. (...) In a recent conversation with The Wilson Quarterly, Ilona Kickbusch spoke about the obstacles in the way of an agreement, and how nations might come together to act against future pandemics. She also debunked faulty presuppositions about the WHO’s authority, flexibility, and potential effectiveness as a venue for a treaty."

How COVID-19 is reshaping priorities for both domestic resources and development assistance in the health sector

"The COVID-19 pandemic has swept across the world, reshaping the global health landscape and sparking an economic crisis deeper than anything seen since the great depression. The pandemic has plainly shown the interdependence of health security and economic security. While health security - reducing the vulnerability of societies to pandemics like COVID-19 - is a distinct goal, it is interlinked with efforts to move towards universal health coverage (UHC). Neither UHC nor health security can be achieved without the foundation of common goods for health, produced through strong and resilient health systems." (Photo: USAFRICOM/flickr, CC BY 2.0)

COVAX and the rise of the ‘super public private partnership’ for global health

"COVAX, the vaccines pillar of the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), has been promoted as ‘the only global solution' to vaccine equity and ending the Covid-19 pandemic. ACT-A and COVAX build on the public-private partnership (PPP) model that dominates global health governance, but take it to a new level, constituting an experimental form that we call the ‘super-PPP'. Based on an analysis of COVAX's governance structure and its difficulties in achieving its aims, we identify several features of the super-PPP model."

Inmitten der dritten Corona-Welle: Afrika will in die Impfstoffproduktion einsteigen

"Weniger als 2 Prozent der afrikanischen Bevölkerung sind vollständig gegen das Coronavirus geimpft. Weil Impfstoff rar ist, wollen Länder wie Südafrika, Ägypten und Marokko die Produktion selbst in die Hand nehmen. Doch das Unterfangen steht vor grossen Herausforderungen."

Deaths from HIV, TB and Malaria Could Almost Double in 12 Months Unless Urgent Action is Taken

"A new report released by the Global Fund estimates that countries affected by HIV, tuberculosis and malaria urgently need US$28.5 billion to protect the extraordinary progress achieved in the fight against the three diseases in the past two decades. The report, Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 on Countries Affected by HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, was released today to highlight the impact of COVID-19 and resources needed to protect progress against HIV, TB and malaria – diseases that still kill more than 2.4 million people a year. Since 2002, the Global Fund partnership has helped save more than 32 million lives and cut HIV, TB and malaria deaths by nearly half since the peak of the epidemics. The COVID-19 pandemic now threatens to reverse that progress." (Photo: IDWF/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The Deep Dives Digest: October 2021

"Here is a recap on everything significant that bubbled up in Global Health in Geneva. And in case you missed it earlier, here were two interesting events we were a part of this month: 1. A discussion on global health governance and financing at the World Health Summit in Berlin in a session called Global Health Governance Post-COVID-19. The SDG3 Global Action Plan as Key Vehicle for Synergies? You can watch it here. - 2. With my fellow researcher Remco van de Pas (The Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp), we presented findings from a research project on the pandemic treaty. The project is steered by the Geneva Global Health Hub. You can watch the presentation and the ensuing discussion here. My slides are here. A formal launch event in Geneva is scheduled in November where the final report will be released."

WHO launches independent review of the international response to the Covid-19 pandemic

"The World Health Organization announced an independent review of the international response to the Covid-19 pandemic on Thursday, an action the organization’s member states tasked it with earlier this year. Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, will lead the review, the WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced in Geneva." (Photo: HE Ellen Johnson Sirleaf/Chatham House/flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Covid 19 vaccination campaign in Butha-Buthe

Lesotho received the Johnson Johnson vaccine in July. The health management team in Butha-Buthe conducted the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in the villages to reach the rural population in this way. SolidarMed was one of the main supporters of this initiative and provided personnel support and vehicles.

COVID-19: Ensuring access to quality, safe, and non-discriminatory services for HIV key populations and migrants

Statement of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Interagency Working Group (UNAIDS, UNDP, UNFPA and UNODC) on Key Populations on the need to ensure access to quality, safe, and non-discriminatory services for HIV key populations and migrants in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The rapid spread of COVID-19 continues to impact billions of lives around the world. Unprecedented human and financial resources are needed to address this pandemic." (Photo: GbergT/flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Santé pour tou·tes! Pour la levée des brevets privés! La mobilisation continue le 30 novembre.

"Outre les différentes mesures instaurées pour freiner la propagation de la pandémie, la majorité des pays s’est lancée dans une campagne de vaccination de leur population. Or, le Covid montre une nouvelle fois que nous ne sommes pas tou·tes égaux·ales face à une même situation sanitaire. Plus de 60 % de la population d’Amérique du Nord et d’Europe occidentale est vaccinée. Tandis que seuls 2,1 % de la population des 27 pays à faible revenu ont reçu une dose contre le Covid…La cause, la protection des brevets sur les vaccins et médicaments."

HIV and COVID-19 Virtual Issue

"There is insufficient information about how people living with, and at high risk for, HIV are affected by SARS-CoV-2. This collection of papers present emerging insights about the epidemiology and biology of SARS-CoV-2, as well as the social and structural factors potentiating spread and responses to contain the pandemic. Unique clinical features of SARS-CoV-2/HIV-1 co-infection are also discussed. Stay tuned as this Virtual Issue will be continuously updated to include new articles as they are being published." (Photo by Anshu A on Unsplash)

Human Rights and Covid-19

"Like previous pandemics, Covid-19 has led to a broad range of human rights violations around the world, from censorship and the silencing of criticism to the excessive use of police force. Minority groups and migrants have found themselves particularly vulnerable to abuse, as well as to Covid-19-related stigma and violence. By Sara (Meg) Davis Special Advisor on Strategy and Partnerships at the Global Health Centre. The Graduate Institute, Geneva." (Photo: Logo GIG)

Do we need a pandemic treaty? A CSO perspective

"(...) The Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2) is currently mapping this complex proposal and its ultimate goals and implications in the global health governance through a bottom-up research and advocacy project that aims to involve those who have concretely tackled the response to COVID-19 in countries. The study is also discussing the possibility of alternative governance for the right to health, based on the principles of cooperation and solidarity and focusing on some of the structural pathogens leading to the pandemic. On the sidelines of the World Health Summit in Berlin, the German Platform for Global Health and G2H2 jointly hosted an online presentation of the preliminary findings of the G2H2 study, prior to its formal launch in Geneva in mid-November, ahead of the World Health Assembly Special Session."

The many shades of international cooperation in global health

"Days pass by quicker towards the end of the year. Both at WTO and WHO, countries are mustering up everything they have to reach consensus on how the world should be better prepared for health emergencies in the future. This is even as existing inequities are exacerbating at a frightening pace. The WHO reported last week, “every day, there are six times more boosters administered globally than primary doses in low-income countries.”

The impact of COVID-19 on human rights

"Over the past few months, the coronavirus has had a major impact on many different facets of our daily lives. One topic that isn't often addressed however, is the impact the pandemic has, and will continue to have, on human rights. In this second episode of our special series which examines a post coronavirus world, we examine how the pandemic has changed how human rights are viewed and respected, how it is affecting victims of domestic violence, and how it has become a barrier, in some instances, for the exercise of human rights."

The Pandemic Treaty Proposal expands global health inequities

"The World Health Assembly Special Session in November will be considering the benefits of developing a new international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response. Rich countries are using the opportunity to sideline discussions on equity in public health. The World Health Organization (WHO) is convening a World Health Assembly Special Session (WHASS) between November 29 and December 1, 2021."

Coming To Terms With COVID-19 In One Of Nigeria’s Major Cities

"First in a series of stories about how the coronavirus lockdowns and relaxations are playing out in different parts of Africa. While Lagos and Abuja capital city continue to be the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria accounting for nearly half of confirmed cases, Oyo State is also generating a buzz. The state, just north of Lagos, has the third highest case count, and infections are steadily rising, even as lockdowns are relaxed more rapidly than elsewhere and students also return to school." (Photo by Muhammadtaha Ibrahim Ma'aji on Unsplash)

A tale of two pandemics: the true cost of Covid in the global south

"For the past year and a half, people everywhere have been in the grip of a pandemic – but not necessarily the same one. In the affluent world, a viral respiratory disease, Covid-19, suddenly became a leading cause of death. In much of the developing world, by contrast, the main engine of destruction wasn’t this new disease, but its second-order effects: measures they took, and we took, in response to the coronavirus. Richer nations and poorer nations differ in their vulnerabilities."

The indirect impact of COVID-19 on women

"Lockdown measures and school closures affect girls and women differently across the world and may have long-term negative consequences. Talha Burki reports. Soon after the emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) last winter, it became apparent that mortality rates were higher for men than for women. This remains the case but it is women who are more likely to bear the brunt of the social and economic consequences of the pandemic. Earlier this year, UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that “COVID-19 could reverse the limited progress that has been made on gender equality and women's rights”. With the pandemic set to stretch into 2021, his words are looking less like a warning than a prediction." (Photo: UN Women Asia and the Pacific/flickr, C BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The politics of a WHO pandemic treaty in a disenchanted world

(...) "At an upcoming Special Session of the World Health Assembly, the World Health Organization and its member states are undertaking an effort to agree on negotiating a new international legal instrument for pandemic preparedness and response. - But does the world need a new “pandemic treaty”? Is it the right thing, at the right time? The Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2) has unpacked these pertinent questions through research undertaken involving a broad range of experts including those who have concretely tackled the COVID-19 response in their countries. G2H2 has mapped the complexity of this treaty proposal and its potential implications for the future scenario of global health governance. The resulting report launched by G2H2 on 24 November addresses the need for new approaches to the challenge of a pandemic future. - A fully edited version of the report will be available in mid-December 2021."

Mobile Health Technology for Enhancing the COVID-19 Response in Africa: A Potential Game Changer?

"The WHO Africa Region is experiencing an increase in the number of novel COVID-19 cases. As of May 20, 2020, 63,521 cases with 1,796 deaths (2.8% case fatality) have been reported from 45 countries. Although these numbers are small compared with those in United States or Europe, the WHO recently estimated that up to 190,000 people could die of COVID-19 in Africa if the pandemic is not controlled. These projections are threatening the already overstretched health services in Africa, where governments have been implementing mitigating strategies to flatten epidemic curves at manageable levels. These include education, personal hygiene practices, social distancing, travel bans, and partial or total lockdowns. However, as lockdowns and social distancing measures are currently being lifted in stages by most African countries, governments will need to ensure that public health infrastructure and needed resources are put in place for community surveillance to identify cases and clusters of new infections through active case finding, large-scale testing, and contact tracing."

The COVID-19 pandemic: diverse contexts; different epidemics—how and why?

"It is very exceptional that a new disease becomes a true pandemic. Since its emergence in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, has spread to nearly all countries of the world in only a few months. However, in different countries, the COVID-19 epidemic takes variable shapes and forms in how it affects communities. Until now, the insights gained on COVID-19 have been largely dominated by the COVID-19 epidemics and the lockdowns in China, Europe and the USA. But this variety of global trajectories is little described, analysed or understood. In only a few months, an enormous amount of scientific evidence on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 has been uncovered (knowns). But important knowledge gaps remain (unknowns). Learning from the variety of ways the COVID-19 epidemic is unfolding across the globe can potentially contribute to solving the COVID-19 puzzle. This paper tries to make sense of this variability." (Photo: Elvert Barnes/flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Only 1 in 4 African health workers fully vaccinated against COVID-19

"Only 27% of health workers in Africa have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, leaving the bulk of the workforce on the frontlines against the pandemic unprotected, a preliminary analysis by World Health Organization (WHO) shows. Analysis of data reported from 25 countries finds that since March 2021, 1.3 million health workers were fully vaccinated, with just six countries reaching more than 90%, while nine countries have fully vaccinated less than 40%. In sharp contrast, a recent WHO global study of 22 mostly high-income countries reported that above 80% of their health and care workers are fully vaccinated."

‘Vaccine nationalism’ threatens global plan to distribute COVID-19 shots fairly

recherche. "As soon as the first COVID-19 vaccines get approved, a staggering global need will confront limited supplies. Many health experts say it’s clear who should get the first shots: health care workers around the world, then people at a higher risk of severe disease, then those in areas where the disease is spreading rapidly, and finally, the rest of us. Such a strategy “saves the most lives and slows transmission the fastest,” says Christopher Elias, who heads the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Division. “It would be ludicrous if low-risk people in rich countries get the vaccine when health care workers in South Africa don’t,” adds Ellen ‘t Hoen, a Dutch lawyer and public health activist." (Photo: Jernej Furman/flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Frustrated by vaccine inequity, a South African lab rushes to replicate Moderna’s shot

"CAPE TOWN, South Africa — In an industrial area of this seaside city, a little-known biotech company is entering a pivotal phase of making Africa’s first coronavirus vaccine by attempting to replicate Moderna’s highly effective mRNA-based shot. Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines is racing to make a vaccine because, despite donation pledges, supply is short and just 6 percent of Africa’s 1.2 billion people have been inoculated."

Zwei peruanische Jugendliche powern durch die Corona-Krise

Die Corona-Krise stellt die Menschen in der peruanischen Hauptstadt Lima und den anderen Grossstädten vor ernste Schwierigkeiten. Hunderttausende haben seit dem Lockdown keine Lebensgrundlage mehr. Die Folgen sind auch bis in die abgelegenen Andendörfern rund um Huancavelica zu spüren. Dort leisten die jugendlichen Brüder Jhoel und Jhon einen zusätzlichen Effort für die Familie und ihre Zukunft. (Foto: tdhs)

Bill Gates on Covid: Most US Tests Are ‘Completely Garbage’

"For 20 years, Bill Gates has been easing out of the roles that made him rich and famous—CEO, chief software architect, and chair of Microsoft—and devoting his brainpower and passion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, abandoning earnings calls and antitrust hearings for the metrics of disease eradication and carbon reduction. This year, after he left the Microsoft board, one would have thought he would have relished shedding the spotlight directed at the four CEOs of big tech companies called before Congress. But as with many of us, 2020 had different plans for Gates." (Photo: DFID - UK Department for International/flickr, CC BY 2.0)

L’Assemblée mondiale de la Santé met le traité de pandémie sur les rails

Lors de la session extraordinaire de l’Assemblée mondiale de la Santé (WHA) de début décembre 2021 à Genève, la totalité des 194 États membres ont soutenu la négociation d’un nouveau traité qui doit réglementer la réponse aux futures pandémies mondiales. Cependant, la standing ovation pour cette décision ne peut cacher le fait que les négociations, qui doivent commencer début mars 2022, vont être compliquées. Meilleure gouvernance, meilleurs mécanismes de financement, transparence plus élevée, davantage de solidarité et d’équité dans le cas d’une crise mondiale, telles sont les priorités du nouveau traité – des critères que l’on ne retrouve pas dans les règlementations existantes comme le Règlement sanitaire international (RSI).

On the frontline of Nigeria's coronavirus fight, health workers brace for inevitable

"In late July, the World Health Organization announced that over 10,000 healthcare workers in Africa had tested positive for COVID-19. This raised concerns about the ability of countries like Nigeria — which only has 0.4 doctors per 1,000 people to begin with — to successfully control a pandemic that has overwhelmed even better-resourced health systems. As the pressure increased on a handful of key health facilities across the country, so too did the risk of infection for the health professionals working there." (Photo: PATH global health/flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Un rapport de la société civile exprime son inquiétude au regard du traité de pandémie proposé

Des organisations de la société civile ont exprimé leur inquiétude sur la hâte constatée lors des négociations sur le traité de pandémie proposé à la session extraordinaire de l’Assemblée mondiale de la Santé (WHASS) qui s’est tenue début décembre 2021. Comme l’explicite un rapport de recherche de Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2), une plate-forme indépendante d’organisations de la société civile, publié en amont de la WHASS, de nombreux experts et expertes ainsi que de nombreux pays du Sud de la planète ont des doutes quant au processus diplomatique et à la prise en compte de la complexité géopolitique d’un nouveau traité de pandémie. En outre, est évalué de façon critique le fait que des conventions internationales valables existantes – comme le Règlement sanitaire international de 2005 – soient simplement négligées sans une évaluation sérieuse des motifs pour lesquels leur mise en œuvre a été oubliée et ignorée.

Vaccine waiver is a moment of truth for EU values

"The coronavirus pandemic is far from over. In the wake of the discovery of the Omicron variant and the risk it represents, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) deadlock over a TRIPS intellectual property waiver on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments is simply unconscionable. Epidemiologists warned us time and again that allowing the virus to spread around the world is a recipe for new mutations to develop and that they will indiscriminately harm us all. This waiver, which has now dominated WTO talks for over a year, is a necessary global solution to end the pandemic. Yet one powerful voice at the WTO has continued to undermine this effort — and that must change."

Comparaison de tests de recherche d’anticorps anti-SARS-CoV-2

La recherche d’anticorps joue un rôle important dans la maîtrise de l’épidémie de coronavirus. Aussi la Croix-Rouge suisse (CRS) a-t-elle créé les conditions d’une étude visant à comparer et à évaluer des tests de dépistage rapide disponibles sur le marché. Celle-ci fournit d’importants éléments sur l’acquisition et l’efficacité de tests de recherche d’anticorps à des fins de veille épidémiologique. (Photo: Plusieurs dizaines de tests ont été acquis en vue de l’étude et utilisés conformément aux instructions de leurs fabricants respectifs ainsi que dans des conditions semblables à des fins de comparaison. © CRS)

Numéro Spécial COVID-19 Du Journal Mond' Info

Découvrez dans le dernier numéro du journal trimestriel d’Enfants du Monde comment nos équipes au siège et sur le terrain se sont adaptées pour faire face à la crise sanitaire de la COVID-19 et ainsi poursuivre nos programmes de santé et d’éducation aux quatre coins du monde. Dans le cadre de nos programmes de santé, nous avons œuvré à protéger le personnel de santé et les femmes enceintes au Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, en Haïti et au Salvador, en appui aux actions des Ministères de la Santé nationaux. (Photo: Enfants du Monde)

Addressing production gaps for vaccines in African countries

"Global health initiatives rely on international solidarity. However, the extreme inequity in access to vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) across countries demonstrates that we cannot depend on national politicians and industry alone to make strategic choices for our global common good. High-income countries have been accused of undermining the coordinated purchase and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines through non-transparent pharmaceutical deals, production delays and vaccine export restrictions. As of 1 November 2021 fewer than 35 million of over 7 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in low-income countries."

Nothilfe während der Corona-Pandemie

Nothilfe in Zeiten von Corona, dieses Thema beschäftigt Mission 21 weltweit. Denn Covid-19 trifft jene Länder besonders hart, die ohnehin schon zu kämpfen haben - mit Gewalt und Bürgerkrieg, mit der Versorgung von Vertriebenen, mit Hunger, fehlender Gesundheitsversorgung, mit Mangel in jeder Hinsicht. Kamerun, ein eigentlich reiches Land, ist von jedem dieser Aspekte betroffen.

World commits to a pandemic-response pact: what’s next

"As researchers scrambled this week to learn more about Omicron, the latest SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus variant of concern, world leaders met to negotiate a way of ensuring that a crisis on the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic won’t happen again. Initially on the table was a legally binding pandemic treaty that would dictate how nations should respond to future outbreaks. A fuzzier form of that proposal is now moving forward, to be sharpened in the months and years to come."

Two years into this pandemic, the world is dangerously unprepared for the next one, report says

"With its vast wealth and scientific capability, the United States held on to its top ranking among 195 countries, even as it scored lowest on public confidence in government — a factor associated with high numbers of cases and deaths. - Nearly two years into a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people, every country, including the United States, remains dangerously unprepared to respond to future epidemic and pandemic threats, according to a report released Wednesday assessing the efforts of 195 countries."

Shocking stats on gender-based violence during lockdown revealed

"The effect of lockdown on gender-based violence (GBV) has been laid bare by a researcher who collected data from every support call centre. The government GBV and femicide command centre alone recorded more than 120,000 victims in the first three weeks of lockdown, said Rose Gawaya, a gender adviser at the Social Policy Network." (Photo by Mélodie Descoubes on Unsplash)

Opposition to the TRIPS waiver: dispatches from the frontline

"‘It’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid…’ And yet there is. The original 1984 lyrics of the Band Aid song directed at the famine in Ethiopia, also includes the line: ‘And the Christmas bells that ring there, are the clanging chimes of doom. Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you’. I think of that original shocker now in the context of overcoming barriers to the global south getting vaccinated. It’s almost as if the current policy of the rich world is to say: thank God it’s them who are dying because they are not vaccinated, instead of you."

Comundo warnt vor schwerwiegenden Corona-Folgen!

Die aktuelle Krise trifft armutsbetroffene Länder einiges stärker als bislang angenommen. Allein in Lateinamerika ist laut aktuellen Schätzungen der Vereinten Nationen bis Ende 2020 mit 45 Millionen Arbeitslosen zu rechnen. Nun warnt Comundo vor langfristigen sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Folgen und fordert das Parlament auf, seinem 0,5%-Versprechen endlich nachzukommen. (...) «Wir sind besorgt über diese mangelnde Solidarität der Schweiz und fordern eine Korrektur des Entscheids durch den Ständerat», sagt Erik Keller, Geschäftsleiter von Comundo. (Foto: Lizeth Salazar Bustos/AVE)

Two years of COVID-19 in Africa: lessons for the world

"In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa’s rapid and coordinated response, informed by emerging data, was remarkable. Now, in 2022, as vast vaccination campaigns have enabled the global north to gain some control over the pandemic, Africa lags behind. (...) In principle, Africa could build on the astonishing gains it has made in surveillance and public-health responsiveness to outbreaks in recent years. It could sufficiently invest in commodities to ensure its health security, and position itself as a world leader in fighting infectious diseases. The alternative? There really isn’t one."

Die Corona-Krise und Menschen mit Behinderungen

Die Corona-Pandemie stellt die Welt vor ungeahnte Herausforderungen. Gesellschaften weltweit sind gefordert, sich in einer neuen Normalität zurechtzufinden. Was als Gesundheitskrise begann, hat schnell Konsequenzen in weiteren Bereichen nach sich gezogen und stellt Bildungssysteme, Arbeitsmärkte und nicht zuletzt das gesellschaftliche Miteinander auf die Probe. Die aktuellen Ereignisse unterstreichen, dass Krisen kein Silo-Denken kennen und alle Menschen betroffen sind, wenngleich die einen mehr als die anderen, sei es aus gesundheitlichen, finanziellen und/oder sozialen Gründen und Ungleichheiten. (...) Menschen mit Behinderungen zählen zu den am stärksten betroffenen Menschen der Corona-Krise und müssen seit dem Ausbruch des Virus zusätzliche Barrieren und Ungleichheiten in allen Lebensbereichen bewältigen, in der Schweiz und in den Ländern des Globalen Südens. (Foto: CBM)

Pharmaceutical leaders admit 'we dismally failed' at global Covid vaccine rollout

"The pharmaceutical industry has to admit “we dismally failed” at ensuring Covid-19 vaccines are rolled out across the globe, the head of a major trade body conceded on Thursday. In a candid press briefing, Thomas Cueni, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), said that although 2021 has, in many ways, been an “amazing year” for the industry, “everybody is ashamed and embarrassed” by the vast imbalances in access to coronavirus shots worldwide."

COVID-19 in Kenya: 150 days of learning

"How does one fight an invisible, insidious, and all but intractable foe worth 30 kb in size? In Kenya, the hundred and fiftieth day of COVID-19 passed on 9th August 2020, nine months after the virus manifested itself in the Chinese province of Wuhan. The pandemic has brought forth some key learnings in the process. Even though modern science has risen at breath-taking speed, the most effective tools are still the public health measures, from the 19th century – quarantine and social distancing. The crisis has given us an opportunity to witness the speed and volume of innovation from local innovators and universities to give doctors a broader range of weapons." (Photo: AMISOM Public Information/flickr, CC0 1.0)

Divergences Continue on the Approaches to Reform the Governance of Health Emergencies

"The new year is off to a blazing start. These first few days of 2022 have already revealed the direction this year could take. Geneva is in its element. From sharp divergences on the ways to reform the governance of health emergencies at WHO, to not finding common ground on an emergency meeting to discuss the TRIPS waiver at the WTO, countries continue to be ensnared in an overall lack of consensus on key matters. This policy logjam continues in the middle of a wave of new infections in this pandemic."

PAHO Strategic Fund minimizes disruption of critical medications and supplies during COVID-19

"The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly disrupted freight movement, particularly by air, of essential health supplies, while nationally lockdowns disrupted pharmaceutical production. These and other unexpected supply chain disruptions all significantly complicated the delivery of vital health products just when health services needed them the most. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) through the‘ Strategic Fund for Essential Medicines and Public Health Supplies’ responded quickly to minimize the impact by working with three key stake holdergroups regional and national health authorities, technical experts, and suppliers." (Photo: OEA - OAS/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Covid-19 as a long multiwave event: implications for responses to safeguard younger generations

"As we enter the third year of the covid-19 pandemic, the negative effects have cut across all of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and led to severe health and developmental challenges. Children and young people in particular continue to face numerous socioeconomic problems as a result of covid-19, including those related to health, poverty, nutrition, education, employment, orphanhood, violence, abuse, and exploitation. Evidence indicates that integrated solutions to mitigate the many different negative effects of the pandemic on children and young people can be delivered quickly and on a sufficient scale. To deliver solutions that help safeguard younger generations, we need to move beyond a narrow framing of covid-19 and use a multilevel, intersectoral response that takes into account the magnitude, complexity, and intergenerational dimensions of the pandemic."

The truth is out there, somewhere

"The tidal wave of information on the internet concerning the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in difficulties in discerning truth from fiction. This so-called infodemic, defined by WHO as an “overabundance of information—some accurate and some not—that makes it harder for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when needed”, has become a major threat to public health. Infection rates will rise if people are confused about restrictions and patients may be harmed if they use unproven treatments or bogus remedies." (Photo by Tiffany Tertipes on Unsplash)

Bulletin #18: New waves of resistance

"Millions of people around the world have been thrown into poverty during the Covid-19 pandemic, yet big pharmaceutical companies have reported record levels of profit. Thanks to sales of the Comirnaty vaccine, in 2021 Pfizer has secured a 134% rise in revenue compared to the previous year. The company is now looking to exploit the pandemic even more while introducing the Paxlovid drug to high-income countries, while leaving it out of reach of poor countries."

COVID-19’s ‘Slow Burn’ – Africa’s Low Death Rate Puzzles Researchers

"Dire predictions of Africa being overwhelmed by a tsunami of COVID-19 infections and deaths have not materialized – yet – and this is confounding many researchers. So whether the reason is the continent’s youthful population, a certain level of “herd immunity” gained from prior exposure to other coronaviruses, or simply a lack of adequate disease surveillance, experts are trying to understand the reasons why." (Photo by Morning Brew on Unsplash)

Assessing the Potential Health Impact of Omicron

Cases of SARS-CoV-2 variant Omicron are surging in numerous settings, with early evidence suggesting Omicron is more infectious than the Delta variant. It is not yet known, however, if Omicron has higher severity or if vaccines are less effective. New research from Swiss TPH now provides guidance to decision-makers on Omicron’s potential public health impact for a range of different scenarios. The paper is currently under review and available as pre-print.

HIV and COVID-19: a unique moment in time to learn, leverage and build resilient systems for health

"A new report from UNAIDS shows how countries grappling with COVID-19 are using the experience and infrastructure from the AIDS response to ensure a more robust response to both pandemics. COVID-19 and HIV: 1 moment, 2 epidemics, 3 opportunities—how to seize the moment to learn, leverage and build a new way forward for everyone’s health and rights shows that by identifying the dynamic changes needed, systems can be found that are effective, inclusive, equitable and sufficiently resourced. “Given the epic dimensions of the emergency, the world needs unity and solidarity,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. “Our decades-long fight against HIV offers essential lessons. By heeding those lessons and working together, we can ensure that national health responses deliver on the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the health and well-being of all.” (Photo by SJ Objio on Unsplash)

The politics of a WHO pandemic treaty in a disenchanted world

"In early 2021, the announcement that some Member States were eager to kick off negotiations for a new binding instrument for global health at the WHO came as a surprise. Most health policy arrangements are grounded on soft norms, and the WHO has used its constitutional normative power adopting binding agreements only twice in over seventy years of history. This development appeared more unexpected as the Member States promoting the idea of a treaty for pandemic preparedness and response have in the past staunchly opposed hard norm setting at the WHO:"

The world needs a better World Health Organisation

"THE GLASS and metal headquarters of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN’s health agency, contrast starkly with their bucolic surroundings in the hills around Geneva. The only dabs of colour are the flags of its 194 member-states. For now the American flag still flutters beside the rest. But if President Donald Trump has his way, by July 2021 it will be gone. America is the WHO’s biggest donor. A tenth of its staff are American. Its influence runs through the agency, right down to the peanut-butter cups in the staff vending machine. It is an odd time to cut ties with the world’s foremost public-health body. There is a pandemic going on." (Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash)

Essential health services face continued disruption during COVID-19 pandemic

" Two years into the pandemic, health systems are still facing significant challenges in providing essential health services. Ongoing disruptions have been reported in over 90% of countries surveyed in the third round of WHO’s Global pulse survey on continuity of essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries reported disruptions across services for all major health areas including sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, immunization, nutrition, cancer care, mental, neurological and substance use disorders, HIV, hepatitis, TB, malaria, neglected tropical diseases and care for older people. Additionally, even as COVID-19 vaccination has scaled up, increased disruptions were reported in routine immunization services."

Le virus fait peser la menace d’un burn-out

Avant la pandémie de coronavirus, l’Afrique du Sud comptait déjà le plus grand nombre de victimes de violence sexuelle et domestique au monde, rapporté au nombre d’habitants. Les mesures de confinement strictes des derniers mois ont certes permis d’enrayer la propagation du virus, mais ont fait monter en flèche le nombre de cas de violence basée sur le genre. Précisément à un moment où le nombre déjà élevé de victimes de violence augmente encore, le travail des bénévoles s’en trouve massivement impacté. L’exemple du travail de Lifeline, organisation partenaire sud-africaine de terre des hommes schweiz, montre à quel point la pression psychologique et les obstacles concrets sont importants pour les personnes en quête d’aide comme pour les aidants. Un reportage de Hafid Derbal et Tayson Mudarikiri, terre des hommes schweiz. (Photo : Des protestations majeures et ayant un impact public, comme ici en 2018, ne sont plus possibles aujourd’hui © terre des hommes schweiz)

The Political Utility of The WHO mRNA Hub

"Symbols not only have great illustrative power, but call attention to a wider phenomenon that they represent. The WHO mRNA hub, has become sort of a symbol of a concerted effort to address vaccine inequities and yet, at the same time reveals the political context in which it has been shaped. (...) Although it has received no support from the big vaccine manufacturers, the initiative has begun bold. Much is at stake, as revealed by efforts to undermine it."

Achieving a gender transformative COVID response

This meeting was organized and co-hosted by GENDRO and Women in Global Health together with the WHO Secretariat. It was announced as follows: “Through a dynamic, solutions-oriented dialogue session, this will be an opportunity to highlight three specific aspects of gender transformation: leadership, including in the response to COVID at local, national, regional and international levels; data, particularly strategies to ensure the collection and use of gender disaggregated data in times of COVID; and health care, with a focus on women on the frontlines. The session seeks to focus on solutions and strategies for progress, including what civil society asks of WHO and also what civil society itself can do.” (Photo: MONUSCO Photos/flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Vaccine access puts EU and Africa at odds ahead of summit

"Europe's refusal to share COVID-19 vaccine technology threatens to overshadow a major gathering of European and African leaders this week. Europe wants to use the meeting — which has been delayed by 16 months due to the pandemic — to advance relations on several fronts, including trade and digital connectivity. But access to vaccines will be high on the agenda. African leaders are furious that the continent received mere "crumbs" from wealthy countries’ overflowing plate of vaccines, leaving their populations much less protected against the virus. They will be looking to the two-day summit between the EU and African Union for evidence that Europe is serious about tackling what South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has blasted as "vaccine apartheid." And Europe shows no sign of moving on what is a central issue for many African leaders — loosening access to intellectual property on vaccines."

Increased domestic financing and efficiency of health expenditure necessary amid COVID-19 in Africa

"In a virtual meeting convened by the African Union on 8 and 9 October 2020, health and finance ministers from east and southern Africa discussed how to sustain Africa’s earlier health gains in the face of COVID-19. They agreed on the dual importance of raising domestic resources for health and improving the management of available resources. The stance is summarized as “more money for health and more health for money.” Strong leadership and social protection for the most vulnerable are the two other additional levers to “build back” after the COVID-19 crisis. Peter Sands, the Executive Director of the Global Fund and Donald Kaberuka, the Chairman of the Global Fund Board, as well as representatives of multilateral organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), GAVI (the Vaccine Alliance), and the World Bank addressed the participants and emphasized different aspects of those four levers." (Photo: Pictures of Money/flickr/CC BY 2.0)

BioNTech To Ship Modular mRNA Vaccine Facilities in Containers to African Countries to Jump-start Production

"The German-based BioNTech, which co-developed with Pfizer an mRNA COVID vaccine, said on Wednesday that it will set up modular “turnkey” mRNA vaccine facilities to produce the vaccine in Rwanda and Senegal in 2022 – with a fill-and-finish collaboration in Ghana as well. South Africa, which is the new hub for the WHO-supported mRNA vaccine R&D and manufacturing hub focusing on open-access products- may also join the initiative later, said the company in a press release. Speaking at a press briefing Wednesday morning, which included the presidents of Rwanda, Ghana and Senegal, as well as WHO and Africa CDC, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin, described the new cutting-edge BioNTainer initiative for vaccine production as – following “the most elementary principle of reducing complexity by copying the manufacturing units having modular action unit and by copying the process and transferring it to another place."

COVID-19 in Africa: half a year later

"With the number of COVID-19 cases decreasing across the continent, it is time to reflect on the first months of the pandemic in Africa. Munyaradzi Makoni reports. In February 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was recorded in Africa. Borders were closed, confirmed cases quarantined, and curfews imposed early, which helped countries to slow down the spread of the virus. A slow rise in cases compared with other parts of the world resulted, highlighting Africa's weak health systems, fragile infrastructure, inadequate availability of trained personnel, and poor access to medical supplies and equipment." (Photo by 2Photo Pots on Unsplash)

Covid-19: WHO efforts to bring vaccine manufacturing to Africa are undermined by the drug industry, documents show

"A foundation representing the vaccine maker BioNTech has been accused of seeking to undermine the World Health Organization’s initiative to bring covid vaccine manufacturing to the African continent, The BMJ can reveal. The kENUP Foundation, a consultancy hired by BioNTech, has claimed that WHO’s hub, which is creating a covid-19 mRNA vaccine that African companies can make, is unlikely to be successful and will infringe on patents, documents obtained by The BMJ have shown. Instead, they show kENUP promoting BioNTech’s proposal to ship mRNA factories housed in sea containers from Europe to Africa, initially staffed with BioNTech workers, and a proposed new regulatory pathway to approve the vaccines made in these factories. The novel pathway has been described as paternalistic and unworkable by some experts, as it seems to bypass local regulators."

Analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons towards a more effective response to public health emergencies

"The pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a timely reminder of the nature and impact of Public Health Emergencies of International Concern. As of 12 January 2022, there were over 314 million cases and over 5.5 million deaths notified since the start of the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic takes variable shapes and forms, in terms of cases and deaths, in different regions and countries of the world. The objective of this study is to analyse the variable expression of COVID-19 pandemic so that lessons can be learned towards an effective public health emergency response."

Les défis d'un futur traité sur les pandémies

Le 1er décembre 2021, les 194 membres de l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) se sont mis d'accord sur l'élaboration d'un instrument international de prévention des pandémies. Un tel instrument doit renforcer la résistance aux futures pandémies, garantir un plus grand engagement politique de la part des responsables gouvernementaux du monde et améliorer la confiance dans le système de santé international et dans l'OMS. L'un des aspects les plus importants de l'accord sur les pandémies sera l'élaboration de règles équitables pour l'échange transfrontalier sur les agents pathogènes à potentiel pandémique, qui ne mettent pas en péril les accords internationaux déjà existants, tels que le Protocole de Nagoya ou le Cadre PIP, et leur principal acquis, le partage des avantages, et qui comblent les lacunes existantes, le cas échéant. L'engagement en faveur de l'équité en matière de santé pour tous sera un outil contractuel important.

Expanding Global Research Capabilities to Prepare for Future Pandemics

"From increasing disease surveillance and developing a pan-coronavirus vaccine to ‘eco-health’ and public trust, participants in the COVID-19 Global Research and Innovation Forum considered ways to globally prepare for future pandemics and end the current one. The third such forum, hosted by the World Health Organization, brought together over 100 research scientists, experts, policy makers, and donors worldwide to discuss and strategize about the future of COVID-19 research 24-25 February."

COVID-19: The current system of innovation, manufacturing and allocation does not result in health for all

"Since the onset of the pandemic, a multitude of access initiatives and proposals have been initiated by public and multilateral institutions worldwide, ranging from COVAX, the COVID19-technology access pool (C-TAP), HERA, the TRIPS Waiver proposal and EU counter proposal, to the mRNA Hub and ofcourse the Pandemic Treaty deliberations. As it can be difficult to keep track of developments, Wemos launched the website www.covid19response.org where we critically review access initiatives for COVID-19 medical innovations. As a Dutch NGO focusing on global health, we analyse initiatives that are either spearheaded, supported or influenced by Dutch, European and/or global public institutions."

We cannot afford to repeat these four pandemic mistakes

"As a physician, one of the hardest parts of the covid-19 pandemic was watching patients get steadily sicker and often die. At the bedside, we see past the numbers dispassionately presented on data dashboards and instead understand the real human suffering that is at the heart of a virus like SARS-CoV-2 spreading. (...) Yet when we pull back on public health protections, the ensuing harms are more heavily burdened on those who often are not in a position to adequately protect themselves. As healthcare workers, they often end up as our patients—and their stories offer examples of where our pandemic response failed."

New WHO Negotiating Body on ‘Pandemic Instrument’ Meets Amid Civil Society Appeal

"The first session of the newly constituted Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to draft a “pandemic preparedness instrument” for the World Health Organization (WHO) began on Monday. The six-member body, representing all WHO regions, is made up of Precious Matsoso (South Africa), Roland Driece (the Netherlands), Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes (Brazil), Ahmed Salama Soliman (Egypt), Kazuho Taguchi (Japan) and Viroj Tangcharoensathien (Thailand). (...) Meanwhile, almost 200 civil society leaders have asked the six negotiators to protect the process from any “undue influence of the private sector and its powerful lobbyists”. In an open letter addressed the six negotiators, the leaders have asked the INB to pay attention to a number of issues."

“You have a great responsibility on your shoulders…”

"Dear members of the INB Bureau - as you start your mandate as leaders of the newly constituted Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (INB), allow us to submit for your attention a set of critical issues that, in our sense, deserve to be taken into serious consideration at this early stage of the INB process. We represent a broad constituency of civil society organizations that have a long history of engagement in the WHO global health agenda. Some of us have been and still are very active in treaty-making processes, including significant efforts in the past towards including foundational accountability and transparency principles and requisite provisions in the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) proceedings at the WHO."

A compromise on the horizon? TRIPS Waiver talks in the 'Quad' at the WTO

"While the Russian invasion of Ukraine has upended trade diplomacy at the WTO in recent days, the TRIPS waiver discussions have proceeded among a small group of members and is likely nearing a compromise, although differences persist. Sources familiar with the process told us that technical deliberations among the quad that includes the US, the EU, India and South Africa, are now nearing completion."

Too little, too late

"More than 500 days have passed since - in the midst of the spreading Covid-19 pandemic - the governments of South Africa and India submitted a request to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to temporarily suspend patents. A request guided by global principles. Whilst more than 100 countries, mainly from the Global South, supported the request, the majority of industrialised nations sought to defend economic interests instead of health imperatives, rejecting the request. A compromise proposal has since been put on the table, negotiated by the EU, the US, India and South Africa. Spoiler: It falls drastically short of the aim of global vaccine equity.

COVID-19 – A Game Changer in International Health Cooperation?

La pandémie de COVID-19 modifie le paysage sanitaire mondial. Elle remodèle considérablement les systèmes et les politiques de santé ainsi que le mode de fonctionnement des organisations impliquées dans la coopération internationale en matière de santé. Depuis 2015, la communauté internationale travaille à la mise en œuvre de l'Agenda 2030 pour le développement durable conçu pour anticiper, aborder et résoudre les défis, les inégalités et les disparités qui ont été mis à nu par la pandémie mondiale de COVID-19. Les effets de la COVID-19 ont fait reculer les progrès dans de nombreux pays, effaçant les gains durement acquis. Le symposium de MMS a examiné les déterminants structurels clés qui ont contribué aux effets disproportionnés de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur les groupes marginalisés et vulnérables. Ce bulletin présente des informations complémentaires sur ce sujet.

Africa prepares for endemic COVID-19

"As countries in Europe and elsewhere roll back strict measures against COVID-19 and aim to soon declare the pandemic over, African countries and their public health stakeholders are also starting to shift their attention. Vaccination continues to remain important, but the focus is moving on to longer-term testing and surveillance approaches that can be integrated into, and will strengthen, national health systems."

African clinical trial denied access to key COVID drug Paxlovid

"Researchers in a pivotal African clinical trial have been denied access to a key COVID-19 antiviral drug, frustrating efforts to test the treatment in African populations and in combination with therapies that could potentially expand its utility on the continent. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) has asked Pfizer for supplies of its antiviral drug Paxlovid to use in the ANTICOV clinical trial, a large study in ten African countries that aims to find treatments for mild to moderate COVID-19 — particularly those that will work in resource-poor settings."

Public hearings regarding a new international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response

"WHO is seeking public input on this question to support the work of the intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) to draft and negotiate an international instrument to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. The first round of hearings will be held through a webcast on 12-13 April 2022. Sessions times are in Central European Summer Time (CEST). - 12 April, 8h-11h, 14h-17h; 13 April, 9h-12h, 15h-18h. A second round of hearings is planned for 16-17 June."

Il faut repenser l'aide internationale en matière de santé publique

La pandémie de COVID-19 et la crise économique qu'elle a provoquée ont mis au défi et remis en question les systèmes de santé nationaux et l'aide internationale. Alors que les pays et les donateurs reconsidèrent tous deux leur approche de l'investissement dans la santé à la suite de la pandémie de COVID-19, il est urgent de reformuler la conception et la mise en œuvre de l'aide extérieure à la santé. Comment l'aide extérieure peut-elle contribuer à la mise en place d'interventions sanitaires durables et nécessaires pour soutenir les pays dans leurs efforts de réalisation de la couverture sanitaire universelle (CSU) ? Avant la crise du Covid-19, les modèles d'aide extérieure présentaient déjà des problèmes fondamentaux, tels que le concept de "transition" (le financement extérieur était réduit à partir d'un certain niveau de croissance économique d'un pays) ou l'accent mis sur des priorités définies de l'extérieur plutôt que sur le maintien d'un niveau de service dans un système de santé donné. Les auteurs sont convaincus que la réévaluation nécessaire de l'aide nécessite de meilleures connaissances, qui pourraient être encouragées principalement par trois domaines de recherche.

Activists’ Guide for a Healthier World: Global Health Watch 6 - In the shadow of the pandemic

"Global Health Watch 6 (GHW6) is the latest edition of People’s Health Movement’s flagship publication, released every 3 years in collaboration with like-minded organizations and the voluntary effort of over 100 contributors from all over the world. Written in the shadow of a global pandemic (the book’s subtitle), it describes how and why the pandemic deepened inequities in health and access to healthcare. But it also looks beyond the pandemic to what is needed to create a fairer, healthier, and environmentally sustainable future."

Global fight against Covid hitting a snag

"ACCRA, Ghana — Global health advocates, including WHO officials, are concerned that the U.S. and European countries are beginning to ease pandemic guidance and funding — affecting the world’s response against Covid-19. Many Western governments are relaxing public health guidelines such as mask mandates and dropping Covid-19 financing from budgets. But here in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa, officials are still trying to ramp up primary vaccinations. The differing strategies muddle the direction of the global health community’s fight and have led to tensions with leaders who emphasize the virus still poses a threat."

Africa CDC warns COVID-19 vaccine production could cease

"Global inequities in access to COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics have prompted a huge push to expand local manufacture of health technologies in Africa. In March, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that less than 1% of vaccines administered on the continent are manufactured locally, reducing countries’ ability to respond to pandemics and other health crises. A new plan aims to enable Africa to locally manufacture 60% of its vaccine needs by 2040. However, this plan could be undercut by a lack of demand."

Finding Legal and Financial Pathways for Universal Health Coverage Should Be at the Heart of a Pandemic Treaty

"Discussions about the creation of a new global convention on pandemic preparedness and response have already become a bit like a Christmas tree. Last week’s WHO-convened public hearings, saw a wide array of interest groups trying to attach a number of features to the proposed international pandemic instrument, ranging from stronger accountability and transparency measures in reporting outbreaks to ensuring equitable access to vaccines and treatments – and rapid and transparent pathogen-sharing so that new treatments can be quickly created."

COVAX Tackles ‘Last Mile’ of Getting Vaccines into Arms

"Now that COVAX has enough stock of COVID-19 vaccines, its focus is on vaccination uptake – including encouraging countries to combine campaigns against measles and polio with COVID-19, and even helping with “campaign-style” vaccination drives. This emerged at a media briefing on vaccine delivery called by the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator, of which COVAX is the central pillar, on Thursday. Ted Chaiban, head of COVID Vaccine Country Readiness at the COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership, said that COVID-19 vaccination drives provided an opportunity to strengthen “pre-existing health challenges”, particularly cold chain delivery, health management information systems and training health workers."

Offline: Bill Gates and the fate of WHO

"Bill Gates was not shy about his disdain for WHO. Of its staff he said, “If you’re not very good, you’ll stay working there for a long time.” Gates fired his broadside during the London launch of his book, How to Prevent the Next Pandemic. The audience laughed. But as someone who has been welcomed into the global health family, there was something cheap and unpleasant about his remark. It diminished him. Gates was there to promote the idea of GERM—a Global Epidemic Response and Mobilization team. It would comprise 3000 full-time epidemiologists and geneticists, vaccine developers and rapid response workers, dedicated to preventing future pandemics. Despite his views about WHO, Gates would still make the agency responsible for GERM, although with a “special personnel system” to attract “the best staff possible”. GERM would be given the authority to declare a pandemic and coordinate the global response. Gates estimates the cost would be US$1 billion annually. With an estimated net worth of $127 billion, he could afford to fund GERM for its first 5 years, bringing in new financing as the initiative proved its value. The next big grant from his Foundation?"

De nouvelles voies vers la Santé pour tous en Afrique ?

Dix-huit mois après l'autorisation de mise sur le marché des premiers vaccins, seuls 16 % de la population africaine sont entièrement vaccinés contre le Covid-19, principalement en raison du manque de soutien international pour l'approvisionnement en vaccins. Néanmoins, les gouvernements africains ont bien réagi face à la pandémie. Par exemple, au niveau local et grâce à leurs expériences, ils sont à la pointe de la réponse aux défis liés à la pandémie. Les centres africains de contrôle des maladies ont également joué un rôle central dans la coordination d'une stratégie de lutte contre les pandémies à l'échelle continentale. Des innovations récentes telles que le partenariat du gouvernement sud-africain avec l'OMS et d'autres acteurs pour produire leurs propres vaccins à ARNm sont également prometteuses, car elles adoptent une approche visant à promouvoir le bien commun de tous les pays du continent africain - plutôt que d'accumuler de la technologie, comme le démontrent certains géants pharmaceutiques.

L'AMS approuve la mise à jour du Règlement sanitaire international (RSI) pour lutter contre les pandémies

Lors de l'Assemblée mondiale de la santé (AMS), 194 nations ont adopté une résolution qui réduit à un an seulement le délai de deux ans qui était prévu pour l'entrée en vigueur des modifications du Règlement sanitaire international (RSI). Il est urgent de mettre à jour le RSI en passant de l'ère "analogique" à l'ère "numérique" de l'échange d'informations, afin de garantir que l'OMS et ses États membres puissent réagir plus rapidement aux risques sanitaires mondiaux. Par exemple, les règles actuelles du RSI ne prévoient pas de délai clair pour que les pays notifient les flambées suspectées à l'OMS ou que l'OMS les transmette à son tour aux pays membres. Dans le cas d'une récente épidémie de poliovirus sauvage au Malawi, il a fallu des mois pour qu'un rapport soit publié. L'objectif est de présenter un ensemble de réformes d'ici la 77e Assemblée mondiale de la santé prévue en 2024, pour une entrée en vigueur en mai 2025. Parallèlement à ce processus, les négociations relatives à un traité mondial sur les pandémies doivent se poursuivre.

'We Are Choosing Death': Byanyima, Stiglitz Slam WTO Inaction on Vaccine Patents

"UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima and Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz this week offered a grim assessment of the state of patent waiver talks at the World Trade Organization, warning that sustained obstruction by rich countries has undermined hopes of a final deal and left billions without access to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments. "The drug companies did not want a quick response. The slower the response, the higher their profits." "In a pandemic, sharing technology is life or death, and we are choosing death," Byanyima said at a press conference held less than two weeks before the WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference in Geneva on June 12-15, when representatives from WTO member nations will gather to discuss a range of global issues, including massive and persistent vaccine inequities."

Open trade is key to global health security: WTO and World Bank report

"Open trade in essential medical goods and services is often seen as vital for global health security, both to ensure a steady supply and to reduce costs, but widespread protectionist measures are now a source of growing concern for the World Bank and World Trade Organization. These measures encourage a destructive race to the bottom, worsening what is already “a challenging time for globalization,” warned Mari Pangestu, the managing director of development policy and partnerships at the bank, during an event Friday to launch a World Bank-WTO joint report on “trade cooperation” to strengthen pandemic defenses."

Open letter to Member States on the meaningful participation of civil society and communities in the work of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB)

"As the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), responsible for drafting and negotiating a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response meet on 6-8 June 2022, 113 organisations and individuals share an open letter to Member States to ensure the full and meaningful participation of civil society and community-led organisations throughout the drafting and negotiation process of the instrument."

WTO Ministerial Conference Extended for Another Day as Pressure Builds for Results

"The World Trade Organization (WTO) is extending its 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) for a fifth day, buying time for delegates to negotiate some tough deals in five main areas: the pandemic response, COVID-19 vaccines, fishing subsidies, food shortages and agriculture. The long-delayed ministerial conference, which opened on Sunday and was originally planned to close on Wednesday evening, is now scheduled to last until Thursday afternoon as pressure has built for the WTO to show real results from the meeting, the first in five years."

Weshalb die Welt an den globalen Corona-Impfzielen gescheitert ist

"Als sich im Juni 2021 in der britischen Stadt St. Ives die Staats- und Regierungschefs der G-7-Länder trafen, war als Gast auch Tedros Ghebreyesus, Generaldirektor der WHO, eingeladen. Er sagte: «Um die Pandemie wirklich zu beenden, muss es unser Ziel sein, mindestens 70 Prozent der Weltbevölkerung zu impfen, wenn Sie nächstes Jahr in Deutschland wieder zusammenkommen.» Der Satz wurde zum weltweiten Leitgedanken zur Bekämpfung der Pandemie."

When Distancing Rules are Futile

"Researchers from ETH Zurich and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) have created a risk map showing which regions in Africa may see a faster spread of infectious diseases due to lacking infrastructure. The coronavirus pandemic has made people around the globe realise how important individual behaviour is for mitigating the spread of diseases. But is it possible to comply with distancing rules everywhere in the world? Researchers from ETH Zurich and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) tackled this question in an interdisciplinary research project using the example of Africa."

TRIPS Waiver 2.0 at the WTO: Proponents back at the table to push for therapeutics and diagnostics

"No matter the optics on the suggested success of the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference last month, the final outcome on the TRIPS Waiver discussions that resulted in a ministerial decision clarifying existing rules in the TRIPS Agreement, is mostly being seen as a blow to the goals of equitable access to medical products. One activist described the MC12 outcome on the TRIPS matter, as “a gut-punch”. And indeed, in the days that followed the ministerial, the supporters of the waiver seemed deflated, but not defeated, after batting for the proposal for 20 months. Barely has the dust settled, the proponents have picked themselves up, ready to push for improving the access to COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics. WHO reported a 30% increase in globally reported cases in the past two weeks. While vaccination targets remain unmet, the need for medicines and tests to fight COVID-19 continues to be urgent."

International law reform for One Health notifications

"Epidemic risk assessment and response relies on rapid information sharing. Using examples from the past decade, we discuss the limitations of the present system for outbreak notifications, which suffers from ambiguous obligations, fragile incentives, and an overly narrow focus on human outbreaks. We examine existing international legal frameworks, and provide clarity on what a successful One Health approach to proposed international law reforms—including a pandemic treaty and amendments to the International Health Regulations—would require. In particular, we focus on how a treaty would provide opportunities to simultaneously expand reporting obligations, accelerate the sharing of scientific discoveries, and strengthen existing legal frameworks, all while addressing the most complex issues that global health governance currently faces."

Negotiating a pandemic treaty...

"At the “second resumed session” of their first meeting, on 6-8 June 2022, the members and the bureau of the “Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response” (INB) accomplished an important preliminary step in the drafting and negotiating of a “pandemic treaty”: the compilation of potential fields to be addressed in this new international instrument. (...) The INB has still to deal with the elephant in the room and to decide if it goes for compiling a compendium of non-binding recommendations that member states might consider (this is what is to be expected from a WHA resolution based on Article 23 of the WHO Constitution), or for a new international legal instrument (convention or agreement based on Article 19 ) that, if it is approved by the World Health Assembly, shall be signed and ratified by national governments."

WHO Member States Begin to Define Form and Function of a Pandemic Accord

"Geneva is no stranger to contentious discussions in international health policy-making. The current times are also witnessing the conduct of crucial negotiations at breakneck speed. However, speed and time cannot be excuses in the way diplomatic processes are being conducted, Geneva-based health diplomats say. Several countries have not been happy about forcing consensus on several matters in recent weeks on the back of time and resource constraints. (...) In July, member states will discuss whether and to what extent the new rules to govern pandemics will be binding."

Of cultivation and sovereignty…

"Some reflections related to section IV of the “working draft, on the basis of progress achieved, of a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response” (INB document A/INB2/3) discussed by the INB on 19 July 2022. As stated various times in yesterday’s INB deliberations, the “Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response” (INB) is still very much in a compilation and “cultivation” mode, and not yet properly negotiating."

Who Gets To Sit At The Table in Pandemic Treaty Negotiations? Debate Opens Pandora’s Box of Vested Interests

"Should the corporate sector be allowed to engage in negotiations around the new binding instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response that is being developed by World Health Organization member states? This week’s closed-door debate by WHO member states to decide who should get a seat around the table risks opening a Pandora’s box of vested interests. Twenty years ago the WHO Tobacco Convention (FCTC) initiative, the first treaty negotiated at the WHO in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic, set very clear ground rules. Governments included a specific statement that tobacco companies should neither participate in the negotiations of the convention nor in national tobacco policy-setting."

The significance of effective communication in times of COVID-19

"Access to information is a basic human right. In times of crisis, timely and accurate information plays an important role in controlling a situation. Our partners of the AQH project share how effective communication saved lives during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kosovo. In Kosovo, as in many other places worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by another contagious phenomenon, namely disinformation or fake news. Conspiracy theories around COVID-19 vaccines also met interest in Kosovo and the wider Balkan region."

MMI Annual Report 2021

"2021 was the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, a global health crisis that is not yet finished but already provides some lessons in health governance and health cooperation that need to be observed. The major obstacle for achieving the aspiration of “health for all”, for all people, all over the world, is not any disease, not even Covid-19. Inequity remains the major health problem, as we could observe in the unequal access to Covid-19 vaccines, but also in how the pandemic disproportionally affected the lives and livelihood of the poor and marginalized in all countries and all societies. Prevailing social and economic models are not fit for properly dealing with transboundary health emergencies and fail both at the level of national responses and global cooperation and solidarity."

The COVID-19 pandemic: the world's wake-up call to invest in equity and preparedness for sustainable development

"The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how health emergencies can stop sustainable development in its tracks. This crisis has claimed millions of lives and it has wreaked havoc on economies, political parties, global supply chains, businesses, and livelihoods, as well as health, education, and international travel systems. Any doubt that health is a political choice, and a social and economic imperative, has surely been dispelled. (...) The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that science delivers results. Safe and efficacious vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics were developed at breakneck speed with international and public–private scientific collaboration. The challenge has been in making sure these essential products are distributed fairly and equitably."

Modelling the impact of Omicron and emerging variants on SARS-CoV-2 transmission and public health burden

"SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, such as Omicron (B.1.1.529), continue to emerge. Assessing the impact of their potential viral properties on the probability of future transmission dominance and public health burden is fundamental in guiding ongoing COVID-19 control strategies."

Dans certains pays d'Afrique, les professionnels de la santé n'ont pas encore entendu parler du Paxlovid

Le Paxlovid, un antiviral COVID-19 oral de Pfizer, est recommandé aux patients testés positifs au Covid-19 et qui risquent de développer une maladie grave. En avril, l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) a recommandé ce médicament, le qualifiant de "meilleur choix thérapeutique à ce jour pour les patients à haut risque". Pourtant, à ce jour, de nombreuses personnes dans les pays à faibles et moyens revenus n'ont toujours pas accès au Paxlovid ou n'en ont même pas connaissance. Ali Mokdad, professeur de santé globale à l'Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, critique le fait que seuls les pays à haut revenu et les riches peuvent actuellement s'offrir ce médicament très coûteux et ajoute : "Nous sommes arrivés à un point où nous avons un médicament qui peut sauver des vies, mais il est inaccessible pour de nombreuses personnes sur cette planète". On ne sait pas ce qu'il est advenu des accords conclus ces derniers mois par des organisations humanitaires internationales avec Pfizer. Devex s'est adressé à l'entreprise pharmaceutique, mais n'a pas encore reçu de réponse. L'OMS n'a pas non plus d'image claire de la disponibilité du médicament et les génériques ne seront pas disponibles avant début 2023.

"Our expectations are high..."

"We appreciate the opportunity provided by the INB, in your preparation of advancing the current working draft of the proposed new international instrument into a conceptual zero draft, to invite relevant stakeholders to submit written inputs or comments. Our input is aligned with our video statement recorded today (available here) in relation to the second round of public INB hearings."

Why addressing inequality must be central to pandemic preparedness

"The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the fore long-standing inequities that resulted in certain already-vulnerable groups bearing a disproportionate burden of the disease. The poor have worse health outcomes and access to care, and live and work in inferior conditions, leading to a greater risk of severe illness and death. Establishing how the virus successfully exploited existing disparities is not an easy task given the paucity of income-disaggregated data on testing, infection rates, and mortality due to COVID-19. Nonetheless, experiences in the USA and other high-income contexts have shown that race and ethnicity are markers for elevated risk, and capture systemic deprivations in socioeconomic status, access to healthcare and occupational exposure to the virus."

La commission Lancet tire les leçons de la pandémie COVID-19 pour l'avenir

Le rapport de la Commission fournit une analyse complète de la réponse à la pandémie, met en évidence les nombreux manquements de la communauté internationale et formule une série de recommandations. Parmi ces manquements, on peut citer : - l'absence d’alertes en temps utile de la première épidémie de COVID-19 ; - les retards coûteux dans la reconnaissance de la principale voie de transmission du virus (SARS-CoV-2) ; - le manque de coordination entre les pays en ce qui concerne les stratégies de lutte ; - l'incapacité des gouvernements à examiner les preuves et à adopter les meilleures pratiques en matière de contrôle de la pandémie et de gestion des conséquences économiques et sociales dans d'autres pays - et bien plus. Le présent rapport de la Commission vise à contribuer à une nouvelle ère de coopération multilatérale fondée sur des institutions onusiennes fortes, afin de réduire les risques liés à COVID-19, d'éviter la prochaine pandémie et de permettre au monde d'atteindre les objectifs convenus en matière de développement durable, que les gouvernements se sont engagés à poursuivre en tant que membres des Nations unies.

“Evidence” & “Time” As Obstacles In The Waiver Route For Drugs And Tests For COVID-19 At The WTO

"As the pandemic continues, it appears Geneva’s institutions are experiencing the Rashomon Effect. Every institution has its truths. In today’s edition we try to look at these competing narratives and the stories they tell. From our limited perspective, it appears that ideology and interests, and not evidence, largely informed and shaped the outcome on the TRIPS waiver discussions over the last two years. It is important to note that evidence, is now important in assessing whether a waiver approach will work for improving the supply and access to tests and treatments."

A Critical Moment for a New Fund for Pandemic Preparedness

"Future pandemic threats are imminent—some estimates indicate a 47–57 percent chance of another global pandemic as deadly as COVID-19 in the next 25 years. But threats are not even 25 years off, they are imminent. Global leaders at UNGA underscored the urgency last month, as did high level side events. Yet just in the past weeks, the world is experiencing an unprecedented outbreak of another virus: monkeypox disease. Previously endemic to a few countries in West and Central Africa, the disease has spread to over 100 countries, cases have surpassed 65,000 and the world is struggling to get the outbreak under control."

mRNA Technology is ‘The Answer’ to Sustainable Local Vaccine Production

"If sustainability of vaccine production is the question, then mRNA technology is the answer, Martin Friede, co-ordinator for vaccine research at the World Health Organization (WHO), told a panel convened by the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute on Monday. “The big advantage of mRNA is that, in theory, you can make many vaccines with that technology – you can make flu vaccines, possibly chicken pox vaccines, herpes zoster vaccines, TB vaccines, possibly even HIV vaccine,” Friede told the panel on the long-term sustainability of local vaccine production, convened in partnership with the Republic of Korea’s (ROK) permanent mission in Geneva."

Gavi Urged to Buy At Least 30% of Vaccines From African Manufacturers

"Global vaccine purchasing mechanisms including Gavi and the United Nations have been urged to purchase a minimum of 30% of their vaccines from African manufacturers, according to a resolution, Call to Action: Africa’s new public health order adopted by African member states on the sidelines of the recent United Nations general assembly (UNGA). The resolution, championed by the African Union Commission and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), argues that vaccine-purchasing mechanisms can stimulate private sector investment in vaccine manufacturing."

Lancet World Report - ACT-A: “The international architecture did not work for us”

"At a time of desperate uncertainty, the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) was established in April, 2020, just 3 months after WHO declared COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Consisting of ten UN agencies and global health organisations, The World Bank, Wellcome, and the Gates Foundation, ACT-A aimed to develop health products for COVID-19 and to ensure their equitable distribution, while helping health systems with delivery. (...) Based on 101 interviews with key informants, it concluded that the design was “top-down” and several aspects were misconceived. ACT-A afforded too much influence to donors and corporate partners, global targets were not met, and low and middle-income countries (LMICs)—the purported beneficiaries of the scheme—were excluded from conceptualisation. It documents particular dissatisfaction with ACT-A in Africa and Latin America."

A reinvigorated multilateralism in health: lessons and innovations from the COVID-19 pandemic

"The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the shared frailty of societies in the face of common threats. If the world is to respond successfully to future pandemics and other emerging challenges, it will be essential to develop new public health instruments and a framework that redefines the rules of global governance. In many ways, a quantum lift in global health is needed similar to that achieved at the turn of the 21st century. That was a time when new multilateral initiatives with innovative governance and financial arrangements were established (eg, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance in 2000, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2002, and adoption of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003), and development assistance for health expanded at an unprecedented rate. However, the circumstances in 2022 are different and therefore call for original solutions. We outline the lessons that must be learned and the innovations that must be adopted to realise that purpose."

Pandemic Treaty ‘Zero-Draft’ Makes a Strong Case for Regional Production

"Regional production of vaccines and other pandemic-related products – and sharing the technical know-how to enable this – features strongly in the much-anticipated first draft of the global pandemic treaty proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). (...) Intellectual property is the most obvious hot potato. The draft offers four proposals on IP, all of which recognise the negative impact IP protection can have on prices."

Pourquoi l'équité financière est cruciale pour endiguer les futures pandémies

Avant la publication d'un premier projet de traité sur les pandémies par un organe de l'OMS (INB), la société civile a attiré l'attention sur les pièges concernant le financement d'un tel instrument de prévention des pandémies. Dans le rapport commandé par le Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2), les experts mettent en lumière les tensions inexprimées entre l'architecture financière internationale et les modèles de financement de la santé et mettent en garde contre l'adoption d'un modèle de financement obsolète dépendant de la charité coloniale. Le rapport critique également les solutions de financement actuelles, qui ont contraint de nombreux pays à réduire les dépenses publiques en matière de santé nationale, ouvrant ainsi la voie à la commercialisation des services de santé. Dans la plupart des cas, cela a entraîné une détérioration massive des conditions de santé pour la grande majorité de la population et n'a pas permis d'atteindre l'objectif d'une santé pour tous.

Keep Momentum on Pandemic ‘Treaty’, Urges Tedros

"Keep the momentum to negotiate a pandemic instrument, urged Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) at the start of the third meeting of the intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) on Monday. “The conceptual zero-draft that your bureau has developed is a true reflection of the aspirations for a different paradigm for strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery,” said Tedros. “As we move to a new phase of this process, I urge you to maintain momentum.”

Les États membres de l'OMS conviennent d'élaborer un projet d'accord juridiquement contraignant sur la pandémie d'ici début 2023

Afin de mieux se prémunir contre les pandémies à l'avenir, les États membres de l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) ont l'intention de négocier un projet d'accord mondial à partir de février. Après trois jours de négociations, les 194 Etats membres se sont mis d'accord pour élaborer d'ici là un projet d'instrument juridique historique. Au cours des discussions, les États membres ont demandé un accord basé sur la justice, la solidarité et la souveraineté.

Les experts appellent à une coopération renforcée entre la santé humaine, animale et environnementale

"La pandémie de COVID-19 a révélé les faiblesses des réseaux mondiaux de sécurité sanitaire. Une approche globale «One Health» est essentielle pour prévenir, surveiller et répondre aux futures crises sanitaires. C'est ce que soutiennent les auteurs d'une série de quatre articles publiés hier dans The Lancet. Le Swiss TPH, avec sa longue expérience dans le domaine One Health, a contribué à cette série. (...) Jakob Zinsstag, responsable de l'unité Human and Animal Health du Swiss TPH et auteur principal du premier article de la série, a déclaré : «Il existe des évidences claires des avantages en termes de vies humaines et animales sauvées et d'économies financières d'une collaboration étroite en matière de santé à l'interface homme-animal-environnement.»

Pandemic Treaty ‘Zero-Draft’ is Out – Proposes WHO Gets 20% of All Pandemic Products to Ensure Equity

"The World Health Organization (WHO)’s ‘zero-draft’ of a pandemic treaty proposes that 20% of pandemic-related products – vaccines, diagnostics, personal protective equipment and therapeutics – should be allocated to the global body, which will then ensure their equitable distribution. The draft, which has been seen by Health Policy Watch, was sent to the WHO’s 194 member states this week, officially opening the door for negotiations on how the world should behave in future pandemics."

Un potentiel inexploité pour une meilleure prévention des pandémies

Jusqu'à présent, le dialogue mondial sur la PPR (préparation et réponse aux pandémies) a largement ignoré le rôle crucial joué par les programmes établis et spécifiques à une maladie dans les actions nationales et régionales de lutte contre le COVID-19, ainsi que le potentiel de ces programmes à contribuer à une PPR plus forte à l'avenir. La semaine dernière, nous (Chris Collins et al.) avons publié dans la revue PloS Global Public Health un article de synthèse qui met en évidence de nombreux points d'intersection entre la lutte contre le VIH et les priorités essentielles d'une PPR plus forte. L'avenir de la "santé globale" sera sur la table des dialogues du G7, du G20 et des réunions de haut niveau des Nations unies dans le courant de l'année. Les décideurs politiques devraient éviter de créer de nouveaux silos en matière de santé globale et investir plutôt dans les programmes existants qui rendent déjà les systèmes de santé plus inclusifs et résilients (dont les programmes du Fonds mondial, PEPFAR, ONUSIDA, etc.).

Governing Pandemic Snapshot

"Welcome to the inaugural 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 first issue looks back at 2022 and forward to 2023, examining three topics that will recur with each issue: negotiations towards a Pandemic Treaty (or instrument), amendment of the International Health Regulations; and Financing of PPR. Each issue will also cover a rotating special topic, and we begin here with Pathogen- and Benefit-Sharing (PBS). More frequent updates are available on our timeline at GoverningPandemics.org. Feedback is welcome at globalhealth@graduateinstitute.ch, and keep an eye out for our next issue in mid-2023."

What the WHO’s new treaty could mean for the next pandemic

"The World Health Organization (WHO) last week published a draft of the first legally binding treaty intended to ensure vaccines, drugs and diagnostics are shared more equitably around the world during the next pandemic, avoiding the deep divides seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers say that the document is an ambitious effort to address searing inequities that occurred during the pandemic, but that it doesn’t do enough to force countries to share scarce resources or punish those that don’t comply. “It has more heart and brain than I expected,” says Kelley Lee, scientific co-director at the Pacific Institute on Pathogens, Pandemics and Society in Burnaby, Canada. “But it still has insufficient teeth and an insufficient spine to ensure that we’ll definitely have a better response next time.“

COVID-19 et les nombreuses révélations sur les inégalités en matière de santé

La pandémie de COVID-19 a mis en évidence l'ampleur des inégalités de santé au sein des nations et entre elles dans le monde. Selon le cadre des coronavirus de l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), au 18 décembre 2022, quelque 648 millions de cas de COVID-19 avaient été signalés, entraînant plus de 6,6 millions de décès, et 13 milliards de doses de vaccins avaient été administrées... mais dans quelle mesure ces chiffres ont-ils été répartis de manière uniforme au sein des pays et des groupes de population ? Des données sont-elles disponibles pour en assurer le suivi ? Ce numéro spécial analyse les inégalités liées au COVID-19 et met l'accent sur les outils et les initiatives de l'OMS. Les articles abordent différents sujets allant de l'immunisation aux tests, ainsi que des informations sur les logiciels et les bases de données destinées à améliorer nos capacités d'analyse dans le contexte de la pandémie et de son impact. Son contenu intéressera les chercheurs et les décideurs politiques qui s'intéressent à la surveillance des inégalités en matière de santé, à la réaction et à la préparation à une pandémie, ainsi qu'aux déterminants sociaux de la santé et à l'objectif de ne laisser personne de côté.

Les questions d'équité et de financement ont été au cœur des négociations

Le Dr Tedros, directeur général de l'OMS, qui a ouvert la 4e session de l'organe intergouvernemental de négociation (INB), a souligné la nécessité d'un processus transparent et d'éviter une nouvelle division Nord-Sud, comme celle qui avait déjà entraîné des inégalités lors de la pandémie COVID-19. Malgré ce rappel, le sujet a suscité le mécontentement et certains Etats membres ont exprimé leurs inquiétudes quant à l'égalité entre les Etats, qui n'a pas été prise en compte dans tout le document, selon les critiques. Les questions de financement et de propriété intellectuelle ont également fait l'objet de controverses. Le Japon a déclaré qu'il ne pouvait pas être partie à un instrument prévoyant un engagement financier à hauteur d'un certain pourcentage du PIB, et la Chine et la Russie se sont inquiétées du fait qu'un accord sur les pandémies pourrait saper leur souveraineté.

The Pandemic Treaty, the Pandemic Fund, and the Global Commons: our scepticism

"The call to strengthen global health governance against future outbreaks through a binding treaty on pandemics has attracted global attention and opinion. Yet, few of these perspectives have reflected the voices from early career global health professionals in Africa. We share our perspectives on the Pandemic Treaty, and specifically our scepticism on the limitations of the current top-down approach of the treaty, and the need for the treaty to centre equity, transparency and fairness to ensure equitable and effective cooperation in response to global health emergencies. We also highlight the challenges intergovernmental organisations for health faced in coordinating nation states during the COVID-19 crisis and how a Pandemic Treaty would address these challenges. We argue that lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic provide a critical opportunity to strengthen regional institutions in Africa—particularly in a multipolar world with huge disparities in power and resources. However, addressing these challenges and achieving this transformation may not be easy."

Une pandémie révélatrice d’un maldéveloppement généralisé

"La pandémie de Covid-19 n’est pas tombée du ciel, elle se situe dans un champ de causalité marqué par le déclin de la biodiversité, la marchandisation de la nature, et l’accès inéquitable aux soins de santé : une crise multidimensionnelle, construite à travers la violence politique et économique depuis le début des années 1970. Ce livre aborde frontalement le système néolibéral en tant que responsable historico-politique des crimes contre les populations précarisées, les peuples colonisés et les écosystèmes. Il questionne le modèle néolibéral post-crise sanitaire présenté comme plus durable, plus humain, plus inclusif et plus vert: ce modèle est-il acceptable pour les mouvements sociaux? Il s’accompagne d’un cahier de revendications recueillies auprès de dizaines de mouvements sociaux sur tous les continents. A paraître en avril 2023."

How covid-19 bolstered an already perverse publishing system

"Eric Rubin had been in charge for only three months. The editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) had come into the role with no previous editorial experience but a career in infectious disease medicine. “Little did I expect my training would be so useful,” he says. (...) Editors felt the pressure of workloads, but also responsibility. Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, told the New York Times, “We feel very much that we are publishing research that is literally, day by day, guiding the national and global response to this virus. If we make a mistake in judgment about what we publish, that could have a dangerous impact on the course of the pandemic.”

Key COVID Lessons: Nuture Healthworkers and Build Primary Care

"Strong primary health care, nurturing the health workforce and legal flexibility emerged as key COVID-19 lessons at a high-level roundtable at the Fifth Global Forum for Human Resources for Health, which opened on Monday. Chile gave its healthworkers life insurance, more holidays and extra pay during the pandemic, said Chilean health official Dr Raquel Child Goldenberg. “It was really important to have measures to protect health workers. They were stressed, and they had a hard workload,” explained Goldenberg, Director of the Office of International Relations and Cooperation in the Ministry of Health."

New mRNA vaccine hub officially launched in Cape Town

"The World Health Organization (WHO) officially launched a new mRNA vaccine technology hub in Cape Town on Thursday. The hub aims to provide a complete package of services along the entire vaccine chain, from scientific research to vaccine manufacturing and licensing. The hub is seen as a major boost for science and health infrastructure in Africa and a way to help low- and middle-income countries end their reliance on higher-income countries for vaccine development and shipments."

Updated International Health Regulations More Important Than Pandemic Accord ?

"As the current US Senate is unlikely to ratify a pandemic accord, it might make more sense for World Health Organization (WHO) member states to invest more effort in ensuring that the International Health Regulations (IHR) are adapted to respond to the next pandemic. So suggested Daniel Warner, Assistant Director for International Affairs at the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) at an event hosted by the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Global Health Centre."

Health Systems Across the World Show First Signs Of Recovery Since Pandemic

"Three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, health systems across the world are showing signs of recovery from its negative impact, with fewer countries reporting on scaling back delivery of essential health services as compared with 2020-21. Disruptions to the delivery of essential health services had almost halved by the end of 2022 when compared with the same period in 2021."

Plus jamais - jusqu'à la prochaine fois ?

Selon de nombreux délégués présents à l'Assemblée mondiale de la santé (AMS), la volonté politique de prévenir une nouvelle pandémie s'affaiblit de plus en plus et menace des initiatives telles que la production locale de vaccins. Les pays sont confrontés à de nombreux problèmes post-pandémiques, notamment économiques, et la préparation à une prochaine pandémie n'est plus une priorité. Ce qui est également préoccupant, c'est que de nombreux politiciens ne sont pas au courant des négociations de l'accord sur la pandémie, et encore moins de la préparation à de nouvelles pandémies. La résolution adoptée à l'AMS pour renforcer les pays en matière de tests de diagnostic et la production locale d'instruments de diagnostic, de tests et de vaccins dans les pays à revenu faible et intermédiaire est donc d'autant plus importante. Ainsi, l'autorité sanitaire africaine s'est fixée l'objectif audacieux d'acheter 60% des vaccins dont elle a besoin auprès de fabricants africains d'ici 2040, une tâche presque impossible sans investissements massifs. La Banque mondiale estime que les LMIC devront investir environ 30 milliards de dollars par an au cours des cinq prochaines années pour se prémunir contre les pandémies.

La préparation à une prochaine pandémie exige un engagement mondial

La pandémie a changé le monde de manière permanente et nous devons être prêts à réagir à un prochain agent pathogène. Cependant, ce projet d'accord de l'OMS sur les pandémies montre que nous sommes peut-être sur le point d'ignorer ce que nous avons appris au cours des trois dernières années et de gâcher la chance d'assurer notre avenir. Nous avons besoin d'un changement fondamental dans la manière dont nous abordons le financement - un changement qui permettrait aux pays en développement de disposer de l'espace fiscal dont ils ont tant besoin pour investir dans la santé. L'accord sur les pandémies doit créer un système qui permette des avancées significatives dans notre préparation à l'avenir et qui aille au-delà des structures traditionnelles de financement de la santé mondiale. L'accord doit être fondé sur le partage des connaissances, l'accès et la transparence.

Safeguards, prevention and financial justice - a must for the pandemic treaty

"The INB Bureau's new text proposal clearly reflects the delicate weaving work for bringing Member States together on many diverging elements of the negotiation. However, clear safeguards in the treaty concerning the highly problematic role of the corporate sector, as persistently requested by the Geneva Global Health Hub, remain ignored. The WHO Tobacco Convention is the model to follow, yet we see incomprehensible resistance to setting ground rules to protect the governance of the new instrument from commercial influence. Future negotiations must address this. We regret reading a weakened draft in other fields like human rights or access and benefit sharing, as well as insufficient involvement of Civil Society in pandemic prevention, preparedness and response."

Governing Pandemics Snapshot

"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?"

Contradictions: The ‘Worst Outcome’ of Pandemic Accord and International Health Regulation Negotiations

"The worst outcome of the two World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic negotiations currently underway would be the adoption of contradictory definitions and processes, warned Dr Mike Ryan, the head of health emergencies at the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday. “At the very minimum, the two instruments will need to be very aligned on the definitions they use,” stressed Ryan at a joint meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) negotiating a pandemic accord, and the Working Group on the International Health Regulations (WGIHR), which is amending the globally binding regulations relating to public health emergencies."

Africa CDC criticizes the Pandemic Fund's first grant allocation

"The Pandemic Fund allocated its first set of 19 grants and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is not pleased with the outcome. Only five African countries will benefit from this funding, representing less than 5% of the continent’s population, the Pan-African public health agency said in a press release Thursday. This includes Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Togo, and Zambia. (...) “Africa CDC remains concerned about the limited impact of this first allocation on pandemic preparedness, prevention, and response (PPPR) in Africa due to its limited size and lack of regional approach,” the agency wrote."

Are The Three Pandemic Negotiations Bringing a Safer World Closer?

"While July saw a crush of global pandemic-related meetings – some joint and some clashing – to accommodate tight schedules and northern summer holidays, achieving a pandemic-proof world is still a long way off. The two pandemic negotiations underway at the World Health Organization (WHO) have held individual and joint meetings over the past few weeks, with talks dominated by equity, early warnings for pandemics and financing. The Working Group on amendments to the IHR (WGIHR) is strengthening the International Health Regulations (IHR), the only legally binding global rules governing health emergencies. Meanwhile, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) is developing a pandemic accord to address other gaps that emerged during COVID-19 – particularly how to ensure equitable access to vaccines and medicines."

From private incentives to public health need: rethinking research and development for pandemic preparedness

"Pandemic preparedness and response have relied primarily on market dynamics to drive development and availability of new health products. Building on calls for transformation, we propose a new value proposition that instead prioritises equity from the research and development (R&D) stage and that strengthens capacity to control outbreaks when and where they occur. Key elements include regional R&D hubs free to adapt well established technology platforms, and independent clinical trials networks working with researchers, regulators, and health authorities to better study questions of comparative benefit and real-world efficacy. Realising these changes requires a shift in emphasis: from pandemic response to outbreak control, from one-size-fits-all economies of scale to R&D and manufacture for local need, from de novo product development to last-mile innovation through adaptation of existing technologies, and from proprietary, competitive R&D to open science and financing for the common good that supports collective management and sharing of technology and know-how."

Une nouvelle occasion manquée ?

Avant la réunion de haut niveau des Nations unies sur la prévention des futures pandémies qui se tiendra ce à New York ce mois-ci, les Nations unies ont publié un projet de déclaration de politique générale très attendu. Cependant, selon les experts mondiaux de la santé, le projet est décevant et laisse peu d'espoir que cette Assemblée générale des Nations unies fasse avancer de manière significative la préparation mondiale à la pandémie. Certes, des facteurs clés sont mentionnés et les pays sont invités à promouvoir l'accès aux médicaments, la recherche et le développement financés par des fonds publics, la propriété intellectuelle et la production locale. Mais aucun objectif de financement n'est mentionné et le projet ne contient que des formulations vagues et peu d'engagements concrets, ce qui laisse supposer que l'Assemblée générale des Nations unies souhaite plutôt déléguer la responsabilité de la préparation à la pandémie à l'OMS. Les négociations pour un accord de sont certes en cours, mais le calendrier risque de ne pas être respecté (adoption à l'AMS en mai 2024) et le directeur général de l'OMS est irrité par le pouvoir et l'influence de l'industrie pharmaceutique. Les critiques sont alarmés et craignent que l'histoire ne se répète si aucune mesure concrète n'est prise.

Dissecting South Africa’s COVID-19 Vaccine Procurement Contracts & their Global Implications

"Efforts by the Cape Town-based public health law group, Health Justice Initiative to push for transparency in the COVID-19 vaccine contracts through a case brought and won against the South African government not only reveals the terms of vaccine procurement contracts and the concerning practices, but also casts a light on the nature and extent of private power in these vastly unequal negotiations at a time a grave public health emergency. This comprehensive story delves into the discrepancies in pricing, stringent confidentiality clauses, constraints on vaccine distribution, and the notable imbalance of liability and sovereignty, brought to light as a result of this milestone judgement. (...) These contracts stand as a stark testament to the disparities in the negotiations of these agreements between pharmaceutical companies and developing countries and raise several ethical and legal questions related to the issue of fairness, equity, solidarity and cooperation during a public health emergency."

High-level forum: Pandemics – no time for neglect

"As the acute response to Covid-19 is coming to an end, we observe a drop in public and political attention to pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. Multiple other global crises, which also demand attention and put additional stress on public budgets, especially in low and middle income countries, amplify this development. But the next pandemic might be just ahead of us. Scientists forecast a growing risk of future pandemics due to population density, mobility, climate change, and biodiversity loss, making continued efforts for prevention and preparedness ever more important. There is no time for neglect."

UN High Level Meeting Approves ‘Historic’ but Non-Binding Declaration on Pandemic Preparedness and Response

"A long-awaited political declaration by United Nations (UN) member states on more effective pandemic preparedness and response was approved at a High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Wednesday – without the anticipated political objections raised by 11 member states including Russia in a letter to the global body earlier in the week. The declaration is a milestone insofar as it signals recognition by the world’s heads of state that pandemic threats are existential threats, much more than simply health emergencies, said Carolyn Reynolds, co-founder of the Pandemic Action Network, which has pushed for a broader approach to pandemic preparedness and response since the onset of the COVID pandemic."

No Pandemic Accord Without Intellectual Property Protection, says German Health Minister

"Hours before the release of the second draft of the Pandemic Accord on Monday, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach told the World Health Summit that a pandemic agreement with “major limitations” on intellectual property (IP) rights protection will “not fly” for Germany and most of its fellow European Union (EU) members. “For countries like Germany and most European countries, it is clear that such an agreement will not fly if there is a major limitation on intellectual property rights,” said Lauterbach. “That is a part of our DNA … we need intellectual property security in order to invest into vaccines, invest into therapeutics, diagnostics, and so forth.”

BioNTech Highlights African Vaccine Partnerships – But is Challenged to Ensure Real Tech Transfer

"German mRNA vaccine maker BioNTech’s partnerships with vaccine manufacturing facilities in Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa will support the African Union’s ambition to produce 60% of the continent’s vaccine needs by 2040, the company told the World Health Summit. But Ayaode Alakija, former Chief Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria and World Health Summit Ambassador, cautioned that Africa needs “end-to-end manufacturing” not a “cut-and-paste model”.

May 2024 Deadline Conditional on Meeting Demands on Equity: 29 Member States of the Equity Group

"To keep up with what is expected to be fast-moving negotiations towards a new Pandemic Agreement, and changes to the International Health Regulations, we are trying to experiment with shorter updates from Geneva, in addition to our signature long-form analyses. We are calling this The Files Brief, to capture key turns in the current negotiations in global health. In this short edition, we bring you a statement by the Equity Group comprising 29 countries pushing for “response” measures during health emergencies."

Increasing Africa’s Vaccine Manufacturing Capacity Will Bring ‘Second Independence’ for the Continent

"LUSAKA, Zambia – Ensuring that Africa can manufacture its own vaccines will represent “the second independence of Africa”, Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said at the start of the Conference for Public Health in Africa 2023 (CPHIA) on Monday. “Many African countries got their independence [from colonisers] in the 1960s, but we saw in COVID that we are not independent,” Kaseya told a media briefing shortly before CPHIA’s opening. “Other continents locked their doors and we were left beyond.” With over 5,000 in-person delegates and an additional 20,000 virtual participants in attendance, Kaseya described CPHIA23 as the largest global public health event outside the annual World Health Assembly."

Bumper Week for Pandemic Negotiations

"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 International Health Regulations (IHR) define the processes leading to the declaration by the WHO Director General of a public health emergency of international concern and member states’ responsibilities. They are the only global internally binding obligations related to health emergencies."

Did Some Developed Countries Oust Africa Group’s Key Negotiator, a Forceful Voice on Equity Provisions in INB-IHR Negotiations?

"Delegations of a group of developing countries were taken by utter surprise this week, when it became known that one of their top negotiators from the influential Africa Group, has been abruptly asked to pack up and head home in the midst of crucial negotiations in global health. This development is striking given the decisive role played by a prominent Namibian diplomat who has been known for taking strong positions on equity related provisions in on-going global health negotiations to reform the governance of health emergencies. This transpired just as Geneva is gearing up for a crucial week-long meeting where the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on the Pandemic Agreement will meet at WHO during 4-6 December, immediately followed by the Working Group set up to amend the IHR during 7-8 December."

Pourquoi le premier accord mondial sur les pandémies pourrait ne jamais voir le jour...

L'accord sur les pandémies, actuellement en cours de négociation par le biais de l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), vise à améliorer la préparation à une crise sanitaire mondiale et à éviter que ne se reproduise à nouveau l'inégale répartition des vaccins et des médicaments lors de la pandémie COVID-19. Les pays négocient les règles depuis deux ans, mais il y a toujours peu de progrès et d'accords sur la plupart des aspects de l'accord. Les négociations sont sous la pression du temps, l'échéance étant fixée à mai 2024, mais les problèmes en suspens et le fait qu'il ne reste que deux cycles de négociations officiels sont alarmants. Un autre problème est la question de l'égalité des droits, qui a été négligée pendant la pandémie de COVID-19. Les pays du Sud global insistent sur le fait que l'accord doit inclure des mesures concrètes sur l'égalité des droits afin de garantir qu'ils soient traités de manière équitable. Le mécanisme d'accès et de partage des bénéfices du partage des informations et des ressources est un point de désaccord central.

Nora Kronig, könnte der Pandemiepakt der WHO die Grundlage sein für ein globales Impfzertifikat?

"Soll die Schweiz dem umstrittenen Pandemiepakt der WHO beitreten? Muss das Parlament den Bundesrat bremsen wie zuvor beim Uno-Migrationspakt? Die Schweizer Botschafterin nimmt Stellung."

Pandemic accord: Former heads of state and global health leaders plead for progress

"More than 40 former heads of state and leading global health advocates have urged world leaders not to waste a unique opportunity to save millions of lives as negotiations stall on a new global pandemic accord. In an open letter, published four years after the World Health Organization declared covid-19 a global health emergency, the 40 influential figures warned that the world’s leaders were looking increasingly unlikely to agree on a new, legally binding agreement intended to prevent and prepare for a future pandemic."

EXCLUSIVE: Read Latest Pandemic Agreement Draft Ahead of Monday’s Negotiations

"Health Policy Watch has obtained portions of the latest draft of the pandemic agreement that member states will negotiate over at the eighth intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) starting on Monday, 19 February. At the time of publishing, only member states had access to the draft, although a number of civil society organisations recognised as stakeholders have requested a draft from the World Health Organization (WHO) Bureau that is overseeing the negotiations for some time."

Developing Countries Mean Business on Equity Provisions in Pandemic Agreement. Will it Count?

"Scores of developing countries pulled their weight in a bid to push for equity provisions in a new Pandemic Agreement at the opening of the latest meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), set up to establish a new Pandemic Agreement. Despite strong intentions, it looks increasingly difficult that objectives to ensure equity in pandemic preparedness and response, will translate into any serious binding obligations, given limited political will and time. WHO member states are meeting for a two-week marathon meeting where they continue to discuss a proposal for a negotiating text put together by the Bureau of the INB, that to an extent reflects some of the deliberations conducted in smaller groups on a number of different key provisions."

Mild Optimism? Countries Keen on Reaching May 2024 Finish Line for WHO’s New Pandemic Instrument, Within A Handful of Negotiating Days

"There is a distinct shift in the mood. Despite continuing divergences on key issues from technology transfer, financing, to access and benefit sharing, some countries are beginning to see a small possibility of concluding negotiations for a new Pandemic Instrument. However, the near-impossibility of reaching consensus on complex, technical matters within such a short time period, looms large in the hallways of the World Health Organization. With the number of remaining formal negotiating days ahead of May 2024 dwindling to single digits, WHO member states, nevertheless, continue to be keen on concluding talks to reach agreement in addition to finalizing amendments to the International Health Regulations. This emerging optimism could suggest two possibilities: a more likely one that could result in a watered-down agreement to meet the deadline, essentially a face-saving exercise; a second scenario - albeit somewhat rose-tinted, is that they would actually be able to put together a reasonable set of commitments that broadly meets the needs of most countries."

The Pandemic Treaty: shameful and unjust

"The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), which is tasked under WHO with drawing up an international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, will sit for the 9th and final time from March 18–29. In the 2 years since it first met, hundreds of hours and unknown costs have been spent, but the political impetus has died. The convention is now at a critical juncture: the final text for countries to ratify is due to be presented at the World Health Assembly in May. With only limited days of negotiation left and a long way to go to secure a meaningful agreement, it is now or never for a treaty that can make the world a safer place."

Latest pandemic treaty draft text still has 'many weaknesses'

"The pandemic agreement negotiations are entering the home stretch, but NGOs and global health observers are still not happy with the latest draft of the agreement. The revised draft, dated March 7, was circulated to partners over the weekend. It comes after a two-week marathon session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, or INB, that ended March 1, and one week ahead of its scheduled final session that starts on March 18, where member states are expected to engage in text-based negotiations for nine days. According to observers and NGOs, the text remains weak on compliance, and text on the hot-button issue of pathogen access and benefit sharing still does not equate to equal benefits for low- and middle-income countries."

Kommt jetzt ein Pandemie-Vertrag? «Die WHO ist keine Superregierung, die etwas unabhängig durchsetzen kann»

"Um sich gegen globale Gesundheitskrisen besser zu wappnen, arbeitet die Weltgesundheitsorganisation WHO an einem globalen Pandemievertrag. Massnahmengegner aus der Corona-Zeit befürchten den Verlust der Unabhängigkeit. Taucht ein neuer bösartiger Erreger auf, ist eine weitere Pandemie durchaus möglich. Schon während der Corona-Pandemie machte sich die Weltgesundheitsorganisation WHO daran, einen weltweiten Pandemievertrag zu erarbeiten. Inzwischen liegt nach sieben Verhandlungsrunden ein Textentwurf vor, über den im Mai 2024 an der 77. Weltgesundheitsversammlung der WHO in Genf abgestimmt werden soll."

Pandemic (Dis) Agreement Talks Limp into Extra Time

"The fractious pandemic agreement talks – supposed to end with an agreement on Thursday (28 March) – have limped into extra time, with World Health Organization (WHO) member states resolving to hold an additional intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) meeting from 29 April to 10 May. The World Health Assembly (WHA), which begins on 27 May, is supposed to adopt the agreement, intended to be a global guide on how to prevent, prepare for, and respond to, pandemics. (...) At the briefing at the end of Thursday’s talks, which started almost four hours later than scheduled, INB co-chair Roland Driece said that “there is no champagne”. “We had long intensive discussions, but we have not succeeded in concluding this meeting,” added Driece."

L'importance du système « PABS » pour un nouvel accord sur les pandémies

L'échange d'échantillons d'agents pathogènes et de données de séquences génétiques (GSD) ainsi qu'une distribution équitable des contre-mesures salvatrices (MCM) en cas de pandémie, telles que les diagnostics, les médicaments et les vaccins, sont essentiels pour la prévention, la préparation et la réponse aux pandémies à l’échelle mondial. Cependant, ces questions, connues collectivement sous le nom de "Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS)", restent toutefois un point de désaccord central dans les négociations en cours sur le traité de l’OMS sur les pandémies. Les auteurs soulignent la nécessité de contributions financières obligatoires et d'autres avantages pour un tel système afin de garantir une distribution équitable des médicaments et des vaccins pendant une pandémie. Ils proposent des améliorations pour actualiser le texte de négociation et soulignent l'importance d'une forte implication des pays en développement dans les négociations. La création d'un fonds dit « PABS » devrait pas seulement servir à soutenir le « PABS », mais aussi à financer l'écart dans la distribution en temps voulu des MCM aux pays à faible et moyen revenus, car il s'agit d'une partie importante du partage des bénéfices attendu par les gouvernements des PFRM compte tenu de l’iniquité dont ils ont été victimes pendant la pandémie de COVID-19. En outre, les engagements devraient inclure le fait que ceux qui ont accès aux ressources biologiques et aux DGS (Maladie du stockage du glycogène) à des fins commerciales devraient verser des contributions supplémentaires aux pays à faible et moyen revenus pendant une pandémie, en fonction des besoins. Les auteurs avertissent qu'un « PABS » faible et inefficace est aussi bon qu'un « PABS » inexistant. Il ne reste que quelques semaines avant l'assemblée plénière de mai. Un échec des négociations serait une catastrophe après toutes les grandes promesses.

Une histoire sur la résilience d'une communauté en Ouganda, dans le contexte de la vaccination contre le COVID-19

A Wakiso, un district d'Ouganda, l'hésitation à se faire vacciner a été grande pendant la pandémie de COVID-19. Malgré les efforts du ministère de la santé, aucun progrès n'a été réalisé. Cependant, en octobre 2022, un nouveau chapitre s'est ouvert lorsqu'une alliance impressionnante s'est formée. La Makerere University School of Public Health, la Rockefeller Foundation et Amref Health Africa se sont associées au ministère de la Santé et à l'administration locale du district de Wakiso. Leur mission était claire : former et renforcer les équipes de santé villageoises (VHT). Le résultat fut impressionnant et un exemple de solidarité communautaire : 1.000 VHT formées ont pu, grâce à un engagement sans faille, contrer la lassitude vis-à-vis de la vaccination, alimentée par la désinformation, et gagner la confiance de la population. Une vague de changement a été déclenchée.

BREAKING: Latest Pandemic Agreement Draft Keeps Equity Hopes Alive

"The latest draft of the pandemic agreement, while deferring many operational issues, keeps equity hopes alive in many aspects – including by cementing in-principle agreements on a pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS) system, a global supply chain and logistics network and geographically diverse “capacities and institutions” for research and development. The streamlined 23-page draft was sent to World Health Organization (WHO) member states on Tuesday night ahead of the final meeting of the intergovernmental negotiations body (INB) on 29 April."

Die WHO will kein Pandemiediktat

"Im Zusammenhang mit den Diskussionen der Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) um ein Pandemieabkommen reden Kritiker von einer «WHO-Diktatur». Davon kann keine Rede sein, die Mitgliedländer sind denn auch weit davon entfernt, eine Einigung zu erzielen. Die Fehlinformationen zu den derzeitigen Verhandlungen am Sitz der Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) in Genf nehmen zu. Besonders laut sind jene Stimmen, die einen drohenden Souveränitätsverlust der Nationalstaaten und eine «WHO-Diktatur» am nahen Horizont herbeireden. Sie wissen offenbar wenig über den Standardablauf internationaler Verhandlungen – oder wollen das gar nicht wissen."

IHR Goes into Extra Time: Countries Make Definite Progress on the Amendments to the International Health Regulations, But Not Enough to Close a Deal [WG-IHR8]

"Negotiations on the International Health Regulations go down to the wire as countries were unable to complete the discussions at the end of the final meeting of the Working Group to amend the IHR, that concluded this week. Riding on a constructive approach and an overall positive momentum, countries made steady progress under the decisive leadership of co-chairs Abdullah Asiri and Ashley Bloomfield, but a few areas of contention remained as the clock ticked away towards the conclusion of the meeting on April 26, Friday. The working group decided to buy additional time to conclude the negotiations and are expected to meet on May 16-17 to complete the process. More time is needed to reach consensus on key contentious matters including on technology transfer, a dedicated fund, governance of an implementation committee, among other areas, diplomatic sources said."

‘Get it Done’ or Don’t Block Consensus, Tedros Urges Pandemic Agreement Negotiators

"“Get this done” – and if you disagree, don’t block consensus, was the heartfelt plea made by World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyessus to member states negotiating a pandemic agreement on Friday (3 May). Tedros was addressing the ‘stocktake’ in the middle of the final 10-day meeting of the intergovernmental negotiating body (INB), and it was clear that member states were nowhere close to the finish. “You are here for the same reason this organisation was created in the first place – because global threats demand a global response,” said Tedros."

The Depth of The Divide: Reluctance to Link Pathogen Access to Benefit-Sharing. An Approaching Tipping Point in the Negotiations as Countries Stick to Their Positions

"WHO member states finally began text-based negotiations on a new Pandemic Agreement at WHO this week after more than two years since the process commenced. This comes far too late, with just over a handful of negotiating days left to conclude this process. As a result, the risk of a weak text emerging out of this process is nearly certain now."

WHO Member States Miss Deadline for Agreement on Pandemic Accord, But Agree to Soldier On in Next Two Weeks

"Despite the huge human and economic cost of COVID-19, over two years of negotiations and substantial diplomatic pressure, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) failed to reach consensus on a pandemic agreement by Friday (10 May), the last scheduled day of negotiations before the upcoming 77th World Health Assembly (WHA). But the exhausted INB delegates have resolved to solider on with talks right up to the eve of the WHA, which begins on 27 May. Briefing a handful of media left at the Geneva headquarters on Friday night, co-chairs Roland Driece and Precious Matsoso said the negotiations had finally started to make progress in the past two weeks."

Is the world brave enough to agree on a pandemic treaty?

"Four years ago, our lives were upended by the Covid-19 pandemic. Countries locked down, millions became ill, millions died. And when the vaccine finally arrived, it was not fairly distributed. Rich countries bought too many, poor countries waited, with nothing. “What we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic was collapse. Basically, a complete failure of international cooperation,” says Suerie Moon of Geneva Graduate Institute’s Global Health Centre. Surely we can do better? Countries are gathering in Geneva to try to hammer out a pandemic treaty. Do they have the vision? And the courage? “There’s been so much lip service paid to equity, but when it actually comes to nailing down what that means, and how to avoid a repeat, it seems like governments are struggling,” says Kerry Cullinan, deputy editor of Health Policy Watch."

Former UK chief scientific adviser warns ‘we are not ready yet’ and urges next government to prepare

(...) He also reiterated what he said to G7 leaders in 2021, that “we need to be much faster, much more aligned – and there are ways to do this – at getting rapid diagnostic tests, rapid vaccines, rapid treatments, so that you don’t have to go into the extreme measures that took place” during the Covid-19 pandemic. The measures he recommends are possible to implement, Vallance believes, but “require some coordination”. He said that by 2023 the G7 had “sort of forgotten” about the points he had made in 2021. “You can’t forget about it,” he urged, recommending that pandemic preparations are treated similarly to the armed forces."

L'accord sur la pandémie : Pourquoi les résultats obtenus jusqu'à présent sont importants

Même si les négociations du Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) sur un accord intergouvernemental équitable sur la prévention, la préparation et la réponse aux pandémies (PPPR) n'ont pas abouti lors de cette AMS 2024, on ne parle pas d'échec à Genève. Compte tenu de la complexité de la tâche, beaucoup a été fait au cours des deux années de négociations marathon entre les 194 Etats membres et le projet pose, selon les auteurs, les bases d'une meilleure prévention des pandémies. Le projet de texte tient compte d'un aspect central des négociations, à savoir la demande de justice compensatoire formulée par les pays qui ont été largement privés de vaccins et de médicaments pendant la pandémie COVID-19. La production locale et les investissements dans la recherche et le développement dans le Sud global sont considérés comme un premier pas vers l'équité. Un autre point crucial est l'élaboration d'un système d'accès aux agents pathogènes et du par-tage équitable des avantages (Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing PABS). La garantie d'un échange en temps utile d'échantillons d'agents pathogènes et d'informations sur les sé-quences génétiques, ainsi que le partage équitable des avantages découlant de leur utilisation, sont essentiels à la conclusion du contrat.

One Health is a ‘One World’ Agenda, Even as Negotiators Wrangle Over Inclusion in WHO Pandemic Accord

"One Health is critical to future prevention of outbreaks and pandemics, and wider application of One Health principles should be a common agenda of both the global North and South – even if negotiators continue to wrangle over its inclusion in the still-unfinished World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic agreement. Those were key messages emerging from a dialogue co-sponsored by the Global Health Center (GHC) together with the Geneva Health Forum on the sidelines of last week’s World Health Assembly. At WHA, negotiators received a new mandate from member states to continue talks to conclude a pandemic accord by the 2025 WHA at the latest. The talks are set to resume in July."

Pandemic Agreement Talks Extended: One More Year to Resolve Critical Issues

"Following the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA)’s endorsement of a delay of up to one year for finalizing a pandemic agreement, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) is set to resume talks on 16-17 July 2024. INB member states will face contentious procedural issues and thorny debates over the resolution of substantive matters including a system for Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS), One Health; and a formula assuring more equitable access to pandemic health products, where wide gaps remain. Debate around these outstanding issues is a focus of this latest issue of the Governing Pandemics Snapshot."

The Governing Pandemics Snapshot – Issue 4

"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!"

Sécurité sanitaire mondiale : défis et complexité des enjeux

La pandémie COVID-19 a montré qu'aucun pays au monde n'était suffisamment préparé à une pandémie. Les 194 États membres de l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) ont donc décidé fin 2021 de tirer les leçons de cette pandémie et d'élaborer un accord mondial sur des mesures transfrontalières contraignantes afin de prévenir de futures crises sanitaires mondiales. Par exemple, la coopération, la coordination, la solidarité , ainsi qu'une coopération intersectorielle sont essentielles. Dans ce numéro, vous découvrirez les leçons tirées de la pandémie de Covid-19 et les mesures concrètes mises en œuvre pour prévenir de futures crises sanitaires. Nous rendons également compte d'un échange entre des parlementaires et des expert∙e∙s suisses de la santé sur des questions relatives à la sécurité sanitaire actuelle.

Pandemic Agreement Talks Resume with Global Equity at Stake

"In July 16 and 17, member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) gathered for the tenth round of negotiations on a pandemic agreement. Governments missed their self-imposed deadline to conclude the agreement before the World Health Assembly meeting in May. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) resumed the talks as wars, elections, inflation, climate crises, and other issues push pandemics down the global political agenda. (...) A meaningful pandemic agreement is within reach, but the INB needs to resolve complex and controversial issues, especially the establishment of a pandemic pathogen access and benefit-sharing system."

Global Summit reinvigorates efforts to prepare for future pandemics

"RIO DE JANEIRO, 30 July 2024: The Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024, co-hosted by Brazil’s Ministry of Health, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) and CEPI, concluded today in Rio de Janeiro with a strong call for global leaders to reignite efforts to transform the world's ability to prepare and respond to future pandemics. Amid the heightened risk of new deadly disease outbreaks that can strike anywhere at any time, 350 experts from governments, civil society, industry and health organisations around the world gathered at the Summit—held during Brazil’s 2024 G20 presidency—to harness scientific progress and political will to reinvigorate momentum around the pandemic preparedness agenda."

New Pandemic ‘Lite’ Agreement Shifts Key Decisions to Post-Negotiation Forum

"The latest draft of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic agreement shifts key decisions to the Conference of the Parties (COP) – a body that will be set up after the World Health Assembly (WHA) has adopted the agreement. The draft, developed by the WHO Bureau overseeing the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) talks, was distributed to delegates late on Monday. Details about how to implement the contentious Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system (Article 12) – a mechanism to share information and benefits about pathogens with pandemic potential – is one of those kicked down the road."

WHO: INB11 moved away from developing countries’ needs, Bureau pushed to rush through text

"5 October, Kochi (Nithin Ramakrishnan) - The 11th round of the WHO Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) on the pandemic instrument held last month rushed through the text at the behest of the INB Bureau. The Bureau pushed Member States to speed up the negotiations and showed reluctance to incorporate substantive text suggestions from delegations, especially from developing countries. INB11 thus moved the draft WHO pandemic instrument away from the needs of developing countries."

"Everyone should benefit from science. That's a progressive understanding of science": Colin Carlson on the Pathogen Access & Benefits Sharing System

"In this episode of our podcast we bring you a timely and insightful interview with Colin J Carlson at Yale University, who works on the legal, political, and scientific determinants of disease outbreak reporting and data sharing. We conducted this interview in September 2024, just as countries who are member states of the World Health Organization got together for the negotiations for a new Pandemic Agreement. (...) In this conversation, Carlson debunks what Open Science is, and what it isn’t, and reminds us about the role of science in society. Rich with detail and examples, he breaks down the essential elements of the Pathogen Access & Benefits Sharing System (PABS)."

Mpox vaccine roll-out begins in Africa: what will success look like?

"Mpox has spread to 15 African countries this year, 6 of which had never seen a single case of the disease, leaving health officials scrambling to contain the continent’s deadliest mpox surge so far. But they finally have a new tool to help: vaccines, which were previously unavailable in Africa despite mpox first being detected on the continent decades ago. Mpox vaccines, which have been used in wealthy nations such as Germany and the United States, did not materialize in Africa during earlier outbreaks, even the global one in 2022, says Nicaise Ndembi, a virologist at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in Addis Ababa. This year, however, countries have pledged doses, and the jabs have begun to arrive, after the World Health Organization declared mpox a global public-health emergency for the second time in history."