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Weekly topics: IHP news 887: Highlights of the week (IHP News #887)

International Health Policies — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 05:48:14 +0000

Overview of Highlights

· Ebola Emergency: WHO & Africa CDC messages

· Ebola emergency: more analysis, advocacy, reports, news snippets…

· More on PPPR, GHS & other health emergencies

· AMR

· Global Health Reform, the Future of Development Cooperation & post-2030 brainstorm

· More on Global Health Governance & Financing/Funding

· More on the impact of aid cuts & journey towards health sovereignty

· Global Tax Justice

· UHC & PHC

· Trump 2.0, US Global Health Strategy & bilateral health agreements

· Polio

· NCDs

· Planetary Health (& Climate/Health)

· Human Resources for health

· Access to Medicines, vaccines & other health technologies

· Conflict/War & health

· Some more reports, supplements, …

· Miscellaneous

Ebola Emergency: WHO & Africa CDC messages

Again with two Ebola related subsections – with the first one related to key WHO & Africa CDC messaging over the past week.

Guardian – Whereabouts of nearly 300 people with Ebola unknown in DRC

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/26/whereabouts-of-nearly-300-people-with-ebola-unknown-in-drc

(26 June) Re Africa CDC’s press briefing from end of last week. “Fears over ‘huge, huge community transmission’ as modelling predicts thousands of cases and deaths by September.”

“The whereabouts of almost 300 people who have tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is currently unknown, according to Africa’s top public health official. The humanitarian crisis amid the conflict in the affected areas means more than 1 million people are living in camps to which health workers have no access, Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said [last week] on Thursday.

Cidrap News – As Ebola deaths top 300, African officials meet to boost regional readiness

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/ebola/ebola-deaths-top-300-african-officials-meet-boost-regional-readiness

(26 June) “The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is convening a three-day meeting today of African countries in hopes of strengthening regional preparedness for the growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has now claimed more than 300 lives. The meeting will include officials from the DRC, neighboring Uganda, and 11 other high-risk African Union member states, along with the members of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other key technical partners. The countries will review their national preparedness status, share lessons from the outbreak response, and strengthen collaboration across borders, Africa CDC officials said. ….” “Africa CDC is working with Member States and partners to move from plans to operational readiness at borders, in communities, in health facilities and inside emergency operations centres,” Africa CDC senior official Tolbert Nyenswah, DrPH, said in a press release.

“… Could grow to be largest Ebola outbreak ever: The outbreak, which is now the second largest in the DRC, shows no signs of slowing and currently stands at 1,155 confirmed cases and 304 deaths. … In a press conference yesterday, Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya, MD, MPH, warned that if contact tracing efforts don’t pick up, “for sure it will be the largest Ebola outbreak ever.” “ Kaseya said healthcare workers in the DRC need to be able find and monitor 80% of the contacts of Ebola patients to control the outbreak, but the current figure is only 30%, the New York Times reports….

Geneva Health Files – Ebola Update from the Africa CDC & The WHO

https://newsletter.genevahealthfiles.com/ebol/?ref=geneva-health-files-newsletter

(29 June) “… a comprehensive update on the Ebola emergency, based on briefings from the Africa CDC (25 June) and the WHO (24 June), conducted late last week.” With all the detail.

Via Africa CDC briefing (25 June) eg:

“Pledge Discrepancy: While $910 million has been pledged for the health response, only 13% ($130 million) has been released as real money.

Community Workforce: There is a strategic plan to deploy 20,000 community workers to bolster contact tracing and engagement.

Border Risk: South Sudan, Rwanda, and Burundi are classified as high-risk countries due to their proximity to the epicenters….”

Cidrap News – Ebola outbreak spreads to 4th province in DR Congo

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/ebola/ebola-outbreak-spreads-4th-province-dr-congo

(29 June) “The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has spread to a fourth province, according to media reports. Sources at DRC’s National Institute of Biomedical Research told Agence France-Press that an Ebola case was detected in Haut-Uele province after a patient traveled there from Ituri province, which is the outbreak’s epicenter. Haut-Uele is north of Ituri and borders South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Like Ituri, the province sees heavy cross-border movement and trade, which health officials fear is helping the virus spread. North and South Kivu are the other two provinces in DRC that have reported Ebola cases…”

Africa CDC calls for urgent US$18 million to close the funding gap on critical research ready to commence

https://africacdc.org/news-item/africa-cdc-calls-for-urgent-us18-million-to-close-funding-gap-and-stop-bundibugyo-ebola-outbreak/

“Africa CDC commends the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, clinical investigators, and development partners for the launch of clinical trials evaluating candidate therapeutics for Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease in Bunia this week. This marks an important milestone in the response, demonstrating the country’s commitment to generating the evidence needed to improve clinical care while contributing to the development of medical countermeasures for this rare Ebola virus. However, a funding gap remains for the full implementation of the trials. Africa CDC has therefore called on governments, multilateral development banks, philanthropic organizations, the private sector, and global partners to provide US$16million within days to close a funding gap that threatens clinical trials against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is no licensed vaccine or therapy. …”

“…Financing for the vaccine trials is largely in place. The gap is in therapeutics. Of the US$26 million needed to run the therapeutics trials, US$10 million has been secured leaving a shortfall of US$18 million. This comprises US$16 million to continue and complete the post-exposure prophylaxis study among exposed contacts and $2-3 million to ensure sufficient contract tracing to enable the trial….”

HPW – Ebola Antiviral Trial Begins at Secret Facility Amid Attacks

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/ebola-antiviral-trial-begins-at-secret-facility/

(2 July) “A trial to test two antiviral therapies on patients with Ebola Bundibugyo Virus started to enrol patients on Thursday – but its exact location in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Ituri province remains secret for security reasons. This emerged at a World Health Organization (WHO) briefing on Thursday, at which Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed yet another Ebola treatment centre in Ituri had been attacked in the past week….”

“… The PARTNERS trial will assess whether the antivirals, a monoclonal antibody called MBP134 and remdesivir, can improve the outcome and survival rate of people with Ebola in Bundibugyo. It will also evaluate whether combining the two antivirals provides additional benefits….”

“The WHO-sponsored trial is being coordinated by the DRC’s Institut National pour la Recherche Biomédicale (INRB), the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium, and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. These two treatments were selected by the WHO Technical Advisory Group “after a thorough review of scientific evidence, including preclinical research and safety data, and evidence from previous outbreak responses”, said the WHO in a statement. …”

· And a link: WHO – WHO adds first diagnostic test for Ebola Bundibugyo virus to its Emergency Use Listing

Ebola emergency: more analysis, advocacy, reports, news snippets…

UNDP – Ebola Outbreak Could Push Nearly One Million More People into Poverty and Cost Africa Billions, warns UN Development Programme

https://www.undp.org/press-releases/ebola-outbreak-could-push-nearly-one-million-more-people-poverty-and-cost-africa-billions-warns-un-development-programme

“New UNDP analysis shows Ebola extends beyond a health emergency. It is also a development and economic crisis triggering severe socioeconomic shocks, particularly for women.”

“A new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) assessment warns that the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is sparking a far-reaching socioeconomic crisis which could push 985,000 more people into poverty, with women disproportionately suffering the economic and health fallout. The Ebola crisis also risks eliminating tens of thousands of jobs, disrupting education and healthcare services, and costing African economies up to US$ 3.6 billion if broader regional and global shocks intensify.”

“The report, Rapid Socioeconomic Assessment of Ebola Outbreak in the DRC, warns that the current outbreak of the Bundibugyo Ebolavirus is functioning as a highly regressive poverty shock in the DRC and across neighbouring countries, including Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan. While the immediate public health threat is severe and requires containment measures such as quarantines, some of the broader restrictions on travel and trade are inadvertently devastating local economies and informal livelihoods….”

“… The analysis shows that the economic damage extends well beyond those infected with the disease, disproportionately harming the most vulnerable populations, who lack the financial buffers to weather the disruption. Even under a baseline scenario where the virus is successfully contained in the DRC and Uganda, the economic damage remains severe, with the DRC projected to see real GDP losses exceeding US$ 1 billion and the loss of 55,000 jobs….” (ps: with two other scenarios)

Lancet Comment – The US Ebola response and the future of global health leadership

Krutika Kuppalli et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01291-2/fulltext

Cfr Kuppali on LinkedIn: “Using the ongoing #Bundibugyo #Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo and Uganda as a case study, we explore how recent shifts in U.S. global health policy are challenging the principles that have long underpinned American leadership in global health ….” (and consequences).

“This outbreak is unfolding amid major changes to US global health policy, challenging principles that have historically underpinned its leadership in global health….”

Kuppali et al argue: “… The USA should reaffirm a global health strategy grounded in evidence, reciprocity, and partnership… …… The choices made by the USA will affect not only the trajectory of this outbreak, but also the future of global health cooperation. The principles that have historically guided impactful global health engagement—scientific expertise, international partnership, reciprocity, and investment in preparedness—remain as relevant today as they were during previous health emergencies. …”

HPW – Mind the Gap on Ebola: It’s the People, Not Just the Virus

Gitinji Gitahi (Amref); https://healthpolicy-watch.news/mind-the-gap-on-ebola-its-the-people-not-just-the-virus/

“…. resistance is not born of ignorance. It is a rational response to historical neglect. …. …. Trust rests on three pillars: authenticity, empathy, and logic. In the chaos of an emergency response, establishing these pillars is an immense challenge for even the most dedicated teams….”

Lancet GH – Bundibugyo virus and the cognition gap: rethinking epidemic preparedness in the era of regionalised outbreaks

Francesco Branda et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00182-8/fulltext

“… We propose that the defining vulnerability of the contemporary epidemic response is fundamentally cognitive: the ability of institutions to reconstruct an operational understanding of an evolving epidemic at the same pace at which the epidemic itself unfolds. During the early stages, decision makers need to simultaneously integrate fragmented reports, evolving case definitions, delayed laboratory data, mobility patterns, health-care accessibility, misinformation, and political constraints. We define this gap between epidemic spread and institutional understanding as a cognition gap: the interval during which the epidemic takes hold at the regional level and becomes progressively more challenging to contain.”

They conclude: “The central challenge is not merely to accelerate the development of vaccines and therapies against non-Zaire orthoebolaviruses, although these objectives remain essential. The primary challenge lies equally in building institutional frameworks capable of real-time operational synthesis—systems capable of reconstructing the evolving epidemic reality more rapidly than outbreaks can reorganise themselves through networks of mobility, conflict, and social disintegration. Preparedness should therefore evolve from a paradigm based on detection alone to one centred on understanding, as understanding is a prerequisite for containment.”

And a few links:

· Nature Health (Correspondence) – Community engagement should be the priority for containment of the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak (by N Ngongo, J Kaseya et al)

· Lancet Infectious Diseases – The Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak: a warning signal for risks to health workers (N Dereje, J Kaseya et al)

More on PPPR, GHS & other health emergencies

PS: as mentioned in the intro, next week the “PABS negotiation train” starts again in Geneva (you’re entitled to humming Kylie Minogue’s “the Locomotion”).

· Via RANI’s newsletter (2 July): New chapter on PABS negotiations

“WHO Member States reconvene on Monday for IGWG 7 (6–17 July) – two full weeks mostly devoted to the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system. Details on the programme of work will be shared Friday, but the Bureau has already published an ambitious new IGWG timeline that aims to finalise the Annex by the end of 2026 and enable the Pandemic Agreement to move toward ratification…..” (sounds rather optimistic)

With also some info on the informal discussions of the past few weeks.

Lancet GH (Editorial) – PABS and the dangerous temptation of more time

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00204-4/fulltext

The Editorial concludes: “The political task is to conclude PABS quickly, but in the strongest possible form. WHO, major powers, middle-power coalitions, and states seeking reciprocity should fill the space left by the USA’s bilateral turn by building a system in which countries sharing PABS materials and sequence information are participants, not recipients, and reciprocity is not left to donor discretion. High-income countries should use their leverage over manufacturers, including public funding, procurement, licensing, and market access, to realise benefit sharing. Concluding PABS is also important for implementing One Health: equitable benefit sharing could strengthen local laboratories, research capacity, and regional manufacturing in spillover-risk settings. As pathogen sequence data become increasingly important for AI-enabled research and synthetic biology, equitable benefit sharing becomes essential. Negotiations must not fail: even an imperfect PABS annex would be preferable to allowing USA-style bilateralism to become the new normal in pandemic governance.”

Africa CDC and WHO AFRO Launch Continental Incident Management Support Team to Strengthen Africa’s Leadership in Public Health Emergency Response

https://africacdc.org/news-item/africa-cdc-and-who-afro-launch-continental-incident-management-support-team-to-strengthen-africas-leadership-in-public-health-emergency-response/

(27 June) “The Ugandan Government represented by its Minister of Health Hon. Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), together with the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO), today officially launched the Joint Continental Incident Management Support Team (IMST), establishing a unified operational platform to strengthen Africa’s capacity to prepare for, coordinate and respond to public health emergencies while supporting the ongoing Bundibugyo Virus Disease (BVD) response…..”

“The launch marks a significant milestone in strengthening Africa’s public health emergency architecture and reflects a shared commitment by Africa CDC, WHO AFRO and African Union Member States to build faster, more coordinated and country-led responses to increasingly complex public health threats. It also reinforces regional preparedness and cross-border collaboration as essential pillars of Africa’s health security….”

“Hosted at the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), Makerere University in Kampala, the co-located IMST will support Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighbouring at-risk countries through integrated technical assistance, operational coordination and multidisciplinary expertise. Guided by the principles of One Team, One Plan, One Budget and One Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, the IMST brings together specialists in surveillance, laboratory systems, case management, infection prevention and control, emergency logistics, emergency operations, Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE), information management and partner coordination to strengthen outbreak response across the region….”

HPW –UN Member States Have an Unmissable Responsibility to Better Protect Us Against Outbreaks and Pandemics

H Clark et al ; https://healthpolicy-watch.news/un-member-states-have-an-unmissable-responsibility-to-better-protect-us-against-outbreaks-and-pandemics/

On the importance of a PPPR monitoring mechanism. « …. Over the last decade, outbreak and pandemic monitoring bodies and tools have been activated in the wake of crises. Many perform much-needed functions. But the approach has led to a fragmented system characterised by gaps and overlaps. Important information is available, but often it does not reach the right people at the right time, and it too seldom informs plans and investments to strengthen essential systems. (see figure 1, below) The result is a monitoring landscape that provides a patchwork of siloed information, rather than timely, actionable insights and a cohesive roadmap. On 18 May, during the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, senior representatives from member states, international organizations, and expert institutions came together to consider how pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR) monitoring can better inform action and investment….”

« … Two of the key global monitoring bodies providing important insights, The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) and The International Pandemic Preparedness Secretariat (IPPS), are set to close soon as their mandates come to an end. This will add to widening holes in our knowledge and in our collective safety. Without action, these closures risk setting back global monitoring efforts at a time when they are needed most….”

« … So how do we move from what we have towards a comprehensive monitoring ecosystem that provides a full picture? Charting this path is essential to all our safety. …… In future, such a model could identify additional threats, and guide investments to avert a full pandemic. … This year, there is an opportunity to establish a comprehensive monitoring mechanism that will provide a clear overview of outbreak and pandemic risk and readiness, including through identifying risks from animal spillovers, to country, regional and global preparedness, response to health emergencies, and recovery…. … September’s UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response must provide the political mandate to establish such a mechanism. Monitoring must extend beyond health ministries and embrace a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, reflecting the reality that pandemic threats emerge at the intersection of human, animal and environmental health, and that preparedness depends on many sectors. »

« Monitoring cannot be reduced to a box-ticking exercise, nor a process where those with money are scrutinizing those without. It’s about identifying collective gaps in PPR which require collective action. A publication by GPMB leadership in the Lancet described the principles of effective and coordinated monitoring. A recent brief by The Independent Panel highlights the need to shift to a mutually beneficial approach: one that moves from blind spots to understanding pandemic risk; from basic data collection to actionable insight; from a top-down imbalance to a federated system driven by national priorities, and from compliance to mutual trust and accountability…. … None of this requires a large new institution or a major additional burden on countries. Nor does it displace or duplicate existing valuable efforts; rather, it would seek to unify them in a coordinated manner and provide ready access to timely insights. What it would need is a well-resourced secretariat with a sustained mandate, access to modern data tools, including AI, that can synthesise across fragmented sources, and connect to scientists, practitioners, civil society and policymakers in countries, regions and global capitals….”

Stat – Marburg outbreak is reported in Uganda, threatening to complicate Ebola response in region

https://www.statnews.com/2026/06/30/marburg-virus-cases-ugandan-ebola-outbreak-zone/

“The outbreak is said to be localized.”

“Uganda formally reported to the World Health Organization on Tuesday that it had detected a Marburg disease outbreak in the western part of the country, a spokesperson for the Geneva-based global health agency told STAT. The development could further complicate the effort to contain what is already the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record in Central Africa. Both diseases are viral hemorrhagic fevers….”

PS: “The Ugandan government has not yet publicly disclosed a Marburg outbreak. But the U.S. embassy in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, issued a health alert on Monday, saying it had been made aware of a possible case of Marburg in the country. The alert was a level 4 advisory alerting Americans they should not travel to Uganda….”

Stat (Opinion) – What Ebola and Marburg are teaching us about the next pandemic

K Kuppalli et al ; https://www.statnews.com/2026/07/01/ebola-virus-outbreak-bundibugyo-marburg-testing-krutika-kuppalli/

“Ecological and societal conditions driving infectious disease emergence are getting more complex.”

“The fact that public health officials must even consider the simultaneous circulation of multiple high-consequence pathogens during a single regional emergency highlights a reality that our preparedness systems have failed to fully embrace: Pathogens do not organize themselves according to our testing algorithms.”

“… For decades, the global health community’s approach to outbreak diagnostics has been largely reactive and pathogen-specific…” “ “… While these investments have saved countless lives, they have also reinforced a dangerous assumption: that the next outbreak will resemble the last one. History repeatedly tells us otherwise….”

“The ecological and societal conditions that drive infectious disease emergence are becoming increasingly complex. Climate change, conflict, environmental disruption, urbanization, population displacement, and increased human-animal interactions are creating opportunities for pathogens to emerge in new places and in new combinations. The regions currently affected by the BDBV outbreak sit at the intersection of these forces. Eastern DRC has experienced repeated outbreaks of Ebola, Marburg, mpox, plague, anthrax, and other emerging infections over the past two decades. In such environments, clinicians do not encounter neatly categorized pathogens. They encounter patients….”

“A patient presenting with fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, hemorrhage, respiratory failure, encephalitis, or shock does not arrive labeled as having Ebola, Marburg, influenza, coronavirus, or a pathogen that has yet to be discovered. Yet our diagnostic systems often require us to decide which pathogen we believe is causing illness before we can determine what is actually there. This approach no longer makes clinical or public health sense.”

“… What is urgently needed is a shift from pathogen-specific diagnostics toward pathogen-agnostic diagnostic systems….” Read what this would entail.

CGD (blog) – Getting the World Bank’s New At-Risk Financing Plans Across the Finish Line

R Glennerster et al ; https://www.cgdev.org/blog/getting-world-banks-new-risk-financing-plans-across-finish-line

“Between 60 percent and 75 percent of the delay in vaccine deliveries to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) during Covid-19 can be explained by them signing purchase agreements later than high-income countries. This partly reflects lending restrictions adopted by the multilateral development banks (MDBs) on using MDB financing to purchase vaccines before regulatory approval. The World Bank is now finalizing a Day Zero Financing Framework that would help make sure that does not happen again. The framework would enable at-risk financing—the use of World Bank financing to buy medical countermeasures before they have received regulatory approval. At-risk financing was one of the five key recommendations of the recent G20 High-Level Independent Panel on Financing Pandemic Preparedness and Response Financing, and was recently endorsed by Gavi.”

“Here we set out some ideas to help secure agreement among key global health stakeholders, paving the way for Board approval ahead of the World Bank’s Annual Meetings in Bangkok….” (in October).

Devex Op-ed – What screwworm and Ebola tell us about the cost of isolationism

Daniele Nyirandutiye; https://www.devex.com/news/what-screwworm-and-ebola-tell-us-about-the-cost-of-isolationism-112826

“Two outbreaks on two continents are moving faster than our fractured systems can keep up. That is not a coincidence; it is a pattern, and the window to respond to it responsibly is closing quickly….”

Re screwworm: “… In the U.S. states of Texas and New Mexico, the New World screwworm — a flesh-eating parasitic fly whose larvae burrow into animals’ flesh — has been detected in livestock and domestic animals for the first time in decades. …”

“…. The dismantling of USAID and termination of more than 5,200 contracts crippled global health programs, including the Central America initiatives that kept the screwworm at bay. The U.S. also withdrew from the World Health Organization, removing itself from the early-warning and coordination systems that global outbreak detection depends on….”

…. Three targeted steps would make an immediate difference. With one being, “One, the administration should carve out an exception for the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, immediately allowing the U.S. to detail staff, access surveillance data, and restore the collaborative channels that detection depends on. Such a step would protect Americans without requiring a resolution to the larger WHO relationship….”

Lancet – Andes hantavirus: operationalising science in real time

P Lydon et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01227-4/fulltext

“The 2026 outbreak linked to the MV Hondius highlighted a persistent weakness in epidemic preparedness.The key lesson was not the potential for human-to-human transmission, which is already well established, but that timely evidence generation still depends largely on reactive mobilisation of the global research community. To address this gap, WHO has integrated research coordination directly into its emergency response architecture through the Emergency Response Framework (ERF) and Incident Management Support Teams (IMSTs). This integration reflects an important shift: research is no longer treated as a parallel scientific activity but as a core operational component of outbreak response. Effective integration, however, requires standing research systems that can be activated immediately rather than assembled during a crisis….”

“In response to the need for a standing research system that can be activated, WHO’s Research and Development Blueprint established Collaborative Open Research Consortiums (CORCs) by priority viral families with epidemic pandemic potential. Launched in 2024, CORCs were designed as operational scientific communities capable of rapid activation during emergencies. CORCs connect expertise across the medical countermeasure pathway, from diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines….”

Plos GPH – Globalisation, rising authoritarianism, declining solidarity, and retreating multilateralism: A perfect storm for amplifying the risk of outbreaks

Winfred Dotse-Gborgbortsi & Madhukar Pai; https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0006783

“ International organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), transnational disease surveillance systems, and shared financing mechanisms were designed to manage those risks collectively, and across geographical borders. That architecture is now crumbling, and two concurrent outbreaks, the Hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship and Bundibugyo Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), illustrate what happens when globalisation’s risks persist while its safeguards, safety nets, and global solidarity erode….”

In the remainder of the article, the authors focus on “Solidarity in action: What we should be doing”: “….The word “solidarity” is used frequently in global health. What exactly is solidarity? The Global Health Solidarity Project’s framework describes it as actively standing with others, not just in words but through meaningful action and shared commitments. It recognises that health is interconnected across borders, differences, and inequalities, and is built on trust, mutual respect, and inclusive decision-making. By working together toward common health goals, solidarity seeks not only to improve health outcomes but also to address the structural inequalities and power imbalances that drive health inequities. As illustrated in Fig 1, global health solidarity in action should involve concrete actions, not just vague affirmations or declarations. For example, Global North nations must provide timely emergency funding to international agencies (such as WHO, Gavi, and CEPI) that respond to disease outbreaks and other global health emergencies….. “

With some more examples of ‘solidarity in action’.

AMR

UN News – New WHO plan urges stronger action against fungal disease

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167842

“The World Health Organization (WHO) has published new guidance to help countries confront the rising burden of fungal disease and antifungal resistance – one of the most neglected global health threats, yet still largely absent from national health plans. “

“The new Blueprint for strengthening responses to fungal disease and antifungal resistance, issued on Tuesday, sets out practical steps to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment and surveillance. Fungal diseases affect more than 300 million people each year and are associated with high mortality, long-term illness and major losses in health and productivity worldwide. They range from common conditions such as ringworm and nail infections to severe invasive diseases that can be deadly, especially for people with weakened immune systems, those receiving intensive care, people living with HIV, transplant recipients and cancer patients. “

“Meanwhile, antifungal resistance is a growing threat, driven in part by the widespread use of antifungal medications and their analogues across human, animal and plant health, as well as environmental exposure to antifungal chemicals. Despite this toll, WHO said fungal diseases are often missing from national health treatment policies, global burden-of-disease estimates and most strategies on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), universal health coverage and One Health – the UN agency’s initiative for action across human, animal, plant and environmental health. …”

Global Health Reform, the future of international cooperation & post-2030 brainstorm

· We start with a LinkedIn post by Anders Nordström (looking forward to July).

“July may prove pivotal for the trajectory of reforms of the international system for health, even in the absence of negotiations of political declarations or high-level forums. Important developments are underway for the two major reform initiatives: The Accra Reset High-Level Panel will convene in Senegal to draft its report and recommendations. At the same time, WHO Member States are expected to nominate representatives for that process .”

“The Partnership for International Politics and Diplomacy for Health have continuously analysed and reflected on trends and perspectives in an ongoing series of Insights papers https://lnkd.in/dthPusMY Accra Reset has consistently stood out for its potential to drive transformative change. Led by countries of the Global Majority, it confronts the fundamental issue that many dialogues avoid – the entrenched power imbalances that have shaped, and continue to shape, international cooperation for health. …” The Accra Reset considers how sovereign governments can maximally leverage existing domestic capacities, affirming that the primary relationship in any health system should be the one between governments and their citizens, not governments and global institutions. This link between health, development and power is not only strategic, but also honest and realistic. The High-Level Panel’s direct mandate from incumbent Heads of State gives it a degree of political clout that many previous reform efforts have lacked. The ambition is not to generate another set of aspirational ideas or yet another report, but to catalyse political action.”

“The question now is if the Panel’s efforts will truly become the antidote to the status quo. This will greatly depend on the substance of its recommendations and the way they are socialised. To distinguish itself from past approaches, the Panel could put forward recommendations that:
– Clearly articulate national responsibilities based on full country ownership;
Advance a vision of health financing with domestic resources as the core source;
– Explicitly affirm the need to transition away from direct international development assistance in most settings;
– Set firm expectations for international institutions, and outline structural reforms required to meet those expectations;
– Constructively describe the role of non-state actors in global health governance; and
– Establish credible accountability mechanisms from the outset.

“Notably, the strength and impact of the Panel’s recommendations will not depend solely on their content. It is crucial that the recommendations are the product of consultations with key actors, an iterative and agile way of working, and a deep understanding of today’s international landscape. Expectations are already forming and many stakeholders will develop their view on the recommendations even before they are published. Communication should be a critical part of the work itself….”

Geneva Solutions -Sunset or new dawn? UNAids fights for survival

https://genevasolutions.news/global-health/sunset-or-new-dawn-unaids-fights-for-survival

“Thirty years after its founding, the UN is considering shutting down its leading organisation focused on HIV/Aids just as the very epidemic it was built to end intensifies. …. … UNAids’ coordinating board meets this week with the organisation’s future on the agenda. The meeting comes amid a push by the UN chief António Guterres to quickly wind it down as soon as 2026 as part of his efforts to shrink the UN system. But the board has pushed back and is exploring alternatives. What UNAids looks like next year or in 2030 remains an open question.” Excerpts:

“… UNAids itself has been hard hit by the US cuts. Last year, it had to shrink its workforce by more than half from 600 to just under 300. Its headquarters in Geneva, once home to 127 staff, now just runs with 19 after many were relocated to Bonn. A US package ratified by Trump in January included $45 million for UNAids – less than half of what it received in 2024 under the Biden administration – offering some relief while highlighting the risk of relying on a large, unpredictable donor…..”

“… It’s against this backdrop that Guterres floated his proposal to “sunset” UNAids and fold its work into other UN bodies like the World Health Organization. The organisation’s coordinating board – composed of 22 governments, six UN organisations and five civil society representatives – has resisted. In January, it set up a working group to come up with an alternative path, one that integrates it better into the broader UN system while preserving what makes UNAids distinctive – the formal role of civil society and people living with Aids/HIV in its governance structure, a rare arrangement in the multilateral world. The working group’s interim report, published this month and expected to be discussed at a board meeting this week, says operation as before is “neither advisable nor feasible”, citing factors including resistance to multilateral cooperation, the decline in international HIV assistance, but also a push for country-led and financed responses. But the report is equally categorical in rejecting the sunset proposal, arguing that a “rushed or under-resourced transition risks doing serious damage to the global HIV response and undermining the UN’s credibility”. It further points to the problematic use of the word “sunset” at a time when the HIV crisis is far from over….”

“… The options being explored, according to the document, include downsizing the secretariat further, turning it into a “leaner partnership or hub” within the UN system, transferring work to partner agencies or – further down the line – a merger with another existing health partnership. A final proposal is expected in October….”

“An interim report outlines several pathways for the future of UNAIDS — from a smaller secretariat to a U.N.-hosted hub or merger — while rejecting calls to sunset the agency by the end of 2026.”

“The future of UNAIDS remains uncertain, but a working group tasked with providing recommendations for its transition is exploring several options, including further downsizing the secretariat, turning it into a hub hosted within the United Nations system, or merging it with another health entity. These options are laid out in an interim report that will be discussed by UNAIDS’ board this week…”

PS: “Among the options laid out in the report is transitioning the UNAIDS secretariat into a small hub or partnership, hosted within the U.N. system, that would provide a centralized space where donors could contribute to the U.N. global HIV response. Potential hosts that emerged include UNOPS, the World Health Organization, the U.N. Development Programme, and the Office of the U.N. Secretary-General. Another option is merging UNAIDS with an existing health partnership, such as the Stop TB Partnership and RBM Partnership to End Malaria — formerly Roll Back Malaria — although the working group said this option is still “in an early phase” as they have not yet discussed it with these entities….”

“For country-level coordination of the HIV response, one option is placing HIV advisers within U.N. resident coordinator offices. UNAIDS has already piloted this approach in five countries, but the results showed it was hampered by limited resources and a lack of technical, administrative and policy support from the secretariat.”

“The working group said preserving the secretariat’s core functions — including political leadership, advocacy, coordination, data analysis, and support for communities living with and affected by HIV — should remain a priority. At the same time, it is exploring whether some responsibilities could be transferred to the U.N. agencies that cosponsor the program, while also assessing donors’ willingness to fund separate U.N. entities….” “It also wants to preserve the role of civil society, communities and people living with HIV in the governance of any future model, which it has identified as “non-negotiable.”…”

Devex – Exclusive: Turf battle stalls UN merger mania

https://www.devex.com/news/exclusive-turf-battle-stalls-un-merger-mania-112822

(26 June) “U.N.’s development chiefs are clashing in struggle over the fate of UNOPS and UNDP amidst a funding retreat by donors.”

“In April, the United Nations top brass met behind closed doors at the world body’s Manhattan headquarters to take the pulse of one of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres’ most ambitious development reform initiatives: the merger of the U.N.’s two development agencies, the U.N. Development Programme, UNDP, and UNOPS. It didn’t go well, according to an account of the meeting shared with Devex. The heads of the two agencies turned up with vastly different visions for what a single organization should look like.”

“The standoff at U.N. headquarters underscored the challenges Guterres is facing in trying to drive through an ambitious proposal to merge UNDP, UNOPS, and two entities — the U.N. Population Fund and UN Women — in the face of rising skepticism and outright resistance from civil society, diplomats, and the leaders of some of the affected agencies. It has also fed doubts among U.N.-based officials and diplomats that Guterres’ consolidation efforts will succeed, particularly at a time when his authority lessens as he enters his final months in office….”

PS: “The competition between De Croo (UNDP) and da Silva (UNOPS), meanwhile, has spilled into public view, with the two development leaders making their conflicting cases directly to U.N. governments at a public June 8 meeting of the executive board that oversees the activities of UNDP, UNOPS, and the U.N. Population Fund, or UNFPA….”

Devex – UNFPA and UN Women propose alternatives to a merger

https://www.devex.com/news/unfpa-and-un-women-propose-alternatives-to-a-merger-112846

(gated) “The document, seen by Devex, proposes several areas for coordination and collaboration between the two agencies. But without changing their mandates or creating a new structure.”

“Faced with a potential merger, UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, have identified areas to better align, collaborate, and potentially save costs as an alternative to being consolidated into one entity. A document, seen by Devex, listed how the two entities can jointly work together at the country level, address gender-based violence, collaborate on data and data systems, and share services and resources — all without affecting their mandates or creating a new structure. …”

UN Foundation – Ebola and the New Politics of Global Health Cooperation

M Moss; UN Foundation;

“As outbreaks of Ebola and Andes hantavirus make headlines, governments are engaged in a consequential debate about the future of global health cooperation.”

“These outbreaks also arrive at a moment when governments are engaged in a consequential debate about the future of global health cooperation. At the 79th World Health Assembly, Member States agreed to extend negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system and launched a new process to examine reforms to the global health architecture (GHA). At first glance, these discussions appear distinct. One focuses on pathogen samples, genetic sequence data, and access to medical countermeasures; the other, on institutions, governance, and coordination. Yet both are grappling with the same fundamental question: What should international health cooperation look like in an increasingly multipolar world?”

“The Ebola outbreak offers a useful lens to consider this question. … … As the Ebola outbreak in Congo has expanded, it has exemplified the central themes countries are debating in Geneva. Governments increasingly want stronger national ownership of health systems and stronger regional capacity to prevent and respond to emergencies. However, outbreaks of this magnitude still require international coordination, technical expertise, financing, and surge support. The debate about how this cooperation should be organized –– the distribution of responsibilities, resources, and benefits –– sits at the heart of both the PABS and GHA discussions.”

“Much of the public conversation surrounding these efforts has focused on governance arrangements, financing mechanisms, legal frameworks, and implementation timelines. Beneath this technical language lies a broader discussion about sovereignty and interdependence.”

“… The new emphasis on local and regional ownership as the organizing principle of global health is also shaping conversations about the role of international institutions. Member States still regard the World Health Organization (WHO) as the world’s leading source of technical guidance, normative standards, and political convening. Some countries, however, would like to see WHO move away from the operational role it has gradually taken on over the past decade, preferring to strengthen regional and national actors so they can lead on implementation and operational delivery. The Ebola response illustrates the complexity of this transition. In resource-constrained settings, the distinction between normative and operational functions can become blurred. Outbreaks test assumptions about how international organizations can support regions and countries without displacing national ownership…..”

“…. Ultimately, the central question underpinning both debates becomes: How can countries exercise greater agency and self-reliance while still accessing the external resources, technology, and investment needed to strengthen health systems and response capacities?…”

“… Taken together, these themes suggest that the debates unfolding in Geneva are about much more than the mechanics of global health cooperation. The ambitions expressed in the PABS negotiations and GHA deliberations extend well beyond the health sector, requiring coherence in trade policy, intellectual property, technology transfer, and long-term financing. These are not challenges that health ministries can solve alone in months or years. They are long-term political projects measured in decades…”

German South-North Commission seeks strong partnerships for a multipolar world

R A Radovan, O Scholz et al ; https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/2026/06/30/german-commission-seeks-strong-partnerships-for-a-multipolar-world/

“The German government is launching a new South-North Commission on Development at today’s Hamburg Sustainability Conference (HSC). Bringing together voices from the Global South and the Global North, the commission aims to contribute to a more co-operative and inclusive international order….”

The “… new South-North Commission … builds on the legacy of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues – better known as the North-South or the Brandt Commission – which ran from 1977 to 1980 under the chairmanship of former German chancellor Willy Brandt.

It spelt out a principle that remains strikingly relevant today: “The challenge for the next decades will not be met by an adversary system of winners and losers – North versus South or East versus West – but only by one founded on human solidarity and international co-operation among all.””

“The new South-North Commission draws inspiration from this historic legacy, with its focus firmly on the future. It seeks to foster a new dialogue on the defining structural questions of our time: what could a genuinely co-operative and effective international order for the 21st century look like? What framework can succeed the Sustainable Development Goals? And how must our institutions and partnerships evolve to turn these ambitions into reality? Answering these questions requires an integrated approach that brings together issues too often treated in isolation – from development finance and climate action to trade, conflict prevention and resilience.”

“… Up to 20 commissioners from various sectors will work together to develop a set of recommendations, culminating in a report to be presented by the end of 2028. These proposals will feed into ongoing international reform efforts – from the UN and the multilateral development banks to the international financial architecture – and will help to shape the post-2030 agenda….”

(gated) “With donor governments pulling back on aid, Germany is betting that a commission gathering countries from the global north and south can help reset the terms of global cooperation.”

“… former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the other co-chair of the new commission, argued that today’s geopolitical and economic realities require a fundamentally different approach, pointing to the rising economic and political weight of emerging economies. “The global south is much more powerful than at that time,” he said, noting the shift in global growth dynamics and the strategic importance of critical minerals such as lithium, copper, and cobalt. “It is something we have to understand in a different way.””

“Details of the commission’s membership and budget remain unclear, however. The co-chairs said commissioners will be drawn largely from the global south, including major economies such as India, Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa, though names have not yet been announced. While members will serve pro bono, funding will be required for meetings and a secretariat. The commission has said funding will come from the German development ministry, but Scholz would not provide a budget amount. …”

“Several attendees told Jesse that they are worried about whether this has support from the center-right — and leading — party of the German government, considering that only center-left figures are part of the commission so far. Scholz denied any trouble within the government, however. “This is a commission that is supported by the whole government of Germany,” he told Jesse. “It is an activity that is not partisan.”…”

Lancet Planetary Health – Wellbeing for people and the planet: how to value everyone and everything on a thriving planet beyond 2030

Kate E Pickett et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(26)00048-3/fulltext

“Synthesising evidence across disciplines, we argue that human beings are evolutionarily wired for cooperation and relational wellbeing, and not perpetual consumption and status competition. This argument underpins a post-2030 shift in a global development paradigm that places multidimensional wellbeing, of people and the planet, at its core. We outline three mutually reinforcing systemic shifts: deliberative democracy that gives communities real power to shape collective futures; economic democracy that redirects finance, enterprise design, and fiscal policy towards equitable, regenerative outcomes; and transformed land and resource governance that recognises ecological limits and the rights of nature. By aligning institutions with the cooperative nature of humans and the Earth’s regenerative capacity, societies can achieve flourishing lives for all within planetary boundaries, offering a scientifically grounded agenda for the decades beyond 2030.”

More on Global Health Governance & Financing/Funding

HPW – EXCLUSIVE: Three Candidates Vying for Global Fund Leadership in Contentious Race

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/candidates-global-fund-leadership/

“As the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria heads into a secretive but highly contentious election of a new Executive Director, the names of three candidates who are reportedly on the shortlist, all US citizens, have surfaced. They include former Global Fund Executive Director Mark Dybul, former Trump appointee William Steiger and a former NYC public health official, Ashwin Vasan. “ A few excerpts:

“…Whoever emerges victorious from the current election must immediately confront a $5.36 billion funding gap for the next three-year cycle. And separate from the details of who may be nominated, some voices are calling for greater transparency in the process of finding a new leader for an agency that drives a massive pooled procurement mechanism supporting market-shaping pharma contracts for drugs and other supplies required by the world’s poorest nations….”

“… Meeting behind closed doors, the Global Fund’s Executive Director Nomination Committee (EDNC) convened in the first week of June 2026 to evaluate the long-list of candidates for the top post and create an initial short list. Those candidates will be interviewed in a first-round of interviews in July, followed by a second round in September, when the “short-list” is to be narrowed to four-five candidates, according to an official Global Fund timeline. A final appointment decision, is scheduled for the Board meeting of 28-30 October.”

“… The ED Nomination Committee operates under a highly restrictive framework, assisted by the executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates. The Global Fund declined to comment on the candidates, how many are on the present shortlist, or other aspects of the process, pointing to its strict confidentiality….”

“So far, all the top contenders mentioned by sources familiar with the proceedings are also US citizens, and at least two of those reportedly have US government backing. Considering the importance of the US as a donor, and the Trump administration’s clear linkage between funding and political influence, support from Washington may very well turn out to be one of the most important factors in the final selection…. … At the same time, the US administration is increasingly bypassing the multilateral system, and allocating its own global health aid budget largely on the basis of bilateral agreements – with over 30 signed so far. That could put any new Global Fund leader in the uncomfortable position of steering between the Global Fund’s multilateral mission and US priorities, as well as drug procurement preferences, in the coming years.”

PS: “As these high-profile names from the United States emerge, European member states that are also among the Global Fund’s largest donors are struggling to maintain their traditional influence in the agency’s orbit. The ED Nominating Committee reportedly removed the only applicant endorsed by the German government from the shortlist during its early June meeting. The dismissal of the German-endorsed contender emerged as a source of intense frustration in Berlin, sources familiar with the process told Health Policy Watch. …”

Gavi Board meeting underlines commitment to country sovereignty, fragility and health security

https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/gavi-board-meeting-underlines-commitment-country-sovereignty-fragility-health-security

“Board agrees to maintain ambitious targets for Gavi 6.0, including reaching 500 million children, preventing 8–9 million deaths and further reducing under-five mortality by 10%. Programmatic decisions underline commitment to country leadership and support for fragile and humanitarian contexts . Additional US$ 189 million in support approved for sustainable African vaccine manufacturing, enhancing supply resilience and health security. Decisions include innovations that will help Gavi, countries and health workers deliver on 6.0 targets – such as digital payments for vaccination campaigns and flexible liquidity through the European Investment Bank Frontloading Facility.”

“… The Board also approved a package of measures to boost Gavi’s African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA)….”

“… The Board confirmed enhanced support for sustainable African vaccine manufacturing, approving the use of an additional US$ 189 million – beyond the US$ 1 billion dedicated to Gavi’s African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) – to strengthen demand for African-made vaccines and support critical ecosystem strengthening activities. The majority of this financing – US$ 139 million – will be dedicated to buying African-made vaccines, which will simultaneously supplement Gavi’s vaccine procurement budget. An additional US$ 50 million in targeted financing will support three partners – the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), African Medicines Agency (AMA) and WHO – who will work together to address barriers to the accelerated development of a vaccine manufacturing ecosystem on the continent….”

WSJ – Warren Buffett Skips Midyear Donation to Gates Foundation as He Awaits Epstein Review

WSJ;

“Billionaire expected to delay decision on his ‘lifetime’ pledge to see results of Gates Foundation’s review.”

“For the first time in two decades, Warren Buffett is skipping his usual midyear donation to the Gates Foundation so the famed investor can wait to see the findings of a review into the foundation’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, according to people familiar with Buffett’s plans. Buffett, 95 years old, is delaying his decision until later in the year, possibly until when he puts out his Thanksgiving letter, the people said…

PS: “The Gates Foundation has retained law firm WilmerHale to review its ties to the late sex offender, and its findings are expected this summer…”

Geneva Health Files – “Recipients Reluctant To Bite The Hand That Feeds Them”: Tim Schwab on the Gates-Epstein Saga & What It Means for Global Health

Geneva Health Files;

“Interview with American journalist Tim Schwab, where he addresses the imperative to discuss philanthropist billionaire Bill Gates, and the fall out on global health as a result of Gates’ documented association with – financier and convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. We believe this interview not only sheds light on the precariousness of global health financing as shaped by select donors such as Gates, and more importantly, on the grave violations of rights of women and girls victimized in the Epstein power play.”

PS: “… Schwab thinks Gates’ political capital is waning…..” “ …“So, on the global stage we’re seeing his political capital taking a huge hit. This, again, has consequences on global health—because so much of what the Gates Foundation does is trying to politically influence public health policies at the government level…..”

PS: “… I get that for folks working in global health it is difficult to say ‘no’ to the Gates Foundation’s money. But I wish more of the field was really being honest about the problems with saying ‘yes.’ Asking the global poor to depend on billionaires to access public health is not just a bad model in theory, but a terribly fragile model in practice. We never should have allowed a single man to have the level of influence Gates has…. …… The Epstein scandal—and the many other scandals the foundation has been involved in over the years—raise very important questions about what, if any, role the Gates Foundation, or any billionaire-led philanthropy, should have in public health. … …. Billionaires are flawed and fickle—and they are mortal. Over time they will die or fall into disgrace or change their mind. If you make your organization, or your entire field, dependent on a billionaire, you’re building an extremely vulnerable and totally unsustainable model. The ultimate harms, of course, flow to the poorest people on Earth. …”

The Bundibugyo Outbreak Is a Warning: Africa Remains Underprepared

L Engelbert Bain; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bundibugyo-outbreak-warning-africa-remains-luchuo-engelbert-bain-xzmnf/

“I have argued elsewhere that Africa CDC at this stage of its existence and mandate cannot deliver beyond its means: funding, expertise, mandate clarification, and state of maturity. Indeed, because of the hope that the continent has in it, it should be well funded – inside – out, and held accountable to deliver. https://luchuoengelbertbain.com/fund-africa-cdc-from-within-and-hold-it-accountable-a-call-from-a-firm-believer-in-its-promise/ In all honestly, are African Union States doing enough to fund Africa CDC. The answer is no. No sovereignty agenda without getting serious….”

J Ratevosian – Does the UN Political Declaration on HIV/ AIDS Even Matter Anymore?

https://ratevosian.substack.com/p/does-the-un-political-declaration

Great analysis of last week’s UN Political declaration (and everything around it).

“It’s complicated. And what disappointed me most had nothing to do with the Declaration.”

Excerpt: “… What a Political Declaration Is — and Isn’t: The 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS helped unlock the political will and financing that built PEPFAR and the Global Fund. The 2011 and 2016 declarations produced the 90-90-90 and 95-95-95 targets that still organize the global response today. Political declarations have mattered. But they have mattered because of what came after them . They worked when a declaration unlocked new dollars, when it moved a government to act, when it gave advocates a hook to hold power accountable. So the real question is not whether governments can still negotiate language. It is whether the global health machinery behind the AIDS response, the financing, implementation, diplomacy, and accountability system that turns declarations into action, still functions….”….

But there’ s a lot more in this (recommended) analysis.

“… The following highlights the key aspects of the 2026 UN Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS…”

Devex Check-up – Peter Sands tells us what he really thinks about cofinancing requirements: ‘A world of magical thinking’

https://www.devex.com/news/devex-checkup-how-would-the-us-get-back-into-who-if-it-wants-to-112818

“There’s a growing narrative in global health that countries should mobilize more domestic resources as official development assistance declines. But The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Executive Director Peter Sands cautions that many countries simply aren’t in a position to make that transition.”

“His example? South Sudan. “I’m like: ‘What planet?’ I mean … there is no money,” he said during a session last week at Novo Nordisk Foundation’s event in Denmark. Instead, he said, the poorest countries end up using World Bank financing to “pretend” they’re meeting domestic cofinancing requirements — something he says is “not helping anybody at all.” Transition discussions, he argued, also need to grapple with governance challenges, corruption, and weak program implementation. “Unless we sort of are honest about where these are problems, and then deal with them, we are in a world of magical thinking,” he said.”

“Whether Sands is digging at anyone in particular is unclear. But the reality is the Global Fund requires cofinancing from grant recipients, although it offers partial or full waivers in some circumstances. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance also requires cofinancing, with contributions based on countries’ ability to pay. The U.S. government, under its new bilateral health agreements, also now requires cofinancing from countries — including South Sudan, which plans to coinvest nearly $20 million of its resources as the U.S. invests more than $146 million in its health sector over three years….”

Devex Invested: World Bank board makes big decisions

https://www.devex.com/news/devex-invested-world-bank-board-makes-big-decisions-112831

“The board rejects the IFC accountability mechanism’s findings and drops a climate finance target. “

“After months of negotiations, speculation and political pressure, the World Bank’s climate saga has finally reached its next chapter. The bank’s Climate Change Action Plan, or CCAP, including its 45% climate finance target, was due to expire today as the United States pushed hard for the institution to roll back parts of its climate agenda. “

“We now know the outcome. The 45% target is a thing of the past. CCAP, however, will be extended indefinitely. In a statement, the World Bank said it is retiring the 45% climate “co-benefits target,” arguing that the move is in line with its broader shift toward measuring outcomes rather than inputs….”

PS: Related: Climate Change News – World Bank’s climate work can endure without finance target, experts say

“Even though the global lender has ditched a headline goal for its financing with climate benefits, it has decided to continue its climate action plan in the face of US pressure.”

Guardian – Nigel Farage’s anti-WHO campaign moves to US with allies added to board

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jun/27/nigel-farage-action-on-world-health-campaign-who-us-board

“Relocation of Action on World Health raises questions over why Reform UK leader is involved in a US pressure group.”

“Nigel Farage’s campaign against the World Health Organization (WHO) is moving to the US with a new board of lobbyists, raising questions over why the Reform UK leader is involved in an American pressure group. … The Action on World Health campaign, co-founded by Farage, is relocating to the US state of Delaware as a charitable foundation and grassroots non-profit….”

“… Farage is the honorary chair of Action on World Health, which is pushing for the replacement of the WHO, an organisation it claims is too close to China, “compromised by private funding” and “far left”…..”

PS: “In 2024, the Guardian revealed Action on World Health had links to the nicotine industry….”

Devex Opinion – Africa must negotiate with China — not just adopt its governance rulebook

Al Kags; https://www.devex.com/news/africa-must-negotiate-with-china-not-just-adopt-its-governance-rulebook-112787

“Beijing’s governance vision echoes many African priorities. But accepting China’s language without defining Africa’s own risks repeating mistakes made with Western-led development frameworks.”

“This month, China released a white paper outlining President Xi Jinping’s vision for global governance. From the perspective of Addis Ababa, Abuja, or Nairobi, much of the paper’s content reflects Africa’s long-standing demands: sovereign equality, a more representative United Nations Security Council, reform of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and a reinvigorated focus on development. As Western aid declines, there may be a temptation to accept this initiative. However, Africa should not simply embrace it. The appropriate approach is to negotiate the terms, not to join unconditionally….”

RANI / ODI Global – EU Official Development Assistance delivers for both donors and partners

https://rani.co/eu-official-development-assistance-delivers-for-both-donors-and-partners/

“A new briefing published today by ODI Global and rani (Resilience Action Network International) highlights the dual economic and development value of EU Official Development Assistance (ODA), demonstrating clear benefits for both partner countries and the EU economy.”

“The analysis finds that for every €1 invested in EU development assistance, approximately €1 in exports is generated. In addition, around 60% of this spending is estimated to flow back into the EU economy through increased GDP. The briefing comes at a critical moment, as Ireland assumes the EU Presidency and negotiations intensify on the next EU long-term budget (the Multiannual Financial Framework or ‘MFF’). The briefing shows that, at the European Commission’s proposed €200 billion allocation for the Global Europe Instrument (2028–2034), investment could increase EU GDP by 0.10% annually, or €115.5 billion over seven years. This underlines that development funding supports poverty reduction and stability in partner countries while also strengthening EU competitiveness, resilience, and economic growth. …”

The Global Health Paradox – The Language of Power

Habib Benzian ; on Substack;

“Global health speaks many languages. It still thinks in one.”

“Institutions like the United Nations and the World Health Organization operate with six official languages, and that matters in ways that are often underestimated. It signals balance, respect, a commitment to a plural world. Yet it coexists with a different layer of reality in which ideas are produced, shaped, and stabilized in English before they are ever translated into something else, a dynamic that has been examined in recent analyses of language and power in global health. By the time a document circulates in multiple languages, its logic is already set. …. Multilingualism governs what is visible, but English governs what is made….”

“… The language in which ideas are made is not the same as the languages in which they are distributed. … … The issue is not that global health lacks multilingual policies or that it has failed to implement them. It is that these policies operate at a different level from the processes that shape decisions. Multilingualism ensures access and signals fairness, and those are not trivial achievements. But they do not fully address how ideas are generated, contested, and fixed.

English structures the workflow. It shapes the speed of interaction, the sequencing of arguments, and the ability to define problems early in the process. The system does not need to exclude anyone explicitly. It only needs to reward certain forms of expression consistently enough that they become the default pathway to influence.”

Benzian concludes: “Global health has changed who is present more than it has changed how thinking is structured. It has diversified participation and made that diversity visible, while leaving largely intact the linguistic framework through which ideas are formed. This essay was written in English. So is almost everything that circulates in the world it describes. That is not irony. It is the point.”

D Clarke – The Integrity Dividend: Why Anti-Corruption Became a Financing Strategy

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/integrity-dividend-why-anti-corruption-became-financing-david-clarke-nsdqe/

“… In an era of contracting resources, money lost to corruption is no longer a moral abstraction. It is a recoverable financing source. Costing that loss is not an accounting exercise for its own sake. It is the construction of the business case for reform. Every figure attached to leakage is also a figure attached to what better governance would return. Call it the integrity dividend….”

More on the impact of aid cuts & journey towards health sovereignty

IMF Country Focus – Aid Is Falling Fast. What Can African Countries Do?

C Aoyagi et al ; https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2026/06/22/aid-is-falling-fast-what-can-african-countries-do

« Cuts are deep, broad, and driven by donors—leaving policymakers with few easy options. »

« … Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest aid dependency globally in 2024. On average, aid accounted for 3 percent of GDP at the regional level. But that average hid sharp differences. In low-income countries and fragile states, aid often reached the equivalent of 6 percent of GDP or more, and in some cases far higher….”

« Over half of that aid was used to finance essential services such as health, education, and humanitarian assistance. And because development partners and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often deliver services directly to people in need, aid cuts can also curtail the very systems that people rely on…”

« … IMF-administered surveys covering 28 African countries suggest four broad policy responses: (1) Some governments are not replacing lost aid, allowing programs to lapse. This limits immediate fiscal strain but carries high social costs. (2) Many are reprioritizing spending, often cutting public investment—easier politically, but damaging to future growth. (3) Others are borrowing more, including domestically, increasing debt risks. (4) Some are stepping up revenue mobilization, though results take time.

Each option comes with trade-offs….”

Devex – Can South Africa survive a post-PEPFAR future?

https://www.devex.com/news/can-south-africa-survive-a-post-pepfar-future-112820

“As the United States prepares to withdraw HIV funding from South Africa, experts warn that the country’s response could fall backward.”

PS: “In South Africa, where more than eight million people live with HIV, the government finances the bulk of the response to the disease. This includes paying for most lifesaving anti-retroviral medication for the nearly 6.2 million people on treatment. Washington had funded just under 20% of South Africa’s response until 2025, helping the country fill key gaps in services. These included clinical and outreach services for marginalized communities and programs to provide preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, and other prevention options….”

“… Observers said the government has struggled to sustain all of the U.S.-funded services. ..”

PS: “In addition to the gaps it has introduced in prevention and treatment services, the PEFPAR cuts also threaten South Africa’s robust HIV research network, including ongoing investigations into novel HIV prevention methods, such as vaccines, that the U.S. program was supporting. Research efforts have been further undermined by reduced support from the U.S. National Institutes of Health for research in South Africa and by cuts to PEPFAR-supported data systems that were crucial “to understanding what was working for modeling,” Bekker said. “When the data goes away, it has an impact on the research writ large.””

“These cuts have global implications, since research conducted in South Africa offers global benefits. South Africa was one of only two African countries that hosted clinical trials for lenacapavir, the long-acting injectable form of PrEP that is now being rolled out around the world. “It was bidirectional,” Bekker said. “That now is crumbling. That is going to leave another huge gap.”…”

· Related: TGH – United States Pulls Funding for South Africa, Threatening HIV Defenses (By Emily Bass et al)

“Abruptly ending all U.S. foreign aid for health to South Africa will deepen care disruptions and could lead to a surge in new HIV infections.”

· And see a Lancet World Report for more detail – USA to phase out PEPFAR support in South Africa

Lancet GH – Sustaining progress in HIV care in Africa with a transition to enabled self-care: a modelling study

A Phillips et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00088-4/fulltext

« The funding crisis for HIV services in east, central, southern, and west Africa means that innovative strategies for continuing prevention and care for HIV are needed. One such strategy is enabled self-care: the provision of free HIV self-tests, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), tenofovir–lamivudine–dolutegravir for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), and antiretroviral therapy (ART) provided in local pharmacies and by community-based health workers. We modelled the introduction of a policy of transition to enabled self-care compared with continuation of current service provision.”

Interpretation of the findings: “Introduction of community access to self-tests and antiretroviral drugs through a transition to enabled self-care is very likely to be cost-effective in most settings in east, central, southern, and west Africa; enable incidence declines to be sustained at reduced cost; and increase equity of access to HIV services. Policy makers who wish to consider such a policy will need to evaluate its feasibility in their own country settings.”

“As global HIV programmes confront a period of fiscal constraint, the modelling analysis by Andrew Phillips and colleagues offers a timely and policy-relevant proposition: that a transition to enabled self-care could sustain, and potentially accelerate, progress towards HIV epidemic control in sub-Saharan Africa. At stake is not only the trajectory of HIV incidence and mortality but also the future architecture of HIV service delivery….”

PS: “… Enabled self-care should be viewed as a complement to, rather than a replacement for, existing health services. Hybrid models that integrate self-care with facility-based care, particularly for individuals requiring clinical monitoring, management of advanced disease, or tailored prevention interventions, are likely to offer the greatest benefit. Maintaining core system functions, including viral load monitoring and linkage to care, will remain essential to long-term epidemic control….”

Concluding: “… Enabled self-care offers a pathway to reimagine HIV programmes as more resilient, accessible, and person-centred systems, capable of sustaining progress even as external funding declines. The challenge now is that of translation, ie, moving from modelling to policy and from policy to practice. With thoughtful implementation, strong community engagement, and continued investment in health systems, enabled self-care could mark a pivotal shift in the global HIV response, one that aligns efficiency with equity and innovation with sustainability.”

Global Tax Justice

Extreme Wealth Line Project – two foundational papers

Via Ingrid Robeyns (LinkedIn):

“The Extreme Wealth Line project is a transdisciplinary initiative aiming at the introduction of an extreme wealth line (EWL), just like we have an extreme poverty line. https://lnkd.in/dp_HHdcM.
The project has now published its two foundational papers, as LSE-III working papers #171 and #172: https://lnkd.in/es43DbQ8…”

LSE Working paper 171 – Foundations for a harm-based extreme wealth line

LSE Working paper 172 – The bottom line and the top line: insights from poverty measurement for developing an extreme wealth line

Guardian – Number of billionaires globally soars by 13% amid AI shares boom

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/jun/30/number-of-billionaires-world-ai-wealth-ubs

“Billionaires’ wealth grew by 25% on average in the year ended in April, research from Swiss bank UBS finds.”

PS: “James Mazeau, an economist at the bank, said billionaires had benefited from the AI boom in the stock market….”

UHC & PHC

BMJ Editorial – Dangers of finance capital in healthcare

David McCoy et al; https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-210213

“Proponents of finance capital overstate the benefits for universal health coverage.”

“With governments across the world lacking the hundreds of billions of dollars needed annually to achieve basic universal health coverage, development agencies have been calling for the greater use of finance capital: capital that expects a financial return on investment. Turning to entities such as commercial banks, venture capitalists, wealth funds, and private equity firms to expand access to healthcare in low and middle income countries marks a radical shift in development policy by bringing a form of finance designed to extract profits into the heart of the public mission to achieve universal health coverage….”

Listing three dangers.

“First, the demand from private investors for profitable returns can result in harmful behaviours such as cutting back on the quality or safety of healthcare, raising prices for the payers of healthcare, worsening the terms and conditions of health workers, and denying lifesaving access to emergency care….. Second, mobilising finance capital to plug public financing gaps may be costly. Getting financial players to invest in expanding universal health coverage, especially in poorer countries, typically requires governments and development financing institutions to reduce their financial risk by, for example, offering subsidies, tax breaks, or minimum revenue guarantees. Furthermore, although a fair distribution of risks and benefits across public and private investors is theoretically possible, there are many examples of arrangements tilted in favour of private invest … A third danger is the potential negative health systems impacts of “assetisation.” This is the process by which profitable or potentially profitable elements of the health system are carved out as “assets” for investors, while unprofitable services or patients are left to the public and non-profit sector….”

Trump 2.0 & US Global Health strategy & bilateral health agreements

Devex – State Department’s foreign aid chief heads to the White House

https://www.devex.com/news/state-department-s-foreign-aid-chief-heads-to-the-white-house-112830

“Jeremy Lewin has led the State Department’s foreign aid bureau for the last year. He’s now headed to the National Security Council, where he will help lead Western Hemisphere affairs.”

“… Lewin had no government experience before entering USAID, and days after doing so, he officially told the agency’s staff that they would be fired by either July 1 or Sept. 2 of that year. By mid-April, Lewin was transferred from USAID to the State Department, where he took the reins of a foreign assistance bureau just beginning to rebuild itself. Ever since, he has been at the center of the Trump administration’s efforts to rebuild the U.S. foreign assistance system, promoting private sector investment, securing American economic and security interests, and directing an increasing share of giving to faith-based organizations….”

“…. in recent weeks, the State Department has shifted gears, writing multibillion-dollar checks called “macro awards” to large U.N. agencies, including the World Food Programme and UNICEF. At the same time, Lewin coordinated the launch of bilateral health agreements with more than 30 governments worth more than $20 billion in U.S. and partner country coinvestment funding….”

Devex – Immigration hardliner takes over US foreign aid

https://www.devex.com/news/immigration-hardliner-takes-over-us-foreign-aid-112852

“Andrew Veprek, who has pushed immigration and refugee restrictions at the State Department, is expected to take over foreign aid programs when Jeremy Lewin transitions to the White House.”

PS: “… Veprek is a close associate of Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and an architect of the administration’s immigration and refugee agenda. At the State Department, Veprek has pushed to reengineer the U.S. government’s refugee and humanitarian assistance tools into a system for restricting immigration and removing refugees from the United States….”

Devex Pro – USAID’s $19B closeout plan held up on Capitol Hill amid scrutiny

https://www.devex.com/news/usaid-s-19b-closeout-plan-held-up-on-capitol-hill-amid-scrutiny-112833

“Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is renewing her hold on the agency’s plan to spend up to $19 billion winding down foreign assistance programs.”

“USAID’s $19 billion closeout plans are being held up on Capitol Hill as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat in the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, restated her hold on the funds last week.

“The Administration’s plan to use upwards of $19 billion of previously appropriated funds is an extraordinary use of taxpayer dollars,” Shaheen wrote in a letter to Jeremy Lewin, the State Department’s foreign assistance chief, and Eric Ueland, the acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. “Using billions of dollars to shut down U.S. foreign assistance programs — rather than to carry out the international development, health, security or economic work for which these funds were intended — demands the utmost scrutiny by Congress,” she continued.”

US State department – Implementing the Trump Administration’s America First Global Health Strategy in South Sudan

https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/06/implementing-the-trump-administrations-america-first-global-health-strategy-in-south-sudan/

(June 27) “On June 25, the United States and South Sudan’s Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) signed a three-year bilateral health cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) through the Trump Administration’s America First Global Health Strategy, advancing our global fight against infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS and other emerging health threats. … Working with Congress, the Department of State intends to provide more than $146 million to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in South Sudan. The RTGoNU in South Sudan will invest nearly $20 million in South Sudanese health systems…..”

PS: “America First Global Health Strategy Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) signed so far represent more than $20.8 billion in new health funding, including more than $12.9 billion in U.S. assistance alongside more than $7.8 billion in co-investment from recipient countries, building on decades of progress fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases around the world. As of June 27, the State Department has signed 33 bilateral global health MOUs with Angola, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tajikistan, and Uganda….”

US State Department – United States and Tanzania Advance Global Fight Against Infectious Diseases Through Bilateral Health Memorandum of Understanding

US State department

(1 July) “The United States, working with Congress, intends to provide more than $1.3 billion over five years under this MOU, and the United Republic of Tanzania intends to increase its domestic expenditures by $1.8 billion in national funds over the same time period….

PS: check out the updated KFF tracker (as of 1 July) on the bilateral health agreements.

Bloomberg – White House Adds Pandemic Response Staff as Ebola Cases Rise

Bloomberg;

“The Trump administration has brought on two new pandemic response officials at the White House as it faces multiple infectious disease threats. Sara Brenner is leading the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response, and Rachel Idowu is the director for bioresponse at the National Security Council. The administration’s effort to bolster staff on biosecurity comes as it responds to outbreaks including a deadly Ebola outbreak and a hantavirus threat.”

TGH – NIH Budget Cuts Threaten HIV Research

S Hannah & M Warren; https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/nih-budget-cuts-threaten-hiv-research

“AVAC leaders warn that the Trump administration’s proposed funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health could derail the vaccine needed to end HIV.”

“Despite the need for sustained investment in HIV science, the Trump administration continues to dismantle this powerful piece of public health infrastructure. The president’s fiscal year 2027 budget request proposes a $5 billion budget cut for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has historically funded nearly 80% of publicly funded vaccine research globally and is the single largest funder of HIV vaccine research worldwide…..”

“…The president’s current budget request includes a 28% cut to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and a nearly $600 million reduction to the Office of AIDS Research (OAR), which coordinates HIV research across the NIH. The accompanying Congressional Budget Justification (CBJ) issued by the NIH offers no explicit mention of HIV vaccine research and indicates a shift away from basic science and vaccine development. It also signals the potential for a dramatic shift of the NIH’s budget and priorities away from basic and clinical science toward implementation science, with an emphasis on how best to use existing tools, including LEN, to end the HIV epidemic in the United States and limit international research collaborations….”

PS: “HIV vaccine research today is in a new era focused on early-stage, iterative discovery approaches designed to induce broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) and T-cell responses. These strategies represent a scientifically sophisticated path forward and consensus on the intricate science needed to successfully develop a vaccine….”

Devex – Senate Democrats ask Trump to rejoin WHO amid Ebola outbreak

https://www.devex.com/news/senate-democrats-ask-trump-to-rejoin-who-amid-ebola-outbreak-112817

“The senators said WHO “remains the body best positioned to surveil the outbreak and stand up an effective international response.””

The bill doesn’t have much chance for the moment in a Republican controlled Congress.

PS: “ In a separate letter, the senators also urged Rubio to “support a blanket waiver” that would allow the State Department, the CDC, and other relevant U.S. agencies to work with WHO in response to the Ebola outbreak….” ““Without WHO coordination, the U.S. lacks key tools needed to help keep Americans safe from the outbreak,” they wrote.”

International Health – From global solidarity to strategic nationalism? The implications of ‘America First’ global health for low- and middle-income countries

Justin Onyebuchi Nwofe et al ; https://academic.oup.com/inthealth/advance-article/doi/10.1093/inthealth/ihag062/8713524

« … The 2025 America First Global Health Strategy does not introduce entirely new governance instruments but more explicitly prioritizes bilateral agreements, co-financing requirements, and performance-based partnerships within global health cooperation. This commentary examines how the strategy formalizes and intensifies existing dynamics of strategic bilateralism and analyses its implications for low- and middle-income countries. We argue that the significance of the strategy lies less in new governance mechanisms than in the scale, visibility, and political framing of existing ones. While this approach may strengthen domestic ownership and programme integration, it may also reshape bargaining dynamics, fiscal responsibilities, and coordination structures within global health systems. »

Polio

BMC Infectious Diseases – Polio transition in the African Region: progress, challenges and prospects for health systems integration

T Nomwanghe et al; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12879-026-13357-9

« The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has made substantial progress towards global eradication of polio. As regions, including Africa, approach the final stages of this goal, countries must ensure that essential polio functions are sustained and effectively integrated into national health systems. To support this transition, the World Health Organization(WHO), through its regional offices, has guided countries using the Polio Transition Global Vision and its Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. This paper reviews progress made in transition planning across 15 polio transition priority countries in the WHO African Region and anticipated challenges, opportunities, and prospects for integrating polio assets and essential functions into broader health systems. »

Results: “… Over the past decade, none of the 15 priority countries consistently achieved ≥ 90% routine polio containing vaccine coverage. Only Burkina Faso and Kenya have been closest to these coverage levels in the region. Timely shipment of polio samples remains a consistent challenge, particularly in countries where GPEI support has declined. The regional International Health Regulations(IHR) average capacity score remains suboptimal, averaging 51, below the global score over the last 10 years. These underscore weaknesses in epidemic preparedness and response capacities… »

« … Progress on polio transition in the African region remains limited, with gaps in immunization, emergency preparedness and financing, gaps made riskier by declining donor support…”

NCDs

WHO Afro – On the road to 2030: Health experts renew commitments to transform care for severe noncommunicable diseases in Africa

https://www.afro.who.int/countries/united-republic-of-tanzania/news/road-2030-health-experts-renew-commitments-transform-care-severe-noncommunicable-diseases-africa

“Health experts, policymakers, civil society organizations, development partners, and people living with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) from across Africa have renewed commitments to accelerate action against severe chronic diseases and strengthen access to quality care at all levels of the health system.”

“Meeting in Dar es Salaam from 23–25 June 2026 for the 3rd International Conference on PEN-Plus in Africa (ICPPA 2026), participants called for stronger political leadership, increased domestic investment, and expanded access to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term care for people living with severe NCDs, particularly childhood-onset conditions.”

“The renewed commitments come at a critical time. More than 100 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are living with severe chronic diseases such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatic and congenital heart disease, sickle cell disease, and cancer. Yet access to basic specialized care remains limited, with services largely concentrated in major urban centres, leaving millions of people in low-resource rural areas without access to proper diagnostics—much less the life-saving care they need—and facing even greater financial hardships in their search for both.”

“Against this backdrop, participants highlighted the importance of scaling up PEN-Plus, an innovative African-led model that brings advanced diagnostics and treatment closer to home for those millions by decentralizing care for severe NCDs to first-level referral hospitals and integrating clinical services available to people living with severe NCDs. Currently, twenty countries in the WHO African Region are either initiating or implementing PEN-Plus….”

The Lancet: Blood pressure and cholesterol levels in adults over 40 with obesity increasingly similar to adults with normal BMI, study suggests

Lancet – Metabolic traits in obesity and normal BMI in industrialised countries: a multi-country analysis of national population-based studies

Cfr the press release:

“In several high-income countries including England and the USA, adults over 40 years old with obesity now have blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels approaching, or healthier than, people with a normal BMI, a significant shift from 30 years ago.
This trend coincides with a greater rise in cholesterol-lowering medication (such as statins) and blood pressure medication use among adults over 40 with obesity compared to those with a normal BMI, pointing to medication as a likely driver of the blood pressure and cholesterol level convergence.
For adults under 40 years old, the study found little change in the gap between blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol levels in people with obesity and those with normal BMI, likely because young adults rarely receive cholesterol or blood pressure medication regardless of their BMI.”
Authors say these findings suggest the cardiovascular risks associated with obesity in some countries have been reduced in older adults, however they highlight other risks associated with obesity remain, including diabetes, kidney and liver diseases, and cancers.

PS: Coverage via Stat – Statins and blood pressure drugs changing health risks of obesity, study suggests

Planetary Health (& Climate/health)

Carbon Brief – Q&A: What change of power in Colombia could mean for world’s fossil-fuel transition

https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-what-change-of-power-in-colombia-could-mean-for-worlds-fossil-fuel-transition/

“Over the last four years, Colombia has emerged as one of the most vocal advocates for the world to transition away from fossil fuels. Under the leadership of leftist politician and economist Gustavo Petro, it became the first major oil-and-gas producer to commit to halting all new fossil-fuel expansion. In April, the nation hosted a first-of-its-kind meeting of countries on transitioning away from fossil fuels, alongside the Netherlands, in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta. The meeting concluded with a promise for a new “Santa Marta process” spearheaded by Colombia and the Netherlands, a movement of countries that would continue to push for a transition away from fossil fuels at home – and at international climate talks.”

“But on 21 June, an ally of Petro suffered defeat in a presidential election runoff against Abelardo de la Espriella, a hard-right populist and favourite of US president Donald Trump, who has pledged to boost oil production and pursue “fracking to the max”.”

“Below, Carbon Brief examines what the loss could mean for Colombia’s stance on fossil fuels, as well as international efforts to transition away from coal, oil and gas, including at the COP31 climate summit in Turkey in November….”

HPW – The Climate-Health Crisis Needs Money, Not More Declarations

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/the-climate-health-crisis-needs-money/

Coverage & analysis of the G7 meeting in Paris last week.

“On the day France recorded its hottest temperature on record, a coalition of health ministers, officials and advocates huddled in a sweaty, half-full auditorium in Paris to take stock of a campaign they have spent a decade waging: the fight to put human health at the centre of the world’s response to climate change. The meeting was a high-level gathering of the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH), the WHO-hosted network of 106 countries launched at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021. …”

“Convened under France’s G7 presidency, the summit’s task was to look ahead to COP31 in Antalya in Türkiye in November, to gauge what fights the health community should place at the top of its agenda. …. … While part of the meeting carried the air of a victory lap, it was also a reckoning with the one thing recognition has not delivered: money. “Finance is the weakest one, and I think this is a key point for this meeting,” said Elena Villalobos Prats, the WHO official who built much of ATACH’s architecture…..”

““It’s not just a plea for external support to come to countries,” Prats added. “It’s really about making sure that ministries of health, that now understand what the problem is, have the capacity and the resources to do something about it.”

“…The health community has hailed each declaration and framework as a breakthrough. Yet none is binding, all are voluntary, and none sits inside the formal UN negotiations where targets are set, international legal obligations are made, and money is committed. And the money required is astronomical. The World Bank estimates climate change could cause up to 15.6 million additional deaths between 2026 and 2050 and inflict $8.6 trillion to $15.4 trillion in health costs by mid-century. WHO calls it “the greatest single risk to humanity.”…”

“Twelve of 20 climate-health indicators are now at catastrophic levels, including a sharp rise in heat-related deaths globally….”

“…ATACH currently counts 106 member countries, more than half the nations that turn up to the climate talks, but membership demands little and delivers less.”

“… Türkiye, which holds the COP31 presidency, used the meeting to lay out what it wants from Antalya. Rather than a departure from the pattern, it plans to attach health more firmly to the summit’s action agenda, the voluntary track that runs alongside the negotiations proper.

“We aim to focus on designing the healthcare system we need by adding a new building block to the Belem action plan,” a senior official from Türkiye’s health ministry told the meeting. That building block, published as a COP31 priority titled “Dynamic and Resilient Health Systems,” runs to seven goals spanning resilient infrastructure, disease surveillance, early-warning systems, artificial intelligence, a trained workforce, cross-sector coordination and “sustainable financing.” It sets no targets, attaches no figures, fixes no timeline and names no mechanism to deliver any of it. The priorities largely restate the pillars of the Belém plan, which in turn restated the Baku and Dubai declarations before it. ….”

“… The French Development Agency puts the cost of adapting the world’s health systems to climate change at $22 billion. The UN climate body’s estimate runs higher, at $26.8 billion to $29.4 billion a year by 2050.”

PS: “A major focus was France’s “One Health & Beyond” declaration, launched earlier this year to embed health considerations into climate governance frameworks such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and the second Global Stocktake. …”

Devex – Why did the US State Department stop sharing air quality data?

https://www.devex.com/news/why-did-the-us-state-department-stop-sharing-air-quality-data-112810

Coming back on news from earlier this year. “The U.S. has stopped publicly sharing air quality data collected at embassies around the world, leaving many countries without trusted pollution measurements.”

“ In March 2025, the State Department stopped sharing air quality readings from U.S. embassies and consulates through its public mobile applications, AirNow and ZephAir. The move ended the U.S. Global Air Quality program, which had provided trusted, independent pollution data from more than 70 diplomatic posts in over 50 countries…”

HPW – London Climate Week: Improving Air Quality Starts With City-Level Actions

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/london-climate-week-improving-air-quality-starts-with-city-level-actions/

Including an update on ‘Breathe Cities’. “… In 2018, Mayor Khan launched Breathe London, in collaboration with the joint WHO-UN Environment Programme’s BreatheLife initiative, which linked nearly 80 cities and regions around the world in ambitious clean air and climate commitments. ‘Breathe London’ aimed to improve measurement of air quality across the city and engage with communities to act. Then in 2021, at COP26, the UN climate conference in Glasgow, Khan called for the creation of an initiative to invest in cities around the world to clean their air and enhance public health. That helped to spark the Breathe Cities initiative supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Clean Air Fund and C40 Cities. “

“Breathe Cities now includes a network of 16 cities that aim to replicate the success of Breathe London. The cities have received financing commitments totaling $75 million from its sponsors, including $45 million announced at London Climate Week. The initiative provides equipment and technical support for cities to expand air quality monitoring; develop their own Clean Air and Reduced Emissions zones; restrict highly polluting vehicles; support cleaner household heating solutions; and build public awareness. …”

“Representatives from cities such as Bogota, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro told Climate Week about the progress made and challenges they still face in reducing air pollution to levels now common in London….”

WHO – New SDG data shows stalled progress on air pollution and health

https://www.who.int/news/item/29-06-2026-new-sdg-data-shows-stalled-progress-on-air-pollution-and-health

“WHO’s updated indicators reveal stark disparities between low- and high-income countries.”

“WHO has recently launched updated data on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators tracking the link between air pollution and health. The release of data on ambient and household air pollution highlights critical inequalities: while fine particulate matter (PM2.5) levels dropped globally until 2020, they have since remained largely unchanged, with low- and middle-income countries facing significantly higher exposure risks than high-income nations, increasing risks for public health and the environment….”

Euronews – Heatwaves are killing tens of thousands in India. Officials are barely counting them

https://www.euronews.com/2026/06/10/heatwaves-are-killing-tens-of-thousands-in-india-officials-are-barely-counting-them

“Experts warn that official heatwave death figures are grossly underestimated.”

“A recent study underlines the dangers of these worsening highs. It estimates that a single day of extreme heat causes approximately 3,400 excess deaths nationally in India. A five-day heatwave is linked to nearly 30,000 extra deaths, according to the paper published in the Frontiers in Environmental Health journal last month.”

PS: “… Official counts of heatwave deaths in India are much lower – between 500 and 1,500 annually nationwide – but experts warn these are grossly underestimated. This is due to a lack of uniform tracking and a failure to take indirect impacts into account, such as the exacerbation of underlying health conditions….”

“The study is the first to attempt to rectify this by providing detailed numbers for all of India’s 765 districts. It also captures the full hidden impact of heat by taking into account all excess deaths during a heatwave, rather than only those directly attributable to heatstroke or heat-related disasters….”

Economist Enterprise – A threat to health inclusivity: climate change exacerbates health exclusion

Economist Enterprise;

“Premature deaths linked to climate change are on the rise and over 90% of these deaths occur in developing economies. From the rise of pollution and infectious disease prevalence to food insecurity and increased stress on healthcare systems, the interconnectivity between climate change and health is undeniable—and climate change is exacerbating existing health disparities. Marginalised groups, vulnerable populations and people living in lower-income economies, who are already more susceptible to major systemic shocks, experience disproportionate climate change-related economic and health consequences, and are bearing the brunt of the burden.

The Phase 2 Health Inclusivity Index assesses the extent to which 40 countries have taken steps to ensure that good health is accessible to all individuals. It considers both the policy environment for health inclusivity and whether populations are feeling the impacts of this policy on the ground, allowing us to quantify health disparities. Through a global survey of over 42,000 people across the index countries and a series of focus group discussions with marginalised populations, the index captures lived experiences of health inclusion—and exclusion—and explores how populations perceive the impacts of climate change on their health. …”

“…People in low- and middle-income countries are more affected by climate change in immediate and measurable ways. Low- and middle-income countries bear the brunt of climate change effects, with seven in ten respondents expressing concerns about the impacts of climate change on their health, compared with six in ten respondents in high-income nations. Respondents in low- and middle-income countries were also more likely to report that climate change has negatively affected their food security, source of income and ability to keep a comfortable temperature at home.”

“Marginalised populations—especially migrants and refugees—face greater climate- related health impacts. … … Younger generations are more worried about the impact of climate change than older generations.”

Lancet Planetary Health (Editorial) – How we imagine the future matters

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(26)00066-5/fulltext

“Those working to address major societal challenges such as climate change, ecological collapse, and persistent poverty and inequality face a deep tension between the scale of these problems and our apparent capacity to respond. In short, today’s political and economic norms—the ‘Overton Window’ of currently acceptable policy options—can seem nowhere near equal to the scale of these challenges. This mismatch creates a kind of cognitive dissonance. Judged against prevailing socio-economic and political norms, which shapes people’s sense of what futures are feasible, the changes required can seem so radical as to appear highly improbable. Yet from an understanding of the risks and harms; seven of nine planetary boundaries have already been transgressed, while the basic needs of many people still go unmet. It seems absurd to claim that meaningful action is too radical. To foresee such harms and still fail to act for lack of political imagination, will, or capacity, is a profound societal failing…”

“… The point here is not to suggest that any future outcome is truly inevitable, but rather to recognise that how we understand and think about the future is foundational to how we interpret planetary health evidence and formulate policy responses….”

Human Resources for Health

WHO – National health workforce accounts: health workforce levels and trends 2026

https://iris.who.int/items/bb4009bc-943c-4116-88e3-fe4f6cf1a400

Via LinkedIn: “With three key findings:

(1) The Progress is Real- Since the NHWA launched in 2017, health workforce data availability has grown nearly 20-fold. Today, 206 countries have appointed focal points, and 178 countries actively reported data in 2025. This is a testament to what sustained global coordination can achieve.

(2) But Deep Inequalities Persist-
The African Region has the lowest health worker density across all occupations — doctors, nurses, dentists, and pharmacists — while high-income countries lead by a wide margin. Health worker density remains tightly correlated with national income. This is not a data problem. It’s a policy and investment problem.

(3) Ageing: The Hidden Crisis
Here’s what deserves more attention: both our populations and our health workers are ageing simultaneously. In high-income countries, nearly 1 in 3 medical doctors is expected to retire within the next decade. Meanwhile, 67 countries will face a projected gap of 832,000 health workers by 2030 — just to maintain current age-adjusted coverage levels.”

And: … The bottom line: A 52% increase in global health worker density since 2006 is progress worth celebrating. But it masks a growing structural imbalance that no single country can solve alone.

BMJ Feature – Why German doctors are being prepped for war

https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-846473

“The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has sparked fears of a spillover affecting Germany. Christine Ro reports on the measures being taken to prepare doctors for deployment and conflict on home soil.”

Access to medicines, vaccines & other health technologies

BMJ Editorial – WHO’s misguided push for complementary and alternative medicine

C A Philips et al ; https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-100062

« Use of traditional medicine must follow evidence of efficacy and safety. »

A few excerpts from this editorial (which already sparked some debate on Bluesky):

“The BRICS economies, including India and China, committed to further collaboration to integrate traditional medicine in healthcare, at a meeting in May 2026. The meeting was held by India’s Ministry of Ayush (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha, and homeopathy). Globally, interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)—that is, unproved, non-standard interventions—is surging, with the market projected to reach $359bn by 2032. “

“In December 2025, a multilateral declaration endorsed the World Health Organization’s Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034, aiming for “universal access to safe, effective” traditional medicine. This proposes integrating CAM into national health systems and universal health coverage through strengthening evidence, tightening safety regulation, expanding workforce, and building a global library of traditional knowledge…”

Re “… Colonisation and epistemicide: “Some proponents of CAM correctly identify ongoing power asymmetries from historical colonisation; “epistemicide” describes colonisers’ destruction and devaluing of traditional healthcare knowledge. CAM in healthcare might improve patient experience but not necessarily objective outcomes. The randomised controlled trial is not colonial oppression; it distinguishes interventions that work from those that do not. Traditionally used artemisinin became standard malaria treatment through scientific evaluation, not deference to tradition…..”

« WHO’s strategy insufficiently distinguishes CAM as traditional knowledge for hypothesis generation from validated knowledge that is ready for integration. An ideal CAM strategy should mandate efficacy and pharmacovigilance, including adverse event reporting. Existing large CAM workforces worldwide should be retrained in evidence based priorities for primary care, including screening, vaccination, identifying chronic disease, and maternal health. Research funding should prioritise independent trials, with negative results published. WHO’s CAM library should document harms alongside claims of benefit, while disclosing commercial conflicts of interest. And WHO’s messaging must remain unequivocally aligned with scientific consensus—a proved tool against misinformation that mixed messaging undermines….”

The editorial concludes: “Globally, CAM is the predominant healthcare option for billions of indigenous, rural, and underserved people, likely reflecting constrained access to evidence based care instead of informed choices. The ethical response is not uncritical endorsement of CAM but to expand access only to interventions that withstand standard scientific scrutiny as effective and safe. Patients everywhere deserve nothing less… »

Advancing global health innovation through Europe-Africa collaboration

https://dndi.org/publications/2026/advancing-global-health-innovation-through-europe-africa-collaboration/

“Eight Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) are joining forces to call for sustained investment in the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) under the next EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and other EU funding frameworks under discussion….”

GAVI – Gavi launches new supply chain strategy to boost vaccine availability and reach remote communities

https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/gavi-launches-new-supply-chain-strategy-boost-vaccine-availability

“New immunisation Supply Chain Strategy seeks to build on recent years’ momentum and help countries ensure vaccines reliably reach people safely, reliably and on time – including under-served communities. Efforts in areas such as real-time cold chain monitoring are helping protect more than US$ 1.7 billion worth of vaccines each year, with one in six children globally benefitting, while private sector partnerships are improving efficiency and delivery performance. Through closer alignment of systems and operations, Gavi and partners are implementing a “merger at the last mile,” where global health initiatives bring together their distinct activities into a unified approach.”

The Lancet: Currently approved mRNA vaccines are safe and effective, with promise for future disease prevention and treatment, new review confirms

Lancet Review – Safety and efficacy of mRNA vaccines: a mechanistic and public health perspective

Cfr the press release:

“A comprehensive new review that assessed billions of doses of currently approved mRNA vaccines affirms that these vaccines provide protection against COVID-19, including severe COVID-19, across diverse populations, including children, pregnant women, and immunocompromised people. Booster doses extended and strengthened protection for existing SARS-CoV-2 subvariants through May 2023.”

“The review reinforces existing evidence that mRNA vaccines are safe; serious adverse events are rare and substantially outweighed by protection against severe disease, hospitalisation, and death. The review also highlights that mRNA technologies have potential future uses for vaccines against influenza, RSV, and other infectious diseases, as well as for personalised cancer vaccines and RNA-based therapeutics.”

“The authors emphasise the importance of equitable access, strengthened and expanded manufacturing to low- and middle-income countries, and advanced storage and distribution for mRNA vaccines. The authors also call for continued clear communication about mRNA vaccine safety and effectiveness to sustain public trust, improve vaccine uptake worldwide, and address ongoing misinformation about mRNA vaccines.”

UNAIDS – Brazilian LGBTQIA+ organizations demand equitable access to lenacapavir

https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2026/june/20260626_Brazil_LGBTQIA_len

“Brazilian LGBTQIA+ organizations participating in the Pride Parade, led by the São Paulo LGBT Pride Association (APOLGBT-SP), have called for universal access to lenacapavir. … These organizations are stressing that the anticipated high cost of the antiretroviral drug could prevent its incorporation into Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS), potentially deepening inequalities and undermining the country’s response to the HIV epidemic.  …”

KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Update on Common Vaccine Myths

A Montero et al; KFF

« People who don’t have a trusted health care provider are more likely than people with one to believe or lean toward believing several common myths about vaccines, a new KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust reveals. Similarly, people who use social media or artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots at least weekly for health information are more likely than those who don’t to endorse these false vaccine claims….”

Conflict/War & health

Plos Med (Perspective) – The well-worn path from armed conflict to measles resurgence

José E. Hagan; https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1005156

« Armed conflict weakens immunization, surveillance, and socioeconomic resilience, increasing measles risk during and after war. Protecting routine vaccination in crises is a core emergency response. »

Some more reports, supplements,…

HP&P (Supplement) – Changing Health Systems: Advancing Justice and Sustainability through Research, Policy and Practice

https://academic.oup.com/heapol/issue/41/Supplement_1

· Introductory (HSG) Blog – Launching the Special Supplement: Changing Health Systems: Advancing Justice and Sustainability through Research, Policy and Practice (by Nanuka Jalaghonia, Partnerships and Engagement Manager, Health Systems Global | Stephanie M Topp, Director, JCU Centre for Rural Remote and Tropical Health Systems | Kabir Sheikh, Director, UCL Centre for Global Health Systems and Policy)

“Health Systems Global (HSG) and Health Policy and Planning (HPP), with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), are pleased to announce the publication of a Special Supplement – Changing Health Systems: Advancing Justice and Sustainability through Research, Policy and Practice. … This supplement distills and spotlights some of the rich debates and discussions from the Eighth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR2024). … The Symposium’s focus on Building Just and Sustainable Health Systems: Centering People and Protecting the Planet reflected many of the questions facing the global health community today: how health systems can adapt and evolve while remaining equitable, responsive and sustainable. ..”

“The discussions captured in this supplement, Changing Health Systems: Advancing Justice and Sustainability through Research, Policy and Practice, contribute to these ongoing conversations and highlight the role of research, policy, and practice in supporting meaningful health system change…. Edited by Stephanie M. Topp, Chair of the HSR2024 Symposium and Kabir Sheikh, Health Systems Research Editor of Health Policy and Planning, with the support of relevant section editors, this collection of papers demonstrates the diversity of topics, disciplinary perspectives and research approaches that define the field of Health Policy and Systems Research. …”

· Introductory editorial by S Topp et al – Changing health systems—advancing justice and sustainability through research, policy and practice

“… The papers in this supplement—part of the legacy of the 8th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Nagasaki 2024 (Health Systems Global 2024) engage with these questions by examining how health systems respond to and shape change across diverse contexts, including informal urban settlements, decentralized governance reforms, sanction-constrained economies, and environmentally vulnerable settings. Drawing on a range of analytical and methodological approaches within health policy and systems research (HPSR), the papers explore how governance arrangements, institutional incentives, and knowledge practices influence reform trajectories in practice. The discussion that follows draws out several cross-cutting themes from the collection that characterize justice and sustainability not as static policy goals but as processes negotiated through institutional arrangements, political economy dynamics, everyday implementation realities, as well as our own reflexive research practice….”

PS: “Across the collection, a consistent theme is the central role of national and subnational arenas in shaping consequential health system change. While global institutions, financing mechanisms, and normative agendas remain influential, the papers demonstrate that the practical dynamics of reform—how policies and services are interpreted, negotiated, and enacted—are largely shaped within domestic political, institutional, cultural, and geographic contexts. This perspective reflects a long-standing orientation within HPSR, which views health systems as socially and politically embedded institutions shaped by national governance arrangements, administrative traditions, and local political economies. “

“… In doing so, this special collection offers a corrective to the tendency in contemporary global health discourse to privilege global architectures—multilateral initiatives, international financing mechanisms, and transnational policy agendas—as the primary drivers of system change. The papers instead foreground the role of domestic institutions and dynamics, showing how national and local processes shape justice and sustainability outcomes by influencing whether and how reforms expand access, redistribute resources, or reinforce existing inequities. Taken together, the collection reaffirms the value of empirically grounded, contextually attentive research and a core insight of HPSR: that advancing justice and sustainability depends on how policies are negotiated, institutionalized, and enacted within the settings where health systems operate.”

“… Finally, this special collection reflects on the role of research itself in shaping health system change, with two methodological contributions…”

“… Across diverse contexts considered by papers in this collection a common lesson emerges: justice and sustainability are negotiated through power relations and institutional practice. Reform does not unfold linearly from policy design to outcome. It is mediated by national and subnational actors who interpret, adapt, resist, and reshape policy within historically embedded structures. …”

UN News – Global drug use reaches record high as increasingly potent synthetic drugs spread

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167817

“More people are using drugs than ever before, while synthetic substances are reshaping illicit markets and exposing vulnerable communities to greater health risks, according to the UN World Drug Report 2026, released [last week] on Friday.”

“An estimated 331 million people used drugs in 2024, equivalent to 6.2 per cent of the world’s population aged 15 to 64, up from 5.2 per cent a decade ago. …

“Cannabis remained the most widely used drug, with 256 million users, followed by opioids (63 million), amphetamines (32 million), cocaine (25 million) and ecstasy (21 million). The report also highlights the rapid evolution of synthetic drugs…..”

PS: “ The report stressed that the harms associated with drug use are shaped not only by the substances themselves but also by poverty, homelessness, poor mental health and unequal access to healthcare. …”

Miscellaneous

IISD – HLPF Prepares to Advance Transformative, Coordinated Actions for SDGs

https://sdg.iisd.org/news/hlpf-prepares-to-advance-transformative-coordinated-actions-for-sdgs/

“HLPF 2026 will draw from the outcomes of several major summits, including the Pact for the Future, the Sevilla Commitment, and the Doha Political Declaration. The Forum will contribute to the discussions leading to the 2027 SDG Summit, which will address how to advance sustainable development by 2030 and beyond….”

“The UN system, Member States, and stakeholders are intensifying preparations for the 2026 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), convening in New York, US, from 7-15 July. Themed, ‘Transformative, equitable, innovative and coordinated actions for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals for a sustainable future for all’…”

Guardian – Rapid spread of AI may worsen global inequality, UN warns

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/01/un-report-ai-inequality

“A new United Nations report warns that the development of artificial intelligence may exacerbate global inequality and proposes a shared framework for how to responsibly develop AI, as adoption and investment into the technology accelerates unevenly across the world.”

“The sweeping analysis from the independent international scientific panel on AI, established by the UN general assembly last year as “the first global scientific body on AI”, details AI’s risks and opportunities – from transformative capabilities in agriculture and education, to catastrophic outcomes when bad actors deploy AI to commit fraud and influence elections….”

Nature (News) – Have people stopped trusting science? The data tell a surprising story

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01977-9

“Some say there’s a global crisis of trust — but research reveals where the real problems lie.”

TGH – Genomic Medicine: A New Frontier for Health Care in Africa

M M Diagne et al ; https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/genomic-medicine-a-new-frontier-for-health-care-in-africa

« Building Africa’s capacity for human genomic sequencing could improve cancer care, product development, and precision medicine. »

Global health governance & Governance of Health

CGD – Bipartisan or Bust: Reform Principles for the Next Generation of US Foreign Assistance

E Collinson et al; https://www.cgdev.org/blog/bipartisan-or-bust-reform-principles-next-generation-us-foreign-assistance

“…. Reflecting on critiques of past US aid—including those leveled by actors on both sides of the aisle—here are six core reform principles that should underpin a more effective approach to US international assistance. While many of these principles echo past US and global reform initiatives, the current moment of disruption offers new opportunities for a step change in approach. …”

EPRS (Briefing) – WHO at a crossroads

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2026/789356/EPRS_BRI(2026)789356_EN.pdf

Briefing of the European Parliamentary Research Service – with focus on the WHO-EU relationship.

European Journal of Public Health – You aren’t going to like what comes after America: Europe and global health after 2025

Scott Greer; https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/36/4/ckag061/8706796?login=false

In case you missed this. Among others, on the EU’s explicit GH strategy, and its implicit one.

Excerpt: “The EU’s global health policy priorities are formally presented in its 2022 Global Health Strategy, a joint production of the DG for health (SANTE) and international aid (INTPA) that was ratified in 2024 Council Conclusions. The document is complex, containing many strong policy tools and statements, including a commitment to multilateralism and values such as gender equality. But look at it in the context of the EU as a whole, not just SANTE and INTPA. Powerful EU policy instruments, especially trade, are not discussed in the Strategy. In the areas beyond the spotlight of the strategy, we can see another, less explicit, strategy. In this second strategy, the goal is strategic autonomy. That means urgently reshoring medical supply chains so that the EU is not dependent on fickle third countries and defending intellectual property, fully protected, in the hands of European companies…”

Chapter – Who Holds the Power? NGOs, Pandemic Governance and What COVID-19 Revealed for Future Treaties

https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/1248089

by BA Moskov et al.

UHC & PHC

WHO expands Health Inequality Monitoring Network, doubling global membership

https://www.who.int/philippines/news/detail-global/30-06-2026-who-expands-health-inequality-monitoring-network–doubling-global-membership

“Network grows to 24 leading institutions, strengthening countries’ capacity to monitor and address health inequalities.”

“The World Health Organization (WHO) has expanded its Health Inequality Monitoring (HIM) Network, doubling membership from 12 to 24 institutions across all regions. The expansion marks a significant step in strengthening global capacity to monitor health inequities and support countries in advancing health equity and universal health coverage. … … Launched by WHO in June 2025, the HIM Network brings together leading academic institutions, national statistical agencies and public health organizations to strengthen health inequality monitoring worldwide….”

International Health -Free primary health care in Ghana: a model for repositioning community-based health systems in Africa

Abdirahman Mohamed Adan et al; https://academic.oup.com/inthealth/advance-article/doi/10.1093/inthealth/ihag061/8715188?searchresult=1

“On 15 April 2026, Ghana launched its Free Primary Health Care Initiative, representing a pivotal opportunity to reposition community-based primary health care systems across Africa by removing point-of-care fees and leveraging the long-standing Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) infrastructure…. “

Nature Health – Nepal’s political transition creates an opportunity for health system reform

E R Zhang et al ; https://www.nature.com/articles/s44360-026-00161-7

“Nepal’s post-transition government opens a window for phased health reforms, including insurance and supply-chain stability, stronger primary care, and tackling the rising burden of non-communicable diseases.”

Pandemic preparedness & response/ Global Health Security

Lancet GH – Incidence of symptomatic Lassa virus infection in West African countries (Enable 1.0 Lassa Research Study): a prospective, multisite, cohort study

The Enable Lassa Research Programme (Enable 1.0) Consortium ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00090-2/fulltext

Interpretation of the findings: “Symptomatic Lassa virus infection occurs infrequently in West Africa, meaning large vaccine trials are required to measure efficacy. Trials should target children, who are at higher risk of Lassa fever, alongside the further development of targeted school-based health education and household-level risk communication programmes in endemic communities. The high prevalences of malaria co-infection and hearing loss after infection warrant further exploration in future trials and reinforce the need for integrated community fever management strategies that include Lassa fever as a differential diagnosis.”

Planetary health

Guardian – Global boom in livestock farming since 2006 is piling pressure on nature, report finds

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/02/huge-rise-mammals-poultry-livestock-farming-worldwide-nature-report

“Wildlife at risk as demand for cropland and water grows to feed 50% rise in farmed animals, campaign alliance says.”

“The number of mammals and poultry farmed worldwide has increased by half in the last two decades, research shows, and the amount of cropland used for feeding livestock has increased by about a quarter. These increases are putting rising pressure on natural systems, threatening wildlife and plant species and adding to the climate crisis. The rising demand for meat comes at a time when agricultural land is already becoming less fertile, with an area the size of Canada now suffering degradation….”

“These findings, from an alliance of campaigning organisations called Stop Financing Factory Farming, come 20 years after the publication of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s seminal report on animal farming, Livestock’s Long Shadow. The researchers have updated key aspects of the report, and found that most trends are moving in a negative direction….”

Ecological Economics – The false certainties of climate policy: Rethinking risk and cooperation in an uncertain future

John-Oliver Engle et al; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0921800926002296

“Although the Paris Agreement’s temperature targets are widely endorsed, they are based on three problematic assumptions: that current climate governance arrangements will likely be successful, that climate sensitivity is predictable enough for policy planning, and that policy pathways will remain stable over time. These “false certainties” distort risk assessment and undermine effective climate governance. We argue that embracing uncertainty strengthens cooperation by increasing salience, supporting stress testing, and exposing shared vulnerabilities. Drawing on recent behavioral and negotiation research, as well as the concept of climate storylines, we propose reorienting climate negotiations toward plausible worst-case scenarios and deep uncertainty. Specifically, we advocate for three institutional innovations: a formal scenario stress-testing track within COP negotiations; a requirement for Parties to include scenario-based resilience strategies in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs); and an IPCC-UNFCCC task force to translate deep uncertainty into structured decision-support tools for negotiators. Implementing our propositions would improve resilience, build trust, and ground international climate policy in more realistic planning frameworks.”

Journal of Industrial ecology – Varieties of degrowth: an analysis of archetypes

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44498-026-00115-y

“The concept of degrowth rejects perpetual economic growth in favor of planetary health and social wellbeing. As the degrowth scholarship matures and responds to newly arising circumstances, perceptions about the concept are becoming more varied and nuanced. This phenomenon has not been studied systematically, potentially limiting theoretical and practical progress. To address this gap, this study identifies clusters of perceptions about degrowth, presented as archetypes and derived from a literature review and analysis of data from 40 in-depth semi-structured interviews. Four archetypes are identified: eco-reformist, systemic change, transformation, and sufficiency-based degrowth. ….”

Via LinkedIn (author): “Eco-reformist degrowth – which uses market reforms and business innovation to green the current system. Many circular start-up founders would probably feel quite at home in this camp
Systemic change degrowth – which relies on strong government intervention to restructure the economy
Transformative degrowth – which focuses on shifting societal values, supported by institutions
Sufficiency-driven degrowth – which emphasizes grassroots action, local living, and reduced consumption. (Arguably the most RADICAL variety)…”

Earth System Governance – Power dynamics and the politics of climate finance: An analysis of decision-making in the green climate fund

Ahmed et al; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589811626000285

“This paper examines the politics of decision-making within the Green Climate Fund (GCF), revealing how structural power asymmetries, strategic negotiation, and ideological biases shape outcomes. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of board meeting transcripts, survey responses of accredited entities, and a review of imposed conditions on approved proposals, the study reveals that although the GCF is formally grounded in principles of consensus and inclusivity, board deliberations in practice reflect patterns of distributive bargaining. Developed country board members routinely leverage their financial and institutional influence to define key concepts, such as “efficiency,” “climate rationale,” and “paradigm shift” and to impose conditionalities that disadvantage low-income countries. These dynamics particularly hinder equitable access to adaptation finance, where requirements like co-financing and private sector alignment place disproportionate burdens on vulnerable nations. Civil society observers and developing country members, while procedurally present, are often sidelined in substantive decision-making. Ultimately, the GCF serves not as a neutral technical platform but as a contested site of geopolitical power…”

The Conversation – Can climate shocks change how people feel about paying taxes?

E Nicholatti et al ; https://theconversation.com/can-climate-shocks-change-how-people-feel-about-paying-taxes-284097

“… Our research has focused on taxation, inequality, public finance and climate-related shocks in sub-Saharan Africa. In a recent study we examined an underexplored consequence of climate-related disasters in Africa: their effect on tax morale, in other words people’s willingness to pay taxes voluntarily.”

“… The findings reveal a complex picture. They show that disasters don’t all affect tax morale in the same way. Droughts and extreme temperatures are associated with lower tax morale. Floods, by contrast, go with slightly higher tax morale. Repeated exposure to multiple climate-related disasters is associated with an overall decline in tax morale. We also found that disasters are associated with rising economic inequality. When inequality increases, trust in public institutions declines and tax morale weakens. The results of our analysis support this argument by incorporating the climate-disaster dimension. Climate-related disasters exacerbate inequality. In turn this erodes trust in public institutions and ultimately reduces tax morale.”

“Although climate disasters tend to reduce tax morale, our analysis shows that the institutional environment may mitigate the impact. On this issue we focused on Kenya, Benin and South Africa. …”

Mpox

Plos GPH – Simulating a potential mpox outbreak: Implications for control in non-endemic settings

Philip Cherian, et al; https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0006630

« We construct a model for mpox outbreaks in low and middle-income countries where the disease is non-endemic, using India as an example. We simulate potential outbreak scenarios using BharatSim, a flexible agent-based simulation framework. The spread of mpox is modelled as being driven primarily through sexual contacts within a subnetwork of men who have sex with men (MSM), embedded within a larger network representing their household and workplace contacts…”

AMR

Lancet Regional Health Africa – Landscape analysis of antimicrobial resistance research in Tanzania

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanafr/article/PIIS3050-5011(26)00080-5/fulltext

By Amos Lucky Mhone et al.

NCDs

Guardian – Sitting for more than 30 minutes at a time linked to higher risk of cancer death

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jul/02/sitting-minutes-cancer-death-risk-study

“Sitting for longer than half an hour at a time each day raises the risk of dying from cancer, a study suggests.”

“Researchers who tracked more than 90,000 people over a decade found that sitting or lying down while awake for more than 30 minutes in one period each day was associated with an increased risk of cancer death. The risk increases for every additional hour of continuous inactivity, the findings suggest. However, the researchers also found breaking up periods of sedentary behaviour longer than 30 minutes with bursts of physical activity could help reduce the risk. Getting up every half-hour, even for a short walk around the office, could do wonders for your health, they said.”

Cfr a study in Plos Med.

Devex – What is ‘lean diabetes’ — and why does it matter?

https://www.devex.com/news/what-is-lean-diabetes-and-why-does-it-matter-112793

“Across much of the African continent, many people with Type 2 diabetes aren’t overweight — and some are even underweight. This has implications for how the disease is screened for, prevented, and treated.”

“The diabetes epidemic in Africa doesn’t look like the textbook case of the disease, and this has implications for how the disease is screened for, prevented, and treated, he said. Researchers have dubbed the disease “lean” diabetes….”

Lancet Regional Health Africa – Achieving World Health Organization Global Breast Cancer Initiative targets: a situational analysis and action plan in Nigeria

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanafr/article/PIIS3050-5011(26)00081-7/fulltext

By Anya Romanoff et al.

Social & commercial determinants of health

Journal of Global Health –The role of alcohol control policy on the level of alcohol consumption in member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations 2000–2022: identifying trends and country clusters for further analyses

https://jogh.org/2026/jogh-16-04150

By J Rehm et al.

Plos GPH – Implementing the World Health Organization – Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Article 5.3: A qualitative study in 17 Indian states

https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0006522

By Upendra Bhojani et al.

Qualitative Health research – Institutional Determinants of Health: Adolescent Health Crises as Sites of Social Intervention and Practical Reform

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10497323261461519

By Matthew Wolf-Meyer et al.

Globalization & Health – Addressing the commercial determinants of unhealthy beverage exposure: a systems thinking approach

M R Winkler et al ; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12992-026-01228-6

“The beverage industry plays an influential role in the US. Certain beverages, such as sugar-sweetened, have long been recognized as key contributors to poor population health with inequitable impacts. In response, multiple US initiatives have attempted to address these problems through public awareness campaigns and policies, such as taxes. Yet, the persistent and increasing reliance on unhealthy commercial products produced by the beverage industry suggests additional progress is needed. Leveraging a systems thinking approach, this study aimed to map out the complex forces limiting progress and driving inequitable impacts of unhealthy commercial beverages in the US to inform innovative thinking about future actions….”

Sexual & Reproductive health rights

BMJ GH – Changes in the use of basic obstetric care in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from demographic and health surveys using an Oaxaca-Blinder approach

https://gh.bmj.com/content/11/6/e021049

“…This paper examines the progress made in basic obstetric care in four sub-Saharan African countries (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal), and investigates the sources of this progress to better inform future policy actions that will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3 targets related to maternal and child health….”

Neonatal and child health

Guardian – Screen time can damage under-twos’ development, landmark study suggests

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/27/screen-time-damage-under-twos-development-study

“Exclusive: Researchers call for urgent investigation of risks to babies of tablets, smartphones and other digital devices.”

“Screen time for babies and toddlers under the age of two has been linked with long-term negative effects on health and quality of life and should be avoided, according to a landmark study. It warns that using screens during that period may lead to wide-ranging developmental concerns and calls for further urgent investigation of the risks smartphones, tablets and other digital devices pose to infants….”

Lancet GH (Comment) – Severe anaemia in African children: look beyond under-fives

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00157-9/fulltext

· Comment linked to a new Lancet GH study – Severe anaemia and invasive bacterial infections in Kenyan children: a 26-year hospital surveillance observational study

“Severe anaemia in hospitalised Kenyan children is multifactorial, increasingly affects older children, and is strongly associated with pathogen-specific bacteraemia and increased mortality. …”

Access to medicines & health technology

Health Economics – The Effects of Compulsory Licensing: A Case Study of HIV Drugs

Nicolau Martin-Bassols et al; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hec.70123

« This study examines the association between compulsory licensing and the commercial accessibility and affordability of HIV medications across 11 countries from 2002 to 2022….”

Cfr South Centre: “New study confirms that compulsory licenses have contributed to improved availability of HIV drugs through commercial channels, with meaningful effects on prices…”

BMJ Analysis – Health costs of the UK-US trade deal on pharmaceuticals

https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-340588

“Samuel Cross, Karl Claxton, and Andrew Hill argue that diversion of billions of NHS funding to pay more for new drugs under the UK-US trade deal will harm public health and result in thousands of excess deaths. “

· Coverage via the Guardian – US-UK drug deal could result in 229,000 excess deaths in England, analysis suggests

Human resources for health

Discover Health systems – The global health implications of proportionate co-investment in health workforce migration

I Ayesiga et al; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44250-026-00399-8

Review.

Papers & reports

WHO Bulletin – July issue

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/?term=((%22Bulletin+of+the+World+Health+Organization%22%5BJournal%5D)+AND+104%5BVolume%5D)+AND+7%5BIssue%5D

In the editorial section, Herry Susanto et al. outline preparedness requirements for the current Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak. Check out the rest of the issue.

International Journal for Equity in Health – On the impact of inequity on the attainment of health results in the African Region: a methodological exploration

H Karamagi et al ; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12939-026-02935-7

Check out the results.

HHR – Women’s Rights and Gender Equality: A Global Index to Monitor Government Action

J Shantosh et al; https://www.hhrjournal.org/2026/06/09/womens-rights-and-gender-equality-a-global-index-to-monitor-government-action/

“Globally, gender inequality is deepening, with nearly 40% of countries experiencing regression between 2019 and 2022 and significant backlash against women’s rights in 2025. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) provides a legally binding framework for accountability, yet the potential of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women—the body that monitors state compliance with CEDAW—is constrained by the absence of systematic monitoring tools. This paper introduces the CEDAW Index, an artificial intelligence-supported digital dashboard designed to strengthen accountability by consolidating state reports, civil society shadow reports, and committee concluding observations….”

SS&M – Epidemiologic approaches to policy research – examinations of single policies, policy clusters, and policy climates: conceptualization, measurement, and analysis

Dougie Zubizarreta et al; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027795362600612X

“… To date, much of the literature has examined single policies; however, there is growing interest in examining alternative ways of conceptualizing policy exposures, namely as policy clusters or policy climates, to better capture how policies are enacted (and experienced) in “real-world” contexts. To advance this work, greater clarity is needed regarding how different approaches to policy conceptualization, measurement, and analysis align with distinct research questions and goals, ranging from identifying specific, manipulable policy levers to informing ways of extending the “policy space” beyond already existing laws to support broader social change. In this essay, we help fill this gap by outlining key issues related to policy exposures, including conceptualization, methods for measure development, and analytic approaches for understanding the relationship between policies and health….”

With focus on the US.

Speaking of Medicine -A new Gates Foundation Collection in PLOS on Wastewater & Environmental Surveillance in Low-Resource Settings

https://speakingofmedicine.plos.org/2026/06/12/a-new-gates-foundation-collection-in-plos-on-wastewater-environmental-surveillance-in-low-resource-settings/

Global Health Action – Why has the United States of America not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child? The veto fulcrum as a new health policy analysis framework

Lia Harris; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16549716.2026.2686031#abstract

“The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) enshrines health as a human right among other rights for children, fulfilled by each member state legally endorsing its principles through ratification of the Convention. Only the United States of America of all of the UN state parties has not ratified the CRC. This study aimed to determine the reason(s) the CRC has not been ratified by the USA….”

“This research has forged a new policy framework, the veto fulcrum, which examines political systems where political actors as veto players have extraordinary power to make executive decisions against public opinion, and against good health policy. … Revising Walt and Gilson’s health policy triangle and drawing on Tsebelis’ veto player theory a new policy analysis framework approach is introduced – the veto fulcrum – which highlights the intimate correlation between actors and processes and their relative importance over content and context factors in policy decisions….”

Health Research Policy & Systems – Mapping evidence for health policy and systems decision-making: a spectrum approach bridging tacit and scientific knowledge across local and global contexts

D Waithaka et al; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12961-026-01502-4

“The spectrum approach positions evidence along two axes: tacit to scientific (the extent to which evidence is independent of individual experience, documented and generated through systematic, transparent and reproducible processes) and global to local (in relation to the decision setting). Positioning evidence along axes rather than in binary categories allowed us to distinguish evidence that varies along these dimensions, visualize the forms of global and local evidence available and where gaps exist, and reflect more explicitly on the applicability of different evidence sources to specific decision contexts…”

Tweets (via X & Bluesky)

Genevieve Guenther

(part of a thread on Bluesky)

“The “air conditioning debate” is a climate culture war started by center-right and liberal commentators, which drives attention away from the existential need to phase out fossil fuels. Try not to get swept along (as I am right now lol) but stick to the message: govt action to end coal, oil, & gas.”

Editorial: A letter to UN SG candidates, the European Global Health Policy Forum, the World Cup & much more (IHP News #887)

Kristof Decoster — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 05:48:13 +0000

Dear Colleagues,

In today’s intro, we first want to draw your attention to the following: Global 50/50 has published an open letter to the candidates for the next UN Secretary-General, asking every candidate to commit publicly to five practical priorities for advancing gender equality across the UN system: measuring it, analysing it, centring it, funding it and institutionalising it. With the Security Council straw poll expected in late July, the coming weeks are the most consequential window to hold candidates to account. The letter launches publicly on 7 July. Add your name here and please pass it on.

Let’s zoom in on this week then, flagging just a few highlights and events here (out of a week with plenty more news).

In Geneva, formal negotiations on PABS are resuming July 6^th (with a few related anticipatory reads). A number of Boards also met this week, among others the UNAIDS board (which pondered an interim report on UNAIDS reform), UNITAID and GAVI boards. Next week it’s the Global Fund’s turn. The newsletter also has an update on the UNFPA/UN Women “merger”.

On the planetary health front, extreme heat is now officially a public health crisis after the past few weeks (clearly, that was already very much the case in many parts of the world, but with now also Europe being badly hit, western media can’t deny it anymore, even if the airco debate has at the same time sparked yet another ‘climate culture war’). Around 500,000 people die from severe heat every year. That’s probably an underestimate as the crisis is rapidly growing worse, exposing extreme inequality in the process.

Over to a global health event then which I managed to join on Tuesday, the European Global Health Policy Forum in Brussels. The Forum focused this year on the recently released Global Health Resilience Initiative (GHRI). Rather interesting event, which probably warrants a blog on its own. As this is just a newsletter intro, however, I’ll just list a few things below that struck my attention.

But first the overall background. As Martin Seychell (DG INTPA) put it in a keynote in the morning, GHRI is building on the 2022 EU Global Health Strategy (“Better Health for All in a Changing World”), and is very much a political initiative – the EU/C wants to signal in this way that ‘global health resilience’ should remain high on the political agenda. In line with another speaker in the afternoon, Seychell also mentioned GHRI aims to operationalize the GH strategy for a rather drastically changed global environment (compared with 2022, when by the way the world had already changed quite a bit…). The new environment has negatives but also some positives, he stressed. As a reminder: GHRI currently features five pillars & 9 flagship initiatives.

Overall, it was good to learn a bit more about GHRI, see how things were being framed (and occasionally distorted as well). A few points from my point of view: (1) like most of you, I’m overjoyed that a ‘global health & resilience’ tracker is in the works. The world might still be going to hell in the coming years, but at least it’ll all be properly measured & mapped. (2) For an event focused on ‘global health resilience’, it was rather odd the PABS negotiations in Geneva were barely mentioned. (3) I counted only one CSO representative in 4 panels (with 25+ speakers in total). That’s not much, in spite of the fact that the panelists kept banging on about ‘our democracies’ and (an evergreen at these sorts of HL events) the ‘importance of communities’. True, many CSO people were in the audience, but that’s not quite the same in terms of ‘agenda setting’/gatekeeping power. With more of them present in the panels for example, I doubt the Covid pandemic would have been (mostly) framed as a ‘stunning success’ for the EU. (4) All five pillars have merits, but also possible caveats (in terms of ‘mutual interests’ for example). The fifth pillar (“Strengthen societal resilience by fostering trust in science and countering disinformation, misinformation and FIMI”) is by far the most tricky one, however (Ps: in case you wonder (like I did), FIMI stands for ‘Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference’.) Certainly the EEAS panelist in the last session sounded not just like a rather convinced ‘FIMI fighter’ of sorts, at times he also came dangerously close to an “EU ‘truth’ version” of your average Trump spokesperson (though arguably, he didn’t look like a young blonde woman). It’s a minefield, in other words, this fifth pillar, even if I agree with other panelists in the fourth panel that this is indeed a major worry, and should thus be a key priority. Having said that, you wonder why some obvious stuff in that debate on countering health misinformation wasn’t mentioned (such as Von der Leyen’s notorious SMS exchanges with Pfizer’s Bourla, or the fact that Pfizer and other BioNTechs made tens of billions of dollars in a pandemic, which certainly didn’t “harm” conspiracy theories). In short: nice panel discussion on a vital issue, but not a good start for that pillar.

But enough on the Forum. (for additional reading, you might want to check out Scott Greer’s recent paper on the EU’s ‘formal’ and ‘implicit’ global health strategy)

Far away from Brussels meanwhile, at the World Cup football, some members of ‘Team Europe’ are diligently trying to restore a bit of the tarnished soft power of this continent, aiming to make amends for the vaccine apartheid during the pandemic, or (many) EU countries’ cowardly role in the Middle East (Gaza) over the past years. They do so by getting knocked out early in the tournament by teams from the Global South/Majority World. Like in the ongoing PABS discussions, changed power dynamics certainly also play a role, however, and for the better.

In a first show of ‘diplomatic goodwill’, now that a German South-North Commission has just seen the light at the Hamburg Sustainability conference, on Monday former football powerhouse Germany lost from Paraguay at the World Cup ( great start to rebuild some lost credibility but there’s still a long way to go for the Germans ). Although usually not ‘like-minded’, the Dutch swiftly followed suit, crashing out against Morocco. Both succumbed in the ‘Last Mile’ of the football matches: the penalty shoot-outs.

This being the EU, it will not come as a surprise though that other members of Team Europe are so far not playing along though in this major “reverse FIMI” diplomatic effort. True, my own country (Belgium) tried very hard, for 85 minutes or so, with Senegal by far the better team. In the end, though, Belgium still managed to pull through, with quite a bit of luck. England ( not really part of ‘Team Europe’ these days as you know, but somewhat on the fence ) got past the DRC in another tough match. And then there are the French, of course – who admittedly have an awesome team this time. Apparently they have a ‘higher purpose’, as a French interlocutor told me at the Forum in Brussels. The reasoning goes like this: only if they win the World cup, a radical-right presidency can perhaps still be averted. And so, ‘Allez les Bleus’ !

(and let’s hope we see a similarly constructive ‘Team Europe’ in the PABS discussions ahead : ) )

Enjoy your reading.

Kristof Decoster

Weekly topics: IHP news 886: Highlights of the week (IHP News #886)

International Health Policies — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 06:07:30 +0000

Structure of Highlights

· UN HL meeting on HIV/AIDS

· Ebola emergency: key messages WHO/Africa CDC & other key news

· Ebola emergency: some more analysis, reports, guidelines, advocacy news snippets, …

· More on PPPR & GHS

· Sustainable Development Report 2026

· More on Global Health Reform & the Future of Development Cooperation

· WHO DG race

· More on Global Health Governance & Financing/Funding

· Global Tax justice & tax reform (& debt reform)

· UHC & PHC

· Trump 2.0 & US global health strategy & bilateral health agreements

· World Cup Football

· More on NCDs & Commercial Determinants of Health

· SRHR

· Child health

· Planetary Health/Climate & Health

· Access to medicines, vaccines & other health technologies

· Conflict/War & health

· Miscellaneous

UN High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS (22-23 June, NY)

Chronologically, more or less – starting with the opening on Monday.

HPW – ‘Progress is Not Success,’ Warns UNAIDS at Start of Poorly Attended UN High-Level Meeting on HIV

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/progress-is-not-success-warns-unaids/

“Despite remarkable advances against HIV over the past two decades, “let us not confuse progress with success”, warned UNAIDS head Winnie Byanyima at the start of the United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV in New York on Monday.”

“Over 40 million people are living with HIV, yet “almost nine million people are still not on treatment, and last year 1.2 million people were newly infected,” said Byanyima, her address delivered to a sea of empty chairs – symptomatic of waning interest in responding to the virus.” …“This is our last High-Level Meeting before the 2030 promise to end AIDS as a public health threat. We are just four years away, and the opportunity is extraordinary.”…”

“Africa is unhappy with political declaration: However, African countries expressed unhappiness with the political declaration due to be adopted at the end of the HLM on Tuesday. …” Read why.

UNAIDS – United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS opens as UNAIDS urges countries to firmly commit to ending AIDS by 2030

https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2026/june/20260622_HLM26_opens

UNAIDS press release at the opening.

“The United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS opened today at a moment of incertitude for the global AIDS response. Decades of progress have delivered what once seemed impossible: millions of lives saved, new HIV infections reduced, and treatment expanded around the world. However, as global leaders gather in New York to adopt a new UN Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, the last Declaration before the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, that progress is increasingly threatened due to funding cuts and a push back on human rights. Global leaders face a defining question: will the world protect hard-won gains and accelerate towards ending AIDS? …”

“… UNAIDS’ new data for 2025 also show that success is fragile. …” (see last week’s IHP News)

PS: “… Importantly, there are windows of opportunity. Domestic financing for HIV rose from 28% in 2010 to 52% in 2024, however it cannot replace global solidarity. Regional initiatives like the Accra Reset or the African Union Roadmap to 2030 are examples of a new and progressive face to aid and development. Also, new innovations, particularly long-acting HIV prevention medicines, are becoming available and have the potential to significantly advance the end of AIDS—but only if implemented at scale and with regional production. ….”

HPW – US and Russia Vote Against UN Political Declaration on HIV/ AIDS

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/us-russia-oppose-un-political-declaration-on-hiv/

(24 June) “The United States and Russia were part of a group of eight countries that voted against the United Nations (UN) Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, which was adopted by 149 votes at the High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Tuesday afternoon. Israel, Burkina Faso, Burundi, North Korea, Niger and Senegal also voted against the declaration, while there were 14 abstentions, including nine from countries in the Middle East….”

PS: re the US point of view: “US Ambassador Tammy Bruce said that the declaration diverged from the 95-95-95 targets “by including divisive topics, reaffirming documents that do not enjoy consensus or which are not related to the fight against AIDS”. The UN adopted the 95-95-95 targets, in 2021 which involve ensuring that 95% of people with HIV know their status; 95% of people with HIV are on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, and 95% of those on ARVs are virally suppressed. Bruce also recorded “deep concern” that the declaration included issues related to trade – a reference to clauses encouraging the transfer of technology to countries to enable them to produce their own HIV treatment. “We have made clear our longstanding position on intellectual property protection and the need for transfer of technology to be on both voluntary and mutually agreed terms. We cannot accept references without appropriate caveats,” said Bruce….”

Re the Africa group: “… A last-minute oral amendment to the declaration by Malawi, on behalf of the Africa Group, removed the phrase “mutually agreed terms” in relation to technology transfer. This also incurred the disapproval of Switzerland and Canada, which dissociated their countries from these paragraphs. However, Malawi’s Madalitso Baloyi said: “The African group believes that keeping ‘on mutually agreed terms’ in the text in connection to technology transfer undermines the key objective to access medicines, vaccines, and medical products, and to boost research and development”. … The Africa Group has advanced the same argument during negotiations for a Pandemic Agreement, arguing that pharmaceutical companies need to be compelled to share technology during health emergencies….”

Re the EU: “… Cyprus, on behalf of the European Union, succeeded in amending the declaration to include the terms “sexual and reproductive health services”, “gender-based” in relation to violence” and “key populations” – a reference to groups that are most at risk of HIV. These differ per country, but traditionally include sex workers, gay men, young women, prisoners and people who inject drugs….

“… While the declaration commits to ending HIV by 2039, it identifies several gaps, including “reductions in global financing for HIV and the impact of recent disruptions on HIV services”.

UNAIDS (press release) – United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS concludes with strong support for a bold political declaration for ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030

https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2026/june/20260624_HLM2026AIDS_concludes

(24 June) “At a moment of growing pressure and roadblocks to international cooperation, the United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS concluded today with overwhelming majority of Member States adopting a new Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS with strong support. The declaration reaffirms global commitment to ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 and sets specific and important new targets. “

“… The declaration will serve as an important road map to advance further success in the global HIV response over the next five years, guiding global efforts to accelerate additional progress despite decreases in funding for HIV and anti-rights headwinds. Notably, the 2026 political declaration reflects the ambitious targets contained in the new Global AIDS Strategy 2026-2031 and committed to convene a High-Level Meeting in 2031 to review progress against the pandemic after the 2030 milestone. “

“Setting out an agenda to evolve the global AIDS response for the shifting pandemic, it includes important new and ambitious targets and commitments to increase equitable coverage of HIV testing, treatment and prevention; addressing funding gaps; protect human rights and gender equity; expand access to HIV medicines and other technologies through sharing of technology and strengthening local production for sustainability; and expanding the space for communities and civil society in the AIDS response. …”

· PS: for a good overview of the commitments in the political declaration, see WHO – HIV political declaration proves surprisingly divisive

· Related analysis: Devex (Andrew Green) – Devex Check-up

“Adopted every five years since 2001, this was the first time the declaration was not approved by consensus, speaking to the politicization of some elements of the document. That includes support for sexual and reproductive rights, which the Trump administration has targeted since taking office, and for services for men who have sex with men and other marginalized — but also frequently criminalized — communities….”

Guardian – Africa can end Aids on its own terms. Will the world back us to finish the job?

Jean Kaseya & AA Twum-Amoah ; https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/22/africa-can-end-aids-hiv-own-terms-world-global-support

Op-ed from just before the UN HL Meeting. “With aid funding falling by 70%, a change to HIV response is needed. The continent must treat health as a matter of sovereignty rather than charity.”

“… The Common Africa Position for this week’s 2026 High-Level Meeting at the UN in New York on HIV/Aids is Africa’s answer. Agreed across member states, experts and institutions, it speaks with one voice. It is built on the Africa Health Security and Sovereignty agenda, which heads of state adopted to treat health as a matter of sovereignty rather than charity. The political declaration should take it forward. It rests on three main demands….” Check out what they entail.

Ebola Emergency: messages WHO & Africa CDC from this week (& some other key news)

AP – Africa CDC chief says the continent needs to invest its own funds in Ebola response, vaccine

https://apnews.com/article/congo-ebola-africa-cdc-ituri-a5bfda53dbef567146cc1b39cce6f3f3

“African officials must step up financing to respond and develop vaccines for the Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda, the continent’s top health agency said (last week) on Friday, warning that the continent cannot continue to rely on foreign partners for its health needs.

PS: “…As part of the plan to push African states to financially support the agency’s efforts, Kaseya said South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to fly to Ituri Province in Congo and to Uganda next week in support of the mobilization of funds. A newly established African Epidemic Fund has received pledges totaling about $80 million from African governments, while a broader donor conference held this week generated pledges of about $910 million, he said….”

UN News – Global Ebola cases top 1,000 as UN races to reach DR Congo’s most vulnerable

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167783

“As global confirmed Ebola cases reach 1,000, nearly three million children and adolescents are at risk in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while efforts increase to treat prisoners near the epicentre of the current outbreak, UN agencies warned on Monday.”

“Making up 15 per cent of confirmed cases and over 25 per cent of deaths since the outbreak in April, children are almost twice as likely to die as adults, according to UNICEF…”

Guardian – Kenyan minister orders halt to construction of US Ebola facility

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/23/kenya-minister-orders-halt-us-ebola-facility

(23 June) “Kenya’s health minister has told a court he has ordered a halt to preparations for a US-run Ebola quarantine facility, after being held in contempt for ignoring a previous stop-work order.”

Africa CDC – Africa CDC Statement on the High-Level Ebola Response Meeting in the Democratic Republic of Congo

https://africacdc.org/news-item/africa-cdc-statement-on-the-high-level-ebola-response-meeting-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo/

(23 June) “Today, 23 June 2026, Africa Centers for Disease Control and prevention ( Africa CDC) participated in a high-level meeting convened in the presence of H.E. Évariste Ndayishimiye, President of the Republic of Burundi and Chairperson of the African Union, and H.E. Félix Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, alongside the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, senior government officials, and key partners, including WHO, UNICEF and OCHA…. The meeting reviewed progress made to date in the ongoing Ebola outbreak response, as well as the critical challenges that continue to affect response efforts, particularly in Ituri Province, the epicentre of the outbreak.”

“… Nearly 900,000 people in internally displaced person’s camps remain without adequate access to essential health services, with Ebola also present in these vulnerable settings. Africa CDC and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs are jointly assessing an estimated USD 1.4 billion required over the next six months to strengthen the humanitarian response, support contact tracing and isolation, and sustain essential health services….”

HPW – As Ebola Cases Breach 1000, Trial of Two Antiviral Treatments Due to Start Soon

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/as-ebola-cases-breach-1000-trial-of-two-antiviral-treatments-due-to-start-soon/

Cfr a WHO media briefing on Wednesday.

“A clinical trial of two antivirals that may be effective in treating Ebola Bundibugyo is expected to start in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) next week. “The trial will evaluate whether MVPC 134 and remdesivir can help to reduce mortality in patients with Bundibugyo virus disease, alone or in combination,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing on Wednesday….”

“… However, Tedros warned that “the outbreak is continuing to outpace the response”, and “political advocacy and action are essential to create the conditions for increased humanitarian access and a scaled response”….”

PS: re WHO-US collaboration : “… Mahamud also said that the WHO has a weekly call with officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) globally, while WHO officials were in almost daily contact with the US CDC country director in the DRC. “We are in the process of ensuring, because they are not able to go to the field, to link [up with] them, so that they can participate in the coordination,” said Mahamud. “At the technical level, both in the field and at the global level, there’s some excellent collaborations, and hopefully this will be strengthened. I think this outbreak has shown WHO, US CDC and the US government how critical collaborating in the field, sharing information, everything that’s required to respond is.”

Cidrap News – Africa CDC triples amount needed to fight Ebola

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/ebola/africa-cdc-triples-amount-needed-fight-ebola

(25 June) “Today during a press conference, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya, MD, MPH, said the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) would require $1.4 billion in funding to contain, almost triple the $518 million Africa CDC estimated it needed at the beginning of the month. “If we don’t have this $1.4 billion and if we don’t resolve the humanitarian issue, we will not stop this outbreak,” Kaseya said. So far, about $910 million has been ‌pledged for the outbreak, but only 13% of that had been released….”

PS: “… According to a new dashboard created by an international group of researchers, the current Ebola outbreak stands at 1,118 cases and 291 deaths….”

PS: “Yesterday UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced the launch of a Request for Expression of Interest (EOI) to gather information from vaccine manufacturers on their plans to develop a vaccine against Bundibugyo Ebolavirus disease. There is no vaccine available against the Bundibugyo species, and the move builds on Gavi’s recent commitment of $40 million to support accelerated vaccine access. “This EOI will help inform how that financing can best support manufacturing scale-up and rapid access to doses if and when they become available,” UNICEF said in a press release.

Reuters – Trump to seek more than $1.4 billion in Ebola funding from Congress

Reuters;

(24 June) “The White House is planning to seek more than $1.4 billion in new funds from Congress to address the widening Ebola virus outbreak as soon as Wednesday, according to a Trump administration official. The request, which is set ‌to be included in a larger supplemental funding request, would include $800 million for humanitarian crisis responses.”

“That $800 million will fund a quarantine center in Kenya for Americans exposed to the virus as well as supplies, treatment, contact tracing, a regional logistics network and infection control practices. …. U.S. officials are also seeking $500 million in global health security funds they say are needed to prevent the virus from spreading to the United States. That ⁠funding would include disease surveillance, laboratory capacity, and cross-border coordination, and potential partnerships with multilateral organizations and the private sector, the official said….”

And a link:

· Africa CDC – Africa CDC Calls for Solidarity and Stronger Collaboration Following Imported Ebola Case in France and Reinforces Cross-Border Surveillance (24 June)

Ebola emergency: More analysis, reports, guidelines, advocacy, snippets…

Bloomberg – Ebola scientists lack access to virus samples behind Congo’s largest Bundibugyo outbreak

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-25/ebola-scientists-lack-virus-samples-needed-to-test-vaccine-in-congo-outbreak?srnd=undefined&embedded-checkout=true

(gated) “Scientists racing to develop potential vaccines and treatments against a deadly Ebola outbreak are having to do so without a viable sample of the virus, highlighting growing disputes over pathogen sharing and the difficulty of moving infectious materials across borders for research….”

WHO – The allocation, disbursement and reporting of external and domestic funds during health emergencies: guidance on effective financing modalities for filovirus disease outbreaks, June 2026

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/B09792

“This guidance provides recommendations for the allocation, disbursement, use, and reporting of domestic and external resources during disease outbreaks. Issued in the context of the 2026 Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) outbreak, it outlines key actions for countries in both response and preparedness settings, as well as for development partners.

The guidance sets out priority measures for countries in active response, including the establishment of accelerated and transparent disbursement mechanisms, expedited expenditure approvals, timely transfers to subnational levels, and the application of flexible emergency procurement. For countries in preparedness, it highlights the need to establish financing and governance arrangements in advance, including contingency fund activation protocols, budget reallocation plans, reporting systems, procurement readiness, and multisectoral coordination mechanisms.

Across all contexts, the guidance emphasizes rapid costing of needs, mobilization of domestic resources, activation of budgetary instruments, and the strengthening of transparency and accountability systems through financial tracking, reporting, and integration into national systems. It also underscores the role of development partners in aligning external financing with national priorities, using local systems where feasible, harmonizing funding practices, and avoiding fragmented parallel mechanisms.”

Two statements by the Independent panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (& calls to action)

(24 June) “As the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak enters its second month, The Independent Panel is issuing two statements today — on emergency financing and on the need to guarantee access to countermeasures. Both call for urgent action.”

“Emergency financing: not clear enough, not reaching the front line fast enough: While approximately $900 million has been pledged to the Ebola response, less than 10% of that has been disbursed. The Independent Panel warns that a pledge is not funding — and that without transparency on what is new money, who receives it, and when, accountability is impossible. We call for funds to flow with minimal conditions, and for a real-time public financing tracker to be published.”

“Equitable access to countermeasures: a transparent roadmap is urgently needed: Vaccine, treatment and diagnostic candidates are in development — but the pathway from development to delivery is unclear. Responsibility is fragmented and access terms are largely unspecified. The Independent Panel calls on WHO and Africa CDC, together with affected countries and stakeholders, to coordinate a single end-to-end roadmap showing how these products will reach the people and communities most at risk.”

World Bank (factsheet) – Response to Ebola Outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda

https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2026/05/27/ebola-outbreak-response-democratic-republic-of-congo-uganda?cid=HNP_TT_health_EN_EXT

As of 18 June.

Development Today – Almost 1,000 Ebola cases confirmed. Donors respond with differing priorities

https://www.development-today.com/archive/2026/dt-5–2026/almost-1-000-ebola-cases-confirmed.-donors-respond-with-differing-priorities

“Nordic support branded as a response to the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda has mainly been given as core funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) and its crisis fund, which targets multiple crises. The exception is Denmark, which has provided its entire grant to WHO and the Africa CDC’s joint Ebola appeal.”

Telegraph – How deadly is the rare species of Ebola and how fast is it spreading?

Telegraph;

“A month after the outbreak was declared, the key facts about the virus spreading in the Congo are becoming clearer.”

Eg re the case fatality rate:

“Case fatality rate: how deadly is Bundibugyo? So far, Bundibugyo’s case fatality rate (CFR) – the proportion of people with the virus who have died – stands at 20.1 per cent. That means just over a fifth of people who have contracted the virus have died of it. ……From this, it appears that Bundibugyo is less deadly than more common Ebola species, including Zaire, the type responsible for the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak that killed 11,000 people and most major Ebola epidemics since the disease first emerged in 1976. Zaire Ebola is fatal in 75-79 per cent of cases….”

“However, experts at Airfinity, the bio-risk intelligence firm, warned that the CFR in this context – where data gathering and analysis is extremely challenging in war-torn Congo – cannot necessarily be translated into reliable, biological information about the virus. “Case fatality rates are a very good metric to show how severe a virus is, but right now, since the healthcare infrastructure is so poor, the uncertainty is quite high because there are so many cases going undetected and that completely changes the CFR,” Dr Patricia Delgado, scientific director at Airfinity, told The Telegraph.

The CFR is also varying region by region dramatically…..”

PS: re ‘R’: “…Scientists say they do not yet have enough data to determine the effective reproduction number for Bundibugyo.”

NYT -Ebola Symptoms in Current Outbreak May Be Milder Than in Previous Ones

NYT;

“That is good news for patients, but officials fear it will make controlling the spread of the disease harder.”

Excerpts:

“… “There is too little data yet to be certain, but an assessment by the ministry of health in Congo suggests that about 90 percent of patients do not seem to develop the extensive internal and external bleeding that can arise in the disease’s horrific end stages, according to Dr. Marie-Roseline Belizaire, who leads the World Health Organization’s response to the outbreak. Some early data also suggests that fewer people may be dying this time compared with previous outbreaks.”

“Milder symptoms, and perhaps a lower chance of death, are undoubtedly good news for the patients. But they could paradoxically make it harder to control spread and end the outbreak….” “That’s really what I’m a bit anxious about, that this might be an indicator for an outbreak that lasts a lot longer,” said Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, the executive director of the W.H.O. Health Emergencies Program….”

“… In the case of Zaire Ebola, which killed more than 11,000 people in a 2014 outbreak in West Africa, about half of people developed the dramatic bleeding symptoms. If only about 10 percent of patients with Bundibugyo reach that stage, many who become ill might continue to interact with others and spread the virus without seeking care. “It makes total sense to me now how this was missed for months,” said Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, the director of Boston University’s Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases….”

“… The mortality rate of the Zaire virus can top 80 percent when no vaccines or treatments are available. The rate in this Bundibugyo outbreak has varied widely depending on the resources available in a community, but overall it seems to be less than 30 percent, according to the W.H.O….”

Reuters – US provides Ebola treatment for outbreak in Congo, bringing trials closer

Reuters;

“The U.S. has provided doses of an experimental antibody drug from Mapp Biopharmaceutical for use in clinical trials to fight the widening Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, a Health Department spokesperson said, a shift from its position of making the drug available just for ‌Americans.”

“Mapp Biopharmaceutical antibody, Gilead antivirals expected to be among the first tested for Bundibugyo…”

“… Doses of the Mapp drug ⁠and other therapeutics intended for trials are being shipped now, the World Health Organization told Reuters on Monday. The agency is working with health partners to prepare for trial enrolment in health facilities, the spokesperson said. This marks the first time the U.S. government has indicated it plans to directly support clinical trials of the antibody treatment known as MBP134 from San Diego-based Mapp, by providing stockpiled doses. The U.S. had previously said doses would only be made available for Americans deemed to be at high risk after exposure to the virus….”

“…The Mapp drug is expected to be among the first to be tested in the outbreak, which was declared a public health emergency by the WHO just over a month ago and is already the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record. Despite the urgency of the need, the WHO has said experimental treatments and vaccines should still be tested in clinical trials before widespread use.

Trials of the Mapp drug and two Gilead Sciences ( antivirals are due to begin in the coming weeks, according to the WHO and scientists involved in the testing. Vaccines will take longer, the WHO has said, although a top official at an international vaccines group said ‌earliest stage trials ⁠could begin next month, but probably not in Congo…. “

The Wired – The Most Promising Ebola Vaccine Has Been Sitting on the Shelf for 15 Years

https://www.wired.com/story/ebola-vaccine-sitting-on-shelf-for-15-years/

“Years after initial tests, researchers are now racing to see if a vaccine developed in 2011 can help fight the current Bundibugyo outbreak in Congo.”

Cfr virologist Thomas Geisbert’s work from 2011. “… Geisbert’s promising vaccine hasn’t been deployed at all—or even put through human trials—because there hasn’t been the funding or interest….”

Devex Check-up – A shot at 100 days

Devex Check-up;

“…. Here’s another positive: Partnerships established before the current outbreak are helping speed up the work to find an effective vaccine against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus. With at-risk funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the Serum Institute of India is now manufacturing vaccine doses to be used in early-stage clinical trials and potentially for efficacy assessment later on.”

“But even the best-laid plans can go awry — as the famous saying goes. During CEPI’s Global Vaccine Manufacturing Summit last week in London, SII Executive Director Umesh Shaligram warned that ambition to have a safe and effective vaccine in 100 days after a pandemic threat has been identified can fail if there are delays in the arrival of raw materials coming from another country due to geopolitics, or when export restrictions are imposed — all familiar problems from the COVID-19 pandemic. Lack of urgency on the part of local regulators can also hamper that effort. His take? Remove the locals and shift power instead to a central regulator who understands the urgency needed in approving products such as vaccines in emergencies.”

“… But Mimi Darko, director general of the African Medicines Agency, who previously served as CEO of Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority, disagreed. Rather than sidelining national regulators, she argued they should be brought into the process from the very beginning — from clinical trial design to emergency authorization frameworks and post-market safety monitoring of products.
“If you don’t engage a regulator right from the beginning, to ensure that they have the necessary frameworks in place to support innovation reaching a patient, then you will not achieve a 100 Day Mission, and you will not have a good vaccine that will end up on the market,” she said.

NYT – The Ebola Outbreak’s Central Mystery: Where Did This Virus Come From?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/science/ebola-bundibugyo-animal-reservoir.html

“Scientists believe that the Bundibugyo virus persists in an animal species, occasionally spilling over into humans. But they have yet to identify the species.”

Quote: “….Even if fruit bats or insect-eating bats are reservoirs for these viruses, scientists are also considering the possibility that they are just part of a larger ecological network of animals that pass the pathogens between one another, a network that is mostly unknown….”

NYT – How Bad Could the Ebola Outbreak Get? Here Are 5 Key Factors.

S Nolen; https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/06/23/world/africa/ebola-virus-outbreak-update.html

“… Here’s what will determine how fast the epidemic can be contained. How widespread is testing? Limited testing meant missed cases early on, though things are improving. Can infected people be traced and isolated? More Ebola exposures are being tracked, but blind spots remain. When will vaccines and treatment become available? Testing and approving vaccines and treatments could take several months or more. How far might the infection travel? Global spread appears very unlikely. Spread within the highly mobile affected region is much more likely. How deadly is the virus? It’s not clear yet, but this Ebola species may be less deadly than others.”

MSF Technical brief – The diagnostic blind spot in the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola disease outbreak: access gaps and priority actions

https://msfaccess.org/The-diagnostic-blind-spot-2026-Bundibugyo-Ebola-disease-outbreak

(24 June).

The Lancet Infectious Diseases: Growing DRC Ebola outbreak has already spread to Uganda with 70% chance of reaching South Sudan, new (WHO) modelling study suggests

Lancet Infectious Diseases – Size of the 2026 Ebola outbreak and risk of cross-border spillover from Bundibugyo virus in Ituri Province, DR Congo, and its implications for preparedness: a recalibrated stochastic modelling study

From the press release:

“New estimates suggest that the current Bundibugyo ebolavirus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to grow and has already spread to Uganda, with a nearly seven-in-ten chance of the virus reaching South Sudan. … …”

“In the absence of a vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain, the authors say neighboring countries should implement public health measures now, such as border surveillance, contact tracing, and safe burial practices, while DRC’s intensified response is showing early signs of slowing transmission. ..”

More on PPPR & GHS

As mentioned in the intro, this week “informals” started again on PABS. Below some other reads:

Lancet GH (Health Policy) – Institutionalising public health emergency preparedness and responses in Africa: lessons learned during the 2022-2025 outbreaks with crossborder spread potential

N Dereje, J Kaseya et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00160-9/fulltext

“Lessons and best practices from outbreaks during 2022–25 in Africa were not comprehensively documented or shared to inform future outbreak responses. We conducted a narrative review of published articles and outbreak response reports of mpox, cholera, Ebola virus disease, and Marburg virus disease and captured experts’ perspectives and lessons. We analysed and presented the data in themes. Evidence indicates that effective responses are built on routine investments maintained between outbreaks, particularly in decentralised laboratories, digital surveillance systems, community structures, and clinical trial readiness. The institutionalisation of response mechanisms through national public health institutes, incident management systems, and emergency operations centres reflects a maturing continental preparedness architecture, reinforced by rapid regional solidarity, south–south cooperation, and timely partner support. National political leadership was crucial in mobilising resources and ensuring public compliance, whereas innovations such as expanded genomic surveillance, timely deployment of investigational countermeasures, mobility-aware outbreak control, and improved early-warning systems strengthened responses to outbreaks. The successful control of these recent outbreaks highlights the importance of strengthening preparedness, institutionalising response systems, and fostering coordinated, Africa-led health security frameworks to support resilient and sustainable outbreak response.”

UHC 2030 – Prepared in calm for crisis: Universal health coverage and social participation as the backbone of pandemic prevention, preparedness and response

UHC2030;

“The Coalition of Partnerships for UHC and Global Health sets out its priorities for the 2026 UN High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response.”

“Universal health coverage (UHC) and global health security are not separate agendas. They are mutually reinforcing goals that seek to protect the right to health for everyone, everywhere, and depend on the same strong, equitable and resilient health systems. As the 2026 United Nations (UN) High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR) approaches, the Coalition of Partnerships for UHC and Global Health calls on world leaders to align investments in preparedness with broader efforts to strengthen health systems and recognize primary health care (PHC) and social participation as essential for UHC and PPPR…..”

“… This is why we call on Member States to prioritize the following when negotiating the new PPPR Political Declaration: (1) … A shift from parallel investments in PPPR and UHC towards a single, integrated approach grounded in PHC…. (2) A whole-of-society approach based on social participation. (3) … Address gender inequality and underinvestment in the health and care workforce….”

Sustainable Development Report 2026

https://sdgtransformationcenter.org/reports/sustainable-development-report-2026

“’The Sustainable Development Report (SDR) reviews progress on the SDGs each year since their adoption by all UN Member States in 2015. The 2026 edition identifies 8 priorities for accelerating SDG progress through 2030 and beyond, and it presents results from 2 new SDSN surveys: one of SDSN’s network of experts on governments’ SDG efforts and another of the broader public on barriers to SDG implementation and priorities for a post-2030 Agenda.’ “

· Press release: Despite Geopolitical Headwinds and Slow Progress, Global Commitment to the SDGs Holds Strong

“New SDSN report calls for stronger governance and implementation as the world enters the final stretch of the 2030 Agenda.”

“With less than four years remaining in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains significantly off track: Only 16% of targets are projected to be achieved by the deadline. The vast majority of UN Member States remain committed to the framework, but a small number of countries, most notably the United States, have moved into active opposition to the paradigm of sustainable development and the multilateral institutions that underpin it. These are among the key findings of the 11th edition of the Sustainable Development Report (SDR), released today by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).”

“This year’s SDR calls for stronger SDG implementation and renewed global cooperation as the world enters the final years of the 2030 Agenda and begins laying the groundwork for a post-2030 framework. The report includes the SDG Index and Dashboards, ranking all UN Member States across the 17 SDGs, and the Index of Countries’ Support for UN-Based Multilateralism (UN-Mi), which tracks countries’ engagement with the UN system. The report also features two new surveys: 1) The “SDSN Expert Survey on Government Efforts for the SDGs” and 2) a large-scale public survey spanning 127 countries on “SDG Challenges and Means for Implementation.” Together, they reveal broad public support for maintaining the SDG framework beyond 2030, while also exposing significant regional and country-level disparities in governance, policy effort, and implementation capacity. Across respondents, stronger mechanisms for financing, governance, and the use of science and data emerged as the top priorities for accelerating sustainable progress by 2030 and beyond.”

Quote by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs, President of the SDSN and a lead author of the report. “As the 2030 landmark approaches, the next era of sustainable development must put the global emphasis on implementation and ensuring strong financing and effective governance at all levels.”

Modern Diplomacy (Analysis): Why the SDG Report 2026 Is the Most Urgent Wake-Up Call for Global Development

Rameen Siddiqui; https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2026/06/23/why-the-sdg-report-2026-is-the-most-urgent-wake-up-call-for-global-development/

“East and South Asian countries have made the strongest SDG progress since 2015, and among major economies the standouts are India and China.” Excerpts:

“… The reason the 2026 SDR is worth reading with care is not the rankings, although those are important. It is the timing. UN talks begin this year on the future beyond 2030. In 2027, a new Secretary-General will be elected. The framework that replaces the current agenda is being shaped in conversations happening right now, and the SDR’s argument, that implementation has been the missing piece throughout and must be the organizing principle of whatever comes next, lands at the precise moment when that argument can still influence the design of the successor framework.”

“Professor Jeffrey Sachs, President of the SDSN and a lead author of the report, said the next era of sustainable development must put the global emphasis on implementation and ensuring strong financing and effective governance at all levels. That framing matters because it shifts the post-2030 conversation away from adding new goals or revising targets, the instinct of multilateral processes that want to demonstrate ambition, toward asking why the existing goals have not been delivered and what structural changes would make delivery possible.”

“… The report identifies eight priorities for the next era of sustainable development. The first is ending ongoing wars and redirecting military expenditures toward peace and human development. The list continues through an ambitious SDG implementation timeline, organizing progress around six major systemic transformations, long-term national investment plans, stronger regional and local institutions, new global taxes on commons to finance global public goods, governance frameworks for artificial intelligence and biotechnology, and new UN campuses in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to decentralize the architecture of global governance.” “Read together, these eight priorities are a diagnosis of what has been missing from the 2015 framework rather than a list of additions to it. The financing gap sits at the center…”

Siddiqui concludes: “… Our Take: A Political Gap Dressed as a Technical One: The SDR 2026 arrives with a clear central argument: the 2030 Agenda has not failed because its goals were wrong. It has underdelivered because the implementation infrastructure — the financing, the governance, the accountability mechanisms — was never built at the scale the goals required. That distinction matters enormously for what comes next. A post-2030 framework that adds new goals without fixing the implementation gap will produce the same result a decade from now. The 170-plus countries still formally committed to the SDG framework, and the broad public support documented across 127 countries in this year’s surveys, suggest the political foundation for a more ambitious implementation agenda exists. Whether the post-2030 negotiations translate that foundation into structural reform, reformed financial architecture, new global taxes, binding accountability, is the question the next two years will begin to answer. The goals were never the problem. Building the systems to deliver them is the work that has been deferred, and four years from the deadline, deferral is no longer an option.”

More on Global Health Reform & the Future of Development Cooperation

IPS – Global South Leaders Redesigning International Cooperation

Ben Phillips; https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/06/global-south-leaders-redesigning-international-cooperation/

Starting with a very neat assessment of the current debate in the Global North: “… This triptych of unworkable ideas – keep trying to restore the old order, accept managed decline or hand over to the private sector – dominates much of the attention in the Global North.”

Then Phillips continues on the rise (and momentum of) Global Public Investment:

“Thankfully, however, a growing group of Global South governments have been hard at work shaping a solution for the financing of shared global challenges. Co-convened by the Foreign Ministers of Senegal and Colombia, more than 30 countries have come together in the Coalition of Governments on Global Public Investment, to transform the current global inflection point into a moment of renewal…..”

“… Launched in July 2025 at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the coalition held its inaugural planning meeting in September 2025 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. This year the governments have gathered in Bogota in March, and in Nairobi in May, and will gather again in New York in September….”

“Anchored in the Global South, the coalition is also reaching out to countries in the Global North. “We are not looking for sympathy. What we want is an equal partnership,” emphasises Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana…. … The leaders have put together a roadmap for transforming international cooperation by 2030: “A great deal of intellectual effort has been made over years to ensure that an appropriate model was brought forward,” remarks Alva Baptiste, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saint Lucia. “Now”, he concludes, “we are mandated to get airborne.”” In other words, GPI is expected to be operational by 2030.

IDS – A new era of development cooperation? Reflections on recent dialogues

P Taylor & M Gomez ; https://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/a-new-era-of-development-cooperation-reflections-on-recent-dialogues/

“During May, two major conferences took place along with multiple related events timed to coincide with these conversations, and IDS and Southern Voice collaborated closely on both. The critical point is whether these conversations lead not only to reflection but to the concrete actions needed to build a development cooperation system that is fit for purpose for today’s contexts. An approach to global partnership that is more responsive to countries’ priorities, more inclusive in its governance, and better equipped to improve the lives of those who need it most.”

“The OECD’s Future of Development Cooperation conference in Paris, and the Global Partnerships Conference in London a week later, hosted participants from around the world to ‘build new international coalitions to tackle shared challenges’, including from the Future of Development Cooperation Coalition….”

With a few takeaways.

EU Development Policy – 10 Years After Brexit

A Sheriff; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/eu-development-policy-10-years-after-brexit-andrew-sherriff-6aooe/

Very cool analysis. Recommended.

With 10 pointers that Sheriff thinks will shape EU development policy in the coming ten years.

New Humanitarian – How crises lead to change

B Ramalingam; https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2026/06/22/how-crises-lead-change

“The temptation is to protect the system and wait for stability to return. History suggests this is exactly the wrong response.”

“In a two-part series, strategist and author Ben Ramalingam explains the “Bumble Bee Principle”, and how it applies to the humanitarian sector’s current challenges. …” (first part here)

“…. Inspired by evolutionary biology, I call this the Bumble Bee Principle – a concept that shows how crises can lead to change. There are three stages that characterise this dynamic: First, crises create both threats and opportunities. Pressure on existing systems intensifies demands and places hard limits on current ways of working, opening space for new ideas that would otherwise remain on the margins. Second, previously marginal approaches emerge into the foreground. They evolve through learning and adaptation, and prove their worth in the heat of the moment. Third, the new approaches reshape the system. They are reinforced and sustained through networks and coalitions that spread them far and wide, changing behaviours and attitudes….”

As mentioned in the intro, also something to ponder for the Global Health Reimaginers & reformers.

WHO DG race

Politico – Who will lead the WHO after Trump’s retreat?

https://www.politico.eu/article/the-gulfs-moment-to-lead-world-health-organization/

(must-read) ““The next director-general will inherit an organization grappling with a funding crisis while trying to implement a new global health model.”

“The race to choose the head of the World Health Organization is a test of who will shape global health after America’s retreat: Europe, rising powers in Asia or increasingly influential Gulf states. Europe is expected to produce at least one serious contender, but candidates from wealthy countries will face scrutiny over the unequal distribution of vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, possible candidates from Asia and the Gulf reflect the growing financial and diplomatic influence those regions wield in global health. China is unlikely to field a candidate of its own, but Beijing’s diplomatic reach across the developing world could make it a decisive power broker….”

“Adding to the uncertainty is the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the WHO earlier this year. Unlike in previous races, when the United States held disproportionate sway as the agency’s biggest funder, this contest will play out without Washington formally at the table — though many countries will still be watching for signs of whom it might favor. Some countries would “likely consider U.S. preferences in whom they support, but not all countries necessarily want the U.S. back in the WHO,” said Suerie Moon, a professor at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.”

“POLITICO spoke with 15 global health experts and officials, including delegates at the World Health Assembly in Geneva last month, to find out which names are circulating and how they might fare….”

More on Global Health Governance & Financing/Funding

Lancet Correspondence – The Global Fund needs a more open search for its next leader

J Ratevosian; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01156-6/fulltext

Making a case for greater openness. (totally agree)

“The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria formally launched its search for a new Executive Director in February, 2026, with the Board expected to make its appointment in October, 2026. The Global Fund has engaged a nomination committee to guide what it describes as a “competency-based, apolitical selection process”, identifying four to five finalist candidates for Board consideration. Decisions typically occur through closed diplomatic processes, with broader stakeholders and affected communities learning outcomes only after consequential choices have already been made. Even Board constituencies only hear from candidates after the committee has selected them. Institutions that steward billions of dollars owe their constituencies more than that. … A more open selection process that brings candidates into public view could also help build the broader public case for global health investment at a moment when that case is under attack….”

Devex Pro – Peter Sands shares lessons for NCDs from infectious diseases

https://www.devex.com/news/peter-sands-shares-lessons-for-ncds-from-infectious-diseases-112788

(gated) “For the executive director of The Global Fund, bundling the most pressing health conditions — both infectious and noncommunicable diseases — and supporting countries in rolling out the best innovations around them is the best path forward.”

“The global health sector should bundle the health conditions that drive the biggest health inequities — both infectious and noncommunicable diseases — and support countries to access the best innovations to reduce those inequities, according to Peter Sands, executive director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. They should no longer exist in siloes….”

““That really excites me as the thing that we could do better,” he said during the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Global Science Summit in Denmark on Tuesday. The foundation’s summit focused on the management of cardiometabolic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, stroke, and heart failure — which broadly represent the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. And Sands was asked what lessons the noncommunicable disease, or NCD, sector could learn from successes in tackling infectious diseases…..”

Guardian – Global framework for reparatory justice adopted at landmark conference in Ghana

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/jun/19/global-framework-reparations-justice-adopted-at-landmark-conference-in-accra-ghana

“Ensuring fair compensation for those affected by legacies of enslavement and measures to address debt burdens, part of a strategic roadmap.”

“…The document lays out a 19-point global framework for reparatory justice. They include resolving to ensure fair and adequate compensation for Africans and people of African descent affected by legacies of enslavement, colonialism, genocide and apartheid, and resolving to expedite the return of cultural property, human remains, archives and heritage to their countries of origin…. The framework also calls for multilateral measures to address sovereign debt burdens, including debt relief, to address lasting socioeconomic impacts of enslavement, colonialism and related historical injustices….”

“… The adoption came on the last day of a three-day conference billed Next Steps that also resulted in the establishment of three global panels on reparatory justice and restitution. On Thursday, Ghana’s president, John Mahama, announced the creation of an advisory panel on reparatory justice, an expert panel on the restitution of cultural artefacts, and a legal panel on reparatory justice “to serve as the pillars of the next phase of this international effort”….”

Wellcome’s 90th anniversary

J-A Rottingen; https://wellcome.org/insights/articles/CEO-on-Wellcomes-strategy

“Science works for health. Now let’s make it work for everyone.”

“Next month, Wellcome marks its 90th anniversary. For nine decades, Wellcome has supported science in the service of better health. In that time, we have seen what is possible when science works for humanity – extending lives, reducing suffering and turning once-unimaginable breakthroughs into everyday realities. …

“… Between 2022 and 2032, Wellcome is investing more than £16 billion in science worldwide…. … The most important breakthroughs often emerge from unexpected directions. Much of our funding gives researchers the freedom to pursue important questions and follow where their work takes them, trusting that curiosity, given room, can produce knowledge that matters. Alongside this, we’re focusing on three global health challenges: infectious disease, mental health and the health impacts of climate change. These are global in scale, highly pressing, and areas where science can make a meaningful and equitable difference within this decade. “

“We are concentrating our investments in the geographies where these urgent challenges are most severe and where increasing scientific capacity can significantly strengthen research and health systems to improve outcomes. By 2030, at least 25% of Wellcome’s active research investments will be in Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia, an ambition we have already been making steady progress towards for some time. …”

Ps: and via Kent Buse – “… and Wellcome is no longer positioning itself primarily as a funder. Research, influence, and engagement are now meant to work together from the start rather than in sequence.”

Lancet Comment – How middle powers can strengthen global health governance: the case of South Korea

S Moon et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01153-0/fulltext

“At a moment of “rupture” in the multilateral system, middle powers can and should ensure the cooperation needed for global public health. Middle powers are “states that are neither great nor small in terms of international power, capacity, and influence”. The category includes both smaller high-income countries, such as Norway, Switzerland, or Qatar, and larger middle-income countries such as Brazil, South Africa, or Thailand…..”

“South Korea offers an instructive example of both the potential of middle powers and the challenges they face in strengthening global health governance….”

“…South Korea received substantial foreign assistance to rebuild after the Korean War (1950–53); by the 1990s it had become a relatively small but fast-growing donor. Official development assistance (ODA) more than tripled from $1·2 billion in 2010 when South Korea joined the OECD Development Assistance Committee, to $3·9 billion in 2025 (though it has been cut since), with the government having committed to doubling its ODA volume by 2030 from 2019. About one-quarter of South Korea’s ODA has gone to health, and it has been a funder of most major global health organisations and a member of their governing boards (panel), a role that allows less-visible actors to influence global decisions through coalitions and committees…..”

“… Middle powers should prioritise where they have comparative advantage…”

“… For South Korea, two comparative strengths stand out for potential leadership. First, it could broker international agreement on divisive issues as a “creative and constructive” middle power… Countries are frequently split into Global North and Global South camps in global health negotiations, for example, in regard to financing, health worker migration, and intellectual property on health products. South Korea’s own development history relied on a flexible approach to intellectual property and could strengthen its bridge-building credibility…. … With growing pharmaceutical production and research and development capacity, its national interests on pharmaceutical intellectual property fall between the Global North and Global South, positioning it to broker compromise on intellectual property and related issues of technology transfer.”

“Second, South Korea should continue its long-standing emphasis on capacity building in development cooperation. … Continued championing of knowledge-sharing and technology transfer would distinguish South Korea from many other donor countries and respond to LMIC aspirations for greater health sovereignty. This kind of cooperation can be structured also to serve national and business interests in South Korea….”

Moon et al then offer three more suggestions on “What is needed to realise the potential of middle powers to do more?…”

OECD Policy brief – ODA projections for 2026 and the near‑term

https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oda-projections-for-2026-and-the-near-term_d7c74fa2-en.html

“What is the outlook for official development assistance (ODA) in the near term? Net ODA fell by 23.3% in 2025, its largest drop ever, following an 8.5% reduction in 2024, and is projected to decrease by a further 6% in 2026. This marks the second time on record that ODA fell for three consecutive years, after the 1992-1995 period. These cuts are expected to disproportionately affect the poorest countries. Following steep drops in 2025 (preliminary data), bilateral aid to least developed countries and sub-Saharan Africa is projected to fall by a further 9.1% and 10.9%, respectively, in 2026. Financing for health is likewise expected to decline, falling as much as 69.0% below its 2022 peak….”

· Coverage via Devex – Health ODA faces steepest cuts in 2026, OECD says

Including: “… Health ODA is projected to fall by 29%-46% from 2024 to 2026, or about $5 billion-$8 billion. The range reflects uncertainties in the share of official development assistance for coming from the United States.”

“The cuts are expected to hit some of the most vulnerable countries in sub-Saharan Africa, where external financing makes up a large proportion of health expenditure…” “ “… In terms of particular health programs, OECD projects a decline of up to 54.1% for population and reproductive health, which includes HIV and AIDS; up to 59.6% for malaria control; and up to 57.2% for tuberculosis control. Aid for water supply and sanitation — which are critical for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response — is also projected to drop by 22.3%….”

“These cuts will derail programmatic response but also trigger tough choices on reallocation of resources, potentially creating distortions and deprioritisation of less visible areas of health,” such as water, sanitation, and hygiene — or WASH — and health systems, Kalipso Chalkidou, director of performance, financing, and delivery at the World Health Organization, told Devex. … “Chalkidou said WHO — which is also facing funding constraints — is working with countries to help them understand the implications of the cuts; identify other funding sources, such as raising taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugary drinks; and introduce policies to protect the poorest members of their populations….”

Nature Health – Shifts in PEPFAR-supported HIV treatment in 26 countries from 2024 to 2025

R Godbole et al ; https://www.nature.com/articles/s44360-026-00159-1

“Analysis of fiscal year 2025 PEPFAR programme data shows a more than 10% (1.97 million people) reduction in the number of individuals receiving PEPFAR-supported HIV treatment globally compared with fiscal year 2024, with declines observed in most countries analysed.”

The Conversation – Can Africa survive the global aid squeeze? Yes, but it will take financial discipline

H G Gebrihet et al ; https://theconversation.com/can-africa-survive-the-global-aid-squeeze-yes-but-it-will-take-financial-discipline-285423

“… We believe that this moment is not only a crisis to survive. It is an opportunity to ask whether development can be renegotiated on more equal terms. Our views are based on our earlier research on trust, corruption and tax compliance; ongoing work under the Africa-Europe Clusters of Research Excellence on African agency, development financing and sustainability, a collaborative hub connecting researchers, policymakers and practitioners; and recent roundtable discussions with policymakers, scholars, activists and civil society representatives in Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa and Mauritius.”

“The question is whether Africa will approach this moment with priorities shaped by donors, creditors and external policy agendas, or with its own policy compass. Agenda 2063, the African Union’s long-term development blueprint, was designed to provide that compass….”

“That discipline begins with money. AU policy direction is clear that Africa must finance its own development, including Agenda 2063. In practice, this means African governments must rely less on external goodwill through fairer domestic revenue, more productive use of debt and firmer negotiations with donors, creditors and investors….”

CGD (blog) – Revenue Optimism Won’t Replace Lost Aid in Sub-Saharan Africa

B Clements, S Gupta et al ; https://www.cgdev.org/blog/revenue-optimism-wont-replace-lost-aid-sub-saharan-africa

« … In this post, we examine the revenue projections of IMF country teams reported in the latest World Economic Outlook and argue that revenue gains projected for 2025–30 are ambitious for many countries. In several cases, projected increases in revenue-to-GDP ratios exceed those achieved during recent periods of favorable economic growth and are larger than would be expected based on countries’ historical revenue buoyancy. If these projections fail to materialize, financing gaps will be larger than currently recognized, increasing the need for external support unless governments implement substantially stronger tax policy and revenue administration reforms than those reflected in existing forecasts….”

Reuters – Kenya’s China loan revamp sparks wider interest in yuan switch, AidData says

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/kenyas-china-loan-revamp-sparks-wider-interest-yuan-switch-aiddata-says-2026-06-23/

“Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zambia, Pakistan and Indonesia reportedly seek to switch loans currency to yuan; Kenya took a similar move in 2025, change of terms saved Nairobi $215 million annually; Ethiopia could get significant debt relief if it manages to get similar terms, report says; But currency change does not result in risk-free borrowing – report.”

“Kenya’s move ‌to convert Chinese loans from dollars into yuan to cut borrowing costs is drawing interest from at least five other African and Asian nations, an AidData study found, in a sign debt-laden borrowers are exploring alternatives to expensive dollar-linked financing….”

PS: “AidData is a U.S.-based research group at the College of William & Mary that analyses global ⁠development finance, including Chinese lending.”

Gavi and OPEC Fund partner to strengthen regional and local vaccine manufacturing, health financing and security

https://www.gavi.org/news/media-room/gavi-and-opec-fund-partner-strengthen-regional-and-local-vaccine-manufacturing

“Partnership agreement between Gavi and the OPEC Fund will help scale up sustainable health financing across 47 eligible countries. The partnership will support initiatives aimed at strengthening health systems, boosting vaccine manufacturing and pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR) capabilities.”

“The partnership is an important part of Gavi’s MDB Multiplier mechanism, which brings together multilateral development banks and development finance institutions to mobilise larger pools of financing for health. For countries, this means greater access to upfront financing to invest in immunisation and strengthen health systems – supporting the transition towards more sustainable health programmes over time. … Gavi and the OPEC Fund have a significant overlap, working in 47 common countries where their efforts can complement each other….”

WHO – HIIP continues to broaden its global footprint with new country partnerships

https://www.who.int/news/item/23-06-2026-hiip-continues-to-broaden-its-global-footprint-with-new-country-partnerships

“The Health Impact Investment Platform (HIIP) Steering Committee has approved new technical assistance proposals for Angola and Tajikistan, marking an important milestone as the Platform continues to expand across Africa and Asia. The announcement was made during HIIP’s 3rd Steering Committee meeting, held in Nairobi, Kenya on the sidelines of the World Health Summit Regional Meeting on 27–29 April 2026. The meeting brought together the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to accelerate investment in primary health care (PHC) and advance progress toward universal health coverage (UHC). With the addition of Angola and Tajikistan, the number of countries formally implementing under HIIP rises to seven, alongside Burundi, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, the Maldives and Zambia….”

PS: “HIIP – a joint initiative of WHO, EIB and IsDB – is designed to unlock and coordinate financing for PHC…”

The Collective (blog) – The rise and fall of One Health Policy – A power analysis

Remco van de Pas ; The Collective

“What does the contemporary approach to One Health look like? And do One Health policies have transformative potential? Collective Member Remco van de Pas presents findings from a recently published chapter in the edited volume One Health, Ecology, and the Politics of Emerging Infectious Diseases. “

“Historical and contemporary tensions exist between comprehensive, globalist One Health policies and nationalist-statist (bio)security approaches. This tension appears to be a constant in the governance of infectious disease control. In a recent chapter in an edited volume on One Health, Ecology, and the Politics of Emerging Infectious Disease, I have unpacked the different types of power dynamics in One Health Networks (OHN) and their governance. It feeds a policy dialogue on why some framing and approaches are dominant, and why others remain relatively neglected. The analysis builds on Suerie Moon’s framework on 8 typologies of power expressed in Global Governance of Health (2019)….”

CGTN – China’s global health logic goes beyond filling the gap

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-06-25/China-s-global-health-logic-goes-beyond-filling-the-gap-1Og07aEakKs/share_amp.html

“In this article, Wu Yanni and Zhou Qing’an, researchers from the Global Development and Health Communication Center at China’s Tsinghua University, discuss the new strategies for China’s engagement in global health assistance.” Also on the new White Paper (see last week’s IHP issue).

Excerpt: “… These examples suggest that China’s global health engagement is not a collection of isolated projects, but rather a more holistic approach that integrates infrastructure, technology transfer, capacity building, and knowledge sharing. Such efforts reflect a broader shift in how global health public goods can be produced in a manner that is more responsive to local contexts and more attentive to the priorities and voices of the Global South. This aligns with the vision outlined in the white paper, which calls for expanding the provision of global public goods while enabling greater participation of Global South countries in shaping global governance. In fact, what the white paper points toward is not simply a changing of the guard.”

“A useful way to understand this alternative model of global health governance comes from a concept increasingly discussed in the study of global public goods: aggregation technology. Recent research by Chinese scholars Xue Lan and Sun Tianshu applies this framework to global health governance, arguing that the future should move toward an arrangement in which countries and institutions contribute according to their actual capacities, rather than relying on a single dominant power to provide the majority of global health public goods…..”

“Under the conventional aid model, one or a few major donors often design projects, earmark funding, and determine which diseases or interventions receive priority, while recipient countries primarily play an implementing role. The voices of Global South countries are therefore structurally constrained by the financing arrangements themselves. By contrast, under an aggregation model, agenda setting should not be determined solely by who contributes the most financially. Instead, it should be shaped by the diverse capacities, experiences, and knowledge that different countries and institutions bring to the table. … Viewed through this lens, the aggregation model may offer a useful explanation for why a more distributed system of global health cooperation can be more resilient….”

“… The white paper’s emphasis on providing more public goods and listening more closely to the Global South points toward this underlying shift: a transition toward a global health system organized less around who can write the biggest check and more around a deliberate weighting of capacity, knowledge, and need across many contributors.”

And a link:

· WHO – From consultation to partnership: WHO Civil Society Commission charts next phase

“ The World Health Organization (WHO) Civil Society Commission (CSC) held its third Annual General Meeting (AGM) virtually on 2 April 2026…”

“… In his keynote, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was direct: civil society is not at the margins of global health – it is on the front line, working closest to communities, often under the most difficult conditions. He framed the current moment not only as a challenge but as a defining opportunity to deepen partnerships and strengthen health system resilience. The discussion that followed reflected broad agreement that, as challenges, from health financing gaps and system fragmentation to the rising burden of mental health and noncommunicable diseases grow more complex, ad hoc collaboration is no longer sufficient. Civil society must sustain its advocacy role while also securing a more structured place in global health decision-making, grounded in joint action with WHO and Member States. The Director-General was clear on what that means in practice: “We want to move from consultation to genuine partnership. We want engagement that is not ad hoc, but embedded.”…”

Global Tax Justice & reform (and debt reform)

BMJ Editorial – Action for a healthier global tax system

A Waris & M Kavanagh; https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-343297

“Global treaty could ensure tax due is collected to pay for public services.”

“Health systems worldwide are in crisis—waiting lists lengthening, workforces stretched, pandemic preparedness lacking. Too often, the explanation given is that there simply is not enough money. This is incorrect. In fact, the global fiscal architecture that should collect taxes for public spending is failing. The global tax system diverts hundreds of billions of dollars annually away from public budgets through corporate profit shifting across borders to conceal wealth or eliminate or reduce tax liability and governance that favours wealthy nations and individuals.Cross-border tax abuse occurs through legal loopholes while enforcement gaps allow illegal practice to flourish…”

“… This type of tax loss from public budgets is a major and neglected determinant of health. Consequences are sharpest in the global south. ….”

“…Negotiations have been underway since 2024 for a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation focusing on reducing inequality and potentially decolonising the international tax space. However, the convention does not require unanimous ratification and will be binding only for those states that sign. … …. A strong convention for health financing would need to include three key provisions. First, a reallocation of taxing rights: currently, a mining company operating in Africa can register its profits in a holding company in a European tax haven, depriving the source country of revenue despite it bearing the full environmental and social costs of extraction. Taxing profits where economic activity actually occurs could directly increase the capacity of nations in the global south to fund their health systems. Second, mandatory transparency: states should require corporations to publicly report profits and taxes. This would help dismantle the opaque systems that enable corporate profit shifting and offshore wealth and enable enforcement. Third, we need a permanent intergovernmental tax body open to all UN member states beyond the control of only the most powerful governments. …”

PS: “… The health community has been largely absent from this debate. That must change. Fiscal policy is health policy: taxes uncollected from wealthy corporations and individuals can direct needed resources to health systems, workforce, and global efforts such as pandemic preparedness. Responsible management and anticorruption efforts must clearly also be strengthened. Researchers should quantify the effect of tax abuse on health systems. Health ministries and the World Health Organization should formally engage in the negotiating process. National and international professional associations and journals should call for a strong, binding treaty. The convention is due to be concluded in 2027, and therefore the opportunity to help shape it is now. The structure of tax could dictate our health for years to come.”

Action Aid – Still Cooking With a Failed Recipe

https://actionaid.org/publications/2026/still-cooking-failed-recipe

“A review of IMF country advice on social spending, public services, debt, tax and gender equality.”

“A new report by ActionAid, Education International and the Tax and Education Alliance, supported by 19 partners, has revealed how the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) rigid, one-size-fits-all approach to public spending continues to harm people living in poverty around the world. The report reveals staggering double standards and calls out the empty rhetoric of change within the institution. The IMF is still essentially a debt enforcer that serves the interests of wealthy creditors over people’s lives, human rights, public services, and gender equality….”

Countries selected: Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, the UK, Zambia and Zimbabwe – they are deliberately diverse, from different regions and income groups.

South Centre (Tax Cooperation Policy brief) – Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water: Making Wealth Taxes Work in Developing Countries

A Wanyagathi Maina; https://www.southcentre.int/tax-cooperation-policy-brief-no-42-23-june-2026/

“…. This policy brief explores the relevance and feasibility of net wealth taxes in developing countries, reviewing the implementation experiences in Latin America and Africa, as well as key criticisms and objections, which range from efficiency concerns, administrative challenges, limited revenue yield, to political resistance. The brief argues that these challenges can be overcome through a well-designed wealth tax supported by international cooperation and domestic reforms to improve capacity and transparency. It calls for more research from a developing-country perspective on the effectiveness of such taxes and urges governments to pursue carefully designed wealth taxes aligned with national priorities to support progressive and sustainable revenue mobilization.”

Reuters – Debt restructuring framework for poorer nations needs fixing, Paris Club says

Reuters;

“ Paris Club said reforms should make the Common Framework faster and more efficient; Fifty-two percent of low-income countries are at low or moderate debt-distress risk, the report says. Ethiopia faces a dispute between bondholders and official creditors over its $1 billion defaulted bond.”

“Reforms are needed to a core sovereign debt restructuring initiative for low-income ‌countries known as the Common Framework to make it faster and more efficient, the Paris Club of creditor nations said in its 2025 annual report on Wednesday. The group released the report, a compendium of views from officials, at the start of an annual meeting in Paris that brings together creditors, borrowing countries and investors to discuss sovereign debt issues….”

UHC & PHC

Lancet Comment – Indonesia’s health reform: from pandemic mandate to the six pillars of transformation

B G Sadikin; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01090-1/fulltext

By Indonesia’s Minister of Health. “…. When I was appointed as Minister of Health at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in December, 2020, my mandate was two-fold: to manage the immediate crisis and to deliver the most ambitious health reform in Indonesia’s history….” Read what the latter entailed.

PS: Sadikin is seen as a key contender in the WHO DG race.

Trump 2.0 & US Global Health Strategy/bilateral health agreements

Semafor – Trump administration to end PEPFAR funding for South Africa

Semafor;

“US President Donald Trump’s administration plans to permanently end funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, in South Africa, according to a State Department official and two congressional aides briefed on the decision. “The United States has decided to initiate a phased drawdown of PEPFAR programming in South Africa following South Africa’s failure to make demonstrable progress on policy requests by the administration,” the State Department official told Semafor. The aides said that State Department officials confirmed this week that the administration is aiming to close out PEPFAR, the US global initiative to fight HIV/AIDS, in South Africa by early next year. “

· See also Semafor:

“There is a case for transition. After two decades of external support, moving toward country ownership and sustainable financing is reasonable, something Washington says it is aiming to do across Africa….”

“… This is not to say Washington’s attempt to force Pretoria into gutting laws born of South Africa’s constitutional settlement doesn’t cross a line. PEPFAR did more than buy pills: It paid for the entire administrative and community spine. Estimates already circulating inside the government point to a gaping budget hole and modeled projections that could translate funding cuts into new infections and deaths. Officials and one rural outreach manager I spoke to over the weekend described anger and a sense of betrayal, feeling blindsided by a decision that ties life-saving aid to demands over post-apartheid transformation laws. Pressing South Africa to dismantle these measures as the price of treatment is indefensible, undermining sovereignty, and making cooperation on health harder….”

· And still via Semafor:

“South Africa is targeting self-reliance to fund its healthcare sector, its health minister told a UN meeting, saying Washington’s cancellation of a multibillion-dollar HIV/AIDS program was a “wake-up call.” Aaron Motsoaledi’s comments in New York came days after Semafor first reported that the Trump administration was withdrawing PEPFAR funding to the country, which poured $8 billion into treating the world’s largest HIV/AIDS caseload over two decades.”

“The PEPFAR termination is a fiscal headache for South Africa: Pretoria has set aside a 750 million rand ($45 million) stopgap allocation to keep clinics open, protect HIV/AIDS treatment, and revive clinical research trials — less than 10% of what Washington used to inject into the system annually.

Reuters – UNAIDS chief urges US to reconsider South Africa funding cut

Reuters;

“The head of UNAIDS said on Monday she was saddened by U.S. plans to withdraw HIV/AIDS funding for South Africa and urged Washington to reconsider, warning the move could cost ‌lives in the country with the largest number of people infected with the virus….”

Byanyima argues for a planned transition instead.

Devex – Top US official defends controversial global health deals

https://www.devex.com/news/top-us-official-defends-controversial-global-health-deals-112761

“Jeff Graham, a senior State Department official, addressed the many controversies surrounding the MOUs, from concerns about access to health data to allegations that Washington is linking the deals to access to critical minerals.”

“The U.S. State Department has signed 32 bilateral global health memorandums of understanding to date but has not made them public, fueling criticism and speculation about their transactional nature. However, a senior official involved in negotiating the agreements insists there is nothing nefarious about them. In a rare public discussion of the MOUs by a top U.S. official, Jeff Graham, senior official for the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy at the State Department and acting global AIDS coordinator, addressed the many criticisms and controversies surrounding the deals, from concerns about U.S. access to health data to allegations that Washington is linking the agreements to access to critical minerals in countries such as Zambia….”

“If you had every MOU in front of you and you did a word search on critical minerals, you would not find those words. It’s not in any MOU, and there’s no explicit ask for those anywhere,” he said during the SID-US 2026 Annual Conference on Thursday in Washington, D.C. That was one of many intriguing insights that Graham — who’s also America’s acting AIDS coordinator — revealed about the health agreements that have generated excitement, frustration, and perhaps above all, questions given how tightly guarded their contents have been.”

“…But Graham rebuffed criticism that the MOUs have been too secretive, explaining that countries can make their MOUs public whenever they want, and that the U.S. has not done so yet because it’s “strategically not good” to reveal details of deals while others are still being negotiated….”

“He also defended U.S. demands that partner countries share health data, noting that Washington is requesting no more information than it has through past assistance programs and, in some cases, less than what was collected under PEPFAR.”

“And he praised the stipulations in the bilateral health compacts that countries put up a certain share of money to receive the larger bulk of U.S. funding as a long overdue promise.
“I say this unapologetically — this is pushing better choices, better behavior on governments by making them put some skin in the game,” he said….” ““If governments don’t put their own skin in the game, are they going to be motivated to ever be self-sustaining?” he added, arguing the U.S. can’t fund health programs forever….”

· See also Devex Check-up :

“Graham also revealed the bureau’s other priorities…. He said the bureau has a separate bucket of money for game-changing innovations — such as the HIV prevention drug lenacapavir. They also have money for neglected tropical diseases and nutrition. “We did not include in the MOUs nutrition and NTDs … in part because we just couldn’t quite figure out how we wanted to use those monies. So we preserved them, and now have strategies that are getting close to approval for how we’ll deploy the funds for those,” he said.”

“And the bureau is rethinking its approach to global health funding. Rather than spreading resources across multiple diseases in multiple countries, Graham said one idea is concentrating funding on one or two diseases in specific geographic areas. They also have additional transition funding and incentive funding for countries that exceed their targets in the MOUs.”

“That said, they don’t have a budget for everything. Graham said the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy is structured differently from USAID, and “almost entirely only working on infectious diseases and major outbreaks and epidemics.” “We don’t currently touch on NCDs and some other things that may have been handled in the past,” he said, noting that everything they do is in line with the “America First” global health strategy. ….”

Propublica – “A Huge Grab of Power”: Trump Is Defying Congress on Foreign Aid

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-defying-congress-foreign-aid-usaid-vought-rubio-constitutional-crisis?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=propublica-bsky

“A Constitutional Crisis: Congress gave orders to Trump officials on foreign aid spending, but officials have largely refused to follow many of them, likely in violation of the law, experts say.”

“Delayed Spending: Officials have made little effort to spend aid money that Congress earmarked for specific purposes like nutrition and have reduced funding for HIV and other diseases.

Blocked Funds: Russell Vought’s Office of Management and Budget has labeled some aid money “unallocated” to control how it can be spent.”

· See also Devex Check-up:

“… But the billion-dollar question is: What happens to everything else? That includes congressionally appropriated funding for organizations and programs, such as for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund, and family planning. ProPublica reports that a recent analysis found that of the $9 billion that Congress asked the Trump administration to spend on global health in 2025, only $190 million has been obligated as of March 2026. But the State Department disagreed, saying it has approved and implemented more than $7.5 billion to date.”

lic Citizen – Trump Administration Global Health Agreements: Negotiation Tracker

Public Citizen – Trump Administration Global Health Agreements: Negotiation Tracker

https://www.citizen.org/article/health-mou-negotiation-tracker/

(17 June) (see also last week’s IHP news)

“The Public Citizen “Negotiation Tracker” is a living document analyzing the available MoUs. … The Tracker identifies areas where the standard template terms have been changed in the agreement with a specific country. It is designed to support country-level advocacy and action for more equitable agreements by identifying the areas where countries appear to have been able to negotiate changes that are less stringent or extractive and/or more tailored to country contexts. It may be possible to re-negotiate MoUs and to update approaches during the implementation planning phases. The Tracker is also designed to identify potentially adverse consequences of the US approach to implementing the America First Global Health Strategy…”

“… Countries are not being held to the same standards or receiving comparable benefits;

Variation in process and outcome metrics complicates regional harmonization and evaluation of the America First Global Health Strategy’s efficacy and impact;

Country-by-country terms and definitions for global health security collaboration differ, which may undermine regionally and globally coherent disease response; and

Variation across MoUs shows that countries have opportunities to negotiate improved terms, additional benefits or revised metrics.”

“… Two overarching conclusions emerge. First, by structuring these agreements as opaque, bilateral deals, AFGHS architects are not only missing an opportunity for alignment, standardization, and shared learning—they are actively limiting it. Immediate public release of all MoUs, along with the associated data and specimen sharing agreements, is essential to enable transparency, cross-country comparison, and the identification of best practices that could strengthen both country outcomes and the overall return on global health investments.

Second, the agreements demonstrate that countries do have some degree of agency within this process. Governments have secured more favorable and/or flexible terms, even as others have adopted more stringent conditions. Key provisions including areas for investment beyond the MoUs, domestic manufacturing and purchase of locally manufactured goods were introduced in some instances, and omitted in others. …”

TGH – Why U.S.-Zambia Foreign Aid Negotiations Should Continue

W Moss; https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/why-u-s-zambia-foreign-aid-negotiations-should-continue

“International Vaccine Access Center lead William Moss explains why Zambia needs funding to maintain progress on malaria, HIV, and vaccination programs.”

“….the withdrawal of support for critical programs should be gradual and planned; a successful MOU would guide that process….”

World Cup Football

Lancet Letter – The beautiful ad: alcohol promotion at the 2026 men’s World Cup

J J Villalba & I Torres; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01255-9/fulltext

“In the midst of the 2026 men’s football World Cup, the paradox of using the world’s most popular sport to normalise and promote alcohol consumption has resurfaced. Although it is understandable that an organisation like the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) would seek to maximise its profits through sponsorships from brewing giants, such as AB InBev (Leuven, Belgium), the willingness of host countries to support alcohol consumption is surprising. The pervasive presence of alcohol brands on promotional products, in stadiums, on television broadcasts, and on social media makes football a highly effective marketing platform, as it systematically convenes billions of fans worldwide and helps bypass advertising controls…..”

PS: “…. With a little help from WHO, FIFA even gets a dose of social washing with the Be Active campaign, which is broadcast alongside alcohol advertising during the hydration breaks, which seem to have been introduced for that very purpose….”

More on NCDs & Commercial determinants of health

Report of the DG of the WHO on the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of NCDs to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

https://docs.un.org/en/E/2026/66

“The report serves to highlight the achievements of the Task Force with respect to the four priorities of its 2022–2025 strategy:

(a) supporting countries in delivering #multisectoral action on the noncommunicable disease-related Sustainable Development Goal targets;
(b) mobilizing #resources to support the development of national responses to reach the noncommunicable disease-related Goal targets;
(c) harmonizing action and forging #partnerships; and
(d) exemplifying United Nations reform.

The report was prepared following the adoption of the political declaration of the fourth high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of #NCDs noncommunicable diseases and the promotion of #mentalhealth and well-being.”

Lancet Editorial – Cancer in young adults: out of the shadows?

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01279-1/fulltext

This week’s Lancet Editorial.

“ While cancer remains largely a disease of older individuals, a surprising increase in early-onset cancers seems to be occurring. It is a trend that should have the attention of health communities everywhere….”

The editorial concludes: “… The issue of cancer in young adults is generating political attention. Aside from the US Senate’s action, G7 leaders released a statement on June 17 identifying cancer in adolescents and young adults as a priority in global cancer care. The requirement now is for concerted multidisciplinary effort in both research and health systems to better understand cancer in young adults and to meet the specific needs of those affected.”

Habib Benzian – Your Teeth Know What Kind of Health System You Live In

On Substack;

“Dental coverage and the limits of solidarity.”

“Oral healthcare is not marginal because it is trivial. It is marginal because it sits at the fault line between two competing ideas of healthcare: one rooted in collective responsibility, the other in the ability to pay.”

With a history lesson on Bismarckian health systems.

SRHR

HPW – African Women’s Rights Charter Faces Challenge from Conservatives

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/african-womens-rights-charter-faces-challenge-from-conservatives/

“Human rights and legal experts have urged African governments not to buy into a draft charter being incubated by conservatives that will undermine the rights of women and girls.” (cfr recent webinar)

“… Now, one of the few continental treaties that protects women’s rights and promotes gender equality – known as the Maputo Protocol – is under threat from a conservative alliance with its roots in the Christian right-wing in the United States. This alliance has developed a rival treaty – the draft African Charter on Family Sovereignty and Values – that it wants the African Union to adopt instead. “

Quote: “Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, outgoing United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Health, described the draft charter as “yet another assault on sexual and reproductive health rights and justice, as well as bodily autonomy and human rights in general”. It is the first continent-wide “patriarchal push to dislodge human rights”, she said, adding that the Maputo Protocol “has been playing a defining role in promoting gender equality, as well as protecting reproductive and health rights of women and girls in Africa….”

Guardian – Midwives on frontline of childbirth deaths crisis denied visas for key summit

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/19/midwives-africa-asia-mother-baby-childbirth-deaths-crisis-denied-visas-summit-portugal

“Outcry as experts from African and Asian countries – where mortality is highest – prevented from attending Portugal conference on prevention.”

“Visa rejections have threatened progress on mother and baby health after experts from struggling countries were barred from talks, global midwife leaders have said. Politicians, donors and UN agencies convened this week at the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) congress in Lisbon, Portugal, a key conference to discuss the millions of avoidable mother and baby deaths every year. But last-minute visa refusals meant eminent midwives from Africa and Asia – where the majority of lives are lost – were excluded. Urgent appeals were lodged for delegates from countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, India and Indonesia…..”

Child health

WHO urges scale up of newborn screening to improve early detection and care of birth defects

https://www.who.int/news/item/23-06-2026-who-urges-scale-up-of-newborn-screening-to-improve-early-detection-and-care-of-birth-defects

“The World Health Organization (WHO) today calls on countries to expand newborn screening for birth defects, highlighting how early detection and treatment can save lives and reduce lifelong disability for millions of children.”

“A new WHO report, Strengthening capacity for newborn screening, diagnosis and management of birth defects, identifies newborn screening as an important opportunity to accelerate progress in child survival. Many conditions can be successfully treated if identified early after birth. These include congenital hypothyroidism, sickle-cell disease, hearing impairment and some metabolic disorders. Yet millions of children are still diagnosed too late or never receive treatment at all.

Worldwide, an estimated 8 million babies are born with a birth defect each year, and birth defects now account for almost 8% of all deaths among children under five. An estimated 90% of children born with serious birth defects live in low- and middle-income countries, where access to screening, diagnosis and treatment remains limited…..”

· Coverage via HPW – WHO Urges Dramatic Expansion of Newborn Screening to Detect Birth Defects

Lancet Public Health (Editorial) – Protecting childhood: a pressing priority

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(26)00127-1/fulltext

Editorial of the new July issue.

“All children deserve to grow up in safe, stable, and nurturing environments. Yet millions globally face adversity, with their youngest years marked by stress, trauma, or abuse. So-called adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) include sexual, physical, or emotional abuse, physical or emotional neglect, and parental separation or divorce. …”

… The burden of ACEs is substantial. In this issue of The Lancet Public Health, Sheri Madigan and colleagues report the first systematic review and meta-analysis pooling prevalence estimates for ten core ACEs…. The most common ACEs were emotional abuse and parental divorce or separation, with around one in four adults reporting these ACEs. Around one in five adults reported emotional neglect, physical abuse, or living with a household member who had a substance misuse or mental health problem. One in seven reported witnessing intimate partner violence, one in nine reported physical neglect, one in ten reported sexual abuse, and one in 12 reported incarceration of a household member. These comprehensive findings provide policy makers with strong evidence to direct more resources toward addressing ACEs. …”

Planetary Health/Climate & Health

Carbon Brief – Bonn climate talks: Key outcomes from the June 2026 UN climate conference

https://www.carbonbrief.org/bonn-climate-talks-key-outcomes-from-the-june-2026-un-climate-conference/

For an extensive overview of the key outcomes.

“Two weeks of tense UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, have produced few tangible outcomes as diplomats faced “gridlock”. Negotiators failed to find agreement in numerous areas, such as scaling up global emissions cuts and funding for climate adaptation. In the closing plenary, many diplomats lamented weakened trust in the UN climate process, as it struggled to find its footing in a new geopolitical landscape. …”

“As ever, climate finance was one of the greatest sources of tension between developed and developing countries, influencing the debate around adaptation and trade in the Bonn talks….”

Global Climate & Health Alliance – Bonn Climate Meeting: Health Community Calls Out Developed Countries for Blocking Climate Finance

https://climateandhealthalliance.org/press-releases/bonn-health_community-calls-out-developed-countries-for-blocking-climate-finance/

“Developed countries seem unable to recall climate commitments to triple adaptation finance made just seven months ago.”

“As the annual UNFCCC climate meeting (SB 64, June 8-18) closed in Bonn, the Global Climate and Health Alliance called on governments of developed countries to stop blocking Global Goal on Adaptation negotiations and to triple adaptation finance for the sake of health and lives of people everywhere…..”

UN News – Climate crisis: UN chief lays out solutions blueprint for clean energy transition

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167785

As a deadly heatwave continued to grip Europe on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres issued an impassioned appeal for more ambitious global action on climate change caused by fossil fuels, to prevent irreversible damage. In a major keynote speech at London Climate Action Week, the UN chief called on AI firms to “come clean” on the full environmental impact of data centres in terms their carbon, water and land footprints.”

With a seven-point plan for energy independence.

PIK – New UN brief highlights governance challenge of Earth system tipping points

https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/new-un-brief-highlights-governance-challenge-of-earth-system-tipping-points

“A new science brief by the UN Secretary-General’s Scientific Advisory Board highlights Earth system tipping points as a unique global governance challenge. The brief, produced in partnership with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), argues that the risks of crossing tipping points require decision-making under deep uncertainty, long time horizons and potentially hard-to-reverse change.”

Carbon Brief – Experts: Why carbon removal needs a ‘major scale up’ to return warming to 1.5C

https://www.carbonbrief.org/experts-why-carbon-removal-needs-a-major-scale-up-to-return-warming-to-1-5c/

“Last week, more than 260 researchers convened in Milan to discuss the opportunities, challenges and risks involved in scaling “carbon dioxide removal” (CDR) to help curb climate change. The conference – held on the campus of the Politecnico di Milano – is the fourth in a series, with previous editions held in Oxford, UK in 2024, and Gothenburg, Sweden in 2018 and 2022. “

“A broad range of academics – from forests, oceans and soils experts through to social and political scientists – discussed the co-benefits and trade-offs involved in drawing down CO2 from the atmosphere at scale, as well as the ways policy could drive CDR deployment.”

Carbon Brief summarises the key talking points at the conference.

· PS: related tweet PIK: “Carbon removal will become increasingly important as the world risks overshooting 1.5°C, says PIKs Sabine Fuss in @carbonbrief.org. But climate change may make some approaches, especially forests, less resilient with higher temperatures & more disturbances.”

High-level strategic meeting for the Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH) (25 June)

https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2026/06/25/default-calendar/atach-high-level-strategic-meeting

Organized under the auspices of the Health Working Group of the G7 under the G7 Presidency of France and WHO, the ATACH High-Level Strategic Meeting took place in Paris on 25 June.

“The WHO-led Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate Change and Health (ATACH) brings together over 100 countries and over 100 partners prioritizing increased action on climate change and health at the national level. A high-level strategic meeting of the Alliance [was] held on 25 June in Paris, under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of France, to renew the health sector’s commitment to sustainable, low-carbon and climate-resilient health systems in the face of the global climate crisis….”

Stay tuned for an article with meeting outcomes.

The Elders – A UN Planetary Council could help tackle the global climate and nature crisis

https://theelders.org/news/un-planetary-council-could-help-tackle-global-climate-and-nature-crisis

“A UN Planetary Council could help drive more effective global action on climate change and other environmental crises. The current system is operating in silos. We need more urgent and coordinated action. The focus should be on putting existing decisions into practice and tracking progress. This is essential if we are to protect our shared planet from irreparable harm….”

“President Lula of Brazil first called for a UN Climate Council in 2024. We applaud his ambition, particularly given the complex and polarised geopolitical environment in which multilateralism currently operates. A UN Planetary Council would encompass not only the climate crisis, but also the full range of global environmental crises, from the loss of nature and wildlife to land degradation, desertification, and pollution. These crises are deeply interconnected and must be addressed together…”

“… Existing coordinating mechanisms, such as the UN Economic and Social Council, have significant roles to play. But they have not proved capable of driving the wider progress needed…. A Planetary Council could fill that gap, seeking to coordinate all actors around urgent environmental priorities. It would work to align efforts across existing conventions to ensure that they reinforce, rather than compete with, one another. This would maximise our collective impact in safeguarding the planet. A UN Planetary Council would also put the climate and nature emergency at the heart of the UN system, giving it the political weight and visibility it needs. Such a Council could be established through a UN General Assembly resolution, in the same way that the UN Human Rights Council was created as a subsidiary body in 2006…..”

Earth’s Future – Charting a Transformational Course Toward a Safe and Just Future: The Earth Commission’s Contribution

J Rockström et al; https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025EF006976

“… the Earth Commission has developed a science-based framework that integrates biophysical limits with justice considerations, aiming to enable human wellbeing for all. The Earth Commission’s first assessment showed that multiple safe and just Earth system boundaries have already been transgressed, threatening the resilience of the planet and the well-being of billions. This paper outlines the vision and scientific strategy for the Earth Commission’s second phase (2024–2027), which focuses on advancing this framework and translating it into actionable budgets and exploring transformation pathways toward a safe and just future. Key components include expanding the safe and just boundary assessment to currently under-assessed Earth system processes (e.g., novel entities and ocean change), integrating justice more deeply into the framework, modeling interactions between boundaries and tipping points, and developing practical approaches to cross-scale translation and transformation. Special attention is given to the structural inequalities and power dynamics that shape both environmental degradation and our capacity to act. …”

Telegraph – Uganda introduces checks for polluting cars that kill more than HIV

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/uganda-emissions-pollution-air-hiv-cancer-bronchitis/

“Background air pollution in the capital Kampala exceeds WHO limits by up to 12 times.”

“Uganda is conducting its first compulsory emissions checks on vehicles after it emerged more people are dying from air pollution than HIV in the capital Kampala. High air pollution levels in the city, where many vehicles are more than 25 years old, account for around one in five adult deaths from natural causes…. “

“Recent exhaust pipe tests on cars, minibuses, lorries and motorcycles showed nitrogen oxide emissions more than nine times higher than European limits. Background air pollution – primarily caused by road transport – was found to exceed World Health Organisation (WHO) limits by up to 12 times…..”

NEJM (Perspective) – Improving Global Air-Quality Indices — The WHO’s New Roadmap

R D Brook et al; https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2601256

“Many countries rely on air-quality indices to inform the public and help protect people during short-term increases in air pollution. Their use has important societal and economic implications.”

“At a time when regulatory protections have increasingly become subject to political maneuvering and the burden of safeguarding public health is shifting to clinicians, local health officials, and the public itself, AQIs are taking on a more important role. To maintain public trust, such indices must be subject to robust independent examination to ensure that they align with the latest scientific evidence. In January 2026, the WHO published a report, which we coauthored with colleagues, evaluating these tools…. … “

“… The WHO report distinguishes between two broad categories of indices. Conventional AQIs convey information about short-term concentrations of pollutants (e.g., PM2.5, ozone, nitrogen dioxide [NO2], sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide) using standardized, unitless scales (e.g., 0 to 500 in the United States)…. … In contrast, air-quality health indices (AQHIs), such as the index adopted in Canada in 2008, provide values that are indicative of health risks (e.g., the risk of death) associated with exposure to mixtures of various pollutants….”

PS: “… The WHO report identifies the transition to health-based, multipollutant indices as a key priority. Yet it also recognizes the complexity involved in developing such indices and suggests that implementing simpler approaches, including indices based on only PM2.5, could be an interim strategy in resource-constrained settings….”

US pushes World Bank climate target to the brink

https://www.eenews.net/articles/us-pushes-world-bank-climate-target-to-the-brink/

“The bank’s goal of steering 45 percent of its financing toward climate projects is being attacked by the White House before it expires at the end of June.”

Nature Health – Health and climate justice for small and island nations

Hans Kluge (WHO Euro) & Saia Ma’u Piukala ( WHO Office for the Western Pacific Regional); https://www.nature.com/articles/s44360-026-00157-3

“By working together, small and island nations can shape a fairer, more effective response to climate change.”

· Via Kluge on LinkedIn: “Small and island nations have contributed the least to global emissions, yet they face some of the most immediate and severe health risks from climate change. In a new Comment in Nature, co-authored with my colleague Dr. Saia Ma’u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, we argue that the countries most exposed to these risks also hold vital knowledge for the response, and can achieve more by working together across regions. “

“…. Our regions have much to learn from each other. The WHO European Region brings experience in institutional coordination and heat-health action. Western Pacific countries bring deep knowledge of community engagement, traditional leadership and decision-making rooted in local realities.
That cooperation can deliver practical results, with countries better prepared for climate-related health risks, health workers ready for emergencies, and fairer access to the finance small and island nations need to protect people.”

Nature Africa – The invisible workers behind the green transition

https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-026-00171-3

“Informal miners, recyclers and waste workers help power the shift to renewable energy, yet their labour is often overlooked in sustainability debates.”

· And via Devex@LondonClimateactionweek: Making money moves

Re climate finance trends: “Global climate finance surpassed $2 trillion in 2024 and is expected to reach $2.1 trillion this year, according to new data released by Climate Policy Initiative during London Climate Action Week. The figures suggest climate investment has continued to grow despite geopolitical tensions, debt pressures, and economic uncertainty. But the picture remains uneven. While finance flowing to emerging markets and developing economies grew 10% in 2024, reaching $1.2 trillion, least-developed countries actually saw climate finance fall by 21%. Meanwhile, domestic private players now account for 60% of global mitigation finance and have driven roughly 70% of its growth since 2019….”

· Also via Devex: re a Devex survey on climate & health

“Climate change is no longer just an environmental story — it’s rapidly becoming one of the biggest threats to global health. …. Yet despite growing awareness, many experts worry health systems remain dangerously unprepared. In a recent Devex survey, 89% of respondents say climate change is already significantly affecting health outcomes, while 90% expect the situation to worsen over the next decade….”

“Many see the “One Health” approach — which links the health of people, animals, and ecosystems — as the most promising path forward. But experts warn that frameworks alone won’t solve the problem. As one survey respondent puts it: “Agreeing that One Health is the right framework is not the same as claiming it is sufficient.” … …. The challenge is becoming more urgent as climate impacts accelerate just as aid budgets contract. Respondents point to weak coordination, underinvestment, and a lack of climate-informed health policies as major obstacles. The consensus was clear: Tackling climate and health together will require stronger local adaptation, better data, more resilient health systems, and far greater investment before today’s crisis becomes tomorrow’s catastrophe.”

· For some more key messages of this survey, see also Devex: How climate change impacts global health — and what to do about it

Guardian – Datacentres facing increase in global climate-related legal cases, report finds

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/25/datacentres-facing-increase-in-global-climate-related-legal-cases-report-finds

“LSE analysis highlights litigation linked to energy sources, water consumption and air pollution.”

Access to Medicines, vaccines & other health technologies

Devex Check-up – Take a bet

https://pages.devex.com/index.php/email/emailWebview

(23 June) “Post-COVID-19, there have also been efforts to boost vaccine manufacturing in Africa.
South African vaccine manufacturer Biovac recently secured a major financing boost from international financial institutions such as the International Finance Corporation and the European Investment Bank to build an end-to-end, multivaccine facility on the African continent. But getting that financing was far from straightforward, Biovac CEO Morena Makhoana said at the CEPI summit. When approaching lenders, he said they were often asked if they had offtake agreements, state guarantees, or an equity partner. Grant funders would ask about their regulatory system. When Biovac couldn’t tick all those boxes, the answer was often: “Come back later.”
Things only started changing when some funders “took a bet” on them. In 2022, the company signed a licensing and technology transfer deal with the International Vaccine Institute to develop and manufacture oral cholera vaccines, with initial funding from Wellcome and the Gates Foundation. That early support helped unlock additional financing, with organizations such as the ELMA Vaccines & Immunization Foundation and Open Philanthropy — now known as Coefficient Giving — joining the effort. And today, while they’re still doing clinical trials, Makhoana said 15 different organizations are now backing the project — a sign of how quickly momentum can build once the first investors come on board….”

Resolve – Can market shaping improve medicine access across Africa?

Paul Adepoju; https://www.re-solveglobalhealth.com/post/can-market-shaping-improve-medicine-access-across-africa

“More affordable medicines do not always lead to better access. As donor funding becomes less certain and the burden of non-communicable diseases continues to rise, African countries are exploring whether market shaping can create more reliable medicine supply.”

“…attention in many African countries is increasingly shifting beyond price reduction alone to “market shaping”—strategies designed to make medicine markets more predictable, affordable, and sustainable..”

More than 50 organisations call on the EU to ensure that medicines funded by public money are accessible

https://saludporderecho.org/en/funded-public-money-accessible/

“… Salud por Derecho, together with 53 other European and international organisations, has called on the European Parliament to use the negotiations on the EU’s next research and innovation programme to introduce changes. We are asking that, whenever the European Union funds projects aimed at developing new medicines, vaccines or other health technologies, consideration is given from the outset to how those products will ultimately reach the people who need them….”

· Related analysis in Geneva Health Files: When The Public Pays Twice: The Gap in The Conditions on Access. Analysis on The EU’s €175 Billion Research Funds (by Merlin Ince)

Concluding: “…The Pandemic Agreement governs products for health emergencies, while FP10 governs health research of every kind. The principle, however, is identical, and the EU has already accepted it once. Having concurred in Geneva, through the Pandemic Agreement, that public money for research should come with access conditions, the EU is now deciding, in Brussels, whether to apply that same principle to the proposed €175 billion it will spend on research over the next seven years. Whether a commitment made internationally, reaches the EU’s own research budget is the question that the coming negotiations will settle.”

FT – US launches trade investigation into Germany’s spending on new medicines

https://www.ft.com/content/ef3e7973-aa6f-454b-8a77-ae48de18aa34?syn-25a6b1a6=1

“So called Section 301 probe escalates Washington’s drug pricing war with Europe.”

CGD – Petrochemicals and Pills: How the Iran War Exposed Medicines’ Oil Vulnerability

A Hirschfeld & P Yadav; https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/petrochemicals-and-pills-how-the-iran-war-exposed-medicines-oil-vulnerability

“A new analysis shows how the Iran War disrupted upstream inputs for pharmaceutical supply chains, as the United States and Iran move toward a deal.”

“A March analysis in Think Global Health (TGH) explored the pharmaceutical supply-chain weaknesses exposed by the Iran War, including regional dependencies and transportation vulnerabilities. This new analysis builds on that prior work to better understand how the Iran War’s upstream supply-chain shocks affected petrochemical and transport inputs, and how those volatilities translate into changes in the wholesale cost for 10 commonly used essential medicines. Through drug-price breakdown modeling, TGH estimates that during the Iran War, rising prices of petrochemicals involved in drug manufacturing—propylene, benzene, and ammonia—and ocean and airfreight transportation drove up the costs of wholesale drugs by 19% to 87%. Methotrexate—a benzene- and ammonia-derived drug with clinical use in cancer treatment—saw the largest increase, and metformin—an ammonia-derived drug with clinical use in type 2 diabetes—saw the smallest….”

TGH tracked the impact of two main pathways in which Oil impacts Pharmaceutical Prices.

Conflict/War & Health

Geneva Solutions – Soaring sexual violence in Sudan is creating mental health emergency, says Global Survivors Fund chief

https://genevasolutions.news/peace-humanitarian/soaring-sexual-violence-in-sudan-is-creating-mental-health-emergency-says-global-survivors-fund-chief

“As Sudan’s brutal civil war continues to tear the country apart, rape and sexual violence have reached an unprecedented scale. Esther Dingemans, executive director of the Global Survivors Fund, says the crisis should be treated as a mental health emergency.”

Lancet (Comment) – Pakistan and Afghanistan: a call for health diplomacy and restraint

Zulfiqar A Bhutta et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01189-X/fulltext

« … The wider peace-making initiatives needed to de-escalate tensions in the region are complex and require sustained diplomatic engagement, regional cooperation, and long-term confidence-building measures. Even limited health diplomacy through coordinated disease control, referral pathways, nutrition support, and humanitarian access can serve as a pragmatic entry point for broader trust-building between the two countries. In terms of tangible health and humanitarian priorities, we make four urgent recommendations….”

Guardian – Israel continues to commit genocide by targeting children in Gaza, UN inquiry finds

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/23/israel-deliberately-targeting-gaza-children-to-commit-genocide-un-inquiry-finds

“Independent report says by aiming at children Israel is undermining capacity of Palestinian people to exist.”

Globalization & Health – Security governance and health inequity in contemporary crises: a critical discourse analysis of securitization, exception-making, and responsibility displacement

A Khorram-Manesh et al; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12992-026-01226-8

“Contemporary crises increasingly draw health systems, humanitarian access, medical supply chains, and civilian protection into security-oriented governance. While the health consequences of war and economic coercion, and geopolitical rivalry are widely documented, less attention has been paid to the discursive processes through which such consequences are rendered legitimate, unavoidable, or politically peripheral. This paper addresses this gap by applying a critical geopolitics framework and critical discourse analysis to examine how geopolitical narratives may structure health-relevant governance during crises. … … the study identifies three recurring discursive mechanisms: securitization, exception-making, and displacement of responsibility. Across five illustrative case contexts—US–China geopolitical rivalry, the Russia–Ukraine war, the Israel–Palestine/Gaza crisis, Iran-related sanctions and protest governance, and US–Venezuela sanctions governance—the analysis suggests how security narratives can condition humanitarian access, reshape the practical meaning of civilian protection, and diffuse accountability for health harms….”

Migration & Health

Lancet GH Editorial – Mental health for refugees

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00136-1/fulltext

Editorial of the new Lancet Global Health issue.

“…. apart from conventional psychosocial interventions such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy, various innovative approaches have been developed to address refugees’ mental health. For example, a digital problem-solving intervention for young Ukrainian refugees and a group-based, self-help intervention for female refugees in Uganda have both shown benefit. This issue of The Lancet Global Health adds evidence for another innovative approach rarely tested among refugees—stepped care…..” “ “Stepped care is a patient-centred model that starts with low-intensity, low-cost interventions and escalates those who do not see symptom improvement to more intensive interventions…

PS: “Being a refugee is itself a profound determinant of health, and no amount of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy can fully resolve the distress and anxiety caused by exclusion, financial instability, and insecurity. National and international health policies must recognise and respond to the mental health needs of refugees, especially those who have multiple intersecting vulnerabilities.”

Miscellaneous

Cidrap News – Pandemic pathogens, dengue, cholera were world’s largest emerging infectious disease burdens from 2000 to 2022

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/pandemic-pathogens-dengue-cholera-were-world-s-largest-emerging-infectious-disease-burdens

“From 2000 to 2022, pandemic pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, imposed the largest historical and projected emerging infectious disease (EID) burdens around the world, while dengue and cholera were the most burdensome non-pandemic illnesses, suggests a new analysis in BMJ Global Health. By region, the Americas and Africa shouldered the largest per-capita burdens, and the Western Pacific faced the smallest….”

“Led by Harvard researchers, the study team developed a method for measuring and ranking health and economic disease burdens and applied it to 15 high-priority EIDs in 223 countries and territories historically (2000 to 2022) and prospectively (2025 to 2034). …”

Lancet Commission on on rethinking misinformation, health, and human security

Heidi J. Larson et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01128-1/fulltext

« … It is time to systematically address misinformation and disinformation in a health context. A new Lancet Commission on rethinking misinformation, health, and human security will convene experts from risk science, security, the social and political sciences, mathematics and computer science, and health to rethink a systems approach to misinformation and disinformation threats to human health and security…..”

Global health governance & Governance of Health

Backroom Deals

https://1for8billion.org/backroom-deals

New report on Backroom deals between (SG) candidates and the most-powerful Council states.

In the words of Ben Donaldson (on LinkedIn), “a report that shines a light on the dodgy world of dealmaking that blights the Secretary-General selection process.”

· See also PassBlue – Backroom Deals Behind Secretary-General Candidate Races (accompanying analysis)

Devex Pro – World Bank weighs how to govern new accountability mechanism

https://www.devex.com/news/world-bank-weighs-how-to-govern-new-accountability-mechanism-112764

(gated) “Civil society groups want the newly merged accountability mechanism to uphold the stronger policies of one of the three existing mechanisms.”

“The World Bank’s board has approved the creation of a single independent accountability mechanism, merging its three existing complaints bodies under one roof. The decision, announced earlier this month after a yearlong review, settles a long-running debate over the institution’s accountability architecture. But it leaves unanswered what may be the more consequential question: What policies will govern the new mechanism? The World Bank said the reform will make its accountability system “simpler and clearer” for complainants while reducing fragmentation. The new body, to be led by a vice president or director-general, will combine the Inspection Panel and Dispute Resolution Service — which both handle complaints related to public sector projects — with the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, or CAO, which covers private sector projects financed by the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. The new, merged unit will report directly to the World Bank Group board….”

Devex (Opinion) – The World Bank Group has a rare chance to fix its accountability system

By Elana Berger; https://www.devex.com/news/the-world-bank-group-has-a-rare-chance-to-fix-its-accountability-system-112770

“The World Bank Group’s accountability overhaul could improve remedy and institutional learning, but only if integration strengthens rather than weakens existing protections.”

“The World Bank Group should use its latest accountability reform to fix its persistent inability to deliver remedy when projects cause harm. …. Earlier this month, the World Bank Group’s board of directors approved the integration of the independent accountability mechanisms covering its public- and private-sector operations, launching the most significant overhaul of the institution’s accountability system since the creation of the Inspection Panel over three decades ago. If done well, the change could make accountability more accessible and effective.”

“Achieving that will require the board to develop a policy that preserves community access to the mechanism, strengthens key accountability functions, and establishes a transparent and independent process for selecting new leadership of the mechanism. If done poorly, the integration risks consolidating the weaknesses of the current system….”

“For communities harmed by development projects, accountability mechanisms are often the only avenue for redress when multilateral development banks fail to follow their own rules. Whether the World Bank Group gets this reform right will have real consequences for people harmed by development projects….”

Global Policy – Europe surrenders, Brazil pushes back: The G7 Summit in Evian in review

Bodo Ellmers; https://www.globalpolicy.org/en/news/2026-06-23/europe-surrenders-brazil-pushes-back-g7-summit-evian-review

Neat look back on the G7 summit. Some excerpts:

“The G7 Summit took place in Evian, France, from 15 to 17 May, with Chancellor Merz in attendance. In an effort to accommodate the current US administration, this year’s G7 communiqués make no mention of terms such as ‘sustainability’, ‘gender’ or ‘Agenda 2030’. Nor were any relevant measures agreed upon to achieve significant progress in these areas. …” “The European heads of state and government emerged from Evian looking weak. Particularly shameful was the capitulation of the French G7 presidency under Macron. Since 2015, France has consistently portrayed itself as a champion of the Paris Agreement, the landmark UN climate accord named after its capital. Yet in Evian, the French presidency backed away from prominently championing climate action, sustainability and the 2030 Agenda in order to avoid confrontation with Trump…..”

“A new partnership with the Global South, but without any transfer of funds? … Of particular note in this context are the new Principles for Mutually Beneficial International Partnerships, which are annexed to the finance ministers’ communiqué. Rather than focusing on G7 contributions, the principles emphasise the mobilisation of the Global South’s own domestic resources, and in particular the mobilisation of private investment. Development banks and thematic funds are to broaden their donor base, but without undermining the “existing governance frameworks”. The G7 wants to have it both ways: It doesn’t want to put any of its own money on the table, yet still wants to call the shots. …”

Global Health Research & Policy – Recalibrating Africa’s public health governance amid the shift from multilateralism to bilateralism

E Baba (WHO Afro), O O Olu et al ; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2397064226000074

“This commentary examines the ongoing shift from multilateral to bilateral health development aid in Africa and its implications for regional public health governance…..”

Critical Public Health – Africa’s New Public Health Order: prospects, obstacles, and the way ahead

M Edward et al ; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09581596.2026.2692728

“…. the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) launched the New Public Health Order (NPHO) in 2021 as a strategic framework built on five pillars: strengthened public health institutions, a robust health workforce, expanded local manufacturing of health products, sustainable domestic financing, and action-oriented partnerships. This article examines the prospects, obstacles, and future priorities associated with the NPHO. Drawing on policy documents, reports, and emerging evidence from across the continent, we discuss progress achieved through initiatives such as Saving Lives and Livelihoods, expanding regional manufacturing ambitions, and strengthening public health leadership. We further highlight persistent barriers including fragmented governance structures, workforce shortages, donor dependency, limited domestic resource mobilization, regulatory challenges, and inadequate integration of One Health approaches in responding to emerging zoonotic threats. We argue that while the NPHO provides an important roadmap toward resilient and self-reliant health systems, its success will depend on stronger political commitment, sustainable financing, regulatory harmonization, investment in workforce development, and strengthened cross-sectoral collaboration….”

Preprint – Health Diplomacy as Soft Power: Evaluating Türkiye’s Strategic Engagement and Economic Outcomes in Africa

M M Farah; https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-9160478/v1

“This study provides a comprehensive, multi-country evaluation of Türkiye’s health diplomacy initiatives across Africa, examining how strategic health engagements contribute to healthcare system strengthening while simultaneously generating soft power and mutual economic benefits for both Türkiye and its African partners.”

“Türkiye’s health diplomacy has produced measurable and multifaceted outcomes across the continent. The Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Hospital in Somalia represents a $135.7 million investment, treating approximately 40,000 patients monthly and training over 120 Somali medical specialists. In Sudan, the Nyala Sudan-Turkish Training and Research Hospital has served more than 250,000 patients since its establishment. In Burkina Faso, a Turkish medical team successfully performed the country’s first-ever kidney transplant while providing advanced training to over 200 local healthcare professionals. Critically, these health engagements have facilitated broader economic partnerships, including Turkish companies securing management of Mogadishu’s port and airport, oil exploration rights covering approximately 20,000 km² in Somali waters, and a landmark agreement for the construction of a Turkish spaceport in Somalia. Turkish health facilities across Africa generate an estimated $50–70 million in annual revenue, demonstrating the economic viability of the model.”

Conclusion: “ Türkiye’s “win-win” (kazan-kazan) health diplomacy model demonstrates how strategic health engagement can simultaneously address critical healthcare needs and advance national interests. …”

ECDPM (Brief) – Global Gateway: A bridge between development and geostrategic interests

https://ecdpm.org/work/global-gateway-bridge-between-development-and-geostrategic-interests

“San Bilal examines the evolution of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy and offers ten concrete recommendations.”

“This brief examines the evolution of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy. The strategy has shifted from an approach in which development impact was the primary objective and geopolitics a secondary consideration (Global Gateway 1.0) towards a more strategic instrument that places greater emphasis on European geostrategic and geo-economic interests (Global Gateway 2.0). Launched in 2021, Global Gateway 1.0 prioritised sustainable infrastructure and social sectors through traditional development financing. By 2024, the initiative started prioritising the EU’s competitiveness, strategic autonomy, and supply chain security — specifically regarding critical minerals and energy — aiming to compete with rivals like China and restore a level playing field. The core challenge is aligning these EU geostrategic objectives with the developmental needs of partner countries….”

Global health financing

CGD (blog) – Paying for What Works: The Case for Outcome-Based Foreign Aid

Erin Collinson; https://www.cgdev.org/blog/paying-what-works-case-outcome-based-foreign-aid

“With calls for a fundamentally different approach to US foreign assistance growing louder, it’s worth considering whether the current moment might finally create the conditions for results-based approaches, including those that focus more precisely on outcomes, to receive a more serious look and benefit from more intentional implementation….”

“… What follows is a brief description of three promising pay-for-performance approaches that have been proposed and tested—each designed with results in mind, but varying in how consistently each ties disbursements to genuine outcomes and how widely each has been tried…..”

UHC & PHC

Lancet Primary Care (Review) – Policies and interventions aiming to improve equitable access to primary care: a scoping review

J Lin, Luke Allen et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanprc/article/PIIS3050-5143(26)00068-3/fulltext

Scoping review.

Pandemic preparedness & response/ Global Health Security

IHRP – The Pandemic Agreement at an Impasse

G W Brown et al; https://internationalhealthreformpanel.org/reports/the-pandemic-agreement-at-an-impasse

“Proportionality, Political Incentives, and the Future of Global Health Governance.”

“This report examines the repeated failure to conclude negotiations on the WHO Pandemic Agreement, identifying deeper structural tensions rather than temporary diplomatic failures. The central unresolved issue—Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS)—has become a focal point for wider disagreements concerning sovereignty, reciprocity, proportionality, and the future direction of global health governance. Countries are being asked to undertake increasingly concrete commitments involving pathogen sharing, genomic sequencing, surveillance expansion, regulatory alignment, and preparedness financing, while promised benefits remain uncertain in timing, enforceability, affordability, and distribution. The report argues that the Pandemic Agreement reflects a broader shift in global health priorities from underlying determinants of health to a vertical, commodity-based approach that may impose the interests of wealthy countries over greater health burdens in lower-income states. The proposed preparedness agenda, estimated at over $31 billion annually, risks diverting resources from tuberculosis, malaria, nutrition, maternal health, sanitation, and broader health-system resilience—areas that impose far greater and more immediate burdens on population health in many lower-resource countries. The authors contend that the current impasse represents not diplomatic failure but an important moment of political reassessment regarding the proportionality, evidence base, and sustainability of the proposed pandemic preparedness architecture….”

NYT – Buildings May Soon Have ‘Immune Systems’ That Fight Airborne Disease

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/science/indoor-air-viruses-bacteria.html

“Following the pandemic, the (US) federal government is spending $150 million on new technology to ensure clean indoor air. Here’s what scientists are pursuing.”

“… the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health — ARPA-H, for short — which is spending $150 million to create what it calls “an immune system for every building.”….

“… Dr. Green, herself an expert on airborne microbes, started the program at ARPA-H to work toward those solutions: BREATHE, for Building Resilient Environments for Air and Total Health. The goal is to have buildings fight disease the way they fight fires…..”

Lancet GH – Hantavirus at sea: a test of the revised IHR and global health solidarity

S A Karim et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00163-4/fulltext

“The Andes hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius unfolded at a time when multilateralism is under acute strain, marked by cuts to global health funding and the weakening of international institutions. The outbreak represented the first noteworthy test of the revised International Health Regulations (IHR), amended in 2024 in response to failures exposed by COVID-19 and explicitly reoriented around equity and solidarity…”

On the pros & limits of the new IHR framework.

Planetary health

Lancet World Report – Protecting health in heating cities

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01281-X/fulltext

“The city of São Paulo, Brazil, is involving citizens in an innovative project to combat the health dangers of excessive heat. Jacqui Thornton reports.”

Globalization & Health – The energy transition and export-credit agencies: problems or solutions for planetary health equity?

S Friel et al; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12992-026-01224-w

“Fossil-fuel dependant energy systems are bad for human health, unequally distributed and environmentally destructive including as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Low- and middle-income countries are expected to account for the bulk of emissions growth in the coming decades. How the energy transition is supported in those countries will affect planetary health equity – the equitable enjoyment of good health in a stable earth system. Much of the health and climate-related finance research has focused on health-care systems adaptation and emissions reduction. Little attention has been paid by the health community to the role of public finance in the energy transition more broadly and what that means for planetary health equity. In this paper we examine the role of export credit agencies (ECAs) in creating an equitable global energy transition towards renewables and the implications for planetary health equity. ECAs rank among the leading public financial institutions in global energy investment….”

Nature Climate Change – Global heat stress intensification and its expanding footprint on the human population

Rebecca Emerton et al; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-026-02670-5

“… Here, using the Universal Thermal Climate Index, we assess heat stress globally since 1950, examining daytime extremes, nocturnal heat and compound daytime–nighttime events, revealing a pronounced, multidimensional intensification. Extreme ‘feels-like’ temperatures have become more frequent on every continent, and the spatial footprint of hazardous heat has expanded, exposing previously unaffected regions. Heat stress days and tropical nights have increased, with some regions experiencing up to 50 additional heat stress days annually and an extended heat stress season. … … Today, around one billion more people experience extreme heat stress compared to 50 years ago…”

PIK – This is how fair climate action works: Findings for 88 countries with 5 billion people

https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/this-is-how-fair-climate-action-works-findings-for-88-countries-with-5-billion-people

“A study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now sheds light, for the first time, on the carbon intensity of household consumption across much of the world – and thus on the distributional impact of climate policy, which, after all, makes carbon more expensive. The greatest differences are not between rich and poor, but within income groups: key factors include car ownership, place of residence and energy use. The study provides guidance on how to socially balance the fight against global heating. Published in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (JEEM), it is supplemented by an interactive online carbon price calculator….”

SSM Health Systems – Policy Readiness for Climate-Resilient Primary Health Care: An Integrative Review of Ghana’s Community-Based Health Planning and Services Policy using World Health Organisation benchmarks

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949856226000978

By R Rudolf Abugnaba-Abanga et al.

Covid

GAVI – Annual COVID-19 boosters continue to provide meaningful protection, study says

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/annual-covid-19-boosters-continue-provide-meaningful-protection-study-says

Cfr a study in JAMA. “Even among people with residual immune protection from past infections, vaccinations, or both, updated COVID-19 boosters provided additional protection against hospitalisation.”

“Adults who received the 2025–2026 COVID-19 vaccine were around 55% less likely to be hospitalised with COVID-related disease and 50% less likely to require emergency or urgent care than those who did not receive it. Because many participants were likely to have had residual protection from previous infections, earlier vaccinations, or both, the results likely reflect the vaccine’s added benefit on top of this existing immunity….”

Infectious diseases & NTDs

Exemplars in Global Health (Research Brief) –Learning from Nigeria’s Exemplary progress in Malaria SNT (subnational tailoring)

Via LinkedIn:

“Over the last decade, Nigeria cut its malaria parasite prevalence by almost half. Using a process called subnational tailoring, policymakers were able to shape national malaria programs and plans with local contexts in mind, like prioritizing the expansion of seasonal chemoprevention across high-burden states in Nigeria’s north and implementing continuous replacement campaigns for insecticide-treated nets in the south. … New findings from Exemplars in Global Health show how subnational tailoring can address disease spread in diverse countries and contexts…”

Devex (Opinion) – Malaria should worry us more than genetically modified mosquitoes

F Okumu ; https://www.devex.com/news/malaria-should-worry-us-more-than-genetically-modified-mosquitoes-112732

“Mosquitoes are evolving to survive insecticides, and countries are burning through health budgets just to hold the line. Here is why Africa must rigorously evaluate engineered mosquitoes.”

AMR

Nature (News) – Antibiotic cocktail made by soil bacteria can kill superbugs

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01990-y

“Four antibiotic compounds produced in Streptomyces bacteria attack multiple parts of an essential metabolic pathway.”

“Scientists have identified a cluster of genes in a common soil bacterium that produce a range of antibiotics that can act against multidrug-resistant bacteria. Researchers say that the discovery could lead to the development of antibiotics that are harder for pathogens to develop resistance to….”

Nature – AI tool spots antibiotics that fight drug-resistant gonorrhoea

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01987-7?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nature&linkId=62474850

“The bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae has evolved resistance to most antibiotics used to treat it, but a machine-learning screen reveals potential therapies.”

NCDs

BMJ GH – Lifestyle interventions for dementia prevention in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

https://gh.bmj.com/content/11/6/e017630

By Rosario Isabel Espinoza Jeraldo et al.

Nature Medicine – Biological aging and generational shifts in early-onset cancer risk

R Tan et al ; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04448-w

“Analyses of population cohorts found that young adults exhibited earlier systemic and organ-specific aging, which was associated with increased risk of early-onset cancer compared with older adults born decades earlier.”

And a link:

· Lancet regional health Africa – Syndemic drivers of cirrhosis in sub-Saharan Africa: narrative review (review)

Social & commercial determinants of health

BMJ – Early data from Australia indicate that social media companies can’t be relied on to protect children

https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-100024

“Policy makers need to focus on holding social media companies to account for the impact of their products, argues Louise Holly.”

Lancet Regional Health Africa (Health Policy)- Ultra-processed food consumption in sub-Saharan Africa: a narrative review through a gender lens

Madhura Rao et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanafr/article/PIIS3050-5011(26)00078-7/fulltext

“Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is experiencing a rise in ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption, with implications for public health nutrition. This paper argues that UPF uptake in SSA must be understood in relation to the gendered organisation of foodwork. Drawing on evidence from across the region, we show that women, despite increasing participation in paid employment, continue to primarily handle tasks such as acquiring food, cooking, and related domestic labour, creating time poverty. Under these circumstances, UPFs emerge as practical coping strategies, with implications for dietary quality and public health. Policy approaches that emphasise home cooking or behaviour change may therefore be ineffective or inequitable if they increase women’s unpaid workload. We conclude that addressing UPFs as a public health concern in SSA requires gender-responsive strategies that focus on the organisation of foodwork and the conditions under which food is prepared and consumed in order to reduce time burdens and reshape food environments….”

Perspective Chapter: Global Paradigms of Health Equity – From the Five Domains to Social Determination

Frank F. Song; https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/1243186

“This chapter explores global paradigms of health equity by examining how the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) framework is understood and applied across regions. It begins by outlining the dominant “Five Domains” model – economic stability, education, health care, neighborhood environment, and social context – widely used in the United States and embedded in international policy through organizations like the World Health Organization. This model has shaped screening and intervention strategies in high-income countries. However, this chapter highlights key limitations of the approach, especially in global contexts. The “Five Domains” can depoliticize structural causes of health inequity, individualize responsibility, and overlook historical and economic processes such as colonialism and global capitalism. To address these gaps, the chapter introduces alternative frameworks, particularly Latin American traditions of Social Determination and Political Economy of Health, which emphasize dynamic, historically rooted processes shaping health outcomes. Through comparative case studies in Japan, South Korea, China, and India, the chapter shows how institutional arrangements, cultural legacies, and social hierarchies – such as labor markets, education systems, the hukou registration system, and caste – act as fundamental determinants of health. It also examines migration, environmental injustice, and emerging digital determinants, including algorithmic bias and data colonialism in health artificial intelligence (AI).”

Mental health & psycho-social wellbeing

Globalization& Health – A social determination framework for mental health

F Mascayano, C Montenegro et al ; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12992-026-01222-y

« Drawing on Latin American traditions of social medicine—particularly Jaime Breilh’s paradigm of social determination of health—this debate article critiques reductionist frameworks that fragment structural causation into depoliticized lists of risk factors. We articulate a social determination approach for mental health research and practice, emphasizing the multi-level embodiment of power relations, the historical–political organization of social life, structural drivers embedded in institutions and policies, and the role of collective agency and praxis. Illustrative vignettes from Latin America (employment, discrimination, and environment) demonstrate how historically structured processes linking global political economy, institutional arrangements, and everyday social relations become embodied as mental distress, and how participatory and mixed-method research can help document these dynamics while supporting transformative, community-led responses….”

Adolescent health

Lancet Comment – New responses required to address rapidly changing needs: a Lancet Commission on adolescent health and wellbeing in China

Y Dong et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01187-6/fulltext

« A new Lancet Commission on adolescent health and wellbeing in China will present a forward-looking, evidence-based roadmap for action and accountability. This Commission will articulate the ways in which adolescent health and wellbeing in China are being shaped by distinct demographic, sociocultural, digital, and environmental changes. Although the rising burden of non-communicable diseases is increasingly recognised, four key interrelated challenges will inform the work of this Commission….”

Access to medicines & health technology

NYT – Loophole in Patent Law Brings ‘Miracle Drug’ to Patients Who Can’t Afford It

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/22/health/cystic-fibrosis-drug-triko-trikafta.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

“A generic version of a breakthrough cystic fibrosis drug, manufactured in Bangladesh for a fraction of the American price, may give some families around the world an unlikely lifeline.”

“… a Bangladeshi company has reverse engineered Trikafta and is using a loophole in global patent law to sell its version, called Triko, for a fraction of Vertex’s price. … … The Bangladeshi version gives those patients another option. Triko, costs $6,350 a year for children, double that, for an adult dose. That’s still far too expensive for some people but low enough to be life-changing for others. …”

“…Because Bangladesh is classified as a least-developed country, it is exempt from the World Trade Organization’s patent infringement laws. The country is home to a thriving pharmaceutical industry that takes advantage of this exemption by reverse-engineering patented drugs and exporting generics to countries where the drugs have no patent…. “

“Most countries also have an exemption that permits a person to carry a generic version of a medication into a country where it is patented or, in some cases, to import a generic by mail, if it is for personal use. That’s what brought Josua and his mother from their home near Cape Town to Dhaka….”

“… Mr. Reza describes his company’s business model — reverse-engineering breakthrough medications in defiance of patents on intellectual property — as an equalizer in the huge disparities in access to treatments between high- and low-income countries….” “ …. Beximco has done an initial production run of a two-year supply of Triko, for a few dozen patients, Mr. Reza said, and will see what market emerges. A cystic fibrosis buyers club, that began with parents in Britain before Trikafta was available in that country, has partnered with an Indian company with experience shipping small quantities of medications internationally. It is a model that may have growing relevance as patients in lower-income countries seek out therapies that they know are changing lives in higher-income countries….”

Lancet World Report – India drug shortage leaves doctors rationing chemotherapy

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01280-8/fulltext

“The Iran conflict has disrupted supplies of cisplatin and carboplatin, leading to treatment interruption for patients. Samaan Lateef reports from Mumbai.”

HP&P – Balancing policy ambition and systems reality in expanding access to NCD medicines: lessons from Ghana and Georgia

https://academic.oup.com/heapol/advance-article/doi/10.1093/heapol/czag082/8717863?searchresult=1

By A Koduah et al. “This paper examines four health-system factors influencing access to NCD medicines: system capacity, provider behaviour, digital enablers, and public trust.”

Decolonize Global Health

Lancet – Learning from experience

Seye Abimbola; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01249-3/fulltext

Double book review by Seye. Re “Chasing Freedom: Coming of Age at the End of Empire” (by Simukai Chigudu) and “Passive Patient Culture in India: Disrespect in Law and Medicine” (by Supriya Subramani).

Cfr Seye himself: “I wrote an essay in @TheLancet on two seemingly different but deeply connected books by S Chigudu & S Subramani What elite status/making does to how one reckons with, makes sense of, and learns from experience—lived or vicarious…”

Nature Medicine – Inspiring, shaping and sustaining an African research & development agenda

M Fallah, J Kaseya et al ; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04480-w

« Why Africa needs regional R&D hubs for basic science and translation research to accelerate local manufacturing. »

Miscellaneous

LSE impact (blog) – The UN is advocating for a GDP alternative – can social science provide one?

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2026/06/22/the-un-is-advocating-for-a-gdp-alternative-can-social-science-provide-one/

“A recently launched UN process offers a rare opportunity to reshape the metrics that govern global economic policymaking. Megha Sud, Calder Tsuyuki-Tomlinsonand Anna Abraham outline how a new metric could encompass a far wider range of social scientific indicators and the challenges it faces in being implemented.”

“… While economists and statisticians will remain at the heart of the Beyond GDP technical processes, limitations of GDP make clear that economics alone cannot capture what human wellbeing looks like. With this in mind, the proposed indicators, championing the social sciences, include peace, human rights, planetary stability, health, work, education, security, and social cohesion. The framework is explicitly intergenerational, designed not just to capture how societies are functioning today, but to track whether what we are building will endure for future generations….”

“The inclusion of such qualitative indicators opens up space for insights and technical innovations from fields such as sociology, psychology, and anthropology which engage in understanding many dimensions of wellbeing, from social cohesion, cultural meaning to trust, and community belonging. Broadening the epistemic frame to include indigenous and local knowledges would also enable the incorporation of contextual and experiential insights central to wellbeing. Together, these disciplines and knowledge systems offer the possibility to connect measurable indicators to lived social realities. …”

Papers & reports

HP&P – Developments in the field of Health Policy Analysis in low- and middle-income countries: A review of published literature 2008-2023

E B Whyle, L Gilson et al ; https://academic.oup.com/heapol/advance-article/doi/10.1093/heapol/czag079/8717824?searchresult=1

« This review maps the development of Health Policy Analysis (HPA) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) since 2008, when Gilson and Raphaely (2008) published a review clarifying the state of the field and tracing its evolution….”

Check out the findings.

Lancet Global Health June issue

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/issue/current

Most articles were already online available before.

BMJ GH – Bridging the gap between public health, academia and policy

P Christen et al; https://gh.bmj.com/content/11/6/e019587

“Hackathons offer a structured and replicable approach to intentional knowledge translation, enabling researchers, policymakers and technical experts to co-develop solutions that address real public health priorities…..” “… The Bridging the Gap Hackathon demonstrates that time-bound, collaborative formats can strengthen research–policy linkages and offer a promising model for accelerating locally relevant public health innovation in low- and middle-income settings.”

SSM Health Systems – Not just a shock: examining contextual and shock attributes and their impact on health system resilience

K. Diaconu, S Witter et al; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S294985622600098X

“Health system resilience in fragile settings is rarely examined. Analyses chronic shocks and stressors in four countries, 2015–2025. Classifies absorptive, adaptive, and transformative responses. Chronic stresses weaken absorption, prompting earlier adaptation. Transformation is rare due to political and institutional barriers.”

“… This paper presents a longitudinal, cross-country comparative study of health system responses to crises in Lebanon, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sierra Leone between 2015 and 2025. Using the ReBUILD for Resilience framework, we map 43 shocks across four domains—climate, conflict, health, and economic—and classify responses into absorptive, adaptive, and transformative strategies.”

“Our findings affirm that most responses can be categorised within this typology, though distinctions between phases are often blurred. Absorptive responses were frequently overwhelmed or bypassed, particularly in contexts already experiencing chronic stress. Adaptive responses, such as service reorganization and decentralized decisionmaking, were more common and sometimes sustained. Transformative responses were rare but observable, particularly where prior learning, institutional flexibility, and governance reforms were present. We also find strong evidence that response strategies often co-occur and are shaped by prior exposure to shocks, political context, and system capacities.”

Plos GPH – The invisible emotional labour sustaining LGBTQIA+ programmes within health organisations

A Sasikala, A Bhan et al ; https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0006595

“This commentary explores the invisible identity-based emotional labour carried out by LGBTQIA+ staff coordinating community-focused programmes within civil society organisations (CSOs) that increasingly supplement public health systems in low- and middle-income countries. Drawing on lived experience and observations from LGBTQIA + –led and LGBTQIA + –affirmative health systems work in India within CSOs, we examine how LGBTQIA+ staff navigate the demands of professionalism, representation, and funder expectations within rigid institutional hierarchies…”

Tweets (via X, LinkedIn & Bluesky)

Matthew Kavanagh

(thread – for even more detail, see Bluesky ) “At the UN member states adopt new high level political declaration on HIV. surprise: it passed with amendments that made it significantly stronger on access to medicines and human rights than original. big deal in a moment where multilateral cooperation is in short supply. Some thoughts…”

“Very sad to see the US aligning w only a handful of governments opposed because of references to sharing technology justly and “social issues” they disagree with the vast majority of the world on. That is indefensible.”

“This declaration is *not* everything we want or need. But in 2026, in this geopolitical environment, it includes some of the most progressive language out there—more so than what’s passed WHA and other settings in last few years. That is a small ray of hope in dark times.”

“… at last minute EU proposed language on key population and gender-based violence and Africa Group removed “on mutually agreed terms” as a caveat around the sharing of technology. This came after a lot of negotiation and ultimately, both passed and overall resolution passed backed by most of world.”

Carsten Staur

(Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC))

“New projections from the OECD show that ODA is expected to fall by a further 6.9 percent this year. Coming on top of the dramatic 23.1 percent decline in 2025, this will bring ODA from DAC members down to 0.23 percent of GNI – equivalent to 152 billion US dollars – the lowest level since 2014. To put this in context: in 2023, ODA stood at 223 billion USD, or 0.37 percent of GNI. The decline has been steep and swift.”

“But there is another story worth telling. The ODA drops in 2025 and 2026 are primarily the result of cuts by a small number of major DAC members. The five largest DAC donors – the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and France – accounted for 93 percent of total ODA cuts in 2025. Looking at 2026, DAC members are divided. Sixteen countries are expected to cut ODA by a further 12 billion USD this year. At the same time, seventeen members are projected to increase their contributions – though collectively by only 0.7 billion USD. Of the 23 EU members of the DAC, a majority – 14 EU members – are expected to increase their ODA this year, compared to last year. Looking at Sub-Saharan Africa, G7 countries are expected to cut 13.9 percent this year, EU member states only 3.6 percent.”

“This offers some grounds for cautious optimism. It also makes clear that this is, ultimately, a question of political will. DAC members have risen to the challenge before: during the global financial crisis of 2008–10, in response to Covid-19, and following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, ODA increased in each case. Reducing ODA is not the right response to crisis, disasters and increasing global needs. With OECD projections showing that a majority of EU members are expected to increase their own contributions this year, attention now turns to the collective European effort in the context of the forthcoming MFF for 2028–34.”

Editorial: On airco polarization, the 2026 sustainable development report & the UN HL meeting on HIV/AIDS (IHP News #886)

Kristof Decoster — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 06:07:29 +0000

Dear Colleagues,

At last, also over here in Western Europe everybody now realizes that ‘climate change is here’ – not somewhere in the future, or just affecting faraway places. Almost “on mutually agreed terms”, dare I say, now that this region is suffering from extreme heat. That would include myself : ) As far as I can tell, it’s also the first time the “airco debate” is so prominent over here, with climate inequality steadily growing. The use of airco is a nuanced issue – certainly for vulnerable people where it obviously can be a life-saver. From a slightly different angle, though: Republicans and other climate sceptics in the US would never have been so successful in dismissing climate change as a ‘hoax’ if they had been ‘experiencing’ scorching heat themselves for decades already (without airco, that is). And probably would have been a lot less keen too to make that case.

Earlier this week, Greta Thunberg commented on the heat wave in the UK: ‘this is only the beginning’ and, “…What is most concerning about this is not only that we continuously shatter heat records and destabilise the entire biosphere way faster than models have been predicting, but that it is not treated as the existential crisis it is in media and politics….” That’s right. And I would add ‘global health power corridors’, still too focused on ‘building climate resilient and sustainable health systems’, mostly. Fortunately, there are more and more exceptions. Not sure yesterday’s special G7 session on climate and health qualified in that respect, but it sure came ‘timely’. In Paris, the French G7 presidency and WHO convened over 100 ministries of health, UN agencies, and various experts & organisations to take stock of international collaboration on climate and health so far. They also looked at ways for countries to strengthen their international collaboration on climate and health – including through the Alliance for Transformative Action (ATACH). But from where I sit, mankind still seems prepared to play “Russian roulette” with tipping points.

Also against that sweltering backdrop, the Sustainable Development Report 2026 was released earlier this week, this time including a view on the post-2030 era. In a neat analysis, R Siddiqui noted the report’s central argument: “ … the 2030 Agenda has not failed because its goals were wrong. It has underdelivered because the implementation infrastructure — the financing, the governance, the accountability mechanisms — was never built at the scale the goals required.”

The report also listseight priorities for the next era of sustainable development: “ (1) end ongoing wars and redirect military expenditures toward peace and human development; (2) establish an ambitious timeline for SDG implementation; (3) organize implementation around six major transformations ( “education for all; universal health; clean energy and sustainable industry; sustainable food, land, water and oceans; sustainable cities and communities; and digital revolution for sustainable development”) ; (4) adopt long-term investment plans to support these transformations; (5) strengthen continental, regional, and local cooperation and investment; (6) introduce new global taxes to finance global public goods; (7) develop global governance frameworks for AI, biotechnology, and other emerging technologies; and (8) establish new UN campuses in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.” (quite a list, I hear you think, for the species oddly known as ‘Sapiens’, with befitting ‘leadership’).

Interestingly, and somewhat encouragingly, the report notes ‘Commitment to the SDGs remains strong globally, with a large majority of countries continuing to vote in favor of UNGA resolutions that refer to the sustainable development paradigm.’ ( quite a contrast with the G7 summit from last week in Evian, where the “SDG agenda” wasn’t even mentioned… by ‘Bravehearts’ Macron & other Merz’s)

But enough on the post-2030 era ( if we ever get there …).

This week we clearly also pay plenty of attention to the UN High-level meeting on HIV/AIDS in New York (22-23 June), which led to a rather encouraging political declaration (I almost said ‘bold’ one) in the current circumstances – even if it had to be put to a vote. In Geneva, informals on PABS started again ( given the technicity of some of the discussions, airco is probably a must over there), and later today (26 June), WHO convenes a “Member State consultation on the Reform of the Global Health Architecture”. Let’s hope quite some Global Health reimaginers & reformers will be inspired by Ben Ramalingam’s ‘Bumble Bee principle’ in the coming months.

We end this intro by briefly coming back on the International Day of Yoga. Celebrated on 21 June, this year’s theme was ‘Yoga for healthy ageing’. As you know, I’m all for ‘healthy ageing’, though I never really got into yoga (except a few times when backpacking in India decades ago). I’m sure it makes a difference, though, and even more so as we all wonder these days, paraphrasing a recent HPSR paper, “Where are we and what does the future hold… ? “ I’m sure some of you can think of a few nice yoga postures (‘asanas’) to ponder that question!

Disclaimer: As I wrote this intro in my room at home (35 degrees, in vain trying to be ‘climate resilient’ (huh)), I hope it’s not too ‘disconnected from reality’ : )

Enjoy your reading.

Kristof Decoster

Weekly topics: IHP news 885: Highlights of the week (IHP News #885)

International Health Policies — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 05:31:21 +0000

Structure of Highlights

· G7 Leaders’ summit in Evian, France

· Ebola Emergency: Key messages from WHO & Africa CDC this week

· Ebola Emergency: more analysis, advocacy, snippets

· More on PPPR & GHS

· Run-up to the UN High-Level meeting on HIV/AIDS

· Global Health reform (& post-2030 brainstorm)

· US Global Health strategy & bilateral health agreements

· More on Global Health Governance & Financing/Funding

· The right to health: mandate UN Special rapporteur on the right to health ends soon

· The future of Development cooperation

· Malaria

· PHC & integrated health care

· Social and Commercial Determinants of health

· SRHR

· Child Health

· World Blood Donor Day

· Access to medicines, vaccines & other health technologies

· World Refugee Day

· Planetary health

· Miscellaneous

G7 Leaders’ summit in Evian, France (June 15-17)

Overview of G7 Leaders joint statements

For our purposes, do check out in particular:

· Leaders’ call for a coordinated response to the Bundibugyo ebola outbreak.

“We, the Leaders of the G7, call for a strong and coordinated response to address the health security risks posed by the re-emerging outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda….” They also “urged other nations to dedicate resources ⁠in a bid to ensure the virus remains contained to as small an area as possible….”

PS: “…The United States will convene a G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting to discuss further collective action and secure broader financial support for an impactful and coordinated global response to this public health emergency…”

(ps: apparently the US was grandstanding about its (biggest) commitment so far in the response, among all countries)

· Leaders’ declaration on mutually beneficial international partnerships.

For more on this, see the analysis below (in Geneva Solutions).

PS: there was also a Leaders’ call on the fight against cancer.

G7 summit: World’s top donors to mark shift from traditional development

https://genevasolutions.news/sustainable-business-finance/g7-summit-world-s-top-donors-to-mark-shift-from-traditional-development

This was a neat analysis ahead of the G7 Leaders summit. “Amid the sharp aid decline, the elite club of powerful western economies, and still the world’s top aid donors, wants to swap the traditional handout model for investment and partnerships.”

“… France, which holds the G7 presidency this year, has made “reducing global economic imbalance” its priority – a return to the original spirit of Rambouillet, the French town where the first summit was held in 1975. But don’t expect major financial commitments like in the past. Rather than new cash, a change of model is on the table. A communiqué signed by G7 development ministers in April states the goal is to “end aid-dependency” and “build a reformed development system based on mutually beneficial partnerships” – powered by private capital and domestic resources rather than traditional aid…..”

“… Health signals a hard pivot. Following devastating aid cuts – particularly in Africa, where health budgets were heavily reliant on the US – the G7 proposes a framework for “health sovereignty financing and self-reliance” where development banks and private capital take the lead over institutions like the World Health Organization…..”

PS: “UN secretary general António Guterres and World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who have attended previous summits, were absent from the final list of top attendees for Evian. Instead, it featured the heads of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the African Development Bank and the OECD. ….”

And a few AI chaps.

· See also a Devex Op-ed – France’s G7 presidency takes a pragmatic bet (overall analysis of the summit, by A Berger)

“ In a world fracturing along geopolitical fault lines, the G7 Évian summit was a test of whether the richest democracies can still govern collectively.”

Final excerpt:

“Joint language on development cooperation — at what cost?” “…The French presidency has placed development cooperation at the center of its agenda. It is notable that — despite the profound disruptions currently affecting the field — G7 development ministers succeeded in adopting a joint communiqué and four specific declarations on domestic resource mobilization, OECD Development Assistance Committee reform, health sovereignty, and economic corridors at their meeting in Paris in April 2026. The documents articulate a “new” development paradigm, placing particular emphasis on partnerships with low- and middle-income countries grounded in mutual interest. The emphasis on mutually beneficial partnerships was also carried over to the leaders’ summit, which produced a declaration committing members to deeper cooperation on critical minerals processing — including support for local value addition in partner countries.

But these compromises come at a cost. Consensus was achievable only by avoiding explicit reference to core principles of previous G7 meetings: sustainability, gender equality, and climate….”

“For a summit that has invited partner countries from the global south to the table at Évian, this omission is not merely a diplomatic footnote. It is a substantive gap between the language of mutual interest and the interests that actually matter to those partners. In Évian, the G7 has shown it can still reach consensus — the harder test is whether that consensus means anything to the partners it needs most to tackle global challenges.”

Open letter to leaders of G7, G20, BRICS and all nations on finalizing the WHO Pandemic Agreement’s Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex

https://www.who.int/news/item/15-06-2026-open-letter-to-leaders-of-g7-g20-brics-and-all-nations-on-finalizing-the-who-pandemic-agreement-s-pathogen-access-and-benefit-sharing-annex

High-level advocacy. “The letter by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Federative Republic of Brazil, and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization, is being issued on the occasion of the G7 Summit.”

With three requests: political will at the highest level; a spirit of equity; a sense of urgency.

Geneva Solutions – Global south leaders play their cards at G7 summit

https://genevasolutions.news/global-news/global-south-leaders-play-their-cards-at-g7-summit

(nice read) “The leaders of Brazil, India and Kenya met with the G7 in Evian as the western bloc seeks to counter China’s sprawling economic influence and presents its new narrative on development aid.”

A few quotes:

“… While French president Emmanuel Macron has been careful not to antagonise Donald Trump, the invitees proved less accommodating. The countries also play a crucial role in the G7 nations’ objectives – chiefly countering China’s sprawling Belt and Road Initiative….”

“… As for Ruto, his invitation stemmed from a summit held by African heads of state in May in Nairobi. It corresponds with Macron’s efforts to reinvent French relations with African nations and dispel accusations of colonialism. African countries have largely embraced the shift in narrative from traditional aid to mutual partnerships, with Ruto backing the declaration on international cooperation – unlike his Indian and Brazilian counterparts….”

Ebola Emergency: Key messages from WHO & Africa CDC this week

More or less chronologically, starting from the end of last week.

Ps: in a next subsection, you find more analysis, advocacy, snippets… on the Ebola emergency.

Reuters – ‘Blind spots’ could hide full spread of Congo’s Ebola outbreak, WHO suggests

Reuters;

(12 June) “ There are many “blind spots” in the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a World Health Organization expert ‌said (last week) on Friday, suggesting the spread of the deadly disease may be much wider than official estimates. Congo said on Thursday the disease had spread to three new health zones. It reported 676 confirmed ⁠cases and 136 deaths in an outbreak that has also spread to neighbouring Uganda….”

“There are still many blind spots in some areas that are high risk,” Olivier le Polain, a WHO epidemiologist in Beni, eastern Congo, said. “Surveillance really needs to be strengthened in those areas.” “

PS: “… The WHO does not yet have projections for ⁠the size of the epidemic, Le Polain said, after the U.S. CDC said it could be on ⁠the same level as the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak which caused more than 11,000 deaths…..”

UN News – DR Congo: Ebola spreads as agencies brace for child victims

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167702

(12 June) “The deadly Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is continuing to spread with a spike in child infections an increasingly likely scenario in the days ahead, UN agencies said (last week) on Friday.”

Stat – WHO director-general is profoundly concerned after visit to Ebola outbreak area

Stat;

Very dire message from Tedros, from last weekend. “Amid warring factions, hunger, other diseases, DRC residents see Ebola as ‘a lesser evil’.” (must-read)

HPW – US Support for Ebola Response is Unclear Amid Opaque Funds Disbursement and Non-Engagement with WHO

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/us-support-for-ebola-response-is-unclear/

(15 June) State of affairs ahead of a High-level meeting on Tuesday. “Despite claims by the United States that it has allocated over $270 million to the Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak response, countries and groups dealing with the outbreak are in the dark about where the money is going. Washington’s directive to US health experts not to deal with World Health Organization (WHO) officials is also hampering their involvement in the response, sources told Health Policy Watch.”

“The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO are leading the continental Ebola response, centred in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and recently launched a joint continental preparedness and response plan. Although Africa CDC Director General Dr Jean Kaseya described the US as “the first partner for global health security”, he acknowledged that he was unclear of the extent of the US financial contribution and where the money was going….”

“… This Tuesday, the Ebola response [will be] discussed during a high-level meeting of African Presidents, which is being convened by the President of Burundi, chair of the African Union, said Kaseya. “We know that the US will attend the meeting on Tuesday, [and] they will have the opportunity to give us the reliable amount that they are putting into the response,” he added….”

Reuters – Congo Ebola outbreak may be worst ever, Africa CDC says

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/red-cross-says-congo-ebola-epidemic-yet-peak-may-last-year-2026-01-08/?s=09

(16 June) With coverage of the High-level meeting of Tuesday. “Africa CDC points to critical challenges in response; Red Cross sees outbreak lasting a year; Tens of thousands of Ebola patients’ contacts not being traced, Africa CDC says; Africa seeks $518 million to fight Ebola, has received just a fraction.”

“The head of Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warned ‌that the Ebola outbreak in Congo could be the worst ever, saying on Tuesday that it could cost billions of dollars to contain later if critical weaknesses in the response are not addressed quickly. … “If we don’t stop the outbreak very soon it will be worse than what we had in West Africa and eastern ⁠DRC,” Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya told a virtual meeting of African heads of state and donors in Burundi.”

“… But so far an Africa plan to raise $518 million over the next six months has only received a fraction of that, according to Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye, the African Union chair.” “The resources received do not exceed $100 million,” he said in opening remarks. Africa CDC’s Kaseya warned that the total funding needs would surge if the initial plan did not get sufficient support. “If we don’t have it in the next four weeks, we will not ask again for $500 million, we’ll be asking about $1.5 billion. If we delay that, it will be $7.5 billion,” he said.”

“A Red Cross official said separately on Tuesday that the Ebola epidemic in eastern DRC had not ‌yet peaked. “We ⁠are afraid that this could last one year to end this disease,” Bruno Michon, operations manager for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told reporters by video link from eastern Congo….”

PS: “Washington’s representative said it was the fastest and most generous donor and called on others to contribute. South Africa, China, Germany, France also said at the meeting they would provide more support to help with the emergency….”

Devex – Africa CDC: Over 28,000 contacts of Ebola cases aren’t being tracked

https://www.devex.com/news/africa-cdc-over-28-000-contacts-of-ebola-cases-aren-t-being-tracked-112741

(16 June) With more quotes from the HL meeting. “Responders should be watching some 33,080 contacts, yet only 4,112 are being actively followed, according to Africa CDC Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya.”

“More than 28,000 people who’ve been in contact with positive Ebola cases aren’t being tracked, warned the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, exposing major gaps in surveillance efforts amid a deadly outbreak that’s spreading in ways and speeds responders can’t track — a key obstacle to containing it.”

“… On Tuesday, over 500 African heads of state, leaders of the African Union, development organizations, United Nations agencies, and delegations from foreign donors — such as China, the United States, European Union, and United Arab Emirates — gathered for a nearly five-hour pledging meeting to raise funds for the ongoing outbreak. Africa CDC and the World Health Organization are raising at least $518 million for the continental six-month response plan…. This is the second high-level pledging event for this outbreak after the first held on May 25th. During Tuesday’s meeting, African leaders urged pledged funds to hit the ground rapidly — with expectations the cost of the response could rise if early investments aren’t made.”

“…Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye, chairperson of the AU, said during the meeting that they aim for $100 million of their $518 million goal to come from African governments and the continent’s private sector. Africa CDC is still tallying the amount raised at the pledging event….”

PS: “…While the epicenter of the outbreak has been in Ituri province in eastern DRC, Kaseya also warned about a significant spike in cases in Goma — the largest city in North Kivu. The city has the highest fatality rate and the lowest rate of follow-up among contacts of positive cases….”

PS: “… On Tuesday, Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI, a global partnership that invests in vaccine development, said his organization anticipates the University of Oxford and Moderna’s lead vaccine candidates will enter phase one trials as early as July, with field trials possible within several months. There are currently four vaccine candidates, but Hatchett said CEPI will soon announce its support for additional candidates….”

UN News – Ebola treatment capacity expands in DR Congo as WHO issues new guidelines

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167738

(17 June) “Treatment capacity for the rare and deadly Bundibugyo species of Ebola is expanding in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that community mistrust remains a major challenge to ending the outbreak.”

“WHO has expanded isolation capacity for suspected cases and upgraded treatment facilities, including the construction of individual isolation rooms that meet latest infection prevention and control standards and the installation of a 10,000-litre water tank to support patient care….”

“Addressing a high-level meeting of African leaders on Tuesday, WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described community mistrust as a “major barrier” to the response….”

Reuters – Donors pledge $910 mln for Ebola response in Congo, Uganda

Reuters;

(18 June) “Donors ⁠have pledged $910 million, including $80 million from African Union member states, to support the Ebola response ‌in ⁠Congo and Uganda, the Africa Centres for Disease ⁠Control and Prevention said in a ⁠statement on Thursday.”

Africa CDC – Virtual High level presidential meeting (HLPM) of African Heads of State and Government and Partners on the Ebola Bundibugyo Virus Disease Outbreak in the DRC and Uganda

Africa CDC

Overview of the meeting on Tuesday.

Including also: “The HLPM underscored that Africa must move from recurrent emergency appeals to predictable preparedness investment. It endorsed voluntary financing by African Member States and the African private sector of USD 100 million per year, to be complemented by external partners, to strengthen epidemic preparedness, sustain readiness between outbreaks and accelerate investments in local manufacturing of medical countermeasures, including vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and other essential commodities.”

HPW – Ebola Outbreak is Three Times Bigger Than Previous Outbreaks at Four Weeks

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/ebola-outbreak-is-three-times-bigger-than-any-previous-outbreak-at-four-weeks/

(18 June) “The current Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak is three times larger than any other Ebola outbreak was four weeks after being declared a public health emergency, Africa CDC revealed at a media briefing on Thursday…”

“Meanwhile, less than 10% of the money pledged to address the outbreak has been released to responders, Mankoula said….” “On Tuesday, Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye, Chairperson of the African Union (AU), convened an emergency high-level meeting of African leaders, Africa CDC, the World Health Organization (WHO), Regional Economic Communities, partners and donors to accelerate the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. The meeting mobilised $910 million in pledges, including $80 million from African member states. However, only around $90 million of this has reached countries, which is hampering the response, Mankoula added. “

“The high-level meeting resolved to ensure that the full $518 million required for the joint continental preparedness and response plan is mobilised and disbursed within the next four weeks….”

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will tap $107m in emergency funding for Ebola outbreak response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, officials said on Thursday…. … Emergency funding from the CDC would add to the roughly $910m already pledged to combat the Ebola outbreak, less than 10% of which has been received from donors, according to African health leaders.”

Ebola emergency: Analysis, snippets, advocacy, …

GHF – A quick update on Ebola from the Africa CDC.

https://newsletter.genevahealthfiles.com/eu-india-fta-tariffs-down-trips-plus-provisions-out-what-does-it-mean-for-access-to-medicines-guest-essay/

(15 June) From earlier this week. Snippets:

“Member State Solidarity: Kaseya is targeting a $100 million contribution from African member states to demonstrate regional solidarity.

“Chinese Support: China has pledged $2 million to Africa CDC, in addition to direct support of commodities and human resources to member states….”

“Kenya Quarantine Center: Africa CDC supports Kenya’s sovereign decision to establish 23 isolation centers, one of which could serve U.S. citizens….”

Reuters – True scale of Congo Ebola outbreak still unknown one month in, responders say

Reuters

(15 June) “Lack of testing and data gaps mask true death toll; Security forces fired warning shots at funeral in latest security incident; Treatment centres overwhelmed, WHO says.”

“One month after Ebola cases were confirmed in eastern Congo, its true scale remains unknown, with major data gaps muddying the picture and persistent, sometimes violent, community resistance hampering the response, health workers and officials say….”

“The government’s figures likely understate the true toll, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a statement, echoing a view shared by aid groups and some Congolese officials. “No one knows the true scale or exactly where the disease is spreading in DRC,” said Kate White, emergency medical coordinator for MSF, which operates treatment centres across the Ebola-hit east.

Testing remains “one of the most significant weaknesses in the response“, the MSF statement said. Many communities, particularly those affected by active armed conflict, still lack access to test kits, while treatment centres face significant delays receiving laboratory results, it said…..”

“One month after the Ebola disease outbreak was declared in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), MSF warns that the outbreak is outpacing response efforts. Gaps persist in surveillance, diagnosis, contact tracing and community engagement. The authorities, along with all stakeholders, must do everything possible to enable a response that matches the scale of the crisis.”

Reuters – Ebola outbreak spreads to crowded displacement camp in Congo

Reuters;

“Two Ebola-related deaths have been confirmed in a displacement camp in eastern Congo, the U.N. refugee agency said, with aid workers warning the risk of the disease spreading quickly in crowded refugee sites was high and worrying…..”

Lancet Regional Health Africa – The Bundibugyo Ebolavirus Outbreak: the need for a solidaristic response under the revised International Health Regulations

S A Karim et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanafr/article/PIIS3050-5011(26)00072-6/fulltext

“…the institutional response to the outbreak has been promising. In addition to declaring public health emergencies rapidly, there has been a mobilisation of resources and coordination. Africa CDC activated its incident management system, deployed surge teams, and convened regional coordination across DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan within 24 h.6 WHO released emergency funds and a clinical trial protocol was adapted and submitted to regulatory authorities in DRC and Uganda within hours of confirmation. Virus sequences were published within days. Affected countries have been complying with the International Health Regulations (IHR), adopting evidence-based measures and solidaristically supporting the response with financial and other resources. “

“Effective outbreak response to a PHEIC depends on coordinated multilateral action, shared surveillance, and consistent application of evidence-based measures, all of which is governed by the IHR framework. Where states operate outside the framework, the ability to response effectively is compromised, although the multilateral system anchoring outbreak responses has been under significant strain since COVID-19…. …. The IHR were amended in 2024, and in response to some of the failures of COVID-19, anchored equity, solidarity, and human rights guiding principles for responses. Yet, even as the amendments were adopted in 2025, 11 states rejected those amendments, including Argentina, Canada, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, and the United States, which then withdrew from the WHO. Other states have not implemented the amendments, filing reservations. The pandemic agreement, adopted in May 2025, cannot be opened for signature until the pathogen access-benefits sharing (PABS) annex is adopted by the World Health Assembly. Negotiations were extended in May 2026, with the next round scheduled for July 2026.11 This compromised legal framework makes coordinating responses challenging…..”

Peter Singer – Why the race for an Ebola vaccine is worth winning

Peter Singer;

“Modelling the Bundibugyo outbreak shows the value of a vaccine — and why the 100 Days Mission’s bet on speed is exactly right.”

Nature Africa (Comment) – Why Ebola survivors belong at the decision-making table

K Thomas et al; https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-026-00158-0

“Recognising survivor expertise could improve preparedness, response and recovery.”

“… Our qualitative work involving survivors from Ebola disease outbreaks that occurred between 2000 and 2023 in Uganda and Liberia has shown how powerful this testimony can be. Our case study was part of the wider Evaluation of Clinical Management Guidelines for High Consequence Infectious Diseases programme, funded by Welcome Trust and led by Walimu Uganda, the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford, and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Using oral history approaches, we sought to understand survivors’ patient journeys and the insights they gained into the social dynamics of transmission and control….”

Cidrap News – Experts urge use of experimental antibodies in DR Congo to combat Ebola

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/ebola/experts-urge-use-experimental-antibodies-dr-congo-combat-ebola

“In a new letter, advocacy groups are urging the US government to make an experimental Ebola treatment, Mapp Biopharmaceutical’s MBP134, available for trials and emergency use in countries affected by an ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring Uganda. “

“Public Citizen, Health Global Access Project, AVAC, Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, Doctors for America, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd sent the letter to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). BARDA and the United States developed the monoclonal antibody treatment to address Sudan strain of Ebola virus. The monoclonal antibody “cocktail” has been investigated as a pan-ebolavirus therapeutic and was developed from antibodies taken from survivors of the 2014 West Africa outbreak…”

Science Insider – Big Ebola outbreak puts spotlight on little known virus

https://www.science.org/content/article/big-ebola-outbreak-puts-spotlight-little-known-virus

“The Bundibugyo virus only emerged twice before. Now scientists see a change to get to know it better.” “Does Bundibugyo virus, now causing the devastating outbreak in DRC and Uganda, differ in important ways from Ebola virus? Scientists aren’t sure.”

NEJM Perspective – The Social Contract of Bundibugyo Ebola Isolation

S Tonen-Wolyec et al; https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2607429?query=featured_home

“The lack of vaccines and disease-specific therapeutics for Bundibugyo Ebola has dramatically affected the community’s perception of Ebola treatment centers. In this context, trust becomes critical.”

Lancet World Report – Life and death in an Ebola virus disease treatment centre

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01237-7/fulltext

“Dedicated treatment facilities are a cornerstone of an Ebola virus disease outbreak response, but conditions are extremely difficult and taxing for health workers. Talha Burki reports.”

And a link:

· CEPS (Expert Comment) – The ongoing Ebola outbreak could be a key moment for the EU’s health resilience agenda (by C Lenz)

More on PPPR & GHS

First with a few articles related to the ‘Member State Hearing for the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response’ in New York from 9 June.

Then state of affairs re PABS, looking ahead to the next iteration in July. And an update on the Pandemic Fund vs Africa CDC.

Think piece – Global Health Security and the Elusive Economic Lens

https://www.thepandemicfund.org/sites/default/files/2026-06/EAC_ROI_High_Level_Think_Piece_Final.pdf

“Why the next generation of pandemic preparedness decisions will depend on clearer evidence of value, trade-offs, and return.”

On this think piece, via LinkedIn (Pandemic Fund): “What is the economic case for investing in #PandemicPreparedness? A new think piece by members of The Pandemic Fund‘s External Advisory Council (EAC) calls for a practical, trusted economic lens to help national decision-makers prioritize pandemic preparedness investments based on clearer evidence of value, trade-offs, and return. Without it, preparedness risks being crowded out by competing priorities, even as infectious disease threats grow…. A group of EAC members are developing a more comprehensive working paper and will be engaging experts in the coming months to chart a way forward. We are encouraged by this effort to equip finance ministries with country-specific tools that reflect national realities and analysis that connects pandemic preparedness investments to economic resilience.”

A single pandemic cost what a thousand years of prevention would have. Now is the time to invest – and invest for the highest return.

S Mabuchi (Head (Director) of Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health and Pandemic Preparedness and Response, The Global Fund) ; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/single-pandemic-cost-what-thousand-years-prevention-would-mabuchi-bguse/

“Why should countries invest in pandemic preparedness — especially when global health funding is shrinking? And how do we ensure every dollar delivers the highest return? Last week, I had the opportunity to address these questions at the Member State Hearing for the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in New York. In this article, I share why this is fundamentally a security and fiscal question — not just a health one — and why the highest-return path is investing in integrated health systems while building pandemic readiness at the same time…..

Excerpt: “… Investments in HIV, TB and malaria are also investments in pandemic preparedness. The Global Fund has been the largest multilateral financier of PPPR over the last eight years – averaging US$4.3 billion per year according to the OECD – OCDE – precisely because HIV, TB and malaria investments directly build pandemic preparedness capacity. This year, we are going further: integrating these investments into primary healthcare, and for the first time, setting explicit transition timelines in many countries to strengthen long-term sustainability and country ownership…..”

Geneva Graduate Institute (Global Health Centre) – 8th issue of the Governing Pandemics Snapshot

https://www.governingpandemics.org/gp-snapshot

As usual, a must-read. “What’s left to tackle in the PABS talks? As the clock ran out, and then was extended for another year, on negotiations over the Pandemic Agreement’s Annex on Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS), the diplomacy and the nitty-gritty of the issues faced were deeply linked. This edition of the Governing Pandemics Snapshot focuses on both, while noting that negotiators’ increased understanding of the technical issues may help pave the way for resolving key sticking points in future rounds of talks. “

With four articles, by Suerie Moon, Adam Strobeyko, Daniela Morich & G Burci.

“On the side of the nitty-gritty, a perennial challenge is the sheer complexity, as Suerie Moon, the Global Health Centre’s Co-Director, writes in her opening article of this four-part Snapshot series: “What has been achieved and what’s left to tackle in the PABS talks?” …”

“Meanwhile, the recent outbreaks of hantavirus and Ebola Bundibugyo virus (EBV) illustrate a case of how open and more restricted gene databases work, as discussed in a narrative elaborated by Adam Strobeyko: “What Hantavirus and Ebola Outbreaks Teach Us About PABS Database Governance.”…”

“Based on these hard facts, Daniela Morich elaborates on the concrete proposals for benefit sharing models that are emerging from the PABS negotiations, and some initial glimmers of convergence in her article: “Building Common Ground: The Evolution of Benefit-Sharing Discussions in the Pandemic Agreement.’ …”

“In “Governance of the PABS Annex”, the final article in this Snapshot series, Gian Luca Burci, looks ahead to the implementation of the Pandemic Agreement. …”

Neat summary of where things stand, based on the above-mentioned snapshot.

PS: “What has been achieved and what’s left to tackle in the PABS talks?

“ While the near total absence of ‘green text’ (indicating consensus) in the latest draft left the impression that little headway has been made, that may be misleading. A look back at countries’ original proposals, and the evolution of negotiations over the past year, shows that progress has been significant, even if deep divisions remain. …”

With a rather good summary in the second half of the article of the current state of affairs (where progress was made, where still lots needs to happen, and the ‘elephant in the room’).

Moon et al conclude: “In brief, negotiators must resolve many issues in the months ahead, but the slow wheels of multilateral negotiations have been grinding forward and are set to continue. It’s also important to remember that while the PABS negotiations proceed, delegates will be contending with at least two other political issues on the global health agenda – the race for WHO’s next Director-General and the global health architecture reform process. Contending with all three at the same time will stretch smaller delegations even more thinly across multiple negotiations. However, these additional bargaining chips could also open new possibilities for striking grand political bargains.”

· And via RANI’s (Resilience Action Playbook) newsletter :

“Informal rounds. On 22-26 June, a first round of informal talks will be co-facilitated by six Member States (France, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, and Spain) rather than the Bureau. This format – tested in the previous round with positive outcomes – aims to give delegations more leeway to explore possibilities on access, benefit-sharing, and contracts. A second round of informal meetings will follow, with meetings on 28 June and 3 July.”

“Financing on the margins. While IGWG 7 will remain primarily focused on PABS, delegations raised the need to advance the Pandemic Agreement’s Coordinating Financial Mechanism (CFM). The Bureau is expected to allocate some time for a high-level discussion, though substantive negotiations are not anticipated at this stage.”

WHO issues comprehensive guidelines on filovirus disease, including Ebola and Marburg disease

https://www.who.int/news/item/17-06-2026-who-issues-comprehensive-guidelines-on-filovirus-disease–including-ebola-and-marburg-disease

“As the Democratic Republic of the Congo is battling an Ebola disease outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released its first comprehensive guidelines for the clinical management of filovirus disease which include all types of Ebola and Marburg viruses. The new guidelines highlight the importance of early supportive care to improve patient survival and health outcomes, outlining 16 evidence-based recommendations….”

Africa CDC Secures Pandemic Fund Accreditation as Implementing Entity, marking a major milestone for African-Led Health Financing and Health Sovereignty

https://africacdc.org/news-item/africa-cdc-secures-pandemic-fund-accreditation-as-implementing-entity-marking-a-major-milestone-for-african-led-health-financing-and-health-sovereignty/

“The accreditation gives Africa CDC direct authority to access and manage financing for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response across Africa.”

“The Governing Board of the Pandemic Fund has approved the accreditation of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) as an Implementing Entity. The decision follows the recommendation of the Pandemic Fund’s Accreditation Panel and places Africa CDC among a select group of institutions authorised to directly access, manage and deploy Pandemic Fund resources.”

“Africa CDC becomes the first African Union institution and the first continental public health agency globally to be accredited as a Pandemic Fund Implementing Entity. It is also only the second African institution, after the African Development Bank, to receive this status….”

PS: “And the timing is ideal. Africa CDC and WHO are leading the continental plan for the Ebola response. The Pandemic Fund has committed $220.6 million to support containment of the outbreak and protect at-risk countries in central and eastern Africa. This funding will go toward this joint plan….”

Lancet (Comment) – Hantavirus: the need for a rapid regional response platform in Latin America

Patricia J Garciaa et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01188-8/fulltext

« Global health security initiatives have frequently underestimated Latin America as a geography of infectious disease emergence and re-emergence, despite its ecological diversity, environmental disruption, cross-border mobility, and recurrent arboviral and zoonotic threats. In the past decade alone, the region has experienced the emergence of Zika, chikungunya, yellow fever, measles, and other neglected and re-emerging viruses, risks that are amplified by climate change, anthropogenic ecosystem disruption, and little coordination between countries….”

« … Dengue offers a striking example of this blind spot. The Americas recorded their highest-ever number of dengue cases in 2023, only to surpass that record again in 2024, with more than 13 million cases across 47 countries and territories. Yet this outbreak did not translate into tangible global political attention, underscoring how regionally concentrated crises can remain peripheral to global health security agendas, even when they strain health systems…. … In contrast, the 2026 hantavirus cluster rapidly attracted global visibility and triggered an international response….”

« … The recent hantavirus event leads to a clear recommendation: Latin America needs a strong regional platform to prevent, prepare for, and respond to infectious disease threats before they become international emergencies. …”

PS: « All authors are part of the Latin American Technical Working Group, which comes together to discuss how to address the region’s pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response challenges. …”

Run-up to the UN HL meeting on HIV/AIDS (22-23 June)

UNAIDS (press release) – A ‘perilous moment’ for the response to HIV warns UNAIDS

https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2026/june/20260612_PR_global_aids_brief

(12 June) “A new report released today by UNAIDS shows that external funding cuts, a strong push back on human rights and under investment and under prioritization of HIV prevention and community services are threatening to reverse years of gains in the AIDS response. “

PS: “In the coming days (22-23 June) the United Nations General Assembly will convene a High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS where countries will come together to adopt a new Political Declaration on HIV. This will be the final Political Declaration before the 2030 deadline to end AIDS as a public health threat. The new Political Declaration will include new 2030 targets from the Global AIDS Strategy. Overarching targets include reaching 40 million people with antiretroviral treatment by 2030, ensuring 20 million people have access to medicine to prevent HIV and ensuring that all people receive services free of stigma and discrimination. “

“The 2030 goals remain achievable. Reaching 2030 targets could avert 3.2 million additional new infections. This requires continued unity and commitment, with countries in the lead, backed by global partners with communities at the centre. …”

Global AIDS brief – United to end AIDS

https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/documents/2026/20260612_Global_AIDS_brief

The related UNAIDS brief. “Progress made to date on the HIV response is real and fragile. Without renewed commitment and action, we risk a resurgence of the epidemic. In 2025, HIV responses around the world were disrupted by shifts in funding that threatened to stall years of progress in the HIV response. In 2025, external financing for all development sectors fell by 23% compared with 2024.”

HPW – HIV Response Faces ‘Biggest Storm’ in Its History After Funding Nosedive

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/hiv-response-faces-biggest-storm-in-its-history-after-funding-nosedive/

Coverage & analysis via HPW.

“The global HIV response is facing its “biggest storm” since the world united against the epidemic, UNAIDS warned (last week on) Friday, as it published new data showing donor funding for HIV/AID prevention and community services critical to containing infections dropped by almost one quarter last year.”

“The Global AIDS Brief is being published just 10 days ahead of the United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) in New York City, where member states are due to adopt a new Political Declaration on ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. It is the first comprehensive damage assessment of the funding shock that hit HIV response and the entire array of global health crises in 2025.”

“External development assistance to HIV/AIDS programmes fell by 23% last year, the sharpest drop on record, the report reveals. This followed on the Trump administration dismantled USAID and slashed contributions to the HIV response the United States had anchored for two decades. The result is an HIV response that is collapsing…..

PS: “Prevention programmes 80% donor dependent in disarray: The deepest cuts are in prevention which only received 11% of HIV funding overall in 2024. In sub-Saharan Africa, prevention programmes depended on donors for 83% of their funding when the cuts hit, the UNAIDS report found. Globally, two-thirds of prevention programmes were funded by external donors…..

PS: “… Rights in retreat: For decades, the slow drift of HIV-related law around the world moved in only one direction: toward decriminalization. That tide has now turned. For the first time since UNAIDS began tracking the data, criminalization of the marginalized populations most at risk of HIV is increasing…..”

“… The last declaration before the SDG 2030 deadline: Next week’s UN High-Level Meeting will produce the final Political Declaration before the 2030 deadline that world leaders set under the Sustainable Development Goals to end AIDS as a public health threat. The goal is not actual eradication of the virus, but reducing new infections and deaths by 90% compared to 2010, shrinking the epidemic to a scale health systems can manage.”

“This year’s declaration will set new targets drawn from the Global AIDS Strategy 2026-2031:

· 40 million people on ARV treatment

· 20 million accessing antiretroviral prevention,

· and HIV services free of stigma and discrimination for all.

Meeting those targets would avert 3.2 million new infections and 1.2 million deaths by 2030, according to UNAIDS modelling. …”

PS: “… UNAIDS is already cutting its secretariat staff by 54% and consolidating country offices from 85 to 54 under its own board-approved restructuring…..”

· On the UNAIDS reform, see also the Guardian:

PS: “UNAids has itself been hit by the Trump administration’s funding cuts, and the UN secretary general has proposed that the agency should be “sunset” by the end of this year. Byanyima said a working group would present proposals to the UNAids board in October, but said she foresaw “a much smaller joint programme that is more dispersed within the UN but that continues to have a hub – leading for the UN and for the world”.

BMJ GH – Africa’s ownership of a sustainable health journey towards an AIDS-free future

M Chola, M Robalo, K Buse, M Dybul et al (The African-led HIV Control Working Group); https://gh.bmj.com/content/11/6/e018198

“Progress on Africa’s HIV response is under threat due to dependence on external models and underinvestment from African countries. Africa must redefine its health agenda and HIV response with locally designed and financed strategies, rooted in regional collaboration and solidarity….”

“…In view of urgent and diverse health challenges, Africa must redefine its health and HIV agenda, moving from one-size-fits-all solutions to tailored local strategies rooted in its diverse cultures and intracontinental collaboration. Funding-related barriers must be addressed, and international initiatives should align with Africa’s priorities. The 12-member African-led HIV Control Working Group (HCWG) aims to redefine Africa’s health and HIV agenda by advocating for a sustainable, African-owned HIV response. The group advocates for a cooperative approach based on social justice, dignity, cultural diversity, health, transparency and community empowerment, decolonising global health architecture, while embracing the ethos of Ubuntu.”

PS: (among others), …” The group proposes an African-owned Global Health and Wellbeing Fund, embodying Africa’s commitment to control its health destiny, promoting empowerment and ownership….”

Global Health Reform (& post-2030 brainstorm)

Partnership for International Politics and Diplomacy for Health – Insights on global health reform discussions, trends and perspectives: June 2026

https://www.globalhealthdiplomacy.se/insights-on-global-health-reform-discussions-trends-and-perspectives-june-2026

“… In today’s reform landscape, two major initiatives stand out: the Accra Reset, led by President John Mahama of Ghana, and the WHO-hosted reform process, formally adopted by the 79th World Health Assembly. While there is ample curiosity around both processes, we note that the confidence in their ability to deliver change varies across the global health community. Those closely engaged in reform discussions express concerns that the proposals may not be ambitious or transformative enough.”

“Discrepancies between rhetoric and reality, and between what is said in public fora compared to closed-door discussions, must be recognised. Reform conversations are far more palatable when kept at the level of systems and principles but become notably sensitive when they begin to unpick the underlying drivers of systemic dysfunction. “

“Whether due to complacency, self-interest, or insistence on a flawless process, there is a risk that the ongoing sense of urgency will fade. Though the appetite for change remains strong, this reform moment will be judged by whether it delivers meaningful outcomes, or becomes another collection of well-worded commitments. With significant leadership transitions approaching in 2027, including at the AU, WHO, Africa CDC, and The Global Fund, now is the time to think, and act, boldly.”

The Missing Piece in the Global Health Architecture Conversation: The People Inside It

B Orya; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/missing-piece-global-health-architecture-conversation-breshna-orya-cfxse/

Well worth a read. On the ‘generalist trap’, the ‘golden cage’, and what this does to the global architecture.

“… This one is about something I have been witnessing alongside all of it, a quieter and more painful transition that almost never makes it into the conversation. The transition of the people in this field, the ones who built their careers inside this system and are now being moved out of it at the same time as the money. I think it is worth having this conversation openly, rather than in corridors and in silence because what is happening to people is also shaping the architecture itself. The architecture is not an empty structure that exists on its own. It is the people who make it work. When we talk about its future without talking about them, we are missing the part that holds the whole thing up.”

Project Syndicate – Global Health Reform Must Bolster Innovation

M Balasegaram (GARDP), M Fitchet (Medicines for Malaria Venture) & L Pizarro (DNDi);

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/product-development-partnerships-important-for-country-led-global-health-system-by-manica-balasegaram-et-al-2026-06

“As funding falls for global public health, calls for a country-led system have grown louder. Such reforms are necessary, but they must not come at the expense of new vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics, which can be delivered by strengthening mechanisms—such as product development partnerships—that already work.”

“The real challenge …. is to ensure that a reformed global health system, driven by the needs of countries, can continue to produce the next generation of health tools…”

WHS Perspectives – The Nairobi moment: Why global health reform must begin with Africa

Commentary by Prof Lukoye Atwoli; https://www.worldhealthsummit.org/whs-perspectives/lukoye-atwoli-the-nairobi-moment-why-global-health-reform-must-begin-with-africa

Coming back on the regional World Health Summit in Nairobi. “What Nairobi made clear is that the old model is finished. A new global health framework must respect regional sovereignty, demand accountability from leaders, and be grounded in genuine equity, not the performative kind, but the structural kind. …”

“The WHS Regional Meeting crystallized five pillars that must anchor this transformation. ..”

IJHPM – Global Health 2050: Beyond the Modular Approach

E Paul et al ; https://www.ijhpm.com/article_4884.html

“This viewpoint interrogates the core assumptions and methodological shortcomings of the 2024 LCIH report’s disease-centred approach to health policy…”

“The most recent (2024) Lancet Commission on Investing in Health (hereafter LCIH)… publication aims to “halving premature death by mid-century.” It posits that global deaths before age 70 (“premature”) could be halved through a targeted strategy focussed on 15 priorities: 8 infectious and maternal health conditions and 7 non-communicable diseases (NCDs). To achieve this, it proposes a package of cost-effective interventions grouped into 19 modules, each “representing a programme area with a specific set of policies and financing arrangements.”….”

US Global Health Strategy & bilateral health agreements

NYT – New Plan Scales Back C.D.C.’s Work on Diseases Abroad

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/health/pepfar-cdc-cuts.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

“The State Department is taking over much of the control of global health initiatives, for which critics say the department does not have the expertise.” Excerpts:

“… The new plan, proposed by the State Department, aims to overhaul the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work on a landmark global H.I.V. program (i.e. PEPFAR) that also helps countries manage surveillance for emerging diseases, strengthen laboratory networks and support childhood immunizations. If the plan goes into effect on Oct. 1 as scheduled, it would effectively shut the agency out of overseeing many global health programs and shift control over the bulk of funds and decisions to the State Department.”

“The changes may sideline the country’s premier experts on global health and could lead to the closure of about a third of its 60 country offices within the next three years, according to some officials with knowledge of the programs…. …The proposal is intended to diminish the agency’s authority in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, a program credited with saving 26 million lives since it was created by the administration of President George W. Bush in 2003. Before 2025, U.S.A.I.D. managed more than half of PEPFAR’s budget, and the C.D.C. handled much of the rest. The changes may jeopardize the health of the more than 12 million people on H.I.V. treatment supported by C.D.C. funds, said Dr. Michele Montandon, who led the agency’s team on mother-to-child transmission of H.I.V. until she was laid off in August…. “This will completely destabilize H.I.V. work abroad,” she said. “We’ve seen service disruptions, deaths and babies born with H.I.V. after shuttering U.S.A.I.D., and we can expect more to come if C.D.C. is also shut out of this work.”…”

PS: “In a typical year under the current system, the State Department would hand the C.D.C. a budget of about $2 billion. The agency then would work with countries to set their health priorities and allocate the funds to ministries and partner organizations to support them. The new plan replaces the health agency’s budget for the work with a “fee-for-service” menu that requires countries to choose and pay for assistance from C.D.C. staff in specific areas — wastewater and environmental surveillance, for example…”

“… In interviews, more than a dozen current and former employees of the C.D.C. and the State Department said they expected countries would, for financial or political reasons, pay for only a minimum of services, forgoing spending in areas that have less immediate impact but that are nonetheless important. (Many spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation from the administration.) … … They predicted that the new transactional model would further destabilize relationships with foreign governments, unravel public health programs and make Americans more vulnerable to infectious disease threats….”

Emily Bass – State Takes Aim at CDC’s Health Security Portfolio in Nigeria

Emily Bass;

“ The Department of State’s June 5 funding announcement for Nigeria is the clearest sign yet that State is taking over activities that, for years, have been led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Addendum D: Health Foreign Assistance Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Implementation in Nigeria invites applicants to submit proposals for functions identical to those that the US CDC has directly funded and implemented for years…”

PS: “In addition to Nigeria, State has also published addenda for Malawi and Uganda….”

Health Security Policy academy – The Global Health Spending Stall Is Worse Than It Looks

K J Seung & V Lin; Global Health Watch;

Summarized via Devex checkup:

“Speaking of disbursing — or not disbursing, in these cases — new analysis indicates that the Trump administration is still holding back global health funds, and officials are running out of time to spend them. Physician and global health leader KJ Seung and Partners In Health’s Vincent Lin have pored through public spending data with their eyes on two particular pools of money for global health programs: a five-year account for HIV services and a two-year account for everything else. That second account is supposed to be used for programs such as battling tuberculosis and malaria and improving maternal and child health. And if history is any precedent, in the second year of the two-year allocation, spending ramps up dramatically. But not with the fiscal year 2025-26 funds, now worth roughly $3.5 billion. According to Seung and Lin, virtually none of that money had been obligated through April 2026 — more than halfway through the second and final fiscal year. As they warn in their analysis: “If the administration continues to fail at moving the 25/26 money, it will soon have an argument that the funds cannot be used in time.””

“The HIV funds — which include allocations to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR — stretch over five years. As a result, money has historically gone out at a slower pace, though it also tends to accelerate in the second year. But even there, spending is billions behind where it has been in previous cycles, according to the findings. By April 2026, only $385 million of the 2025-29 money had been spent. At that point, the previous year, $2.6 billion of the 2024-28 money had been obligated.”

“The researchers tell me the next few months will be crucial in showing whether the administration has the willingness or capacity to actually get the money out the door before it disappears….”

AVAC – US FDA and African Medicines Agency Enter Into New Partnership

https://mailchi.mp/avac/global-health-watch-april18-2108331?e=f66302bb8e

“The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the African Medicines Agency (AMA) have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create a shared framework for information sharing and regulatory cooperation. The agreement could allow African regulators to draw on FDA assessments and regulatory decisions when evaluating medical products, while also facilitating greater cooperation on inspections, scientific reviews and regulatory capacity building. “

“IMPLICATIONS: This agreement between two stringent regulatory authorities (SRAs) is another example of the Administration’s evolving approach to global health and in-line with the US government’s recent “America First” global health strategy. This partnership could be interpreted as a regulatory harmonization effort that would allow for the rapid influx of American-made health technologies for emerging markets in Africa. The expansion and procurement of US-made health commodities is a central feature to the US government’s new transactional approach to global health…”

Think Global Health – Ebola Recalls Why the U.S. Needs a Foreign Health Service

M D Brown; https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/ebola-recalls-why-the-u-s-needs-a-foreign-health-service

“The Trump administration is right that U.S. health diplomacy needs stronger leadership, but turning the CDC into a vendor is the wrong path.”

“The U.S. response is functioning so far for one reason unrelated to any decision made this year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s country offices—nearly 30 staff in DRC and close to 100 in Uganda—kept their relationships with both health ministries intact through the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the American exit from the WHO. When the outbreak was confirmed, those ministries called the CDC, and the State Department named the CDC as the lead agency for the U.S. response. The architecture is holding only because its people built those relationships before the rules changed….”

“To protect that capability, the United States does not need to dismantle the CDC: It needs instead to build the diplomatic workforce to lead it. Guidance the State Department issued on May 5 [PDF] does the opposite by changing who will be in the room when the next outbreak begins…. … The May 5 guidance routes U.S. global health funding through the State Department and recasts the CDC from a directly funded implementing agency into a fee-for-service provider, paid by partner governments one service at a time. The change undercuts the strategy it is meant to serve….”

Devex Pro – State Department continues to rebuild aid staff through contractors

https://www.devex.com/news/state-department-continues-to-rebuild-aid-staff-through-contractors-112708

(gated) “It’s encouraging because it’s starting to address the problem,” said Tod Preston, the executive director of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network. “Much more needs to be done, but they could be doing nothing.”

“ The U.S. State Department is continuing to refill its foreign aid workforce, with dozens of roles posted at the agency’s global health, foreign assistance, and disaster response bureaus in recent weeks….”

More on Global Health Governance & Financing/Funding

Guardian – Ghana to advance reparatory justice at first major gathering since landmark UN resolution

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/jun/17/ghana-to-advance-reparatory-justice-at-first-major-gathering-since-landmark-un-resolution

“Ghana to advance reparatory justice at first major gathering since landmark UN resolution; Heads of state and participants from more than 80 countries at three-day event in Accra to pursue actionable commitments to reconciliation and restitution.” The meeting is called “Next Steps”.

“… Participants are engaging in dialogue around five objectives – including formulating a framework to advance the resolution’s objectives globally and establishing global panels on reparatory justice and restitution – to “transform political momentum into a common concrete institutional commitment for reparatory justice”, organisers say…..”

· For the concept note, see High-Level Consultative Conference on the Next Steps to the Landmark United

Devex Pro – Is the WHO Foundation meeting its commitments to WHO?

https://www.devex.com/news/is-the-who-foundation-meeting-its-commitments-to-who-112677

(gated) “A report of WHO’s external auditor found the WHO Foundation had fallen short of the funds it was supposed to transfer to WHO. But the foundation’s response suggests that’s not the case.”

“The World Health Organization’s external auditor says the WHO Foundation appears to be falling short of a key commitment to channel most of the money it raises back to WHO. At the center of the issue is a provision in the foundation’s affiliation agreement with WHO requiring that between 70% and 80% of funds raised over any two years be provided to the agency.”

“In a report released in May, the auditor found that the foundation raised 69 million Swiss francs (approximately $75.37 million) between 2022 and 2024 but disbursed only CHF 27.9 million (approximately $44.14 million) during that period. Just 25% or $19.3 million of the money raised went to WHO, prompting the auditor to flag a “substantial shortfall” in funding transferred to the agency….”

“Not so fast, according to the foundation. A lot of the money raised was for its operational costs, which they’re not obligated to hand over to WHO. According to their calculations, they raised $150 million for WHO and other health programs between 2021 and 2025, and they are directing 89% of that money to the agency. That would mean they met the terms of their affiliation agreement. “

“You know who does not seem bothered by the discrepancy? WHO. Agency management told the auditors they understood the distinction between operational and programmatic fundraising. And a spokesperson there told my colleague Jenny Lei Ravelo that the agency “recognizes the role of the WHO Foundation in supporting resource mobilization efforts for WHO’s mission and priorities.”…”

CEPS (paper) – Health under the Global Gateway: achievements and future prospects

C Lenz et al ; https://www.ceps.eu/ceps-publications/health-under-the-global-gateway-achievements-and-future-prospects/

“The EU has increasingly positioned global health as a strategic component of its external action through the EU Global Health Strategy and the Global Gateway initiative. While health is formally one of the Global Gateway’s five priority sectors, it remains a relatively small part of the portfolio, accounting for less than 10 % of flagship projects. This gap between ambition and implementation raises questions about whether the Global Gateway is delivering on its health objectives and the commitments set out in the EU Global Health Strategy.”

“This paper examines the health dimension of the Global Gateway by analysing flagship projects between 2023-26. It finds a strong focus on infrastructure investments, particularly water and sanitation and pharmaceutical manufacturing, with less emphasis on health systems strengthening and primary healthcare. Investments are also concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.”

“The analysis also explores how health objectives are operationalised through Team Europe Initiatives and the Global Health Resilience Initiative. While some programmes, particularly those supporting local manufacturing of medical countermeasures, demonstrate strong political commitment and resource mobilisation, implementation across the portfolio remains uneven. Limited transparency on financing, governance arrangements and results further constrains accountability and learning.”

“Amid declining health aid, rising geopolitical competition, and growing emphasis on resilience, the paper finds that health should be elevated as a cross-cutting pillar of the Global Gateway. This will require stronger links between investment, research, diplomacy and partner-country priorities, alongside improved coordination, accountability and anchored in country ownership.”

The Brussels Times – Global health at a crossroads: True partnership, not dependency

https://www.brusselstimes.com/2194005/global-health-at-a-crossroads-true-partnership-not-dependency

Joint statement by civil society re the EU’s Global Health Resilience initiative.

Excerpt:

“While the EU’s Global Health Resilience Initiative presents itself as a departure from blatantly transactional models of health engagement, such as the bilateral U.S. approach, its reorientation toward market-based mechanisms must also be accompanied by the sustained and predictable support that fragile health systems need to survive the transition. Current reductions in external assistance and crushing sovereign debt are already compromising the capacity of many developing countries to support access to essential services, so a transition that further erodes public financing risks deepening ongoing public health crises worldwide.”

“The Initiative speaks of “health sovereignty” but positions European pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms as the default implementation partners in developing countries. It relies on blended finance instruments that shift financial risk onto strained public budgets while directing returns to private investors. Without more, a stated commitment to multilateralism and the WHO does not alter the underlying structure: dependencies are reorganized rather than eliminated.”

“The undersigned organizations observe that the initiative must also confront the root causes of health inequity: sovereign debt crises that drain public health budgets, chronic underfunding that leaves countries unable to adequately build and support their own health systems, and intellectual property barriers that keep life-saving medicines out of reach.”

“As such, we call on the European Commission and all global health actors to ensure that frameworks presented as partnership translate into genuine shift toward cooperation in power and resources rather than a consolidation of donor influence under new architecture.”

“The undersigned organizations remain committed to working with all actors toward a global health architecture that serves the people it claims to protect. We urge the European Commission to ensure that the Global Health Resilience Initiative does not simply repackage the same power asymmetries that have contributed to the current global health crisis, but instead delivers on its stated promise of partnership….”

ECDPM (Commentary) – Steering without a map: What the Council conclusions on Global Gateway reveal

https://ecdpm.org/work/steering-without-map-what-council-conclusions-global-gateway-reveal

“The Council of the EU adopted its conclusions on the Global Gateway. San Bilal and Karim Karaki went through it to identify what stands out.”

“…On 15 June 2026, the Council of the EU adopted its Conclusions on Global Gateway – the Union’s flagship connectivity and investment strategy. Beyond the now-familiar language of ‘Team Europe’ and ‘360-degree’ partnerships, the text offers a useful window into what member states actually want from a strategy that has grown rapidly in scope, visibility and political weight since its launch in 2021. Three messages stand out: an endorsement of Global Gateway’s geostrategic turn, a firm reminder that development remains its foundation and a clear push to recover political control over how the strategy is governed….

Devex Pro – Inside Gavi’s $189 million plan to boost Africa’s vaccine ecosystem

https://www.devex.com/news/inside-gavi-s-189-million-plan-to-boost-africa-s-vaccine-ecosystem-112721

(gated) “Gavi is seeking board approval for AVMA+, a $189 million package designed to strengthen Africa’s vaccine manufacturing ecosystem at a time of shrinking global health budgets.”

“Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance wants to inject $189 million into Africa’s vaccine production ecosystem, hoping to bolster its African Vaccines Manufacturing Accelerator amid a tight financial climate. The proposal, dubbed AVMA+, aims to strengthen Africa’s regulatory network and make it easier for governments to buy vaccines, and guarantees direct sales for up to 70 million vaccines made on the continent. Gavi announced the plan in May, and its board will consider it in July….”

“On the vaccine side, governments would go through Gavi’s standard cofinancing model. Eligible lower-income countries contribute directly toward the cost of their vaccines, starting at a flat rate of $0.20 per dose and rising with national income. That money would be “only spendable on African-made products, representing a win-win by filling a public health need and securing assured demand,” a Gavi spokesperson says.”

“Meanwhile, the regulatory side would focus on streamlining vaccine approvals and procurement across the continent. “The African vaccine manufacturing sector is still so fragile and fragmented,” says Petro Terblanche, CEO of Afrigen Biologics. “If we can work on one dossier for 10 countries, and not 10 dossiers for 10 countries, that’s important.”….” “ That’s also a prime objective of the African Medicines Agency, or AMA, which entered into force in 2021 to harmonize the regulation of medical products across the African Union’s member states…..”

TGH – Securing Sustainable Funding for Civil Society Organizations

M Elhardt, C Collins et al; https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/securing-sustainable-funding-for-civil-society-organizations

“The United States and Global Fund should work with partner governments to transition support for groups delivering HIV and TB services after aid cuts.”

“As donor funding shifts toward greater country ownership, the United States and the Global Fund need to plan for CSO continuity and growth, including to incentivize national governments to sign contracts and fund CSOs for the services they deliver so effectively. LMIC governments also need to channel their domestic financing to CSOs. Two questions will help determine whether decades of progress against HIV and TB survive or unravel as the United States and the Global Fund reshape how they deliver global health assistance: What will happen to the CSOs that deliver essential services on the frontlines? How will funding for CSOs transition from donors to LMIC governments?…”

PS: “In the face of reduced donor support, LMIC governments can fill the gaps. Botswana and North Macedonia are clear examples….” Read how.

PS: “… What Needs to Happen Now: The current wave of U.S. bilateral health agreements with partner countries focuses on commodities such as drugs and diagnostic tests and data systems but largely ignores how CSO-delivered services will be financed after donors pull back. Three actions are recommended to address this issue…”

Global health associations will launch new partnership for maternal, newborn and child survival

https://internationalmidwives.org/global-health-associations-launch-new-consortium-for-maternal-newborn-and-child-survival/

“On 15 June 2026, five leading global professional associations working across sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (SRMNCAH) presented the Global SRMNCAH Professional Association Partnership in Lisbon, Portugal, during the 34th ICM Triennial Congress. The partnership is bringing together the Council of International Neonatal Nurses (COINN), the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), the International Council of Nurses (ICN), the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), and the International Paediatric Association (IPA). “

“This marks the first time global associations representing midwives, nurses, neonatal nurses, obstetricians, gynaecologists and paediatricians have come together in a structured platform to advance maternal, newborn and child survival in high-burden countries. … The Partnership was presented alongside a Joint Declaration…”

· Related: HPW – Midwives: The High Return Investment That’s Not Being Made (by A af Ugglas, R Khosla et al)

“A return on investment of 16:1 should be irresistible. So why does midwifery keep losing the budget fight, and what would make funders and finance ministers finally move?”

With three clear demands from Lisbon.

CGD (blog) – Global Health’s Timing Problem

A Gheorge & P Baker; https://www.cgdev.org/blog/global-healths-timing-problem

“…This blog argues that global health doesn’t always get timing right: it can commit too late, stop too soon or even too late, as it measures the value of spending over time horizons that do not always match when benefits occur. Better timing may be one of the most overlooked ways to protect the value of global health financing.”

“The outcome of good prioritization should be spending the right amount on the right thing, at the right time. But this hasn’t always been the case in global health….”

“Bad timing can erode the value of global health investments in three ways: by acting too late, by stopping too soon, or by withdrawing too late….”

“Two complementary approaches can help the timing problem…”

PS: “ … a value monitoring mechanism would undoubtedly be a GPG and its creation should be considered by the ongoing global health architecture reform conversations. Analytically, a starting point could be one of the initiatives that monitors global health financing flows, but its governance would most likely require balancing both independence from and alignment with the major global health financing stakeholders. The World Health Organization can have a strong role to play in such a mechanism should its focus sharpen towards GPGs….”

Authors conclude: “…Delayed action, unstable commitment, and failure to transition are all symptoms of the same problem with global health investments: timing currently sits outside the notion of “value.” Good timing should be treated as an integral part of value in global health investments. Making timing explicit in global health financing and aligning institutional mandates to when value can be created—as opposed to when financing decisions are made—can go some way towards fixing this problem. With much tighter budgets, global health cannot afford to treat timing as an afterthought: when money arrives and how long it lasts are part of what determines its value.”

Governance RX- Stewardship at Twenty-Five: The Most Important Idea We Forgot

David Clarke; On Substack;

“Why a quiet concept from WHR 2000 may be the missing link between UHC, AI in health, and real-world governance.” Some excerpts:

“Twenty-five years ago, the World Health Organization slipped a quietly radical idea into a report best known for something else. The World Health Report 2000 is remembered for ranking health systems — and for the arguments that followed about methods, weights, and performance scores. But beneath the league tables, the report did something more enduring: it named stewardship as a core function of health systems…”

“… The world of 2000 already seemed complicated. Much of the system complexity of 2026 would have been difficult to anticipate….” “ Today’s health systems are not merely mixtures of public and private providers. They are ecosystems. Patients move between government clinics, private hospitals, online pharmacies, insurance platforms, digital health applications, and increasingly artificial intelligence systems. Medicines cross borders before they reach pharmacies. Health data flows through platforms that governments do not own. Clinical decisions are increasingly supported by algorithms developed on another continent. International donors finance programmes alongside domestic budgets. Professional standards are shaped by networks that operate well beyond national jurisdictions. Yet one thing has not changed. When citizens cannot access care, when corruption undermines services, when health spending rises faster than incomes, when a digital platform causes harm, or when an AI system produces dangerous outcomes, people still expect governments to respond. Accountability has remained national even as the systems being governed have become increasingly distributed….”

“… One way to understand the past twenty-five years is to see them as a period in which health systems became progressively more complex, while our practical understanding of stewardship developed more slowly. We became increasingly sophisticated in designing reforms, but less clear about how those reforms would ultimately be governed.. … That distinction between architecture and stewardship is increasingly important. Architecture describes how a system is supposed to work. It establishes institutions, financing arrangements, reporting lines, partnerships, and accountability structures. It tells us what has been designed. Stewardship begins when reality encounters the design. It is the set of capabilities by which governments align incentives, monitor performance, respond to unintended consequences, resolve conflicts, build trust, and keep systems oriented towards public purposes despite competing interests. A framework tells you what was intended. An instrument tells you what happens when interests collide….

“Put more bluntly for health systems: we have become much better at designing reforms than at governing them once they exist. …Over the past few years, the problem stewardship was meant to address has resurfaced independently in several different corners of health policy, often among authors who are not explicitly writing about stewardship at all. …” Clarke lists four different debates, with one underlying question.

And then comes up with some recommendations.

Including : “Plan for stewardship in the post-2030 agenda. The next generation of global health goals will fail if they continue to specify outcomes without equal attention to the governance capabilities required to deliver them. The Sustainable Development Goal era ends in 2030. Whatever succeeds it will shape the next generation of global health ambitions. The risk is that we repeat a familiar mistake: defining outcomes while remaining largely silent about the state capabilities required to achieve them; building architectures while assuming stewardship will somehow emerge around them. If the post-2030 settlement is to avoid that trap, it will need to treat stewardship not as a value to be affirmed but as a capability to be built, measured, supported, and financed.”

IJHPM – The World Medical Association: The Voice of Physicians in the Turbulence Between Ethical Rigor and Geopolitical Imperatives

M Gaddas et al; https://www.ijhpm.com/article_4882.html

“This editorial examined the enduring ties between medicine and political power, highlighting how the World Medical Association (WMA) arose in response to recurring ethical crises involving physicians. Created after the Second World War alongside new international institutions, the WMA aimed to protect professional autonomy and defend medical neutrality. Over the decades, it has acted as an ethical counterbalance within global health governance, especially through collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). Yet history shows that political pressures have repeatedly compromised medical practice, generating dual-loyalty dilemmas, human rights violations, and scandals that erode public trust. The WMA has sometimes responded firmly—suspending national associations, issuing statements during conflicts, or challenging unethical state policies—though its actual influence remains contested. Internal political divisions have often slowed or limited its actions. Today’s (ie, mid-March 2026) severe degradation of health systems in conflict zones reinforces the need to renew core ethical principles through collective responsibility and vigilance.”

Global Policy – “Reform Has Not Collapsed, It Has Bifurcated”: Global Tax Reform Amid Power Politics

T Rixen ; https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/17/06/2026/reform-has-not-collapsed-it-has-bifurcated-global-tax-reform-amid-power-politics

Worth a read.

Quote: “ The reform has not collapsed, but it has bifurcated. We now have a two-tier system: a minimum tax that applies to most of the world’s multinationals, but with a significant carve-out for the country that hosts the largest share of them. …“

The right to health: mandate UN Special rapporteur on the right to health ends soon

Tlaleng Mofokeng’s mandate as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health ends soon (end of July).

Some related reads below:

Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng’s final report and dialogue as UN Special Rapporteur

Via Georgetown’s Institute:

“Next week in Geneva, Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng presents her final report and Interactive Dialogue to the Human Rights Council as UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, closing a mandate she has held since 2020 and will conclude on July 31st, 2026. Dr Mofokeng is a Senior Scholar at the Center.

Her report, “The Right to Health as an Enabler of Dignity,” goes before the Council’s 62nd session. Over six years she has reported each year to the Human Rights Council and the United Nations General Assembly, monitored the right to health worldwide, visited countries to see conditions first-hand, and advised member states on meeting their human rights obligations….”

“The Special Rapporteur explores the intrinsic relationship between dignity and the enjoyment of the right to health. She analyses how dignity operates, both as a foundational principle of the right to health and as a practical condition for its realization. She examines violations of dignity, including stigma, discrimination, criminalization, coercion, violence and exclusion from decision-making, as root causes of poor health outcomes. She underscores that these factors disproportionately affect persons, groups and communities who have been systematically marginalized. The Special Rapporteur situates dignity within the normative framework of the right to health and its interdependence with other human rights, including the rights to life, equality and non-discrimination, privacy, information and informed consent, and with access to the underlying determinants of health. She highlights the role of the underlying determinants of health, including social, legal and commercial determinants of health, in shaping the conditions in which people are born, live, work, age and die, including the harmful effects of punitive legal frameworks and unregulated commercial practices on autonomy, access to care and health equity. The Special Rapporteur asserts that health cannot be realized without dignity, and dignity cannot flourish without health….”

Lancet Regional Health Africa – Health is political: setting an African agenda for the right to health

Tlaleng Mofokeng et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanafr/article/PIIS3050-5011(26)00063-5/fulltext

“As my mandate draws to a close, I return to a simple proposition: the right to health in Africa, and around the world, requires political choices. Governments must fund health systems and build manufacturing and regulatory capacity for medicines, vaccines, diagnostic equipment, and other health technologies. They must protect civic space and stop treating civil society as an enemy, and thereby open themselves to public scrutiny. They must collect disaggregated data to help showcase health disparities and remedy it. International partners must also change. Solidarity cannot be built on extracting data, labour, and resources from Africa while leaving its communities dependent on imported solutions. We cannot celebrate the resilience of African healthcare workers while continuing to underfund and sideline them. Accountability should be people-centered, rather than solely to external donors. The right to health is not granted to people because they meet some criteria of deservingness, as is too common with the language around Africa. It is owed because they are human beings. For Africa, the task ahead is to actualise a model of the right to health that is honest, anti-racist, anti-colonial, and premised on accountability from below. The marginalized in our health system must not be occasionally considered, but must become an anchor from which health systems are designed, financed, evaluated, and periodically repaired. Only then can the right to health transform from an aspiration to a lived reality.”

The future of Development Cooperation

The future of Development Cooperation (report) – The Development Balance Sheet: Rethinking Development Cooperation from the Ground Up

Development Cooperation;

“The Coalition released its first report: The Development Balance Sheet: Rethinking Development Cooperation from the Ground Up. The paper argues that low- and middle-income countries can best achieve their goals by leveraging their assets and managing their liabilities. It strongly posits that long-term development, while influenced by external regional and global currents and shocks, is first and foremost the result of domestic policy choices, productive investment, trade integration, innovation, institutional strength, and political economy. Ultimately, the balance sheet approach is not only a lens for understanding individual country trajectories, but for better understanding how best to shape cooperation in support of those trajectories. In addition to the link to the report above, you can also read the press release that accompanied the report and quickly peruse some of the key facts shared in the report.”

PS: “The report identifies institutional capacity as a central determinant of whether countries can effectively leverage diverse financial and non-finance resources and coordinate diverse forms of development cooperation. It argues that the ability to strategically manage assets and liabilities — optimizing assets while actively mitigating liabilities — is often more important than the starting point of any country’s given balance sheet….”

ODI (Expert Comment) – North Stars for Northern Donors: what should guide donors as dialogues turn to decisions?

N Gulrajani; https://odi.org/en/insights/north-stars-for-northern-donors-why-dialogues-need-to-evolve-into-decisions/

This was an interesting process. Wrapping up the “Donors in a Post-Aid World (dPAW)” dialogue after 18 months of discussions.

Here, they list “eight bold “North Stars for Northern Donors“. These are radical and interlinked propositions achievable over the next ten years but requiring foundations to be laid now. …”

Many of them sound like great ideas (as well as ‘common sense’).

Devex (Opinion) – Aid is being replaced by investment. That’s a dangerous mistake

A Behar (executive director Oxfam International); https://www.devex.com/news/aid-is-being-replaced-by-investment-that-s-a-dangerous-mistake-112699

PS: also related to the G7 Leaders’ summit.

“There is enough wealth to fund development and climate goals. What’s missing is the willingness to tax it and use it for the public good.”

“Two major global development summits in Paris and London have recently concluded, with the stated aim of reshaping the strategic direction of international cooperation. Both took place against a backdrop of historic hypocrisy. We are witnessing the deepest aid cuts on record, precisely as billionaire wealth reaches record highs that defy moral comprehension. Over the past 12 months alone, billionaires have gained $4 trillion, bringing their wealth to $1.5 trillion more than that of the poorest half of humanity. Meanwhile, global military spending surged toward $3 trillion, and fossil fuel giants are projected to pocket profits at an astronomical rate of $3,000 every single second.”

“I raised these stark realities on a panel of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s conference on the Future of Development Co-operation. While attendees politely agreed that the system needs to be “rethought,” the underlying narrative felt less like a summit on human solidarity and more like a commercial investment fair….”

Read why that’s a grave mistake.

Geneva Solutions: Civil society urges G7 leaders in Evian to strengthen development aid

https://genevasolutions.news/peace-humanitarian/civil-society-urges-g7-leaders-in-evian-to-strengthen-development-aid

“NGO Oxfam deplores the G7’s attitude following drastic cuts in aid to the most disadvantaged nations. Oxfam is therefore urging the G7– and especially the “G6” (minus the US)—to reverse the trend. The NGO recommends taxing windfall profits, suspending or cancelling the debts of the countries facing the greatest difficulties, and calls on G7 members to return to the United Nations target of allocating 0.7 per cent of gross national income to development assistance….”

CGD – What Is India Doing for International Development?

E Ritchie & I Mitchell; https://www.cgdev.org/blog/what-india-doing-international-development

“India’s income levels remain well below those of China, and it continues to face significant financing needs of its own. Yet over the past decade, India has provided enough finance to place it ahead of most OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) providers, and in line with countries such as Australia and Switzerland. What’s more, while commitments slowed in 2024, India’s economy is expected to grow by around 50 percent between 2025 and 2030 (in nominal terms), so there is potential for its development cooperation to increase, at a time when aid from most providers is falling. While India’s cooperation is undeniably strategic in nature, it demonstrates that even lower-income countries see the value in international cooperation….”

“India concentrates its development cooperation in certain countries with which it has strong diplomatic ties. For those countries, finance from India is a substantial share of the total they receive. India accounted for over a quarter of all finance received by Bhutan during this period; for four countries, it accounted for over 10 percent (see Figure 3). Measured against ODA alone – a subset of total finance—it rises above 30 percent….”

Malaria

HPW – Leading Malaria Scientist Warns Tools Alone Will Not End the Disease

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/leading-malaria-scientist-warns-tools-alone-will-not-end-the-disease/

“Those are people who are being killed socially.” That is how Dr. Marcus Lacerda, Director of the WHO-hosted Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), describes children whose futures are shaped by repeated bouts of vivax malaria. … ”Malaria sometimes kills, but sometimes it kills you in the sense of not allowing those kids to go to the university,” Lacerda said….

“Despite major advances in diagnostics, treatment and prevention, Lacerda argues that scientific innovation alone will not eliminate malaria. ”So now we have the tools, but we don’t have the same appetite for eradication,” he said, noting that competing national priorities have pushed malaria down the global agenda…. For Lacerda, the challenge ahead is not only developing new solutions but ensuring countries have the support and determination needed to put existing ones into practice….”

PHC & integrated health care

Results for Development – Mainstreaming Private Pharmacies and Drug Shops into Primary Health Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

https://r4d.org/projects/mainstreaming-private-pharmacies-and-drug-shops-into-primary-health-care-in-low-and-middle-income-countries/

“Across many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), private pharmacies and drug shops are already the first point of care for essential primary health care (PHC) services. Yet despite their reach, convenience and importance to communities, they remain only weakly integrated into formal PHC systems, if at all. Results for Development (R4D) and Endless Health are collaborating to accelerate the mainstreaming of private pharmacies and drug shops into PHC systems — through learning, evidence generation, stakeholder coordination and support for early country experimentation. By building a global platform to facilitate practical country-led learning and implementation, the initiative aims to support countries to transform pharmacies and drug shops from peripheral actors into more effective, connected and accountable contributors to PHC and universal health coverage.”

“… R4D and Endless Health have launched Agora — a multi-year initiative that begins by convening stakeholders, shaping a shared learning agenda and identifying early-adopter countries ready for experimentation. This work builds on an initial phase — a global landscape report that synthesized key barriers, opportunities and emerging models for integrating private pharmacies and drug shops into PHC — and now moves into a second phase focused on developing a global platform to drive coordinated action, learning and country experimentation…”

Lancet (Letter) – From slogan to practice: integrating mass health campaigns in Africa

B Impouma (WHO Afro) et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01046-9/fulltext

“…mass health campaigns, traditionally vertical, take place periodically to complement routine services and reach unreached populations, relying on the same health workers and communities. This fragmentation of health campaigns overburdens front-line staff, disrupts routine services, and uses scarce resources inefficiently. In this Correspondence, integrated campaigns refer to the synchronised planning and partial or full co-delivery of health campaigns through a unified operational platform. Ethiopia’s 2025 pilot integrated campaign achieved a 25% measles vaccine coverage while saving 60% of campaign time. A similar pilot campaign in Nigeria saved more than US$0·20 per child. In April, 2026, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an integrated measles–rubella and polio mass campaign compressed 12 days of standalone campaigns’ time into 7 days, saving about $4 million and achieving 91% coverage for measles–rubella and 102% coverage for polio. These examples show that integration of mass campaigns is feasible at scale. Priority programmes should include immunisation, nutrition, neglected tropical diseases, and malaria.”

“Lessons learned from these countries draw together five critical enablers of successful health campaign integration…”

“… The evidence supports a conclusion: countries that establish sustainable systems for integrated health campaigns will protect coverage under budget pressure while strengthening the broader health system foundations required for progress towards universal health coverage….”

Social & Commercial Determinants of Health

Reuters – UN labour organisation sets first global standards for gig workers

https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/un-labour-organization-adopts-convention-set-employment-standards-gig-workers-2026-06-12/

“ The International Labour Organization agreed on Friday to adopt the first binding employment standards for gig workers in sectors such as ride-hailing and food ‌delivery, potentially giving them rights on pay, safety and social benefits. The standards, however, still need ratification by governments, and then enforcement. The United States, for example, has frequently declined to ratify ILO conventions and its government voted against Friday’s convention, whereas European countries have been more supportive….”

“While the convention recognises that platform workers may be employees or independent contractors, it establishes, for the first time, a set of protections that apply regardless of employment status, including measures on occupational safety and health, minimum remuneration, and protection against unjustified termination or deactivation. ⁠However, how those protections are applied will depend on employment status.”

“A total of 406 members including the governments of China, Japan, Germany, France and South Africa voted in favour of the employment standards convention while eight, including the United States and New Zealand, voted against. Another 36, including Britain and India, abstained. Members of the U.N. agency include governments, employers and workers…..”

PS: “The World Bank estimates that the number of app-based gig workers globally is somewhere between 154 million and 435 million people. “

“Rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and trade unions, say that the widespread classification of workers as independent contractors allows companies ‌to avoid ⁠paying the minimum wage and providing benefits….

Stat – Study highlights influence of socioeconomic status on children’s brain development

Stat

“Chronic stress and disrupted sleep in disadvantaged communities are likely to influence brain function.”

Cfr a new study published in Science.

Global Health 50/50 – Men’s Health Week 2026: If the fish are dying, look at the water

https://global5050.org/updates/if-the-fish-are-dying-look-at-the-water/

“Three experts on what public health keeps getting wrong about men’s health and what it would take to get it right.”

“… In May 2026, researchers and practitioners gathered at the Brocher Foundation on the shores of Lake Geneva for a workshop on sex, gender and health, where men’s health surfaced as a recurring thread. Afterwards, Global 50/50 spoke to three of the participants, Prof Sally Theobald, Dr. Jeremiah Chikovore, and Dr. Vegard Skirbekk about what the field keeps getting wrong, and what it would take to get it right….”

Kent Buse summarizes on LinkedIn: “Three things from this conversation I keep returning to:

(1) “The male-female life expectancy gap is not solely biology. In Norwegian municipalities with the most favourable social conditions, the gap approaches zero. Men’s excess mortality is overwhelmingly structural, commercial, and social. That means it’s changeable. The fish are not the problem. Look at the water.”

(2) “Narrowing ‘gender and health’ to women’s reproductive health has cost everyone. It has cost men targeted attention on suicide, mental health, and occupational disease. It has cost women, whose health beyond the reproductive years has been treated as an afterthought. A genuine gender lens covers the whole life course, for all of us. Advancing men’s health does not come at the expense of women’s health. It strengthens the case for both.”

(3) “The #manosphere is a public health crisis we have been too slow to name. It doesn’t manufacture men’s problems, it exploits real ones: loneliness, poor mental health, economic marginalisation. The response cannot be counter-messaging alone. It requires upstream investment in the social conditions that make young men vulnerable to recruitment in the first place.”

SRHR

WHO – A new blueprint offers definitive solutions to end one of childbirth’s deadliest complications

https://www.who.int/philippines/news/detail-global/12-06-2026-a-new-blueprint-offers-definitive-solutions-to-end-one-of-childbirth-s-deadliest-complications

As already flagged in last week’s IHP news.

“A landmark Lancet Series definitively estimates that excessive bleeding after birth affects 27 million women, kills nearly 43 000 women every year and costs countries, health systems and families globally over US$ 10 billion each year.”

“The Series, with lead researchers from HRP (the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction), the World Health Organization (WHO), and University of Oxford amplifies a fundamental shift in how postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), a leading cause of maternal deaths worldwide, should be detected and treated…..”

The Lancet Series – Postpartum haemorrhage

https://www.thelancet.com/series-do/postpartum-haemorrhage

“Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide, occurring in an estimated 27 million women globally every year and causing about 43 000 maternal deaths. Common causes of PPH are uterine atony, trauma, retained placenta, and coagulopathy, with risk heightened by factors including caesarean birth, anaemia, and inadequate antenatal care. As outlined in this three-paper Series, prevention centres on addressing modifiable risk factors for PPH, reducing unnecessary caesarean sections, and administration of uterotonic prophylaxis. Early diagnosis by objective quantification of blood loss and monitoring of vital signs is crucial. Swift treatment following a standardised bundle, and avoiding delays along the management pathway, saves lives.”

Devex – USAID leaves contraceptives in limbo as storage costs exceed $360,000

https://www.devex.com/news/usaid-leaves-contraceptives-in-limbo-as-storage-costs-exceed-360-000-112745

“According to the Office of Inspector General, which provides oversight over USAID programs, the agency will continue to incur monthly storage costs of over $24,000 until it decides what to do with the commodities.”

“The U.S. Agency for International Development needs to provide final instructions on what to do with the family planning commodities still sitting in a warehouse in Belgium, or else it will continue to accumulate monthly storage costs of over $24,000, according to a government watchdog. The Office of Inspector General estimates that USAID has already paid over $360,000 for storage and other costs associated with keeping the contraceptives and other family planning commodities for more than a year….”

Guardian – Sierra Leone’s first lady refuses to condemn FGM without ‘reliable data’ on harms

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/17/sierra-leones-first-lady-refuses-to-condemn-fgm-without-reliable-data-on-harms

“Exclusive: health professionals, survivors and politicians voice concerns in open letter over comments by Fatima Maadi Bio, who denies supporting the practice.”

“The first lady of Sierra Leone has denied that she supports female genital mutilation amid rising anger around her perceived approval of the practice. But in an exclusive response to the Guardian, Fatima Maada Bio, the wife of President Julius Maada Bio, also said she would not openly condemn FGM until she saw “reliable data” that the practice was harmful.”

“Now, a group of health professionals, survivors, human rights activists and politicians has written to the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development (Oaflad) to raise concerns. Sent on 10 June, the letter demands clarification on public statements made by Maada Bio, currently president of Oaflad….”

PS: “An advocate for women’s rights and against child marriage, Maada Bio leads a campaign called “Hands off our girls” in Sierra Leone. However, since her husband was elected in 2018, she has refused to condemn FGM….”

Child Health

UN News – Triple climate threats affect nearly half the world’s children

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167723

“Drought, extreme heat and heatwaves are the most prevalent trio of hazards endangering millions of children globally, warned a newly released climate report by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).”

“About 1.1 billion children now face at least three overlapping climate hazards, threatening their health, education and survival, according to the Children’s Climate Risk Report 2026….”

Lancet GH – WHO estimates of the global, regional, and national burden of 14 foodborne diarrhoeal enteric hazards, 2000–21: an updated data synthesis

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00159-2/fulltext

“Findings: “In 2021, the 14 diarrhoeal hazards caused 666 million (95% UI 483–884) illnesses, 265 000 deaths (196 000–351 000), and 15·2 million (11·6–19·1) DALYs from foodborne transmission. Shigella spp, Campylobacter, and rotavirus caused the most DALYs from foodborne transmission. The greatest burden was in the African region (773·5 DALYs [95% UI 559·7–1033·3] per 100 000 population due to foodborne transmission). Mortality rates were 7·1 times higher and DALY rates 18·9 times higher in children younger than 5 years than in people aged 5 years or older….”

“… Interpretation: Diarrhoeal hazards continue to cause a substantial foodborne disease burden, despite decreases over time. Children in low-income countries bear the greatest burden. Prevention requires concerted efforts, including expanding global diarrhoeal disease prevention efforts beyond water, sanitation, and hygiene and vaccination to include improvements in the safety of the food supply.”

Lancet GH – WHO estimates of the global, regional, and national burden of eight foodborne non-diarrhoeal enteric disease hazards, 2000–21: an updated data synthesis

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00143-9/fulltext

“In 2021, transmission of these eight hazards by food collectively caused 24·0 million illnesses (95% uncertainty interval 16·9–31·7), 106 000 deaths (63 900–169 000), and 7·26 million DALYs (4·15–12·0). S Typhi, iNTS, and hepatitis A virus caused most DALYs. The greatest burden was in the WHO African region, followed by the South-East Asia region. Mortality was 5·2 times higher and DALY rates were 8·3 times higher in children younger than 5 years compared with people aged 5 years and older. ….”

“Interpretation: Non-diarrhoeal enteric diseases still cause considerable foodborne disease burden, despite decreases over time. Vulnerable populations, particularly children in low-income countries, bear the greatest burden. Integrated efforts including vaccination, food safety, clean water, sanitation, hygiene, and improved health-care access are required.”

World Blood Donor Day (14 June)

WHO – Safe blood supply improves as voluntary donations exceed 85%, but many people still lack access

https://www.who.int/news/item/12-06-2026-safe-blood-supply-improves-as-voluntary-donations-exceed-85—but-many-people-still-lack-access

“New data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show sustained progress towards safer blood supplies globally but also highlight persistent inequalities in access to safe blood and weaknesses in governance, financing and regulation of blood systems.”

“Data collected from 132 countries reveal that global blood collections increased by nearly 19% between 2013 and 2023. Voluntary, unpaid donors continued to drive this progress, accounting for over 85% of the estimated 120 million blood donations received in 2023.”

“Despite these gains, access to safe blood and blood products remains highly unequal worldwide. Many patients – including women experiencing life-threatening bleeding during childbirth, children with severe anaemia, trauma or burn victims, patients undergoing surgery, and people living with conditions such as sickle-cell disease, thalassaemia, haemophilia, immune deficiencies and certain cancers – still lack reliable access to safe blood and life-saving transfusions, particularly in lower-income countries….

PS: “WHO released its latest dataset, ahead of World Blood Donor Day, observed annually on 14 June.”

Lancet GH (Editorial) – Barriers to voluntary blood donation in LMICs: a state of play

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00173-7/fulltext

“June 14 is World Blood Donor Day: an event to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products globally. A 2019 modelling study on global blood need found that every country in central, eastern, and western sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, and south Asia had insufficient blood to meet their needs. Some would be defined as blood deserts: an area where blood components cannot be accessed in a safe or timely way in at least 75% of cases where a transfusion is needed. On this World Blood Donor Day, it is essential to highlight the barriers to voluntary blood donation and initiatives to tackle blood deserts…..”

“An Article published online first explores these issues. In this qualitative study in Kenya, Linda Barnes and colleagues found that fragmented blood donation and transfusion systems, alongside substantial structural, cultural, and health-related barriers, either preclude individuals from donating or make it much harder for them to do so….”

The editorial concludes: “This World Blood Donor Day, we call for a renewed focus on addressing global blood deserts through scalable, multisectoral, implementable interventions. These should be guided by country-based research conducted with key stakeholders to establish the barriers and enablers to voluntary donation and ensure that developed interventions are feasible, relevant, and culturally specific. By shining a light on blood deserts, and the barriers faced by donors to voluntary blood donation, it is our hope that the global health community can come together to ensure this life-saving resource is available to all.”

Access to Medicines, vaccines & other health technologies

Devex –Global Fund partners with CIFF to bring new TB tests to 13 countries

https://www.devex.com/news/global-fund-partners-with-ciff-to-bring-new-tb-tests-to-13-countries-112707

“CIFF coming on board helped the Global Fund to expand its ambition to introduce the new TB tool to 13 countries.”

“The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, with support from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, or CIFF, is helping introduce a new test to an initial 13 countries that experts hope will enable the diagnosis of millions more tuberculosis cases…..”

Africa CDC – Egypt Joins African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM)

https://africacdc.org/news-item/egypt-joins-african-pooled-procurement-mechanism-appm/

“The Arab Republic of Egypt has become the first African Union (AU) Member State to formally join the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM), signing the APPM Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during the opening ceremony of Africa Health ExCon 2026 in Cairo. … … Egypt’s accession to the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM) marks a significant milestone in the operationalization of the Africa CDC-led initiative…

PS: “Established by the Assembly of the African Union Heads of State and Government in 2024, the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM) is a strategic continental initiative designed to achieve two complementary objectives: improving access to essential health products and creating sustainable demand for African manufacturers….”

ARIPO Faces Test of Transparency as Groups Challenge Gilead HIV Drug Patent Bid

https://gemnation.co.zw/aripo-faces-test-of-transparency-as-groups-challenge-gilead-hiv-drug-patent-bid/

“A fresh patent fight filed from Harare could decide how easily future HIV medicines reach millions across Southern and East Africa.”

“On 11 June, 2026, the Pan African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM) and Third World Network (TWN) submitted a “Third-Party Observation” to the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation, challenging Gilead Sciences’ broad patent application for a family of HIV integrase inhibitor compounds. The move puts ARIPO’s patent review process under the spotlight, and with it, the cost of HIV treatment in 21 African countries…. “

(ps: ARIPO: Africa’s Regional Intellectual Property Organsation)

“What is being challenged here is Gilead’s application, Bridged Tricyclic Carbamoylpyridone Compounds and Uses Thereof PCT/US2023/065401, filed on 5 April 2023. It claims wide protection over a whole genus of HIV drugs for treatment and prevention. If it is granted, it would give Gilead exclusive rights across all ARIPO Contracting States under the Harare Protocol. That list includes Zimbabwe, Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia and 12 others.”

“PATAM and TWN argue that the compounds aren’t new at all. In their submission they point to earlier Gilead patents and scientific papers that already disclosed very similar “bridged tricyclic carbamoylpyridone” structures and spirocyclic modifications before Gilead’s 2023 filing date….”

Lancet Infectious Diseases (Newsdesk) – Rollout of lenacapavir begins in South Africa

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(26)00353-1/abstract

“Rollout of lenacapavir in South Africa, supported by the Global Fund, began on June 5, 2026, but activists argue that funding for doses is insufficient to make a difference. Ed Holt reports.”

Bhekhisa – What happens when the world’s best HIV prevention tool meets the planet’s deadliest infectious disease?

https://bhekisisa.org/health-news-south-africa/2026-06-18-what-happens-when-the-worlds-best-hiv-prevention-tool-meets-the-planets-deadliest-infectious-disease/

“The arrival of the nearly foolproof six-monthly HIV prevention shot, lenacapavir (LEN), earlier this month was never going to be just an HIV story. That’s because in South Africa, HIV and TB have been fellow travellers for decades.”

“Many people who have TB — or are likely to get it — also have a high chance of getting HIV. Giving HIV prevention medicine to people who have TB or are likely to develop it could help prevent many new HIV infections. But if someone is using LEN and needs to take medicine to treat or prevent TB later, they may have to take extra doses of LEN or have different TB treatments. That is because TB medications such as rifampicin and rifabutin speed up the body’s “drug-clearing system”, causing lenacapavir to be broken down and removed from the body faster than normal. This leaves too little LEN in the bloodstream to provide reliable protection against HIV. South Africa’s plan for people who need TB treatment while using LEN includes extra doses of LEN to keep HIV protection in place. But there is much more that scientists need to learn.”

Devex – Is Kenya’s lenacapavir rollout missing young women and girls?

https://www.devex.com/news/is-kenya-s-lenacapavir-rollout-missing-young-women-and-girls-112723

“The breakthrough HIV prevention drug is now available in Kenya, but critics say the delivery model may bypass many of the young women and girls who need it most.”

Doctors without Borders – LEN campaign brief: Two shots. $40. Everywhere. Accelerating Global Access to HIV prevention

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/sites/default/files/documents/MSF_LEN-campaign-brief_June2026.pdf

“…. To address these worldwide access constraints, MSF is launching the “Two Shots. $40. Everywhere” global campaign, demanding that Gilead make LEN affordable for all LMICs, supply it at the scale and speed the pandemic demands, and sell it directly to healthcare providers like MSF that are ready to scale up HIV prevention efforts around the world now. Governments must also do their part by using all possible legal, policy, and other measures to enable increased access to LEN….”

“…MSF calls on Gilead to: 1. Reduce the price of LEN to less than $40 per person per year, to make the drug affordable for all LMICs. 2. Increase LEN production and make more supply readily available to meet actual demand and need in all LMICs. 3. Sell LEN directly at a fair price to MSF and others who want to rapidly expand HIV prevention efforts around the world….”

Reuters – India limits cough syrup sales to pharmacies after contamination cases

Reuters;

“India has restricted cough syrup sales to licensed pharmacies especially in villages, preventing over-the-counter sales from retail outlets, as regulators step up scrutiny following contamination-linked child deaths last year….”

Reuters – Big pharma taps UK playbook to pressure European capitals on drug prices

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/big-pharma-taps-uk-playbook-pressure-european-capitals-drug-prices-2026-06-17/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook

“Germany’s drug pricing reforms aim to cut healthcare costs; Move prompts swift reactions from major pharma players; Pressure includes pulling investment, expansion plans; Echoes similar moves by industry in Britain, ahead of concessions from Washington.”

World Refugee Day (20 June)

Lancet Editorial – Migration: a reality, not an emergency

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01240-7/fulltext

“As we mark World Refugee Day, the follow-up Review to the 2018 UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health, published in this issue, renews the Commission’s call for action and asks whether, in a climate shaped by fear, evidence can still drive policy. The Review finds that migration and forced displacement continue to rise, driven by conflict, climate change, and economic instability…” “…The gap between what the evidence shows and what governments do has only widened…”

The editorial concludes: “As more people are on the move, they cannot be left out of health-system planning. The Review’s renewed call is clear: embed health in every migration and displacement policy, strengthen data systems and support research, and confront the political determinants of who is protected and who is not. The health community must keep making the case for equity, inclusion, and the right to health—but in a debate ruled by fear, how it is made matters as much as the case itself. That will take courage and leadership. Good policy cannot turn back the clock; it can only meet the world as it is, and as it will be—one in which the health of migrants and the health of all are indivisible.”

The UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health: review of the state of progress

I Abubakar et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00494-0/abstract

“Although progress towards implementation of international agreements since publication of the UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health in December, 2018, has been slow, global trends in migration and forced displacement have continued to rise. However, the COVID-19 pandemic showed that reaching refugees and migrants with health interventions is feasible with political will. The benefits of refugee-inclusive and migrant-inclusive health-care systems during emergencies (eg, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine) are apparent, with numerous examples of inclusive policy making being rapidly introduced and innovative models developed to support health-care access, including preventive measures such as vaccination. Lessons from these successes should be learned and incorporated into future policy and practice. …”

“… In this Review, nearly 8 years after the UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health was published, we renew our call for action to: (1) improve health-care access and optimise outcomes for refugees and migrants by emphasising health in all migration and forced displacement policies; (2) establish data systems to monitor progress, together with appropriate use of new technologies to improve access, prevent harm, and safeguard privacy; (3) support research on adaptation to and mitigation of the health consequences of climate change on refugees and migrants; and (4) renew focus on the political determinants of health outcomes for people on the move. At this pivotal moment, with geopolitical, sociodemographic, and environmental turmoil, political leaders and societies can shape a better future by leveraging the human capital of migrants and upholding the human rights and dignity of all.”

Planetary Health

First with some more reads related to the Bonn climate summit.

HPW – Clean Electricity, Waste and Construction Set to Top COP31 Agenda

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/cop31-electricity-waste-and-construction-sector-to-top-cop31-agenda/

Overall analysis of the state of affairs – recommended read. Excerpts:

“The stepping-stone meetings on the road to COP31 in Antalya unfolding in Bonn this week brought the first real clarity on what the incoming presidency wants the next UN climate summit to deliver on: electrification, reducing waste, and the energy efficiency of buildings and construction. The three headline targets call for electricity to meet 35% of final energy demand by 2035, up from just over 20% today, a goal the presidency calls “35 by 35”. The second would halve the growth in global waste by the same date, and the third would cut the energy intensity of buildings by at least a quarter. Together, they chart a course around sectors that are among the largest sources of global greenhouse gas emissions; the buildings sector alone accounts for around 37% of the global total. But the agenda is deliberately fossil-fuel free, built to dodge the political torpedoes that sank the last two COPs, in Brazil and Azerbaijan….”

“The presidency has cast the package as the practical core of an “implementation COP”, echoing Brazil’s framing of COP30 a year ago.” “… ….Yet money — the other perennial battleground of recent UN climate summits, and the thing that makes any implementation possible — is also absent from the core agenda….

“Beyond the three headline goals, the presidency’s ten-theme Action Agenda spans food security, oceans, green industrialisation, youth and education, and, of note for the health community, a pillar on resilient health systems….”

“……The new targets for Antalya land as the planet closes in on the 1.5°C limit UN climate negotiations are committed to defend. While the presidency lists protecting that threshold in its official targets, the latest science shows the planet is on course to breach it permanently around 2030….”

“… A separate analysis released in Bonn on Tuesday by Climate Analytics found that fossil fuel use must halve by 2035 to keep 1.5°C within reach. The growth in CO2 emissions has begun to slow, but emissions are still climbing, not falling….” “Fossil fuels are still pouring oil on the climate fire,” said Neil Grant, a senior mitigation expert at Climate Analytics. “We need to cut fossil fuel use sharply this decade, halve it by 2035, and drive it down to real zero by 2070.”…”

“… The other key battleground of every COP since Paris – money – is not addressed in the presidency agenda either. A concept note circulated in Bonn unveiled a “Global Implementation Accelerator” and a “Climate Implementation Bridge” to speed climate solutions to the ground. Both are coordination structures. Neither is a fund, and the presidency specifies that no new money is attached….”

Climate Change News – Bonn Bulletin: Finance dominates discussions in every room

https://www.climatechangenews.com/2026/06/15/bonn-bulletin-ministry-divisions-complicate-brazils-roadmap-away-from-fossil-fuels/

“Lack of progress on finance issues – including putting a number on the new goal to triple adaptation funding – is causing blockages across negotiating tracks at UN climate talks.”

Climate Change News – Bonn Bulletin: Adaptation Fund stalemate puts people at risk, says head

https://www.climatechangenews.com/2026/06/16/bonn-bulletin-adaptation-fund-stalemate-puts-people-at-risk-says-its-head/

“To receive money from the Paris Agreement carbon market, the Adaptation Fund must change its status but that’s blocked by divisions on who’s responsible for climate finance.”

“Dark clouds are gathering over adaptation finance. The US has all but stopped providing it and European countries are slashing their aid budgets to spend more on their militaries. Much of what is flowing comes in the form of loans and doesn’t reach the most vulnerable, as we’ve reported…..”

(17 June) “Civil society organisations have called for a dramatic increase to public, grant-based adaptation finance during a press conference held during the annual Bonn climate conference (SB 64). “Clearly, governments must agree to triple public, grant-based adaptation finance to at least USD 120 billion by 2035”, said Jess Beagley, Policy Lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance. …”

PS: “Adaptation finance falls dangerously short of the levels needed – UNEP projects that by 2035, the level of adaptation finance required in developing countries will reach US$ 310-365 billion annually. Yet, adaptation finance fell from US$28 in 2022 to US$26 in 2023 (UNEP, 2025). At COP30, Parties committed to triple adaptation finance by 2035….”

Climate Change News – Science ‘under attack’ from fossil fuel interests at UN climate talks

https://www.climatechangenews.com/2026/06/17/science-under-attack-from-fossil-fuel-interests-at-un-climate-talks/

“A coalition of some rich nations and the world’s most vulnerable have vowed to protect climate science in UN negotiations.”

“Dozens of countries have called out growing “coordinated attacks” by fossil fuel interests aimed at undermining the role of climate science in the UN negotiations at the mid-year talks in Bonn. Under the banner of ‘Friends of Science’, in an overflowing press conference room lined with negotiators and civil society supporters, diplomats from Fiji, Nepal, the European Union, Switzerland, Sierra Leone and Panama vowed to ensure that decision-making in the UN climate process remains based on the “best available science”. That includes reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN’s climate science body, they said.”

“While steering clear of singling out any specific country, they said efforts to cast doubt on established scientific concepts, such as the 1.5 global warming limit, are led by “the usual suspects” and those who think “science threatens their economic prospects”. …”

Devex Pro – Scoop: World Bank considers scrapping 45% climate finance target

https://www.devex.com/news/scoop-world-bank-considers-scrapping-45-climate-finance-target-112730?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Bluesky#Echobox=1781539451

(gated) “With the June 30 deadline looming, negotiators are weighing whether to strip the flagship climate finance benchmark or let the entire framework lapse.”

“The World Bank management may remove the target to spend 45% of its lending on climate finance from its Climate Change Action Plan, or CCAP, under pressure from its largest shareholder — the United States — to weaken climate targets, multiple officials and experts with knowledge of the negotiations told Devex.”

“In just two weeks, the bank’s only plan for meeting global climate targets and climate finance commitments will lapse after a one-year extension. The plan, originally established in 2021 and already extended one year past its initial 2025 expiration date, lays out the institutional road map for responding to climate change and avoiding projects that worsen global warming. Without CCAP, the bank would not have an overarching climate finance target, nor would it have a specific guideline to keep it in line with the Paris climate agreement. Over the last few months, pressure has mounted from the United States for the bank to scrap the plan entirely. Three experts and officials told Devex that the U.S. has not come to the discussions on CCAP “in good faith,” but have approached the conversations with no intention to compromise….”

IPS – Fossil Fuel Wealth Fails to Deliver Development in Africa – Report

https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/06/fossil-fuel-wealth-fails-to-deliver-development-in-africa-report/

“ A new report examining the economic impact of oil and gas production in Africa has found that fossil fuels have failed to deliver sustained or inclusive economic development, observing that the resources have contributed to economic vulnerability and inequality and have constrained growth through prohibitive commodity prices, inflation, and weak local currencies. It reveals that oil- and gas-rich countries were running on economies that are ‘extractive’ in nature, while their other economic sectors remained weak and tended to have elevated levels of corruption, benefiting a few rich, thus perpetuating inequality. This is while delivering few job opportunities, and the sectors employ about 0.3% of the national workforce overall.”

“The document titled Pipe Dreams, based on evidence from 13 oil- and gas-producing countries, finds that the structure of the oil- and gas-producing economy concentrates on exporting wealth while leaving populations to bear the costs of producing it, ultimately fuelling poverty. …”

PS: “Observing that Africa is in the midst of a “fossil fuel crisis” where global energy prices have surged in the wake of the American-Israeli-Iranian war, exposing countries to expensive petroleum, the analysis by advocacy groups Power Shift Africa and Oil Change International note that producing countries have not been spared the price shocks…”

China Daily – Eco-civilization meets planetary boundaries

J Rockström; https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202606/12/WS6a2b5b52a310d6866eb4ddb1.html

“Over a decade after the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals — to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all by 2030 — we are in a precarious situation.

As we approach the 2030 deadline for the SDG framework that has defined not only the last decade of global development, but also work on climate, water, health and beyond, the question naturally arises: What next? At a time of growing geopolitical fragmentation, it is increasingly difficult to imagine the UN forging the same broad consensus around a new global development framework that it did with the SDGs.”

“In this context, China’s vision of an ecological civilization is a political and developmental framework that seeks to reconcile economic growth, social stability and environmental protection.

PS: “Scientifically, we have recently suggested that all tipping point systems (such as the large ice sheets, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, the Amazon rainforest) need to be legally defined as global commons. Why? Because, to ensure strong socioeconomic development, not only must the ecological civilization targets of all countries be met within their national borders, but also all tipping point systems on Earth must stay within safe planetary boundaries.”

HPW – South Asia Faces Hotter, Drier Monsoon and ‘Multi-Hazard’ Risks

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/south-asia-hotter-drier-monsoon/

“Home to 1 in 4 people globally, the region should brace for “multi-hazards” and poor air quality apart from heat and water stress, according to a new report. The authors called on countries in the fractious neighbourhood to cooperate on data and form common solutions.”

“The monsoon season this year is likely to bring more water and heat stress, rather than relief, to South Asia, home to over two billion people – a quarter of the world’s population. This preliminary assessment comes from the Hindu Kush Himalaya Monsoon Outlook 2026 for June to September, which draws on global and regional climate outlooks for South Asia. ….”

Science – El Nino has begun. It may become the strongest this century

https://www.science.org/content/article/el-nino-has-begun-it-may-become-strongest-century

“After clearing a spring forecast hurdle, scientists see growing odds of a powerful climate event that could disrupt weather worldwide.”

BMJ Editorial – Adapting health systems for water bankruptcy

R Ramchamdani et al; https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-812317

“Increasing risks to clinical and public health globally need management.”

“Recent analyses describe a transition from water stress to water bankruptcy, which describes a state in which extraction persistently exceeds replenishment, permanently diminishing the natural capital that sustains the hydrological cycle…”

“Three evidence informed priorities for health system reforms and cross-sectoral advocacy can support adaptation…. “

“The first is integrating hydrometeorological, climate, and food security data into health decision making to trigger anticipatory action, including distribution of co-packaged oral rehydration salts and zinc for diarrhoea, chlorination and household water treatment, and rapid mobilisation of community health workers and other essential WASH and treatment supplies before outbreaks. … Second is treating water security as essential to health system functioning by investing in climate resilient WASH for health facilities… … The third priority is embedding health in upstream water and land use governance. Health systems cannot adapt their way out of decisions made elsewhere. Health impact assessment (HIA), a WHO endorsed framework for assessing the health consequences of non-health policies, should be required before major irrigation expansions, industrial water permits, dams, and groundwater allocations…”

Guardian – ‘Mega-consumers’ of food and energy cost environment $5.7tn a year, study finds

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/18/mega-consumers-food-energy-damage-cost-environment

“Top 10% generate climate and biodiversity damage bill that exceeds economies of most countries, say researchers.”

“The environmental damage bill racked up by the highest-consuming 10% of the world’s population has reached up to $5.7tn a year – larger than the economy of every country except the US and China, a study has found. Mega-consumers in this group are concentrated in the global north, accounting for more than half the population of the US and 40-45% of people in the EU.

The damage tally, which one researcher described as “bonkers”, also exceeds global funding gaps for tackling the climate and biodiversity crises, highlighting how economic priorities remain skewed towards running down the Earth’s life-support systems. The most destructive forms of consumption were linked to two main areas: food – particularly red meat, a primary driver of deforestation – and energy, including flights and heating and cooling homes, which typically rely on burning of fossil fuels, such as gas, oil and coal….”

“The $5.7tn figure, published in a paper by researchers at University of Oxford and University of Leiden, was calculated by using estimates of the monetary impacts of climate disruption, biodiversity loss, nutrient pollution and freshwater use.”

· And via RANI’s newsletter:

“On the Loss and Damage front, Kenya became the first African country to receive climate loss and damage funding, totalling US$700,000. More health and climate progress is expected at the upcoming Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate Change and Health (ATACH) High-Level Strategic Meeting hosted by France on 25 June…..”

Miscellaneous

WHO launches first global database on the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections

https://hq_globaltuberculosisprogramme.cmail20.com/t/d-e-wlixdk-ihkktihhw-k/

“The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new global database o n the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The open-access database is the first global platform to provide consolidated, standardized and quality-assured STI prevalence data from low- and middle-income countries for the period 2010 onwards. … Currently, the database focuses on five STIs – chlamydia, gonorrhoea, HSV-2, syphilis and trichomoniasis – but it is designed as a dynamic resource that can continue to expand and evolve.”

Habib Benzian & E Beltran – Ban This Sentence

On Substack ;

“Why “more research is needed” is not as neutral as it sounds.” As always, very interesting article from Benzian (et al).

CGD (blog) – Childcare Increasingly Appears on the MDB Agenda. The Hard Part is Making It Last.

K Harris et al; https://www.cgdev.org/blog/childcare-increasing-appears-mdb-agenda-hard-part-making-it-last

“COVID-19 helped expose an issue that had long been invisible—the staggering amount of unpaid care work that women do compared to men, including childcare. In the years since, multilateral development banks (MDBs) and governments have increasingly recognized this as critical to women’s economic empowerment and broader development outcomes. But recognition has outpaced policy and financing, and large gaps in childcare access, affordability, quality, and system design remain globally….”

“In 2021, CGD published a review of childcare investments across MDBs, as these institutions play an important role in elevating emerging issue areas and channeling financing to the poorest and most vulnerable. Our new analysis (policy paper forthcoming) updates that baseline, finding 163 projects approved across seven MDBs between June 2021 and December 2024, encompassing $20.94 billion in core financing plus $2.7 billion in co-financing and other grants—a measurable expansion since our last review….” Check out the findings.

Global Health events

HSG – HSR2026 The 9th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research

https://hsr2026.healthsystemsresearch.org/

… will take place in Cairo (7-9 December).

Global health governance & Governance of Health

Reuters – China calls for more Global South voices to be heard at United Nations

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-calls-more-global-south-voices-be-heard-united-nations-2026-06-17/

“Emerging markets suffer from inadequate representation at the United Nations, its authority increasingly challenged by escalating political and economic disputes worldwide, Chinese Foreign Minister ‌Wang Yi said on Wednesday. The comments, featuring brief mention of the Middle East and Ukraine conflicts but few details, came in a rare press briefing in Beijing for the issue of a white paper outlining ways to make global governance more just and equitable.”

“… New challenges in quick succession bring intertwining global crises, Wang said, adding, “The ship of civilisation has entered dangerous waters with hidden reefs and violent storms.” The disputes reveal deep-seated conflicts, while “black swan and grey rhino events” emerge continually, he said, referring to unexpected events or threats that are ignored despite their visibility….”

“… The white paper aims to build international consensus on effective responses to global challenges, Wang said, ⁠and upholding the United Nations’ authority and status is fundamental to the success of the initiative.”

Carnegie (paper) – Retreat, Rebel, Replace, or Reform? Making Sense of Multilateralism Under Trump 2.0

G Romero & S Patrick; https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2026/06/retreat-rebel-replace-or-reform-making-sense-of-multilateralism-under-trump-20

“The conventional narrative of the second Trump administration simply repudiating multilateralism is incomplete. The record to date is far more mixed and varies across issue areas and institutions.”

“…. the conventional narrative of the second Trump administration simply repudiating multilateralism is incomplete. The record is more complicated, has evolved since January 2025, and varies across issue areas and institutions. The administration’s behaviors toward multilateralism and international organizations can be sorted into four broad categories, which might be labeled disengagement, disruption, substitution, and conditional continuity. Or, for the more alliteratively minded: retreat, rebellion, replacement, and reform….”

“In some settings, the United States is indeed defecting from the old order it helped to build. In other contexts, it is exercising leverage to disrupt existing bodies and reconfigure the terms of U.S. participation. In still others, it is experimenting with alternative arrangements, creating new frameworks that operate outside of or alongside inherited multilateral institutions. Finally, in ways that receive less attention, the United States is in some instances doubling down on multilateral institutions, while trying to narrow their mandates or reform their functions to advance America First preferences. ….Importantly, these behaviors are not mutually exclusive. The administration sometimes pursues these approaches in parallel within the same institution. The overall result is less a policy of pure hostility or exit but a more selective, transactional, and ideologically conditioned form of multilateral engagement. …”

European Journal of Public Health (Editorial) – Moving beyond moral indignation: global health governance in an era of defunding

https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/36/4/ckag073/8706793

“… To explore possible pathways, at the EPH conference in November 2025, the EUPHA Public Health Politics and Policies Section and the Public Health Economic Section jointly organized a panel workshop on the ‘global health implications of the US foreign aid review for the EU in global health governance’, with the aim of revisiting EU capacities and positioning in global health governance and exploring options for action. In this issue, Scott Greer, João Vasco Santos, Scott Burris, and David Patterson present their views on the issue from political science, economics, and law. They combine critical analysis with historical awareness and institutional self-reflection: How do we move beyond astonishment, moral indignation, and paralysis?”

“In an attempt to explain why key EU member states are disinvesting in international development aid instead of leveraging the global health infrastructure at relatively low transaction costs, we argue that the anti-science and anti-public health policies of the past year require introspection…”

“… The key message emerging from the perspectives is that the international public health community can reclaim its position through a three-fold approach. Explaining the robust economics of high-income countries’ (HICs) dependence on global health investments, combined with vigilant legal scrutiny of often opaque administrative regulations and the strategic use of international legal institutions, must be integrated with a substantive reorientation of public service performance—including health systems—toward addressing unmet needs and strengthening public support. Such a comprehensive approach is necessary to restore the political legitimacy underpinning both global and national funding commitments….”

Quote: “… In the meantime, European and allied leaders of rich democracies, worried about broader geopolitics and budgets, are declining to take up the mantle of global health leadership. Simple arithmetic says the EU and its member states, if they coordinate, are leading, if not the leading global health governance actors. But so far, they are cutting ODA, while focusing on supporting and reshoring their pharmaceutical industry. It is no surprise that the attention of policymakers in the rest of the world is turning to ways they can develop collaboration and greater self-reliance….”

· And Editorial – Europe must act: rethinking global health preparedness without the United States (by A Schreijer, M McKee et al)

Global Public Health – Eighty years of postwar multilateralism: Global health law’s emergence and its contemporary challenges

Po Han-Lee et al ; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2026.2691388

“Founded on the postwar conviction that health is ‘fundamental to the attainment of peace’ and that its enjoyment constitutes ‘a fundamental human right’, the WHO has embodied the UN’s ambition to constitutionalise solidarity through law. Nearly eight decades later, this normative order faces a profound legitimacy crisis. The tension between sovereignty and universality has reemerged, and the ethical foundations of global health law are increasingly contested and fragmented. From several revisions of the International Health Regulations to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and, most recently, the post-COVID Pandemic Agreement, the WHO’s authority has been tested by populist nationalism, market logics, and the erosion of multilateralism, exposed most visibly during the US withdrawal under the Trump administration. Through a genealogical reading of the WHO as legal infrastructure, this article examines it as a postwar legal experiment in transforming international health cooperation into a form of global constitutionalism. It asks whether contemporary regressions toward security-driven governance mark a return to the prewar logic of exceptionalism. It concludes that the future legitimacy of global health law depends on a decolonial approach to what counts as ‘global’ and what constitutes ‘health’ through plural, equitable, and interdependent forms of governance for justice.”

Global Health Journal – Reforming WHO to strengthen its role in the global health architecture

Minghui Ren et al; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2414644726000254

« Against the background of global health system restructuring, WHO reform should be carried out in four aspects: adapting to changes in global disease burden and demographic structure, conforming to the trend of multipolar health governance, building an agile and efficient modern governance framework, and improving sustainable financing mechanisms. This paper constructs a hierarchy-function coupling model integrating horizontal core functions and vertical organizational hierarchies (headquarters, regional offices, and country offices) to analyze the challenges of WHO in three core functions: global health leadership, norms and standards setting, and national health capacity-building and partnership promotion. It proposes targeted reform strategies at headquarters, regional, and national levels to streamline management, decentralize authority, promote the localization of norms and standards, and shift from vertical aid to sovereign empowerment. ….”

Chapter : The SDGs and global health governance: impacts, shifts, gaps, and risks

Liz Willetts; https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781035320851/chapter9.xml?tab_body=abstract-copy1

Chapter in The Elgar Companion to Global Governance and the Sustainable Development Goals.

“The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have impacted the vision, architecture, and priorities of global health governance. The adoption of the SDGs shifted the focus of global health from specific priorities to a more general approach to health and well-being (i.e., SDG 3). Along with this shift came recognition of the role of food systems and nutrition (SDG 2) and water management (SDG 6) as pillars to the overall 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As a result, the scope of global health expanded within institutions and demanded collaboration across health-related agencies. Actors have moved toward understanding and prioritizing drivers of the burden of disease and taking new approaches to metrics. This chapter looks at the impacts of the SDGs on the World Health Organization through the evolution of its General Programme of Work, with a focus on the environment. It also examines how, despite changes, significant gaps remain between global health and sustainable development agendas.”

UHC & PHC

Lancet Primary Care – May issue

https://www.thelancet.com/issue/S3050-5143(26)X2005-2

Check out, among others:

· The Editorial – Primary care is essential to disability inclusion

· Integrating non-communicable disease care into primary health systems in the Horn of Africa: opportunities and challenges (by Ayodele A Falobi et al)

Lancet Primary Care – Mainstreaming neglected tropical disease interventions into primary health care: accelerating elimination and sustaining gains

Kebede Deribe et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanprc/article/PIIS3050-5143(26)00073-7/fulltext

Early online.

Pandemic preparedness & response/ Global Health Security

International Journal of social determinants of health and health services – The World Expected More of Canada: Canada and the Pandemic Agreement

Joel Lexchin; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/27551938261458695#tab-contributors

“This paper uses a variety of documents and personal experience to examine how the Canadian government communicated with its domestic stakeholders about the stances that Canada was taking during the negotiations and to illustrate what positions Canada was advancing at the negotiations table in Geneva. This article argues that the government lacked transparency in its communications and gave no indication that it was listening to the feedback it was receiving. During the negotiations, aside from advancing a progressive position of gender equality, the government pushed to weaken the obligations of countries and the commercial sector to ensure that vaccines, treatments and technology would be available on an equitable basis globally in any future pandemic. Now that the Pandemic Agreement has been adopted by the World Health Assembly, there is still the task of agreeing on an annex on pathogen access and benefit sharing. Past experience suggests that during these negotiations Canada will favor commercial over public health interests.”

Nature Health – Evidence for sexual transmission of Marburg virus during the 2024 outbreak in Rwanda

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44360-026-00155-5

“Two probable cases of sexual transmission of Marburg virus are reported from the 2024 outbreak in Rwanda, both following condomless sexual contact with male partners who recovered from the disease, but who had viral RNA in semen….”

Planetary health

Lancet Planetary Health (Comment) – Health and plastics: avenues for strengthening the plastics treaty

Simon Beaudoin et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(26)00055-0/fulltext

With some suggestions.

Covid

Plos GPH – Comparing the psychosocial impacts of COVID-19 in seven low- and middle-income countries: A cross-sectional study

https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0005944

By Sandila Tanveer et al.

Infectious diseases & NTDs

BMJ GH (Analysis) – The impact of the regime change on polio outbreaks in Afghanistan

M I Zubair et al ; https://gh.bmj.com/content/11/6/e020142

« Two important conclusions can be drawn. First, a polio outbreak did not occur following the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in August 2021. Second, similar patterns of WPV1 outbreak and control are observed in both the 2001 and 2021 regime changes in Afghanistan. The findings also indicate that polio vaccination programme efforts in Afghanistan did not decline following the 2021 regime change…”

AMR

Lancet GH – Invisible nexus of antimicrobial resistance and urban informal settlements

Rosie Steege et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00097-5/fulltext

“By 2050, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is predicted to have caused 40 million deaths globally. In the same timeframe, almost 70% of the global population has been projected to be living in urban areas. 90% of this urbanisation will occur in Africa and Asia, regions most burdened by AMR. Urbanisation is linked to an abundance of pathogens in soil, drains, and water. Yet, research and action on the convergence of AMR and rapid, often informal, urbanisation are scarce….”

“… The continued positioning of AMR as a behavioural problem highlights insufficient understanding of the complex socioeconomic and environmental drivers of AMR within urban informal settlements and masks the potentially more dominant role of environmental transmission…”

“…Scarce national data on the rates of infection and resistance in informal settlements underscore how these spaces are both problematised and neglected within the global AMR agenda. The 2026 Draft Global Action Plan (GAP) refers to spillover from dense human settlements as a driver of AMR. This characterisation risks positioning communities within informal settlements as reservoirs of AMR, rather than recognising settlements as environments of structurally produced risk. The GAP’s strategic objectives default to familiar approaches—strengthening awareness, behavioural change, and surveillance and appropriate use and disposal of antimicrobials—without considering how these goals can be realised in informal settlements. We suggest some solutions to drive meaningful action in urban informal settlements….”

NCDs

BMJ Feature – Obesity versus China: how Ozempic is complicating the world’s largest weight loss campaign

https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-523232

“China has mounted the world’s largest weight loss campaign, tapping education, exercise, and a host of drugs old and new, reports Flynn Murphy.”

Social & commercial determinants of health

Nature News – Should nicotine be regulated like a narcotic? A Pacific nation makes the case

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01903-z

“Existing global efforts to reduce harms caused by smoking have targeted tobacco smoking, but vapes containing nicotine are also harmful.”

Globalization & Health – The policy implementation playbook: a cross-policy taxonomy of post-adoption tobacco industry tactics

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12992-026-01220-0

By B K Matthes et al.

Mental health & psycho-social wellbeing

Lancet Regional Health Africa (Comment) – Contextualising adolescent emotional development in Africa: toward culturally grounded interventions

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanafr/article/PIIS3050-5011(26)00074-X/fulltext

By Nothando Ngwenya et al.

SSM Health Systems – Health Workers’ Perspectives on Mental Health Services in Primary Health Care: Qualitative Interviews with Stakeholders of the Kenya Mental Health Action Plan 2021–2025

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949856226000930

By L Jung et al.

Sexual & Reproductive health rights

Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women’s Health – Rethinking maternal health beyond linear paradigms

Leyla Larsson et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanogw/article/PIIS3050-5038(26)00097-X/abstract

« Despite decades of investment, progress in improving maternal health remains too slow to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goal target 3.1 of reducing the maternal mortality ratio to below 70 per 100 000 livebirths by 2030. Key contributing factors include: insufficient progress in strengthening health systems; limited and uneven coverage of interventions; delayed care seeking; and widening social, gender, and geographical disparities. These issues are likely to be exacerbated by global funding cuts to health and development, and growing environmental and geopolitical instability, including climate-driven impacts on health. Yet, a deeper concern persists. Interventions relating to maternal health continue to be rooted in a linear so-called magic-bullet paradigm—ie, identify a risk factor, design and implement a targeted intervention, and measure the impact. This approach has yielded notable successes in the past, such as recommendations about iron and folic acid supplementation in pregnancy, antenatal syphilis screening, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. However, a linear approach is poorly equipped to address the multiple biological and deeply embedded social, structural, and environmental determinants that underpin persistent inequities, leaving many critical pathways to maternal morbidity and mortality largely unaddressed….”

Neonatal and child health

Telegraph – Can this cheap pill end stunting?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/can-this-cheap-pill-end-stunting/

“Pregnancy vitamin and mineral supplements are showing more promise than previous solutions.”

“…After decades of gathering evidence, advocates for pregnancy vitamin and mineral supplements called Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) say it is now clear these can have a big effect on stunting and work far better than commonly-used iron and folic acid pills (IFA). A recent review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition of 19 previous studies found that a UN-approved MMS formulation containing 15 different supplements reduced stunting at birth by nine per cent compared to IFA….”

Lancet GH (Review) – From permission to pride: a realist synthesis of how to improve emergency care for children in low-income and lower-middle-income countries

Rami Subhi, et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00117-8/fulltext

“In this Review, we conducted a realist synthesis to develop a mid-range theory of how and why hospital-level emergency care interventions improve (or fail to improve) outcomes. Three interdependent mechanisms recur across published literature: legitimacy (permission, expectation, and identity), capability (knowledge, skills, confidence, and individual action), and connectedness (coming together, collective purpose, and coordinated team action). Legitimacy creates the conditions for action, capability enables individual action, and connectedness enables coordinated team responses….”

HP&P- Health facilities as a lever for Birth Registration in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Realist Review

https://academic.oup.com/heapol/advance-article/doi/10.1093/heapol/czag078/8710971?searchresult=1

By Lisanne Wolsink et al.

Access to medicines & health technology

Nature Medicine (Editorial) –Medical innovation in LMICs: can India lead the way?

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04499-z

“With its biomedicine at an inflection point, India can seize the opportunity to scale up research and development at home and offer a distinct model of biomedical innovation for the global south.”

Lancet Regional Health Africa (Comment) – Technological leap or equity trap? Emerging cancer detection technologies and the risk of widening health disparities in Africa

Kelechi Njokua et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanafr/article/PIIS3050-5011(26)00073-8/fulltext

“Emerging cancer detection technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted diagnostics, digital pathology, liquid biopsy, and portable point-of-care platforms offer major opportunities to improve cancer detection in resource-limited settings. By enabling earlier, faster, and more accessible diagnosis, these innovations could transform cancer care delivery across Africa….”

“… Emerging cancer diagnostics can advance equity, if strategically designed and implemented… The decisions made now about technology development and adoption, financing, and workforce training, will determine whether these tools become instruments of equity or drivers of exclusion….”

Plos GPH – The Health of Nations Fund: Financing global drug development

Joonhyuk Cho et al; https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0005248

“We explore the design and performance of a “Health of Nations Fund,” a proposed securitization of a biomedical “megafund” that pools capital to invest in a diversified set of global drug development projects. Incorporating assets from four stages of the drug development process as well as royalties from approved therapeutics across eight therapeutic areas, our Monte Carlo simulations show that such a megafund can deliver an annual expected return of 12.0% with a Sharpe ratio of 1.37, indicating a favorable balance between risk and return. At the same time, it finances an average of 25 approved drugs that potentially benefit approximately 44 million patients worldwide over a 14.5-year horizon.”

BMJ (State of the Art review) – Advances in the development of malaria vaccines

H Sorgho et al; BMJ;

“This review explores recent advances and future directions in malaria vaccine development, highlighting the need for new approaches to achieve sustainable protection against Plasmodium species. …”

Decolonize Global Health

Global Health Promotion – Introducing polysectionality: an innovative multidimensional policy framework towards decolonising global health

P Sengupta et al ; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/17579759261446310

“…. This paper critically analyses DGH and introduces a multidimensional policy framework for health called ‘polysectionality’, diversifying the ambit of DGH underlining equal access to health for all by breaking the North–South binary. I argue that the innovative polysectional conceptual framework will take the DGH conversation further in times of ‘poly-crisis’ by providing a blueprint to implement DGH policies effectively.

Miscellaneous

UN News – Worsening hunger could push millions closer to famine in 13 global hotspots

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167742

“Millions of people across some of the world’s most vulnerable regions are expected to face worsening hunger in the months ahead, as conflict, economic pressures and shrinking aid budgets exacerbate long-running crises.”

“A new Hunger Hotspots report released Wednesday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) identifies 13 countries and territories where food insecurity is expected to worsen between June and November 2026.”

“Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen and Palestine remain the most critical hotspots, while Nigeria and Somalia have moved into the highest-risk category amid growing concerns over famine. Conflict remains the main cause of hunger, affecting 12 of the 13 hotspots….”

TGH – A Roadmap to Effective Gun Violence Policy

S Hargarten et al; https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/a-roadmap-to-effective-gun-violence-policy

“Countries like Australia and Colombia show paths to reducing preventable gun-violence homicides and suicides.”

“… Despite the devastating magnitude of global firearm violence, the global health community has remained largely silent on the subject. A new report, Tracking the World Health Organization’s Attention to Gun Violence, 2000–2025, launched on February 10, 2026, by the Global Coalition for WHO Action on Gun Violence (Global Action), provides a compelling case and a comprehensive roadmap for the World Health Organization (WHO) and its states to engage in this critical but neglected area of global health….”

Papers & reports

Sustainable Development – Institutions Matter for Sustainable Development: Economic Growth, Structural Transformation, Efficiency, and Health Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa

Zhenhong Sun et al; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sd.71321

“… Although economic growth has a positive effect, it is modest and largely mediated through institutional quality. Structural transformation produces uneven benefits, favoring countries with stronger institutions. Efficiency analysis reveals significant performance gaps in health systems, suggesting that improved governance and service delivery—rather than increased spending alone—can substantially enhance health outcomes across SSA….”

Ps: via David Clarke (on LinkedIn): “It is a quantitative echo of an older lesson. Good Health at Low Cost showed, case by case, that the systems achieving the most were those that governed well and kept learning. Here is the same pattern in the econometrics”

Lessons from a global review of health system resilience (Policy Brief 81)

https://eurohealthobservatory.who.int/publications/i/lessons-from-a-global-review-of-health-system-resilience

By WHO’s ‘European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies’ team.

World Futures – Equity Unit Approach: An Enhanced Human Rights Collective Framework to Effectively Tackle Global Health Inequality

Funom Theophilus Makama; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02604027.2026.2687144

“Countries of the global south suffer severe health challenges and poor quality of life as compared to the nations of the global north. This review aims to develop a strategy that should effectively address global health inequalities and inequities. Since the individualistic nature of human rights does not enforce the implementation of the rights to health for all, the synthesis of some previous human rights policies via analyzing their strengths and weaknesses on a ‘rights to development’ framework has birthed a new approach. This novel approach which has a participatory-collaborative politico-legal mechanism for horizontal accountability is the ‘Equity Unit Approach.’”

Plos GPH – Reparations for Indigenous Peoples in the USA and Canada

J P Gone; https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0006688

“…Even in the comparably wealthy nations of the USA and Canada, Indigenous health inequities persist. It is common to attribute Indigenous health inequities to poverty and despair; and yet, for most Indigenous Peoples, these disparities result from harms that were deliberately engineered by others…. … Repair for colonial legacies of poor health within Indigenous communities will require adequately funded healthcare, robust social services, and the eradication of poverty. Beyond this, reparations for Indigenous Peoples should include recognition of Indigenous sovereignty, honoring of historical treaties, and return of Indigenous lands.”

Transparency International Global Health (Policy Brief) – Strengthening Integrity in Africa’s Health Systems

https://ti-health.org/content/strengthening-integrity-in-africas-health-systems/

“This policy brief presents findings from Corruption Risk Assessments conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Madagascar, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe through the Inclusive Service Delivery in Africa (ISDA) project. The assessments reveal significant integrity challenges across procurement, medicine supply chains, workforce governance, and frontline service delivery, undermining the right to health for millions of people. Women, girls, persons with disabilities, and other marginalised groups are disproportionately affected, highlighting the impact of corruption on progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions)….” “The evidence demonstrates how corruption directly affects the availability, affordability, and quality of healthcare. ..”

International Journal for Equity in Health – Strengthening women’s leadership in health systems through innovation and intersectionality

A Osborne et al; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12939-026-02926-8

« …This viewpoint argues that strengthening women’s leadership should be treated as a core component of health systems strengthening rather than as a peripheral diversity agenda…..”

SSM Health Systems – The role of HPSR pracademics in enabling learning health systems: Reflections from the trenches

O Motshweneng; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949856226000966

“ Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) pracademics can play an important role in enabling LHS. They can span boundaries, as embedded researchers and strategist implementers, to help bridge both the research-policy and policy-implementation gaps, respectively….”

· Related: SSM Health Systems – Scaling Learning Health Systems in Practice: From Interdisciplinary Science to System Integration (by L Desveaux et al)

Health Research Policy & Systems – Instituting solidarity: the role of research institutes in advancing global health equity

M Ndu et al; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12961-026-01500-6

“Despite the increasing discourse around equity, social justice and partnership, global health (GH) research remains shaped by entrenched asymmetries in funding, authorship, data ownership and priority-setting. Solidarity, framed variously as a moral principle or political stance, has been promoted as both corrective and a necessary response to these inequities. Yet, the operationalization of solidarity within research institutes (RIs) (i.e. how leaders interpret, institutionalize and negotiate solidaristic commitments) remains underexplored. This paper draws on findings from a global study of meanings and practices relevant to solidarity among diverse GH stakeholders….”

Editorial: Mid-June in global health (IHP News #885)

Kristof Decoster — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 05:31:20 +0000

Dear colleagues,

With the World Cup football now in full swing, you will have noticed with me that WHO is keeping its partnership with FIFA rather ‘low profile’. Among the many good reasons for doing so, just mentioning one here: while FIFA boss Infantino is doing – as usual – ‘Infantino things’ (as in: using a private jet in an attempt to watch two World Cup matches per day ), earlier this week we learnt that Aramco, the state-owned Saudi Arabian oil and gas company, and the world’s largest corporate climate polluter, is also a top sponsor of the 2026 World Cup and has a four-year global partnership agreement with FIFA. To keep in mind next time you hear about WHO’s “climate-health agenda”.

In the DRC, the Ebola outbreak sounds ever more worrying, one month after WHO declared an international emergency. On Tuesday, Africa CDC’s Jean Kaseya warned during a virtual high-level meeting of African heads of state and partners that “the Ebola outbreak could be the worst ever” (…. “If we don’t stop the outbreak very soon, it will be worse than what we had in West Africa and eastern ‌DRC”). Fortunately, the Evian G7 Leaders’ summit produced a heartwarming “Call for a coordinated response to the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak”. Added benefit: now that G7 leaders have finally “seen the light”, maybe a (long awaited) PABS breakthrough might also happen in July : ) (#somewhereinthemultiversethatis)

Speaking of PABS, in this issue, we also briefly come back on the Member State Hearing for the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in New York (9 June). And as you can imagine, the issue also came up at the Global Health Security conference in Kuala Lumpur last week (see below for analysis in the Feat article by my colleagues Valérie & Gorik).

We also pay some attention to World Blood Donor day (14 June), Men’s Health week (always organized around ‘Father’s day’), World Refugee Day (20 June) (with among others the launch of The UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health: review of the state of progress ), and look ahead to the UN High-Level meeting on HIV/AIDS (22-23 June). It’s a ‘perilous moment’ for the response to HIV, UNAIDS warned last week. An understatement, sadly.

In Accra, Ghana, a three-day event (17-19 June) (called “Next Steps”) is taking place “to advance the continent’s push for reparatory justice after the adoption of the landmark UN resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans as the gravest crime against humanity.” Against that backdrop (but also for so many other reasons), we hope you take the time to read Tlaleng Mofokeng’s final report and dialogue, “The Right to Health as an Enabler of Dignity”. Her mandate as the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health ends soon. She asserts, correctly, that “… health cannot be realized without dignity, and dignity cannot flourish without health.”

With that, we have arrived at the Global Health reform discussions (& post-2030 brainstorm) and the future of international cooperation. As for tackling one of the defining challenges of the 21^st century (concentrated wealth), sadly the high-powered “ Friends of Global Health Reform“ still leave it largely to the likes of Zucman (“The era of trillionaires will be dire for democracy. Here is how we can fight back”) and Robeyns “Is it bad that Elon Musk has a trillion dollars? Yes, and here’s why” (“ it starts with understanding why billionaires and trillionaires are not a sign of success, but of a dysfunctional system that is harmful to all our lives.”) to put the issue on the global agenda. No doubt because most ‘Friends of Global Health Reform’ consider themselves as ‘realists’. The picture isn’t very different among the “world’s top donors” (cfr theG7 summit in Evian), now increasingly “shifting towards investment and (mutually beneficial) partnerships” which sounds great in theory till you read the fine print and all the caveats.

Finally, we already want to flag here a new UNICEF report on the impact of triple climate threats now affecting nearly half the world’s children. The zillionth wake-up call for all self-proclaimed ‘realists’ and others. The ever expanding ‘planetary health & climate/health’ section in this newsletter points to the same.

Enjoy your reading.

Kristof Decoster

Weekly topics: IHP news 884: Highlights of the week (IHP News #884)

International Health Policies — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 06:18:14 +0000

Structure of Highlights

· Read of the week

· Ebola emergency: Overview of the week

· Ebola emergency: more analysis, key advocacy, snippets …

· More on PPPR

· Global Health Reform

· Run-up to G7 Leaders summit (Evian, France 15-17 June)

· More on Global Health Governance & Financing/Funding

· Trump 2.0

· Bilateral health agreements & US Global Health Strategy

· World Cup Football

· Run-up to UN HL meeting on HIV/AIDS (June 22-23)

· SRHR

· NCDs & (social/commercial) Determinants of Health

· Digital determinants of health

· Access to Medicines, Vaccines & other health technologies

· Planetary Health/Climate & Health

· Conflict/War & health

· Some more reports

· Miscellaneous

Read of the week

Guardian – We economists have done the maths: ‘growth’ is a doomed strategy – there is a better way

O De Schutter, J Stiglitz, J Ghosh, T Piketty, K Raworth & J Hickel; https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/10/economists-maths-growth-doomed-strategy-un-agencies-political-leaders

“Our roadmap has been shaped by experts across the world, from UN agencies to grassroots movements. We call on political leaders at all levels to use it.”

Re the “roadmap for eradicating poverty beyond growth”. ( The Roadmap will be presented to the 62nd session of the UN Human Rights Council on 25 June, 2026.)

(PS: De Schutter’s new organization: New Economies Eradicating Poverty (NEEP) is an initiative to advance alternative development pathways that can end poverty and inequalities on a liveable planet.)

“The roadmap provides a range of alternatives on how to move beyond the narrow “grow-tax-transfer” approach that has shaped policy for decades. It is not a blueprint shaped by a handful of experts. It is the exact opposite: over 18 months, more than 400 people – UN agencies, national governments, academic experts, civil society organisations, trade unions, social and solidarity economy actors and grassroots movements, from the global north and south – worked to answer a simple question: how can we end poverty and reduce inequalities without treating GDP growth as the primary condition for progress? More than 350 signatories have put their names to the plan, including Jean Drèze, Pavlina Tcherneva, Tim Jackson, Bhumika Muchhala, Julia Steinberger, Ndongo Samba Sylla, Timothée Parrique….”

“… We do not agree on every policy detail. But we are united in the conviction that our economies must be redesigned around the fulfilment of rights and collective wellbeing within planetary boundaries, rather than maximising output at any cost. Human rights here are not an afterthought; they are the organising principle for how we measure progress, set priorities and resolve trade‑offs. Social protection and public services are essential, but they cannot indefinitely compensate for economies that by design generate poverty wages, insecure jobs and unaffordable housing. We need to change the rules upstream….”

In other words, “… Implementing this vision means changing the rules of the global economy.”

“… International solidarity is therefore a legal and moral obligation rooted in the historical reality that many rich countries built their wealth by impoverishing the south, through patterns of extraction that continue today in new forms. A just transition beyond growth must include debt justice, increased south-south cooperation, reparative climate finance and support for universal social protection floors, rooted in the principles of non-domination and self-determination so that countries can chart their own sovereign economic futures….”

(in the category “will be ignored by most ‘global health reformers’…”)

Ebola emergency: Overview of the week

With focus on WHO & Africa CDC messaging.

A second subsection provides more analysis, advocacy and other news snippets.

Africa CDC and WHO launch joint continental Ebola response plan

https://www.who.int/news/item/05-06-2026-africa-cdc-and-who-launch-joint-continental-ebola-response-plan

(5 June) Joint News Release.

“The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) today launched a joint continental preparedness and response plan on the ongoing Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus. The plan aims to raise US$ 518 million to support African countries together with partners to prepare for, rapidly detect and respond to the outbreak…. The six-month plan, covering June to November 2026, brings together governments, partners and communities under a unified ‘One Response’ approach to strengthen outbreak response measures, including emergency coordination, disease surveillance, laboratory testing, infection prevention and control, clinical care, community engagement, research, logistics and support for essential health services…. The plan complements national response plans launched by the Governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda….”

““It’s time-bound plan covering June to November this year… … … it’s a costed plan, at US$ 518 million. …. That figure represents the combined effort of WHO, Africa CDC and key partners including UNICEF, UNHCR, WFP, the IFRC and FIND….. Africa CDC and WHO are also establishing a joint financial tracking mechanism to monitor funding needs, commitments and gaps…..”

Lancet World Report – WHO and Africa CDC launch $518 million Ebola plan

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01184-0/fulltext

“The organisations’ announcement promises a unified coordinated response to controlling the Bundibugyo Ebola virus outbreak. John Zarocostas reports.”

“Global health experts welcomed the plan but noted major challenges, including insecurity and declining donor funding…

Excerpt: “Ibrahima Socé Fall, Chief Executive Officer of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar, Senegal, told The Lancet that one of the operational challenges is how Africa CDC and WHO will assign roles and responsibilities based on comparative advantage. “Are they principally both working together to boost capacity or are they leveraging respective skills and separating roles, responsibilities, and tasks? From the calls to date, Africa CDC, WHO, and national authorities appear to have different data, suggesting the alignment is not quite there yet”, he noted.”

“OECD research shows that pandemic preparedness and response investments have suffered due to aid cuts. “Our analysis shows that in recent years, investments in pandemic preparedness and response were more than 30 times lower per capita in low-income countries where the highest risks occur”, Mark Pearson, OECD Acting Director for Employment, Labour and Social Policy, told The Lancet. Almost 80% of this financing for low-income countries, he said, comes from Official Development Assistance. But he observed that as aid cuts continue to affect the health sector and Africa disproportionately, and as the poorest countries struggle to replace this funding with other sources, “the PPR investment gap between advanced and developing countries could expand even further, with direct implications for global health security”.”

Devex – Inside WHO and Africa CDC’s $518M Ebola response plan

https://www.devex.com/news/inside-who-and-africa-cdc-s-518m-ebola-response-plan-112687

(8 June) “The funding covers the six-month response plans of affected and at-risk countries in Africa, as well as the organizations supporting the response. But controversy over donor pledges remain.”

“The bulk of the funding, amounting to $240.3 million, will go to the DRC, where 34 health workers were among those who have fallen ill from Ebola — seven of whom have died. Meanwhile, Uganda, which has reported two deaths from the outbreak, will get $24.7 million. A total of $79.1 million will go toward preparedness efforts in 11 countries around the DRC, and $173.6 million will go to organizations supporting the response.”

“The plan is co-led by WHO and Africa CDC, with support from different agencies…”

“… According to the plan, stocks of personal protective equipment are currently sufficient for four weeks. Kaseya said there is a company in South Africa that can help supply more, but it requires a lead time of at least six weeks. In addition, Africa CDC is investing around $2 million–$3 million to facilitate the tech transfer in Africa of the near point-of-care RADIONE test kit manufactured by South Korean biotech company KH Medical that is currently being deployed in the response….”

“There’s been some controversy, however, on funding….” (see also below)

· Via Reuters:

Kaseya said at the same press conference … “that donors have ⁠so far pledged $315.8 million towards containing the disease, down from an original $498 million after he said some donors “corrected” their figures. It was not immediately clear if that pledged money ⁠would go towards the six-month plan or not and he did not provide further details….”

· More coverage/analysis via HPW – WHO and Africa CDC Launch Joint Ebola Response Plan Amid Serious Local Challenges

“The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention launched a joint continental preparedness response plan to address the current Ebola outbreak on Friday, based on 11 pillars and a $518 million budget….”

Some more quotes from Jean Kaseya at the launch:

“… Kaseya said that most pledges for financial support still had to turn into “real money” as less than $3 million had reached affected countries so far…. …At a global meeting convened last Monday, pledges of around $498 million, “then some of our partners started to correct the figures”, said Kaseya, briefly sharing an Excel spreadsheet of these pledges which showed that the United States had promised the most – $82 million…..

And re Kenya’s US quarantine facility: “…Kaseya said that he had discussed the controversial US plan to quarantine its citizens suspected of Ebola in a facility in Kenya with senior Kenyan officials. “We need to recognise the country leadership and the country sovereignty,” said Kaseya, adding that the proposal had developed in discussion between the two countries on how the US could support Kenya’s preparations in case Ebola spread to Kenya. According to Kenya’s preparedness plan. Kenya, the government planned to set up 23 centres for isolation and treatment, and “then there was an offer made by the US that one of the 23 centres can be used [for US citizens] rather than sending people to Europe”, he added. “This is the information that we have. We respect the Kenyan authorities for the decision they made. We are supporting them in their preparedness plan, and they know that if they need support from Africa CDC and the WHO on any issue, they can get it.”

UN News – Building trust and lab testing at the heart of DRC Ebola response: WHO

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167679

(9 June) “In Ebola-stricken eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) a massive push for early testing and contact tracing is helping to contain the virus, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.”

“ Efforts to trace contacts in the Democratic Republic of Congo to try to contain the country’s Ebola outbreak have improved but are below target, the World ‌Health Organization said on Tuesday. … “We have reached 62% of contacts, but our target is 90-95%,” Dr Abdi Mahamud from the WHO told reporters in Geneva via video link from Bunia in the DRC. “It is slow steady progress, but we have not reached where we want to be,” he said, pointing to the importance of healthcare workers building trust on the ground to identify and ‌refer ⁠cases, and help with contact tracing. “With the ramp up of contact tracing and community workers, we hope to achieve that target in the coming weeks,” he added.”

“… Separately, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a ⁠release on Tuesday that contact tracing was uneven – with 78% reached in Bunia but 0% in some health zones.”

Africa CDC – Africa CDC urges Member States to strengthen exit screening and public health measures at points of entry

https://africacdc.org/news-item/africa-cdc-urges-member-states-to-strengthen-exit-screening-and-public-health-measures-at-points-of-entry/

“The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has called on all African Union Member States to urgently review, strengthen and implement enhanced exit screening and public health measures at international airports, seaports and major ground crossings as part of the continental response to the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola virus outbreak. In a letter to Ministers of Health, Africa CDC Director General Dr Jean Kaseya urged countries to take coordinated, evidence-based action to reduce the risk of cross-border transmission while preserving safe movement, trade, humanitarian operations and economic activity….”

Reuters – Congo’s Ebola outbreak spreads to new health zone

Reuters;

(10 June) “Congo’s Ebola outbreak has spread to a new health zone in the northeastern province of Ituri, authorities said on Wednesday, as fresh infections underline ‌sustained transmission more than three weeks after the epidemic was declared. The health ministry said Tchomia, about 50 kilometres south of the provincial capital Bunia on the shores of Lake Albert, has become the latest affected health zone, ⁠bringing the total number of affected zones to 26 nationwide and 18 in Ituri province, which accounts for more than 94% of confirmed cases.”

HPW – Contact Tracing is the Biggest Weakness in Ebola Outbreak

(11 June) https://healthpolicy-watch.news/contact-tracing-is-the-biggest-weakness-in-ebola-outbreak/

Cfr Africa CDC’s media briefing yesterday (Thursday).

Ebola emergency: more analysis, key advocacy, snippets …

Lancet (Letter) – WHO and Africa CDC declare the 2026 Ebola disease outbreak a public health emergency

N Ngongo, J Kaseya et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01101-3/fulltext

(5 June) A recap of the process behind the double public health emergency.

· Related: Geneva Health Files – The Post-COVID Law of Speed: An Analysis of The Declaration of Ebola as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (by A Rosario)

Lancet (Letter) – Urgent call for an Ebola truce in DR Congo

Emmanuel André, W Ssengooba, L Liesenborghs, P Piot et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01102-5/fulltext

Authors “… call for an urgent, time-limited humanitarian pause centred on outbreak control—an Ebola truce. This truce should not be framed as a political settlement or recognition of any groups party to the conflict. Rather, it should be a narrowly defined operational agreement, or at least a set of parallel guarantees, involving all actors able to facilitate or obstruct the response. These actors include national and provincial authorities within DR Congo; the Congolese armed forces; allied local armed groups, including Wazalendo; armed groups active in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, including the Allied Democratic Forces and Cooperative for the Development of Congo, the Alliance Fleuve Congo, and Mouvement du 23 Mars, where these groups control territory, roads, or checkpoints; MONUSCO (the UN peacekeeping mission) where relevant; community and religious leaders; national and international non-governmental organisations; Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; WHO; and trusted local mediators….”

Science Insider – ‘Working without them is painful’: WHO’s Ebola chief reflects on U.S. colleagues’ absence

‘Working without them is painful’: WHO’s Ebola chief reflects on U.S. colleagues’ absence | Science | AAAS

“Chikwe Ihekweazu, on the ground in Congo, discusses challenges of bringing the outbreak under control.” Interesting interview.

NYT – U.S. Ebola Unit Sparks Fury, Protests and a Political Crisis in Kenya

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/world/africa/ebola-kenya-us-protests.html

“Hundreds of Kenyans have marched through the streets to oppose a quarantine facility that would be reserved exclusively for American patients.”

Cidrap News –Ebola spreads to area under Islamic State control as cases mount

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/new-world-screwworm/ebola-spreads-area-under-islamic-state-control-cases-mount

(4 June) “The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reached Mambasa, a part of the country run by Islamic State militants, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Health workers do not travel to the area, which is chaotic and violent, making containment and contact tracing impossible, sources told the paper. …”

GAVI -From market failure to epidemic preparedness: the race for a Bundibugyo Ebola vaccine

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/market-failure-epidemic-preparedness-race-bundibugyo-ebola-vaccine

“CEPI and Gavi’s new push-pull strategy aims to bring a Bundibugyo vaccine within reach. Here’s how.”

“By pairing a $60m+ “push” from CEPI to advance candidates with a $40m “pull” guarantee from Gavi’s First Response Fund, we’re hoping to ensure that any vaccine that makes it through trials can be rapidly manufactured and deployed….”

Guardian – Ebola spread in central Africa could match 2014 record outbreak, US health officials say

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/06/ebola-spread-in-central-africa-could-match-2014-record-outbreak-us-health-officials-say

“Modelling from US CDC shows Ebola spread could be on ‘dangerous trajectory’, but experts warn outbreaks can be very hard to predict.”

“…Central Africa’s Ebola outbreak could spread to be similar in scale to the worst outbreak in history, west Africa’s 2014-2016 outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people, according to a new analysis by US health officials. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday published a range of scenarios generated by computer models, from 10,000 cases to more than 20,000….”

PS: “Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown University’s Pandemic Center, said the modeling “affirms what we have worried about since the beginning: This outbreak is following dangerous trajectory” if more is not done to stop the spread of Ebola. But she cautioned it can be extremely difficult to predict how outbreaks will progress. “I wouldn’t read too much into the specific numbers. It’s really hard to make an accurate projection when you have limited data,” she added….”

The New Humanitarian – DRC’s Ebola response must be anchored locally: Muyembe

https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/interview/2026/06/08/drc-ebola-response-must-be-anchored-locally-muyembe

“We must learn from the past. During the 2018 epidemic, basic health structures were insufficiently involved.”

“The response to the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo must be rooted in the country’s local health structures and avoid “asymmetrical” suffering by treating those in state-controlled and rebel-run areas the same, says a leading Congolese virologist.”

Lancet Comment – Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus: challenges and priorities for epidemic preparedness and response

Jean B Nachega, J-J Muyembe et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01141-4/fulltext

Authors conclude:

“The immediate priorities for the current outbreak are clear: protecting health-care workers and the most vulnerable populations, restoring community trust, strengthening cross-border coordination, decentralising diagnostics, ensuring safe and dignified burials, and sustaining surveillance and case management in affected settings. However, many of the structural vulnerabilities shaping the current epidemic cannot be resolved through short-term emergency mobilisation alone. Repeated Ebola virus disease outbreaks in DR Congo, alongside mpox, cholera, and COVID-19 amid persistent conflict, have exposed the limits of reactive outbreak response models that surge during emergencies but weaken once international attention declines….”

“The current BDBV outbreak should be treated not as another emergency to contain, but as a warning that epidemic preparedness remains uneven, episodic, and insufficiently aligned with the realities of affected communities. Rapid diagnostics, genomic surveillance, infection prevention and control, supportive care, and accelerated countermeasure development remain essential, but these biomedical tools will succeed only if embedded within trusted community partnerships, resilient health systems, protection of front-line workers, sustained financing, and coordinated regional surveillance systems. Beyond the current outbreak, preparedness strategies should address the full spectrum of pathogenic orthoebolaviruses and other epidemic-prone pathogens, strengthen Africa-led research and manufacturing capacity, integrate One Health surveillance, and support the equitable development and evaluation of vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and antivirals through adaptive trial platforms and regional regulatory collaboration.”

Devex – The fatal Ebola outbreak in the DRC needs faster, simpler tests

https://www.devex.com/news/the-fatal-ebola-outbreak-in-the-drc-needs-faster-simpler-tests-112670

Recommended analysis. “There’s no rapid point-of-care test similar to the lateral flow test used during COVID-19 that showed results in minutes — which would be incredibly useful in the current outbreak.”

Lancet Infectious Diseases (Letter) – Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in DR Congo: current trajectory and potential risk for a Pandemic Emergency

Marie Roseline Belizaire, Dick Chamla & Mohamed Janabi; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(26)00298-7/fulltext

Viewpoint by WHO Afro authors.

“In some respects, the situation is better than in 2014, in others (at least three), worse…. “

“These conditions justify calling a PHEIC and raise a harder question of where the pandemic emergency threshold is now…?….”

They conclude: “The criteria for a WHO Pandemic Emergency are currently unmet, but are within reach in the near future. A Pandemic Emergency would unlock equitable access to provisions, accelerate cross border countermeasures, and provide financing that WHO local actors cannot gather. Waiting for unambiguity would mean repeating the errors made during the 2014–16 Ebola epidemic….”

AP – Health workers at the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola outbreak labor with little pay or rest

AP;

Quote: ““It is one thing to be far away and hear statistics being reported, but what is happening on the ground is enormous,” Lokudu said. “People are sacrificing their rest and comfort for this cause. There should be recognition that they deserve compensation. These workers should receive their salaries regularly.””

“Medics face PPE shortages, improvising with makeshift gear; PPE costs surge due to supply chain disruptions, border closure; Dozens of health workers infected with Ebola so far, WHO says; ‘We are dying like flies,’ says medic in DRC; US funding cuts and USAID dismantling cited as setbacks.”

Nature Africa (Feature) – When rumours spread faster than Ebola

E Nakkazi et al; https://www.nature.com/articles/d44148-026-00151-7

“As Ebola spreads through Eastern DRC and into Uganda, health officials are also battling fear, mistrust and competing political narratives.”

Nature Medicine -Bundibugyo Ebola without vaccines or therapeutics: why public health fundamentals matter more than border closures

Ngashi Ngongo, Yap Boum & Jean Kaseya ; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04482-8

By Africa CDC authors.

Africa CDC – European Union Announces €11.5 million Euros to support Africa CDC’s response to Ebola Outbreak

https://africacdc.org/news-item/european-union-announces-e11-5-million-euros-to-support-africa-cdcs-response-to-ebola-outbreak/

From early this week. “The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) today received €11.5 million renewed commitment from the European Union Commission (EU) to support a stronger preparedness and coordinated response to the Ebola outbreak. The package is aimed at reinforcing the EU Commission’s support through the Africa CDC emergency response to the Ebola crisis, within the long-standing and comprehensive AU-EU health partnership…”

More on PPPR

Open Letter – Enough. It Is Time to Get Deadly Serious.

https://live-the-independent-panel.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OpenLetter_Enough_8June2026.pdf

High-level advocacy.

· Coverage via HPW: As Ebola Spreads, Global Leaders Decry ‘Panic and Neglect’ Response to Outbreaks

“As the Bundibugyo Virus Disease (BVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda reached 608 confirmed cases and 102 deaths, global health leaders called for “an end to the cycle of panic and neglect” in response to disease outbreaks. Describing the Ebola outbreak as a “preventable disaster”, the leaders have written an open letter to governments calling on them to “make decisions that will prevent and stop infectious disease outbreaks from killing people, draining economies and further fraying societal trust”.”

“The letter is headlined by the four bodies involved in critical oversight of global pandemics: The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, Panel for a Global Public Health Convention and the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics. It is also signed by key global health leaders….”

The letter calls on political leaders and ministers to stop the cycle of panic and neglect.

· Excerpts from the letter:

“The world is failing to identify, prevent and stop outbreaks and tackle pandemic threats To all Heads of State and Government, Ministers of State, Finance and Health, Heads of international organizations, and agencies who have the power to prevent and contain disease outbreaks: In Geneva and in New York, it’s time to make decisions that will prevent and stop infectious disease outbreaks from killing people, draining economies and further fraying societal trust. The incremental changes to date to the international system for outbreak and pandemic prevention and readiness have not been enough…..”

“There is an incomplete Pandemic Agreement. There are too few new national outbreak and pandemic plans. The call for $15 billion per year for pandemic prevention and preparedness has not come close to being met. There was a pledge to have diagnostics, vaccines and treatments ready within 100 days of a new threat being identified — and while there has been progress, for Bundibugyo, that will not happen. …. …. We can no longer accept this cycle of panic and neglect. In New York this September at the UNGA High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response and in Geneva through the WHO Pandemic Agreement process, we are asking you to: • Finalize and ratify the WHO Pandemic Agreement — as rapidly as possible and implement it. • Establish fair, predictable, and accessible financing — for sustained prevention and preparedness investment, including for the 100 Days Mission, and for rapid emergency deployment when threats emerge. The current system remains fragmented and vastly under-funded. • Implement the One Health approach — translate existing commitments into national and regional action plans that integrate human, animal and environmental health. • Accelerate a pathway to regional self-reliance — including in the research, development, and manufacturing of medical countermeasures, with clear milestones and including technology transfer and capacity building. • Lay the groundwork to establish an outbreak and pandemic risk and readiness monitoring framework — that tracks the full continuum from emerging risks, risk reduction, prevention and preparedness capacity through to response and recovery, pinpointing where weak spots remain and where investment is needed at every level. …. We also call on all sides involved in conflict in the region affected by Bundibugyo Ebola to agree to a ceasefire so this outbreak can be ended….”

Global Policy – A Decade After West Africa: What the Ebola Outbreak Reveals About Global Health Governance

Nelson Aghogho Evaborhene; https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/09/06/2026/decade-after-west-africa-what-ebola-outbreak-reveals-about-global-health-governance

Nuanced analysis & must-read.

“Ten years after the West African Ebola epidemic triggered major reforms in global health governance, a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda is testing how far those reforms have gone. While emergency coordination and escalation have improved, the outbreak exposes persistent weaknesses in financing, preparedness, trust, and the broader political conditions that continue to shape epidemic vulnerability.”

He concludes: “The current outbreak should not be interpreted simply as evidence that post-Ebola reforms have failed, nor as proof that PPPR efforts have fully succeeded. Rather, it demonstrates the uneven nature of reform in an era characterised by geopolitical fragmentation, donor retrenchment, renewed state primacy, and competing regional, bilateral, and multilateral approaches to health governance. A decade after West Africa, global health governance appears to have improved its capacity for emergency escalation and institutional coordination. Africa CDC has emerged as an important actor in regional outbreak governance, while the WHO has adopted a more precautionary approach to emergency declaration. Yet many of the structural conditions that drive outbreak vulnerability—including conflict, weak health systems, financing constraints, uneven access to medical countermeasures, and deficits in public trust—remain unresolved. The central challenge is therefore no longer simply the ability to declare emergencies, but the ability to build and sustain the political, institutional, and financial capacities needed to prevent them.”

From Reactive Payouts to Prevention: Rethinking Pandemic Insurance for African Health Sovereignty

E S K Besson; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-reactive-payouts-prevention-rethinking-pandemic-koum-besson-avcve/

“Reimagining sovereign insurance as an African resilience architecture where premiums finance preparedness, health R&D investment and countermeasure sovereignty before the next outbreak begins.”

Besson concludes: “… Reimagining pandemic insurance in Africa is not only a technical financing question. It is a sovereignty question. It asks whether African countries will remain buyers of externally designed risk products, or whether African institutions, firms, researchers and policymakers can shape the models through which epidemic risk is understood, priced, reduced and financed. As such, the issue is not whether pandemic insurance has a role to play. It does. The issue is what kind of role it should play: whether it remains a reactive instrument that pays after a crisis, or whether it becomes part of a broader African resilience architecture linking preparedness, early action, contingency planning, R&D, manufacturing readiness, regional coordination and health sovereignty.”

International & Comparative Law Quarterly – One Health and the World Health Organization Pandemic Agreement

Adam Kamradt-Scott; International & Comparative Law Quarterly;

“In December 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Assembly (WHA) authorised the creation of an intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) to draft and finalise a new international treaty to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR). Early in the negotiations, a loosely formed coalition of World Health Organization (WHO) Member States formed the ‘Group of Friends of One Health’ to promote the integration of One Health as a core guiding principle. The concept of One Health, which emphasises how human, animal and environmental health are closely intertwined and interdependent, proved contentious during the negotiations because of concerns that it might lead to new obligations which low- and middle-income countries would struggle to fulfil. In April 2025, the INB concluded its work and the following month the 78th WHA adopted the Pandemic Agreement under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution. This article considers the significance of the Pandemic Agreement’s inclusion of the One Health approach to PPPR and the subsequent legal and practical implications for States Parties. The central claim of the article is that while the Pandemic Agreement ultimately encourages a One Health approach, the various caveats and qualifications inserted during the intergovernmental negotiations permit those governments that want to circumvent their obligations to do so, at least until and unless moral and political pressure is brought to bear during the Conference of the Parties (COP) meeting.”

Global Health Reform

Devex – Can global health reform without creating new fragmentation?

https://www.devex.com/news/can-global-health-reform-without-creating-new-fragmentation-112697

“As global health institutions and donors embrace country-led development, experts are raising concerns that multiple reform efforts are moving forward in parallel with little alignment.”

“…Vanessa Kerry, along with other health policy experts, published a paper analyzing 11 major initiatives on global health reform, including the Accra Reset championed by Ghanaian President John Mahama; the U.S. bilateral health agreements; and Gavi Leap, which gives countries more control over their vaccination programs….” (see a previous IHP newsletter)

“One of the gaps the experts found in the different reform initiatives is around financing. While there appears to be consensus on the importance of boosting domestic resources, there’s little detail on how countries can mobilize more funding amid debt distress and the sudden contraction of external funding sources. Several funders — such as the U.S. with its bilateral health agreements and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — are also placing increasing cofinancing requirements on countries. The reform initiatives need to think about ways to create fiscal space for countries to mobilize resources, such as debt restructuring, and consider a realistic timeline for countries to achieve sustainable financing, Kerry said. That will take longer than five years, she said, adding that 32 countries in Africa are currently spending more on debt servicing than health….”

“… Another gap they found was that the initiatives don’t pay a lot of attention to capacities in countries, such as the health workforce….”

Devex Check-up: Never-ending questions

Devex;

“Another issue under debate in New York is the fate of UN Women and the U.N. Population Fund, or UNFPA. You may recall, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres proposed merging the two agencies. That proposal has received plenty of criticism from women’s rights groups and questions from member states. And those questions are not going away….”

“At the joint meeting of the agencies’ executive boards on Friday, several countries asked for an “evidence-based analysis” on the proposals and clarity on how the mandates of the two agencies will be protected in the event of a merger. Member states are also awaiting a report on alternative options. … The executive boards of UNFPA, the U.N. Development Programme, and UNOPS are meeting again this week, although it’s unclear how much progress they will make on the matter…”

· Related: Development Today – UN point man Guy Ryder defends merger of UNFPA and UN Women as concern among member states grows (by A D Usher)

“ The UN diplomat heading the task force of the UN80 reform process defends the idea of merging two agencies, UNFPA and UN Women, as part of an effort to reign in the sprawling, under-funded UN system. “There’s a false calculus. Having two agencies doesn’t mean we do twice as much,” he says to Development Today. Sweden has been a leading force resisting the merger.”

Global Health Reform: From Truth-Telling to Consequence

Ebere Okereke; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/global-health-reform-from-truth-telling-consequence-dr-ebere-okereke-1zzfe/

“Richard Horton’s latest Offline commentary in The Lancet … is uncomfortable because it is accurate. His central point is simple: global health cannot reform itself if it cannot tell the truth about itself. I agree…..”

“…Too much of what passes for global health reform still protects the institutions, incentives, and reputations that produced the dysfunction in the first place. We debate architecture. We produce new diagrams. We convene the same voices. We describe political failure in technical language. We applaud commitments that are not financed, strategies that are not implemented, and declarations that do not survive contact with national budgets or frontline realities. This is maintenance, not reform…”

“… Many of the truths now being named are not new. Donor distortion. Institutional self-preservation. Weak accountability. Curated inclusion. Dependence disguised as partnership. The gap between global commitments and country delivery. These have been discussed for years. The question is why they do not change decisions or actions. So yes, the first step is to tell the truth. But the next step is to make truth operational. That means:….”

Do read on to see what this entails. Among others: ““Making leadership renewal real. New voices cannot mean carefully selected voices who reproduce the same consensus” “

And Okereke concludes: “The global health system does not need another conversation that allows everyone to leave feeling brave. It needs consequences. Without truth, we have nothing. Without accountability, truth changes nothing.”

GHF – Reforming the Global Health Architecture: Power Relations, Jockeying for Influence, and the Efforts to Break Free from Status Quo

P Patnaik et al; Geneva Health Files;

In-depth analysis. “ The efforts to reform the global health architecture is a bit disparate and diverse, like global health itself. Even so, there are commonalities in some of the approaches in the way stakeholders are thinking about reforms. (We analysed this earlier in detail.) In this story we try to map recent conversations at the World Health Assembly last month that provide clues on the direction of travel in these discussions.” “This edition is divided into three parts: the decision at the WHA, what countries said, bring you key voices on reforms. We also present statements from countries’ that reveal their expectations from the reforms process….”

A few key takeaways (from a list of GHF takeaways):

“Currently underway, sources tell us that there is much jockeying for who gets to be on the WHO task force on reforms that will steer a year-long process.”

“Some remain apprehensive over reform approaches and are being cautious about ulterior motives by countries that are not a part of the WHO, diplomatic sources told us.”

“From the early days of the aid cuts in 2025, there were calls for mergers of Geneva-based organizations. These impulses seem to have settled down a bit as there is recognition of the different mandates of each global health agency.”

“There is thinking around consolidating the delivery of health commodities under one single agency.”

“On financing, there is more appetite to involve multilateral development banks according to Indonesian Minister Budi Sadikin, among others. …

Devex (Opinion) – What can aid reforms learn from private-sector mergers and acquisitions?

D Thornton; https://www.devex.com/news/what-can-aid-reforms-learn-from-private-sector-mergers-and-acquisitions-112671

“Drawing on evidence from the private sector, I argue that the reform process should focus on how mergers can create organizations which are more than the sum of their parts.” Excerpts:

“Watching the UN80 initiative and the global health architecture reform process unfold, I keep noticing a glaring gap in the way mergers are being considered. The debate is about reducing duplication — cutting overlap, consolidating back offices, shrinking the number of logos. What it is not about is whether merging organizations could create new capabilities….”

“…UN80 appears to be operating on the basis that bigger is better and is proposing several mergers. An analysis by MOPAN — the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network, a member platform that assesses multilateral organizations — of the UN80 reform proposals focuses mainly on mandate overlap and fragmentation. Beyond UN80, other mergers are being proposed, including between Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria….”

“The case for a Gavi-Global Fund merger is typically framed around shared donors, administrative savings, and some overlap in diseases. But Gavi is primarily a market-shaping institution: It uses pooled procurement to bring down vaccine prices and stimulate supply. The Global Fund is primarily a disbursement institution: It provides grants for HIV, TB, and malaria programs, and often funds organizations outside governments to make sure marginalized people are reached. These are genuinely different businesses requiring different capabilities — market intelligence and supplier negotiation on one side; country-level grant management and fiduciary controls on the other. The complementarity case would need to show that combining them creates something neither can do alone to better serve the countries they support. I have not seen that case made: The more likely outcome of a merger would be a larger, less focused organization that does both things worse.”

“…The proposed merger of UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, deserves similar scrutiny. Both work on gender and reproductive rights, but their operational models differ — one focused on norms and advocacy; the other on commodities and service delivery. And it is not clear what new capability the combined entity would have….”

PS: “The private sector experience provides two other reasons for approaching mergers with caution….”

Thornton concludes: “… Where genuine complementarity cannot be found, it would be better to wind up organizations that no longer command support, or to aim for smaller organizations with focused mandates. There is another big difference between the public and private sectors: The role of international organizations is under attack. Prolonged discussions about structures rather than achievements, and the risk that opening mandates will help those arguing for the U.N. to have a smaller role, reinforce the need to move quickly. The World Health Assembly has set a deadline of a year for global health architecture discussions, and others should follow this example.”

WHS Perspective – The paradox at the heart of the World Health Assembly

Sania Nishtar; https://www.worldhealthsummit.org/whs-perspectives/sania-nishtar-the-paradox-at-the-heart-of-the-79th-world-health-assembly

“In a new WHS Perspectives commentary, Sania Nishtar reflects on the 79th World Health Assembly: a moment of both progress and deepening fracture in global health governance. “

“Her key arguments:

The 79th WHA revealed a paradox between multilateral ambition and growing geopolitical factionalism within the Assembly, historically shielded from overt political conflict.

On the one hand, Member States endorsed a joint process to transform the global health architecture, with countries of the Global South demanding stronger health sovereignty.

On the other hand, voting patterns and factionalism at the WHA reflected geopolitical tensions at the precise moment a unified reform effort is most urgent.

There is an urgency to forge synergy: Pandemic response is a collective responsibility, and the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a direct call for the global health architecture to deliver as one. “

Run-up to G7 Leaders summit (Evian, France 15-17 June)

G7 – The Evian Summit

https://online.flippingbook.com/view/264648758/

The usual curtain raiser by University of Toronto/Global Governance media.

Health related viewpoints: p. 82-93. Among others by Tedros (p.86)(‘Global Health cooperation in a fractured world’) & Axel Pries (WHS) (‘ A new era of global health leadership begins in Africa’).

· PS: Some documents from earlier G7 related meetings: (eg Development Ministers meeting, end of April) https://g7.utoronto.ca/summit/2026evian/road.html

Over 30 countries come together to redesign finance for international cooperation – Pioneers remaking financing for the 21st century

https://gpigovernments.org/over-30-countries-come-together-to-redesign-finance-for-international-cooperation/

Some advocacy, ahead of the G7 meeting. The Coalition on Governments on Global Public Investment has a message for G7 leaders.

More on Global Health Governance & Financing/Funding

Devex Check-up – The Trump administration’s long-awaited global health nomination

Devex Check-up;

“The Trump administration has finally nominated someone to serve as the U.S. State Department’s ambassador-at-large for global health security and diplomacy, and coordinator of U.S. activities to combat HIV/AIDS globally: Johnny Figueroa. The Senate still needs to confirm him.
The move comes after nearly a year and a half without a nominee for the U.S. government’s most prominent global health post….”

“Under the Biden administration, this role was held by Dr. John Nkengasong — who led the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. …”

· Related: Devex (Opinion) – What Johnny Figueroa’s nomination means for PEPFAR’s future (by M J Reid)

“If confirmed, he will inherit one of the most consequential leadership challenges in global health, including attempting to avoid “enshittification” of the agency….” “As someone who recently served as PEPFAR’s chief science officer, I worry that one of America’s greatest global successes is at risk of being weakened by the same logic that has degraded so many other institutions: an excessive focus on efficiency, cost-cutting, and organizational metrics at the expense of the people and systems the program was designed to serve. That should concern every American….”

Guardian – Bill Gates to face questions from House committee over links to Jeffrey Epstein

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/10/bill-gates-testimony-jeffrey-epstein

On Wednesday, the Microsoft co-founder had to appear in a closed-door session as part of lawmakers’ investigation into the convicted sex offender.

PS: “In April, the Gates foundation announced that it had commissioned an “external review to assess past foundation engagement with Epstein, and our current policies for vetting and developing new philanthropic partnerships”. The foundation said the review is ongoing and that its board and management will receive an update this summer…..”

“ The Microsoft founder and philanthropist also denied being complicit in Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.”

· And check out Tim Schwab’s take – As Congress probes Gates about Epstein, the walls close in

“ The Gates Foundation faces institutional crisis, as the Gates-Epstein scandal spills into the halls of Congress–and a flurry of new allegations emerge.”

Swissinfo – WHO at strategic crossroads ahead of leadership contest

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/international-geneva/who-at-strategic-crossroads-ahead-of-leadership-contest/91406418

From 18 May but well worth a read. “The race to lead the World Health Organization (WHO) is unfolding at a time when the UN agency is grappling with budget cuts, internal tensions and fundamental questions about its role.” With the view of Suerie Moon among others.

Excerpts:

“A workforce stretched thin: Inside the WHO, the consequences of recent funding cuts are being felt across all departments. A technical expert who has worked at the organisation for six years, speaking anonymously as they were scared to lose their job if they spoke to the media, described a “very tense” atmosphere following the significant staff reductions. “We lost 40% of our team, but the workload hasn’t changed,” the expert said. “Some programmes were simply stopped overnight. The organisation acknowledged the cuts, but never the loss of capacity.” According to the same source, cuts were implemented nearly overnight, often targeting consultants and short-term contracts first rather than being based on a strategic reassessment of priorities. The result, they said, is a system under strain, where teams are forced to constantly shift between urgent crises and longer-term work. “Today, we have to choose: do we respond to an emergency on the ground, or do we work on guidelines? We can’t do both properly anymore.””

“More broadly, the current situation has revived a long-standing debate about what the WHO should focus on. A strategic dilemma: norms or operations? Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, says the funding crisis will ultimately force the organisation to redefine its role. “One of the big questions raised by the budget cuts is what the WHO’s core functions are,” she said. Member states are divided. Some prioritise the WHO’s role in setting global health standards and guidelines, while others expect it to play a more operational role, providing direct support during crises. The debate over the WHO’s priorities has been ongoing for years, with high-income countries generally supporting a more normative role and developing countries valuing operational support, says Moon.

“Cuts so far have been applied “across the board”, Moon said, leaving all parts of the organisation “stretched very thin”. But with resources unlikely to recover quickly, the next director-general may have to make clearer choices….”

“A political role in a fragmented world: Beyond internal challenges, the WHO is operating in a more complex geopolitical environment….”

Reuters – Gavi plans to use U.S. cash for malaria, while meeting Kennedy’s conditions

Reuters;

“ The global vaccine group Gavi said on Monday it hopes to use $600 million in soon-to-be-restored U.S. funding to boost malaria and other vaccination efforts, as it also meets U.S. conditions over phasing out the preservative thimerosal in other vaccines ‌in its portfolio….”

“The group’s board will make the ultimate decision on how the money is used, Gavi said. But malaria is likely a key focus: Earlier this year, Gavi warned that a $1.9 billion hole in its budget for 2026 to 2030 meant that fewer children were likely to benefit from new malaria vaccines in sub-Saharan Africa, as Reuters reported….”

EU’s Global Health Resilience initiative factsheet

https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/publications-library/global-health-resilience-initiative_en

Two-pager.

CGD (blog) – What Does Philanthropy’s Global Footprint Tell Us About Its Role in a Changing Aid Landscape?

B Bedasso; https://www.cgdev.org/blog/what-does-philanthropys-global-footprint-tell-us-about-its-role-changing-aid-landscape

“…where is philanthropic money already going?… … To examine this directly, I use OECD project-level data on cross-border private philanthropy from 2017 to 2023, covering roughly $32 billion in country-allocable commitments from 41 large foundations. The analysis shows the concentration of funding in some countries. But it also points to more encouraging patterns: the field has shifted somewhat towards fragile countries and Africa in recent years, and in countries with many funders, there is little sign that foundations are simply duplicating each other’s sector choices….”

Trump 2.0

Scientific American – White House reclassifies federal epidemiologists and other scientists from civil servants to ‘at-will’ hires

Scientific American;

“The long-anticipated “Schedule F” order strips job protections meant to safeguard federal employees from political interference.”

“(Last week) On Wednesday the White House moved to strip civil service protections from about 8,000 federal workers, including many working at public health agencies. The executive order effectively transforms these jobs—which include “epidemiologist,” “health scientist” and “toxicologist”—into “at-will” positions, meaning people in such roles can be readily fired without cause. The job category, initially called Schedule F and now called Schedule Policy/Career, strips these federal workers of protections meant to prevent political interference….”

PS: “… The move reflects President Donald Trump’s long-standing claim that there is a “deep state” of federal workers who are resistant to his policies, and he has for years called for the schedule change in order to fire civil servants he has viewed as impediments to his policies. …”

BMJ Editorial – Trump’s gold standard science is harming US science and health

J Carter et al ; https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-555297

““Restoring”standards is, in reality, a means of political control.”

BMJ (News) – Trump: Diabetes doctors ejected from conference for handing out paper criticising US administration

BMJ;

“Police in New Orleans forcibly removed five diabetes experts from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) annual conference for distributing an editorial published in the association’s journal. The paper criticised US President Donald Trump for dismantling and destroying biomedical research in the country….”

BMJ – Trump administration has its sights set on destroying international research collaborations

J Clark; https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-316815

“Medical associations and journals must join the public in condemning growing political interference in science, writes Jocalyn Clark.”

NYT – Kennedy Shows Minimal Engagement With Vast Health Portfolio

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/07/us/politics/ebola-vaccines-kennedy-health-department.html

“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has demonstrated little interest in managing his sprawling department as he focuses on food and vaccine policies, according to colleagues.”

PS: “In the current Ebola crisis, Mr. Kennedy has left the department’s response to Dr. Bhattacharya, a health economist with no prior experience in public health even though he is leading the C.D.C….”

PS: “There is no question that Mr. Kennedy is changing the national conversation around health in America, especially healthy eating….”

Science – U.S. health agencies join fight against ‘ultraprocessed foods’—whatever they are

https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-health-agencies-join-fight-against-ultraprocessed-foods-whatever-they-are

“Some scientists criticize label as ambiguous and confusing; others call it a valuable lens on diet.”

“U.S. health agencies are moving to launch new research—and potentially pass regulations—on a food category that industry and some scientists have long dismissed as misleading: ultraprocessed foods (UPFs). On 14 May, the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) Council of Councils endorsed a $150 million initiative, yet to be publicly launched, to investigate how diets dominated by UPFs harm children’s health and how to help children avoid those foods. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), meanwhile, is drafting a legal definition of UPFs as a step toward regulating them. “Once we get that definition of ultraprocessed foods, then we go to mandatory front-of-package labeling” to discourage people from consuming them, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a congressional committee on 16 April. The recent moves signal the embrace by President Donald Trump’s administration of a term that has become both a focal point of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement and a source of scientific controversy….”

Devex – US State Dept announces first of a series of major humanitarian awards

https://www.devex.com/news/us-state-dept-announces-first-of-a-series-of-major-humanitarian-awards-112682

“The U.S. government is providing $240 million in humanitarian aid to Catholic Relief Services, which will go toward food, shelter, and other needs across countries with “significant levels of humanitarian need.”…”

“The U.S. State Department has announced more than $240 million in humanitarian assistance to Catholic Relief Services, the first in a series of awards expected to be provided to organizations viewed as “trusted and vetted” by the U.S. government. “These awards will focus on the rapid deployment of time-bound, life-saving assistance in response to crises around the world, with implementers able to respond within 24 hours,” the State Department wrote in a press release after the announcement, which was made in Rome, Italy, on June 5.”

“The funding will span sectors and touch food, nutrition, health, shelter, and water and sanitation needs in countries “with significant levels of humanitarian need,” such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Nigeria, and Sudan. The department added that funding will also go toward CRS’ Ebola response activities in the DRC, along with the organization’s global rapid response fund for sudden-onset disasters…..”

Bilateral health agreements & US Global Health Strategy

HRW – US: Global Health Aid Tied to Harmful Conditions

https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/06/08/us-global-health-aid-tied-to-harmful-conditions

“Pacts Require Abortion Surveillance, Rights to Specimen Sharing, Data Access.”

“The United States government is conditioning lifesaving health assistance on broad access to surveillance data and extractive rights to pathogen samples and data for pharmaceutical development, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch issued an assessment of seven bilateral health agreements signed in late 2025 with Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Liberia, and Uganda….”

· HRW Background briefing: Human Rights Assessment of the 2025-2026 US Bilateral Health Agreements

KFF – A “One-Two Punch”: U.S. and Global Fund Cuts Are Estimated to Reduce Support to 29 Countries by $4.3 Billion Through 2029

KFF;

New analysis. “ Combined funding from the U.S. government and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) in 29 countries is projected to decline by an estimated $4.3 billion (24%) through 2029, a new KFF analysis reveals. The analysis examines how much funding will be cut under the Trump administration’s America First Global Health Strategy and by the Global Fund from 2026 to 2029, compared with previous years, in 29 countries with signed U.S. Memorandums of Understanding and available data.”

“Reductions in U.S. funding account for more than three-quarters (77%) of the total decrease; the U.S. is planning on funding reductions of an estimated $3.3 billion (a 29% decline relative to prior levels), while Global Fund allocations to these countries are expected to fall by nearly $1 billion (15%). In addition to these funding reductions, countries also face co-financing requirements, which could intensify fiscal impacts while offsetting some of the effects of the reductions on global health programs…”

World Cup Football

HPW – FIFA Urged to Kick Coca-Cola Out of World Cup

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/fifa-urged-to-kick-coca-cola-out-of-world-cup/?feed_id=895&_unique_id=6a26ec5638372

“Ahead of the kick-off of the World Cup football tournament on Thursday, global health advocates are demanding that FIFA, the international football federation, ends its partnership with Coca-Cola by 2030. “

“Coca-Cola has sponsored the FIFA World Cup, the world’s most-watched sporting tournament, since 1978. Its sponsorship agreement, which makes up about 2% of FIFA’s income, is up for review in 2030. The “Kick Big Soda Out” movement has written to FIFA president Giovanni Infantino, demanding that the federation publicly commits to ending its sponsorship agreement with the Coca-Cola Company and establishes a partnership policy that excludes sponsorship by ultra-processed food and beverage companies from 2030 onward. …”

Reuters – US urges Europe to impose Ebola travel bans ahead of World Cup

Reuters;

(9 June) “EU has not responded to US calls for Ebola-related travel bans, EU diplomat says; US has barred recent travelers from DRC, Uganda, South Sudan from entry; Washington says it is coordinating to protect citizens ahead of FIFA World Cup.”

“The Trump administration has called on European nations to follow Washington’s lead and impose travel restrictions on ‌people who have recently been in Central African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak, in hopes of avoiding the spread of the virus during the soccer World Cup, sources and officials said on Tuesday. The U.S. on June 1 issued a demarche — a formal diplomatic statement of concern — urging European countries to implement travel restrictions related to the outbreak, a European Union diplomat based in Africa and a second source familiar with the matter said. The diplomat said EU states had not responded.”

Science –Will the World Cup kick off disease outbreaks?

https://www.science.org/content/article/will-world-cup-kick-disease-outbreaks

“Don’t expect pathogens to steal the show, says research group that studied the risk of visiting fans spreading infections.”

“…a team of scientists has been working on a different question the past few months: Just how many dangerous viruses, bacteria, and parasites are likely to hitch a ride when more than 1 million fans arrive, many from countries that have diseases rare or unknown in North America? And which ones should U.S. health authorities worry about? Their answer, posted as a preprint on 1 June: Relax (mostly). Most infectious diseases are unlikely to cause problems at the World Cup at all. There may be additional cases for some, including influenza, tuberculosis, and malaria, but given the many millions of travelers that already arrive in the United States every year, the soccer fest does not pose major additional disease risks, says epidemiologist Alessandro Vespignani of Northeastern University, who led the study….”

Run-up to UN HL meeting on HIV/AIDS (June 22-23)

Devex – Can the new UN political declaration get the HIV response back on track?

A Green; https://www.devex.com/news/can-the-new-un-political-declaration-get-the-hiv-response-back-on-track-112680

Must-read analysis. “Early drafts of a new HIV political declaration show U.N. member states attempting to strike a balance between regaining momentum toward ending the epidemic by 2030, while also acknowledging the challenges posed by shifts in global funding.” « … But civil society groups warn that the latest revision, issued on May 29 and seen by Devex, does not go far enough to address the funding gaps that have emerged as the United States and other donors reduce their support for the global HIV response.”

« … At the same time, observers are eager to ensure the process is not derailed ahead of the expected adoption of the declaration at a U.N. high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS in New York on June 22 and 23….”

PS: « Angeli Achrekar, the deputy executive director at UNAIDS, told Devex that U.S. representatives are currently engaged in the revision process….”

« The anticipation around this year’s political declaration reflects the role these documents have played in shaping the global HIV response….”

« … The latest draft expresses “deep concern” about the failure to reach the 2025 targets, even as it reaffirms an “unwavering commitment to end AIDS as a public health threat by the end of 2030.” It also builds on the UNAIDS Global AIDS Strategy 2026–2031, which spells out the steps that are necessary to reach the 2030 goal. … … In addition to targets for testing, getting people living with HIV on treatment, and making sure they adhere to the medicine, the strategy also spells out sustainable financing goals. This includes mobilizing the $21.9 billion that UNAIDS estimates will be needed annually by 2030 to fight the disease. The current draft of the declaration reiterates this goal, but Ross said it does so without underscoring the financial challenges that have emerged over the past 18 months….”

PS: « The revision process is still ongoing and observers expect changes up until the high-level meeting in New York, “which will hopefully culminate in a consensus political declaration,” Achrekar said. … … There is still some question of whether the United States will raise objections and block adoption by consensus as American officials did with the political declaration on NCDs and mental health….”

AVAC (Global Health Watch) – State of Negotiations Ahead of UN High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS

https://mailchi.mp/avac/global-health-watch-april18-2108318?e=f66302bb8e

“Negotiations on the political declaration have intensified this week, as the June 22-23 UN High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS inches closer. With a third-round draft due June 15, many advocates and delegations question whether consensus can be secured around diluted provisions on key populations, discriminatory laws, community leadership, human rights, and access to medicines. These differing positions by state and non-state actors could ultimately result in a vote on the declaration rather than adopting it by consensus. Advocates report that the text would replace commitments to repeal discriminatory laws with softer language encouraging countries to “review and change as appropriate”, while references to community-led responses and key populations have been weakened or removed in multiple sections. Financing is also a major point of contention, with advocates challenging the proposed $20.6 billion annual HIV financing target and the absence of language addressing official development assistance (ODA) despite calls from many countries.”

Devex – ‘We’re not seeing a rebound’: New data shows HIV services not recovering

A Green; Devex ;

“New research from the Clinton Health Access Initiative shows declines in HIV testing and in people accessing oral prevention services.”

“The Clinton Health Access Initiative released new data showing steep declines in HIV services across countries in Africa and Asia following cuts in support from the U.S. government and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that began in early 2025.”

“Across 10 countries, CHAI recorded a 42% drop in people starting oral HIV prevention services, or PrEP, in 2025 compared to 2024. The number of HIV tests conducted in eight countries declined by 12% in the same period. And the percentage of children who were enrolled in HIV treatment dropped by 15% across eight countries….”

““What I keep coming back to is just that we’re not seeing a rebound,” Carolyn Amole, CHAI’s vice president of HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis, told Devex. “Across the board, key indicators haven’t recovered,” since the funding cuts began….”

PS: The new CHAI data offers a more comprehensive picture of the state of HIV services than the numbers released by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, in April…”

“Precipitous aid cuts are casting a huge shadow over the United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on HIV on 22-23 June, with new research indicating that some countries could face almost total cuts in aid from the United States by 2030.”

“UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned last week that the world is far from achieving the 2025 targets set out in the Political Declaration adopted at the last HLM on HIV in 2021. The 95-95-95 targets involve ensuring that 95% of people with HIV know their status; 95% of people with HIV are on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, and 95% of those on ARVs are virally suppressed. “At the end of 2024, 9.2 million people could not access HIV treatment; there were 630,000 AIDS-related deaths (double the 2025 target); and 1.3 million people acquired HIV (3.5 times the 2025 target),” warned Guterres….”

“There is a global commitment to end HIV by 2030, but the lack of funds will impact the ambitions of the new Political Declaration, currently being negotiated ahead of the HLM.”

“Ahead of the HLM, HIV civil society organisations have called for “innovative financing mechanisms” including debt-relief instruments, refinancing of debt, health taxes, and better public financing management to address the funding gap….

“… The Trump administration plans to cut HIV funding to recipient countries by between 42% and 97% by 2030, according to a memorandum released this week by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). … CHAI’s analysis is based primarily on data from 11 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia that are home to approximately 25% of people living with HIV globally, and figures published by the US State Department. … … A wider analysis of 29 countries points to a decline in combined aid from the US and the Global Fund of some $4.3 billion (24%) through 2029, according to KFF. The US will reduce its aid by 29% and the Global Fund by 15%, respectively. ….”

The silver lining: “Despite the grim financial outlook, HIV advocates view the rollout of Lenacapavir, an injection given twice a year that almost completely prevents HIV transmission, as the most hopeful tool to end HIV. … “Generic entry is expected by early 2027, and pricing agreements have brought the cost to $40 per person per year….” “

SRHR

Guardian – ‘Family values’ African charter condemned by rights groups as regressive and dangerous

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/05/ghana-african-charter-family-values-gender-women-sex-lgbtq-reproductive-rights

Re the meeting in Accra from last week. “Draft treaty claims sexual and reproductive health and rights are an existential threat to the African family.”

“An African treaty that rejects longstanding international human rights obligations moved a step closer to becoming policy this week as governments across the continent met in Ghana. … … The objective of the 2026 conference, which was held in Ghana for the first time this week and attended by representatives from 20 countries, was to advance the charter by garnering enough support to take it to the African Union general assembly next February, when it would be put to a vote. …

“Critics say the charter’s definition of family based strictly on heterosexual marriage ignores the huge diversity of families across the continent’s 54 countries. In an extensive analysis of the draft, the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA), a pan-African feminist initiative, argues that prioritising the family over the individual “risks legitimising the subordination of women, children and adolescents to collective family interests and insulating private family relations from state accountability, especially in situations involving violence, coercion, or discrimination”….”

“According to reports, delegates from 20 African countries endorsed the charter, bringing it closer to possible adoption at national level and potentially within African Union structures….”

· New Humanitarian – “Avoid using the term”: Oxfam in Africa retracts LGBTQ censorship guide

“Oxfam in Africa has departed from the values that govern the Oxfam Confederation.”

“Oxfam in Africa has walked back internal guidelines that would have barred staff from mentioning LGBTQ rights in public, work-related communications….”

· HPW – Ghana’s Parliament Hosts Anti-vaxxer as Part of ‘Family Values’ Conference

“Ghana’s parliament invited a vociferously anti-vaccine Kenyan and a conservative Dutch activist campaigning to curtail the World Health Organization (WHO) to address visiting MPs on “health sovereignty” last week. Yet Ghanaian Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin, a leader in Mahama’s National Democratic Congress, hosted Dr Wahome Ngare and Wilmer Hak, from ultra-conservative Christian Council International (CCI), and sat back as they made inflammatory and wild claims about the WHO, the Gates Foundation and other health initiatives during their speeches.”

“Describing COVID-19 vaccines as an “assault”, Ngare accused the Gates Foundation and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) of “genocide” for “gain-of-function” research – erroneously claiming that they are manufacturing viruses to infect humans so they can develop and profit from vaccines. Ngare also claimed that the WHO was trying to use pandemics to grab power through the International Health Regulations, which set out rules to contain epidemics. He heads a largely dormant group called the African Sovereignty Coalition, and also chairs the Kenya Christian Professionals Forum. …”

PS: “… Health Policy Watch first reported on an alliance between anti-rights groups opposing sexual and reproductive health rights and anti-vaxxers in 2024, at the second meeting of the Inter-parliamentary Conference on Family, Sovereignty and Values in Entebbe, Uganda….”

The Lancet and WHO unveil new blueprint to prevent one of childbirth’s deadliest complications

“This Friday 12 June 2026 at 11h CEST, the Lancet and WHO lead researchers will publish a landmark new Lancet Series, challenging decades of conventional maternity care and redefine how postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), the world’s leading direct cause of maternal death, is detected, treated and prevented. The papers highlight how many women are at risk globally and what this is costing our economies. Bringing together the latest global evidence, the Series argues that too many women are still dying from a condition that can often be prevented or successfully treated and outlines a bold new vision for transforming maternal survival worldwide….”

Stay tuned for this, later this morning.

The Independent – Aid cuts are making tablets needed to help fight stillbirths and mothers dying harder to buy

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/women-birth-death-aid-cuts-un-b2990716.html

“Exclusive: Data from the UN shows that the money spent on supplies of folic acid, which can help reduce the risk of anaemia and then possible haemorrhage or stillbirth, is falling – at least in part thanks to aid cuts.”

“… research published by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in April drew a direct line between anaemia and women dying in childbirth. Analysing data from more than 15,000 women who gave birth across the globe, researchers found that anaemia significantly raises the risk of postpartum haemorrhage, which is the leading cause of maternal death globally….”

“… Now data obtained exclusively from The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) – the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency – shows the scale of what is happening to the supplies that help prevent women from becoming anaemic in the first place, starting before the latest aid cuts kicked in. Procurement of folic acid fell 62 per cent between 2024 and 2025, from $1.09m (£816,000) to approximately $414,000. Reproductive health kit shipments, which contain iron and folic acid tablets for clinical delivery, fell 53.5 per cent, from $3.27m to $1.52m. A UNFPA spokesperson acknowledges the decline is “partially attributable to changes in the funding environment”….” “The majority of those supplies go to crisis-affected and low-income countries, with Afghanistan among the countries receiving both iron and folic acid supplies from UNFPA. “

NCDs & Determinants of Health

Mike’s Substack – BFI #4: The Demographic Cliff

Mike’s Substack;

“Global Health May Be Preparing for the Wrong Population Problem.”

“My interest … is to ask what demographic change, whether driven by lower fertility, migration, or population aging, means for health systems, development, and global health over the coming decades. Because if there is one thing that seems increasingly clear, it is that demographic change may be one of the most consequential (and least discussed) forces shaping our collective future….”

“For most of the modern era, global health has been preoccupied with population growth: too many births, too many children, too much pressure on health systems, food supplies, and the environment. … … But importantly, a growing group of scholars—including Dean Spears and Michael Geruso in After the Spike, Victor Kumar in his brilliant essay, The Vanishing of Youth , and economists like David Bloom —are now arguing that humanity is entering a fundamentally different demographic era. Their concern is not overpopulation. It is the disappearance of youth. The implications for global health are MASSIVE….”

PS: “Africa remains ‘younger’ than the rest of the world, but fertility rates are declining there as well. In many respects, the demographic transition that global health and development helped accelerate has succeeded. The problem is that success is about to create a new set of challenges….”

“…LMICs will confront rising burdens of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, dementia, disability, and long-term care needs before they have built universal health coverage systems, robust tax bases, or sufficiently large health workforces. At precisely the moment aging populations in these countries require more health workers, fewer young people may be entering the labour force. …. Wealthy countries are likely to make matters worse by increasingly competing for the very workers that lower-income countries will need to care for their own aging populations. Nigeria reportedly loses roughly 4,000 of the 5,000 doctors it trains each year to emigration, while the UK’s NHS now employs more than 65,000 clinicians and support staff from countries that the WHO identifies as facing critical workforce shortages. As populations age across Europe, North America, East Asia, and the Gulf States, competition for nurses, physicians, and caregivers may become one of the defining geopolitical contests of the twenty-first century—not over oil or minerals, but over people…”

“…what if the next great challenge is not managing population growth? What if it is adapting to population decline?….”

Habib Benzian & S Naidoo – Why Today’s Disease Burden no Longer Fits Yesterday’s Priorities

On Substack ;

“Challenging the way global health organises noncommunicable diseases.”

“Global health loves simple frameworks, as long as they don’t change anything. That was the first lesson we learned when, three years ago, we proposed the 6×6 approach to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). We were not asking the world to rethink disease. We were asking to rethink attention. And attention, in global health, is a currency as powerful as funding. The moment you add oral diseases and sugars to the familiar NCD grid, you expose an uncomfortable truth: the current 5×5 framework never reflected reality. It reflected politics….”

“… The reactions rarely questioned the science (though we heard, in all weirdness, comments from public health colleagues stating that oral diseases are just hygiene-related lifestyle conditions without evidence to sugar as causal risk). Instead, the reactions exposed how tightly the 5×5 model had become woven into the political and institutional fabric of global health and of the global NCD community. The framework was no longer just a classification; it was a political settlement, a balance of visibility, funding, advocacy power, and institutional roles. Changing it means disturbing the architecture. This is the real insight of the 6×6 approach to NCDs: the prevailing framing is not merely descriptive nor just technical. It is a form of political design….”

PS : “The recent World Economic Forum framing on NCD prevention underscores this point. Without explicitly reopening the category of noncommunicable disease, it quietly redraws its boundaries, elevating conditions like chronic kidney disease that align smoothly with existing system architectures while leaving others largely unspoken. What enters the centre is not necessarily what burdens populations most, but what health systems find easiest to organise around. Other disease groups like steatotic liver disease or bleeding disorders are requesting a seat at the big NCD table too…. From this perspective, the question is no longer whether oral diseases or sugars belong in the NCD agenda. The question is what kind of NCD agenda global health is now constructing, and for whom….”

Lancet (Editorial) – The next steps for chronic kidney disease

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01183-9/fulltext

This week’s Lancet editorial. “Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has emerged after decades of neglect, we noted in November 2025, with the adoption of the WHO resolution on kidney health. The resolution was a long overdue recognition of the need for concerted global attention. However, efforts to implement and operationalise these kinds of agreements are often met with opposition, inertia, and indifference. A Health Policy paper in this week’s issue of The Lancet provides practical guidance on how to fulfil the resolution’s promises, drawing on lessons from diabetes control and calling for integration in the broader non-communicable disease agenda. There is, the authors argue, an “unprecedented opportunity to improve health”…..”

· Related Lancet Health Policy – Implementing the commitments of the World Health Assembly kidney health resolution: a key opportunity to improve health for millions (by M Tonelli et al)

Nature Medicine – Brain Health for Economic Resilience: a data-driven framework for the brain-positive economic transition

H A Eyre et al ; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-026-04444-0

“Announced in this Comment and in collaboration with Nature Medicine is the convening of the Brain Health for Economic Resilience Commission, a global, transdisciplinary effort to define, measure and operationalize brain health and cognitive capacity as foundational drivers of economic resilience.”

Lancet (Clinical) Series on cardiometabolic multiple long-term conditions

https://www.thelancet.com/series-do/lancet-series-cardiometabolic-multiple-long-term-conditions

“Cardiometabolic multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity), the co-occurrence of interconnected conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and kidney disease, represent a growing global health challenge. Clustering of these conditions is associated with polypharmacy, high rates of morbidity, disproportionate health care utilisation, and premature mortality. Despite rising prevalence in both low- and high-income countries, clinical care and research often remain siloed within single-disease frameworks, resulting in fragmented management and suboptimal outcomes. “

“This three-part Series synthesises current evidence to inform a more integrated response to cardiometabolic multiple long-term conditions. The first paper reviews their epidemiology; the second paper focuses on pathophysiological mechanisms; and the third paper discusses management.”

“The growing number of people living with multiple long-term conditions (MLTC) is one of the defining challenges facing health care globally. Research in this field has challenged the single-disease framework that has traditionally dominated service design and research focus. But progress in MLTC research has been hampered by methodological inconsistency, definitional imprecision, and the difficulty of designing effective interventions for highly heterogeneous MLTC populations. These limitations have prompted calls to shift focus to narrower and potentially more tractable common clusters of conditions with a disproportionate impact on outcomes such as mortality, quality of life, and health service use. In this new Lancet Series, the authors propose cardiometabolic MLTC as precisely such a cluster: a coherent subset of conditions whose shared social and biological determinants provide the opportunity for better understanding of common mechanisms and interventions with benefits across multiple conditions…”

The Lancet: Combined food policies, including labelling and advertising bans, have real-world impact on reducing child obesity, first evidence plausibly shows

Lancet – The impact of Chile’s multipronged food labelling and advertising law on early childhood excess weight: a cohort difference-in-differences study

Via the press release:

“First plausible causal evidence at the national level that coordinated multiple food policies- including front-of-package warning labels, marketing restrictions and school food regulations -reduces childhood obesity. Children in school six to 18 months after the law was introduced had approximately a 2% lower probability of excess weight than children that age before the introduction of the first phase of the law. While the impact may seem modest, authors say these findings provide crucial evidence-based support for policymakers worldwide who are considering food policies to address the childhood obesity epidemic. …”

“Chile’s complementary set of policies targeting food products high in fat, salt and sugar plausibly reduces the risk of school age children being overweight or having obesity, finds a study published in The Lancet. Chile ranks among the highest countries globally for rates of childhood overweight and obesity. To combat this issue, in 2016 Chile implemented one of the world’s most comprehensive and ambitious food policies, the Food Labelling and Advertising Law (FLAL) …”

· Related Lancet Comment – Integrated food policy and child obesity

Geneva Solutions – ILO closes in on setting global ground rules for gig economy

https://genevasolutions.news/human-rights/ilo-closes-in-on-setting-global-ground-rules-for-gig-economy

Updated on 8 June.

“Governments, employers and workers that make up the ILO’s special tripartite structure are due to finalise the first-ever international convention safeguarding workers in the gig economy, in which online platforms provide everything from temp work to dog walking to food delivery services. It comes after a majority of ILO members at last year’s meeting backed the landmark decision to move forward with creating international ground rules, despite resistance from some countries including the United States, Argentina and Pakistan.”

“The seven-page draft text, which once adopted and ratified requires countries to translate into domestic law, sets out rules to guarantee core labour rights, fair pay, and safe working conditions for all platform workers, regardless of how companies classify them, whether employees or contractors….”

PS: “In a report from April, called Algorithms of Exploitation, Human Rights Watch interviewed gig workers across India, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the United Kingdom. It found that across all nine countries, they face low and unstable earnings, unsafe working conditions, and little to no protection when injured or unable to work. The report also found how the growing use of algorithms by platform companies to set pay, create incentives and assign tasks is increasing pressure on workers to accept jobs quickly, meet tight deadlines and maintain high ratings, with penalties for falling short….”

“… At this week’s gathering, ILO members will pore over the third version of the draft convention on decent work in the platform economy, after going back and forth with amendments and tweaks over the past year….”

Digital determinants of health

NPJ – A global call to action on the digital determinants of health

J Shaw et al; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-026-02765-5

“…In this Perspective, we articulate the urgent need for close attention to the health-related impacts of the diverse uses of digital technologies and the transformations they bring about on a global scale. We provide a conceptual summary of definitions of the Digital Determinants of Health published in the peer-reviewed literature and present progress toward a conceptual framework for understanding the Digital Determinants of Health as operating through primary (individual and community health), secondary (domestic institutions), and tertiary (global political economy) mechanisms….”

Access to Medicines, vaccines & other health technologies

Lancet Comment – How CEPI can enhance global vaccine equity and transparency

M Whiteman, P Maybarduk, S Moon et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01137-2/fulltext

Important read. Excerpts:

“The absence of proven vaccines to address the 2026 outbreaks of hantavirus and Ebola virus disease caused by Bundibugyo virus (species Orthoebolavirus bundibugyoense) underscores the essential role of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) in protecting everyone’s health. On June 1, 2026, CEPI announced it would invest up to US$61·8 million to rapidly advance testing and production of three Bundibugyo vaccine candidates. CEPI pools public and philanthropic funds internationally to advance vaccine development for epidemics and pandemics in a way meant to benefit all countries. Unlike traditional development assistance, CEPI is formally accountable to more than a small circle of high-income-country donors, with middle-income countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, and Senegal, among its public investors….”

“Since its launch in 2017, CEPI has mobilised more than $4·2 billion, supported first vaccines for Lassa fever, Nipah virus, and Middle East respiratory syndrome entering phase 2 trials, and enabled technology transfer to endemic manufacturers and licensure of the first chikungunya vaccine. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CEPI funded 14 vaccine candidates and co-led COVAX, which delivered nearly 2 billion doses to 146 countries. These are substantial and impressive achievements. CEPI’s importance is elevated now amid the retreat of the US Government from multilateral health cooperation and funding, and cuts to the US National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) infectious disease investments. Yet CEPI should be judged above all by its access mission, because that is what distinguishes it from a conventional innovation fund….”

“…These concerns matter even more now because the normative environment for research for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response is shifting. After COVID-19, there is growing recognition that public R&D contributions should translate into public benefit… ……Although normative changes to this research environment alone do not alter the structural geography of pharmaceutical R&D, they do create a governance opportunity that funders must choose to use.”

“Investor countries can, through CEPI, not only support access to products but also reshape and diversify where preparedness capacity sits. CEPI’s middle-income government investors are part of the coalition’s governance architecture. As part of CEPI’s Investors Council, such countries can press for funding conditions that incentivise regional co-development, meaningful LMIC manufacturing participation, publication of equity-relevant terms, and operational plans for technology transfer and access during emergencies. Indonesia illustrates how this approach can be operationalized…”

“… CEPI could help by making meaningful technology transfer a more explicit funding expectation more broadly, coordinating with LMIC manufacturers and WHO, and transparently publishing key details of these arrangements to allow public learning and scrutiny. … Greater transparency is possible. The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), which negotiates licences authorising use in LMICs of generic versions of widely patented medicines, publishes its agreements in full, while maintaining its ability to negotiate with large firms….”

“…Following critiques, CEPI has explained in greater detail how it makes decisions. However, despite long-standing stakeholder concerns related to insufficient transparency on access provisions in contracts with firms, CEPI’s underlying approach has not substantively changed. CEPI indicates that it is reviewing its access policy and exploring greater transparency as it prepares to implement its new 5-year CEPI 3.0 strategy, which is expected to begin in 2027. The question remains whether any changes will be incremental or norm-setting. We encourage CEPI to strengthen and disclose contract terms relevant for equity, including on licensing, step-in rights, supply, and price terms that shape downstream public procurement contracts; to adopt broader formal LMIC and civil-society participation in oversight; and to support systematically regional manufacturing ecosystems…. CEPI was created to correct a market and governance failure in epidemic preparedness, yet the absence of proven tools to combat Ebola Bundibugyo shows the work is not yet done.”

HPW – Non-Profit R&D Groups Pool Resources Amid Shrinking Global Budgets

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/non-profit-rd-groups-pool-resources-amid-shrinking-global-budgets/?feed_id=894&_unique_id=6a26cf3d92373

“Three non-profit organisations involved in the research and development (R&D) of “effective, affordable, and life-saving medicines” are pooling resources to address the growing unmet needs of the world’s most vulnerable patients. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), GARDP Foundation, and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) announced a cooperation agreement on Monday to “explore how they can further pool their expertise and resources to strengthen the efficiency and coordination of their activities”….”

“The cooperation focuses particularly on R&D, as well as joint policy advocacy and communications activities to raise awareness of their non-profit drug development model. …”

PS: “DNDi executive director Dr Luis Pizarro said: “The global health environment is changing fast, but patients’ unmet needs remain. In a rapidly shifting environment, closer, smarter, more agile collaboration is essential to deliver life-saving health tools for millions in urgent need.” He invited other non-profit research organisations “committed to equitable access and leaving no patient behind” to join the collaboration to accelerate the development of life-saving treatments for patients who need them most. …”

MSF Access – Principles for equitable access to medical tools for Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus

https://msfaccess.org/principles-equitable-access-medical-tools-ebola-disease-caused-bundibugyo-virus

“ This outbreak once again exposes persistent failures to prioritise, fund, and produce accessible medical tools for diseases disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income countries. As the response scales up, it is critical to apply lessons learned from past epidemics, including COVID-19 and previous Ebola disease outbreaks. MSF calls on donor agencies, governments and research institutions to ensure that enforceable access arrangements are embedded in research and development processes from the outset for equitable access to medical tools for the Bundibugyo virus….”

Devex Pro – The Gates Foundation’s push for stronger African health product regulators

https://www.devex.com/news/the-gates-foundation-s-push-for-stronger-african-health-product-regulators-112674

(gated) “The foundation sees it as a way to expand access to lifesaving medical products. It’s supporting both national regulators and the African Medicines Agency.”

“The Gates Foundation believes strong medical product regulators on the African continent will lead to greater access to lifesaving products. And the backbone is strong national regulators — coordinated by the new African Medicines Agency, or AMA, said David Mukanga, deputy director of Africa regulatory systems at the Gates Foundation….”

Lancet GH Viewpoint – Global health ethics in international collaborative research during policy transition: what can we learn from the proposed newborn hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau?

K Moodley et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00142-7/fulltext

“International collaborative research in Africa has raised ethical challenges for decades. The proposed newborn hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau is the latest case to crystallise concerns around potential exploitation of disadvantaged populations, drawing comparisons to Tuskegee and other research abuses. We argue that the decision to stop the trial was appropriate, but that the reasons most invoked in public debate are incomplete. The trial was designed to happen during a defined window before Guinea-Bissau’s planned rollout of the universal birth-dose vaccination in 2027–28, when randomisation between the WHO-recommended birth dose and the existing local standard of care remained possible. Under what conditions, if any, could such research—comparing a local versus global standard of care during health policy transition—be ethically justified? We propose four conditions and assess the proposed trial against them. The trial potentially satisfies some of our proposed conditions but does not meet others owing to an absence of maternal hepatitis B screening despite high background prevalence, methodological shortcomings that threaten the interpretability of results, and governance deficiencies, including an absence of sponsor-country ethics review (required by the Declaration of Helsinki). We treat this trial as a cautionary tale offering important lessons for future research in low-resource settings undergoing policy transitions.”

Scroll India – Why generic obesity drugs are unlikely to help those who need them the most

Sunoor Verma; https://amp-scroll-in.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.scroll.in/article/1093079/why-generic-obesity-drugs-are-unlikely-to-help-those-who-need-them-the-most

“Poorer countries bear a greater burden of metabolic diseases but even with cheaper medicines, pharma companies will make access difficult….”

GAVI – Are children getting their vaccines too late?

https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/are-children-getting-their-vaccines-too-late

“Many children receive vaccines weeks or months later than recommended, raising questions about how immunisation programmes are measured, and how to boost timeliness.”

“A major new study has found that across dozens of low- and middle-income countries, many children are receiving routine vaccinations weeks or even months later than recommended. The findings suggest that national vaccination coverage rates, the traditional measure of how well immunisation programmes are performing, may tell only part of the story. A child may be counted as vaccinated, but only after spending weeks or months without the protection that vaccine was designed to provide….”

Cfr a new study in the Lancet GH.

Planetary Health/ Climate & Health

Starting with some updates and reads related to the Bonn Climate summit.

UN News – Countries urged to ‘go further, faster’ and deliver on climate commitments

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167673

“The United Nations climate chief called on Monday for countries to step up action to implement existing commitments, warning that fossil fuel dependency is deepening economic instability and exposing vulnerable communities to worsening climate impacts. “

“Simon Stiell addressed the opening of the UN June Climate Meetings in Bonn, Germany – an important step ahead of the COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Turkiye this November. “Tackling the global climate crisis is the hardest, but most important thing humanity has ever tried to do together,” he said…”

“… Focus will be on issues such as adaptation, finance, the just transition to renewable energy, agriculture and food security, and follow-up to the first global stocktake towards achieving the Paris Agreement on climate change, concluded at COP28 in Dubai in December 2023. …”

HPW – Planet on Course to Permanently Breach 1.5°C Limit by 2030

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/planet-on-course-to-permanently-breach-1-5c/

“The world will permanently breach the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming limit within about four years if emissions continue at current levels, a major global stocktake of the climate system published Thursday has found. The fourth annual Indicators of Global Climate Change report, published at the UN climate meetings in Bonn as negotiators begin to lay the groundwork for COP31, shows human-induced warming reached 1.37°C above pre-industrial levels in 2025, rising at 0.27°C per decade, the fastest rate in the historical record. While individual years have already exceeded 1.5°C, boosted by natural cycles such as El Niño, the report warns that a permanent breach is now fast approaching, with human-caused warming pushing temperatures past the Paris target around 2030.”

“… The budgets for 1.6°C and 1.7°C – enough to trigger catastrophic weather extremes, force millions to flee their homes to seek cooler environments, and wipe out nearly all of the world’s coral reefs – run out in roughly eight and 12 years.”

Global Climate and Health Alliance – Health Community Calls on Bonn Climate Meeting to Triple Adaptation Finance

https://mailchi.mp/2fee6423cb31/sb64-health-community-calls-on-bonn-climate-meeting-to-triple-adaptation-finance?e=3289726e8a

“As the annual UNFCCC Bonn climate meeting (SB 64, June 8-18) opens in Germany, the Global Climate and Health Alliance called on governments to triple public, grant-based adaptation finance, in order to ensure the creation of national energy transition roadmaps, to deliver on pledges to address loss and damage, and to define a process and scope for a loss and damage report. …”

“Over the next fortnight in Bonn, governments must identify clear routes to triple public, grant-based adaptation finance to at least USD 120 billion by 2035”, said Jess Beagley, Policy Lead at the Global Climate and Health Alliance. “Without adaptation finance, life saving action to build resilience in the health sector and in health determining sectors, such as water and sanitation, disaster planning, and food systems, will be impossible – risking malnutrition, waterborne disease, exposure to extreme weather, and lack of access to health services at the very moments they are most needed.”

Global Health and Environment Organisations Urge COP31 Presidency to Prioritise Health

https://mailchi.mp/8c9d3009bbda/global-health-and-environment-organisations-urge-cop31-presidency-to-prioritise-health?e=3289726e8a

“As the UN Climate Negotiations in Bonn, one of the most critical turning points on the road to COP31 begin, 74 organisations from around the world have delivered the message: “The climate crisis cannot be tackled without addressing health.“”

“The call, initiated by the Right to Clean Air Platform from Türkiye and submitted to the COP31 Presidency, urges that health be prioritized in all aspects of the COP31 Action Agenda and it calls for the acknowledgment that fossil fuels are harmful to health. The COP31 Presidency had previously included health as a standalone item on the Action Agenda, in line with civil society demands. …”

With three demands.

Climate Change News – COP31 leaders unveil global targets, with spotlight on electrification

https://www.climatechangenews.com/2026/06/09/cop31-leaders-unveil-global-targets-with-spotlight-on-electrification/

“Co-hosts Türkiye and Australia want countries to sign on to global targets in three of their priority areas for this year’s COP climate negotiations.”

“The two countries set to lead this year’s COP31 have unveiled three headline goals for November’s UN climate summit – on electrification, waste and buildings – following six months of consultations with governments.”

Climate Change News – WHO issues new guidance on heat-health action plans, as El Niño sets in

https://www.climatechangenews.com/2026/06/11/who-issues-new-guidance-on-heat-health-action-plans-as-el-nino-sets-in/

“Amid warnings of “unprecedented” weather extremes this year, the World Health Organization urges governments to strengthen protections for vulnerable groups.”

“Unveiling updated recommendations for “Heat-Health Action Plans”, which are tailored for Europe but can be adapted globally, Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, said that over the past four years, heat has claimed more than 200,000 lives across 32 European countries….”

Guardian – ‘Severe’ stress on oceans as rate of sea level rise doubles in 10 years, UN warns

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/08/un-world-ocean-assessment-severe-stress-sea-level-rise-doubles-pollution-fishing-climate

“Global effort needed to limit effects of pollution, industrial fishing and climate crisis, World Ocean Assessment says.”

“The world’s oceans are under “severe and accelerating” pressure from human activities, with the rate of sea-level rise double that of a decade ago, according to a damning assessment from the United Nations. The “intensifying” stressors, which include pollution and large-scale industrial fishing, are cumulative, said the report, resulting in widespread biodiversity loss and putting ocean systems under “severe strain”.”

“The UN’s third World Ocean Assessment, which reflects the work of nearly 600 scientists from 86 countries, looked at the oceans’ health from 2021-25.”

Ecological Economics – Post-growth and the North-South divide: A stock-flow consistent scenario analysis

Dario Leoni, Andrew Jackson and Tim Jackson; https://cusp.ac.uk/themes/aetw/paper-dl-postgrowth-north-south-divide/

“Post-growth scholars argue that high-income countries should start a post-growth transition first to create ecological space for developing countries, yet the macroeconomic implications of such North-first transition remain largely unexplored. This paper addresses this gap by developing PADME, a novel two-region stock-flow consistent model to examine what happens when one region (the North) undergoes a post-growth transition while the other (the South) continues to grow. We model the Northern transition through declining caps on domestic and imported resource use. The simulations show that a unilateral post-growth transition in the North generates a severe balance-of-payments crisis in the South, marked by currency depreciation, rising public debt, imported inflation, higher unemployment, and worsening income inequality. While appropriate domestic policies can stabilise the Northern economy, they do not prevent macroeconomic instability in the South. We find that international cooperation is required to avert the crisis. Simulating a North-to- South financial transfer allow the South to sustain development, though at the cost of higher global resource consumption and more macroeconomic instability in the North. Our analysis demonstrates that financial space through coordinated macro-financial frameworks is as important for Southern development as ecological space. Ultimately, post-growth transitions cannot be meaningfully understood without an international economic perspective. Cross-border trade and financial dynamics can significantly alter the trajectory of a post-growth economy and need to be studied in more detail by the post-growth community.”

Guardian – Super-rich’s assets cause outsized amount of climate harm, study says

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/10/super-rich-assets-outsized-amount-climate-harm-study

“Greenpeace calculates that wealthiest contribute nearly $1tn of damage a year with ownership-based emissions.”

“Ultra-wealthy people zooming across the world on their private jets, lounging on yachts and conspicuous by their Instagrammable consumption are among the most easily identified individual culprits when it comes to the climate crisis – but new research argues that it is not just their heady lifestyles to blame, but also their bank accounts. Through their ownership of companies and private financial and physical assets, from oil producers to property developments, the super-rich are responsible for an outsized slice of the greenhouse gases that are overheating the planet. The top 1% of people by wealth, through their shareholdings and investments, control about a quarter of global annual emissions in total.”

“Greenpeace has calculated the “climate debt” of these high net worth individuals, by attributing to them their share of the damage done to the climate by the assets they own. By this reckoning, the world’s richest cause nearly $1tn a year of damage to the climate.”

“… Greenpeace estimates that the top 1% by wealth are responsible for about 40% of all “ownership”-based emissions – that is, the emissions produced by businesses and associated with privately owned financial and physical assets – which themselves make up 60% of global carbon output. Within that group, the top 0.1% account for about 17% of ownership-based emissions, and the top 0.01% about 9%. The top 1% is made up of people with wealth above about $2m, the top 0.1% people with wealth above about $7m, and the top 0.01% is people with wealth above about $38m….”

“By contrast, the bottom half of the world by wealth accounts for just 3% of ownership-based emissions….”

Review of International Political Economy – Global environmental governance after liberal environmentalism

J Taggart, R Ralston et al ; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2026.2685030

“Global environmental governance has long been predicated on a normative compromise, commonly referred to as ‘liberal environmentalism’, which posits that addressing global environmental challenges requires the promotion and maintenance of a liberal economic order. Today, however, the global economy is fragmenting across its material, ideational, and institutional dimensions due to renewed geopolitical rivalry and the resurgence of state capitalism. This commentary explores what the fraying of the liberal basis of the world economy means for global environmental governance. Across global climate, food, and plastics governance, we identify a disjuncture: Institutions produced by the compromise of liberal environmentalism are increasingly out of step with a post-liberal global economy being reconfigured along statist and geopolitical lines…”

Lancet Planetary Health – Health integration in national climate adaptation policies from 198 countries: a global policy analysis

C C Morneau et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(26)00039-2/fulltext

Findings: « 197 countries, all except Libya, were found to have national climate adaptation policies (36 HNAPs, 123 NAPs or NAPAs, 200 NDCs, and 223 NCs). Across these policies, 458 (88% of 522 policies) mentioned health. 159 (81% of 197 countries) further referenced other national health policies. 191 (97%) identified populations disproportionately affected by climate change, whereas only 24 (12%) involved such populations in decision making. Six (3%) countries outlined budgets for health-related actions. Insufficient budgeting and fiscal planning emerged as the weakest aspects of health integration, and sexual and reproductive health and rights, allergies, injuries, violence, and mental health were found to be under-represented in policies….”

Lancet – Climate, war, and the global health-care supply chain

J Karliner et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01138-4/fulltext

“… Taken together, the global health-care supply chain’s vulnerability to geopolitical conflict and extreme climate events, along with its substantial contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, present a powerful argument for phasing-down its dependency on fossil fuels and investing in an immediate shift towards a low-carbon, resilient health-care future. Achieving this change, through product innovation, powering health and manufacturing facilities with renewable energy, decarbonising logistics, and decentralising production, is integral to achieving the interconnected global goals of securing a stable climate and safeguarding global health…. …. Powerful momentum within the health sector is growing, with national governments and leading global institutions making commitments to decarbonise and adapt to the climate crisis. Several efforts have also emerged to support governments and health systems in implementing these commitments, with some focusing specifically on reforming the health supply chain….” But much remains to be done.

Authors conclude: “The impacts of the current war in the Middle East and the long-term threat of the climate crisis underline the acute vulnerability of health systems. Climate action and peacebuilding are complementary policy responses to this vulnerability: action to end fossil fuel dependence addresses a primary driver of climate change and conflict, while peacebuilding reduces instability, displacement, and disruptions to health services. Such efforts can contribute to more effective climate adaptation and mitigation. The health sector must lead by example in these efforts, decarbonising its facilities and supply chains, while lending its trusted, credible voice to help end reliance on fossil fuels and support peacebuilding efforts to advance the conditions for climate stability, human security, and health equity and justice.”

Conflict/War & Health

BMJ – The peace pill: an overdue prescription for the Eastern Mediterranean Region

M Karamouzian, K Blanchet, M McKee et al ; https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-479016

« Mohammad Karamouzian and colleagues argue that peace is the most effective intervention to protect public health from the simultaneous destruction of health systems and environment arising from multiple conflicts in the Middle East. »

« … Between 1 January and 28 May 2026, WHO recorded 628 attacks on healthcare worldwide, of which 336 (53.5%) occurred in five EMR settings: Lebanon (184), the Occupied Palestinian Territory (73), Sudan (34), Iran (32), and Syria (13). What began as a conflict among three countries has now expanded to involve 15 of 22 EMR countries, intersecting with other emergencies that, while differing in their origins, actors, and dynamics, now share common challenges, such as degraded health infrastructure, disrupted supply chains, and a global humanitarian architecture buckling under simultaneous demands….”

« We use “dual destruction” to describe the simultaneous assault on two foundations of public health: institutional infrastructure (including hospitals, supply chains, disease surveillance systems, and the health workforce) and ecological infrastructure (air, water, soil, sanitation, energy, and food systems). These dual assaults trigger a cascade of compounding crises that interact multiplicatively: institutional collapse worsens environmental exposure, while ecological degradation accelerates disease, displacement, and the breakdown of public health functions. Restoring peace is not a political luxury but the critical upstream intervention for population health in the EMR and beyond….”

BMJ – AI warfare demands a new era of humanitarian law

https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-351015

“An updated global convention is essential to protect civilians, healthcare, and humanitarianism as AI military technologies advance, write Thomas V Adamkiewicz and Zulfiqar A Bhutta.”

Making five points.

And concluding: “Expanding on existing frameworks, the world needs to come together to establish a modern convention for the protection against egregious harm in warfare to civilians, especially children, and to provide effective humanitarian responses, is more important than ever as we enter the age of AI warfare.”

Lancet World Report – Petition calls for boycott of Israeli Medical Association

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01185-2/fulltext

“Critics are calling for the IMA to be suspended from the World Medical Association over its stance on Gaza. Udani Samarasekera reports.”

“Health organisations are calling for a boycott of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) over what they say are violations of medical ethics and international humanitarian law in the war in Gaza. The People’s Health Movement (PHM), Artsen voor Gaza (Doctors for Gaza), and Health Advisory Council of the Jewish Voice for Peace want the IMA to be suspended from the World Medical Association (WMA) over its failure to speak out against the genocide of Palestinians, the destruction of health-care infrastructure, and the torture and killing of health-care workers in Gaza….”

Some more reports

IISD – Secretary-General’s SDG Progress Report Urges Building on Proven Successes

https://sdg.iisd.org/news/secretary-generals-sdg-progress-reporturges-building-on-proven-successes/

“The report finds that the world is on track to meet or is making “moderate” progress on 36% of the 139 SDG targets with available trend data. Progress on 49% of the targets is “only marginal,” and 18% of the targets have regressed from the 2015 baseline, according to the report. The SDG progress report by the UN Statistics Division and the SDSN’s Sustainable Development Report, both forthcoming, also feed into HLPF deliberations.”

“In preparation for the July 2026 session of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the UN Secretariat has released an advance unedited version of the Secretary-General’s annual report on SDG progress. While progress “is not only possible but already happening,” the report warns that unmet financing commitments “risk putting many SDG targets beyond reach.”…”

Miscellaneous

Telegraph – The hunger crisis experts warned of is here – and it’s likely to get worse

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/the-food-crisis-experts-have-been-warning-about-is-here/

“UN says its worst fears are materialising as report finds that 45 million additional people now face ‘critical’ levels of food insecurity.”

“Months ago, the UN cautioned that a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz would push millions into hunger; now they say their worst fears are materialising. A report produced by the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN’s food-assistance branch, found that 45 million additional people now face “critical” levels of food insecurity as a direct result of the war in the Gulf. Across the world, 260 million people already face similar levels of food insecurity. Most live in poor and fragile countries and are unable to meet their basic caloric needs…”

UN News – ‘Human rights are part of our DNA’: UN launches global alliance to counter rising threats

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167698

“The UN human rights office (OHCHR) has launched a Global Alliance for Human Rights, a broad coalition aimed at placing the issue at the heart of decision-making, when conflict levels have reached a record high amid deepening inequality and accelerating climate change.”

Global health governance & Governance of Health

CSEP/UNU (Working Paper) – Improving global and regional health governance and cooperation: perspective of South and Southeast Asia

https://unu.edu/publication/improving-global-and-regional-health-governance-and-cooperation-perspective-south-and

“How countries in South and Southeast Asia can contribute to and improve the system of global health governance.”

Key takeaways from p. 79 on.

Book – The Emergence of International Health Policy in Southeast Asia, India, and Sri Lanka, 1937-1978

V Neelakanthan; https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-21233-7

“Examining the emergence of international public health policy between the 1930s and 80s, this book sheds light on the role that rural community health initiatives in South and Southeast Asia played in the movement towards ‘primary health care’ and ‘health for all,’ articulated ultimately at the 1978 International Conference on Primary Health Care in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan. The author argues that the movement was not directed exclusively from the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, but also by institutions such as the Rockefeller Foundation’s International Health Division in rural Southeast Asia, and through local community initiatives including the Bandung Plan for Health in Indonesia. The book illustrates how an exclusive association of global health with the emergence of the WHO in the 1950s fails to account for the local, national, or regional contexts that shaped the evolution of primary health care in South and Southeast Asia.”

IDS – Understanding China and Brazil’s changing roles in Africa

https://www.ids.ac.uk/opinions/opinion-series/understanding-china-and-brazils-changing-roles-in-africa/

“Ten years ago, we asked the question: as China and Brazil increase their engagement in Africa, is a new development paradigm emerging?” “A decade later, researchers from the UK, China, Brazil and Mozambique revisit this question to assess how China and Brazil’s roles across Africa are evolving. This series concludes with analysis of how South-South cooperation looks today amid the rise of China’s influence in Africa and within the context of a new geopolitical era.”

Journal of International Relations and Development – China’s global health governance in Africa before Covid-19: status signalling through conspicuous giving

R Sevenard & R J Cook; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41268-026-00378-9

“Since 2012, China has voiced its ambitions to assume more international responsibilities and act as a responsible great power. China has shifted its previous focus on domestic health governance to becoming an integral part of the global health governance system, which can be interpreted as an endeavour to demonstrate great power responsibility. This study empirically and comparatively analyses evidence during the overlooked pre-COVID-19 period from 2012–2019 under Xi Jinping. China’s status signalling through the provision of global public goods for health is investigated during times of two different yet acute health crises in Sierra Leone (2013–2016) and Madagascar (2017). The findings indicate that China’s assistance exemplified a form of tokenistic altruism by conspicuous giving in the respective cases of African health crises, as the scale and quality of aid lagged severely behind its financial and technological capabilities.”

Journal of Humanities, Arts & Social Science – From Health Aid to Symbiotic Development: The Paradigm Evolution of Ningxia-Benin Medical Collaboration (1978-2023)

H Cui et al ; https://www.hillpublisher.com/UpFile/202603/20260305101042.pdf

“… Since 1978, China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has led a 45-year uninterrupted medical cooperation with Benin—an understudied model of long-term South-South health collaboration. This study used a case-study approach to systematically trace the paradigm evolution of Ningxia-Benin medical cooperation (1978- 2023) from blood-transfusion-style aid to capacity-building, and ultimately to symbiotic development. The transformation is driven by three synergistic mechanisms: adaptive technology transfer, bilateral institutional guarantees, and social capital accumulation. A new South-South health cooperation paradigm emerges—locally led, technology-adaptive, and humanistically integrated…”

Global Health Action – “Assessing inclusiveness in Team Europe Initiatives: a mixed-methods study of EU-Africa health cooperation”

Saskia-Linda Stämmler et al ; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16549716.2026.2680837

Findings: « Health-related Team Europe Initiatives are predominantly concentrated in Africa, with uneven participation across European Union Member States. Interviewees generally viewed the initiatives as a promising tool for strengthening collaboration, improving trust, enhancing coordination, and creating more stable engagement that may attract investment. Nonetheless, significant concerns persist, particularly regarding limited involvement of local partners in decision-making, resulting power imbalances, and challenges when it comes to coordination. Stakeholders broadly agreed on the need to widen participation beyond European institutions to meaningfully reflect local priorities. »

One Health in a Fractured World: Why Global Health Governance Must Adapt to Geopolitical Fragmentation

Claire J. Standley and Erin M. Sorrell; https://gjia.georgetown.edu/science-technology/one-health-in-a-fractured-world-why-global-health-governance-must-adapt-to-geopolitical-fragmentation/

“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in global health systems and underscored how interconnected drivers such as changes in land usage, urbanization, and climate amplify zoonotic disease threats. One Health, an integrated approach linking human, animal, and ecosystem health, has gained institutional traction via global governance approaches, yet faces persistent structural challenges, including siloed mandates, funding misalignment, and limited enforcement. We argue for pragmatic, polycentric governance—local leadership supported by regional mini-lateral coalitions and existing bi- and multilateral regimes—to operationalize One Health sustainably and equitably.”

BMJ Editorial – Middle powers must collaborate on health data and health AI is imperative

F Razak et al ; https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-078892

“New partnerships could improve datasets, protect sovereignty, and provide better patient care.”

“… Middle power countries such as Canada, Australia, South Korea, and numerous European countries are not global superpowers but can exert influence through collaborative approaches, institution building, and collective influence. A potential approach to middle power collaboration related to health data encompasses infrastructure and technical approaches such as storage, governance, interoperability, and secure exchange of health data; and applications such as the development of health AI for decision support, risk prediction, public health surveillance, health system planning, and discovery research…”

Science in One Health – Addressing the interdependencies: the role of global health diplomacy in designing One Health governance

J Zhao , M Kazatchkine et al; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949704326000168

“The convergence of human, animal and environmental health crises has exposed the limitations of fragmented governance structures. One Health faces a critical implementation gap: the persistent silos between scientific disciplines, sectors and sovereign states. This perspective argues that global health diplomacy provides the essential mechanism for designing effective One Health governance. We propose a three-part diplomatic agenda: constructing science–policy interfaces, negotiating institutional architectures, and embedding equity and solidarity as core governance principles. Without deliberate diplomatic engagement, One Health risks remaining an aspirational concept rather than an operational reality….”

Global health financing

International Health – From dependency to strategic sovereignty: reframing global health financing in a fragmenting world—lessons from Angola

Indrajit Hazarika; https://academic.oup.com/inthealth/advance-article/doi/10.1093/inthealth/ihag055/8704989?searchresult=1

“This paper presents a conceptual and policy analysis, using Angola as an illustrative case, to examine how global health financing models can move beyond aid effectiveness towards what the paper defines as ‘strategic sovereignty’. Strategic sovereignty is conceptualized here as both an analytic lens and a normative policy objective, referring to the capacity of states to align health financing with broader macro-fiscal and geoeconomic strategies while maintaining institutional autonomy and accountability….”

Lancet GH – Understanding sugar-sweetened beverage tax implementation globally: a 34-year, population-based observational study in 183 countries

L M Loaza et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00093-8/fulltext

« We aimed to characterise the extent and types of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes implemented worldwide and the national characteristics predicting implementation, such as sugar-sweetened beverage intake amounts, disease rates, or economic development. »

Findings: “… From 1990 to 2024, 64 countries implemented sugar-sweetened beverage taxes, accelerating over time and covering 3·5 billion people globally. South Asia led in adoption (50% of countries; median tax rate 7·5%), followed by southeast and east Asia (47·8%; 5·0%), the Middle East and North Africa (30·0%; 17·0%), and Latin America and the Caribbean (31·3%; 7·0%). Taxes were ad valorem (ie, based on price; 45%), volume-based (44%), sugar-content-based (5%), or mixed (6%), and 13% of countries earmarked revenue for public health. …”

« Global adoption of sugar-sweetened beverage taxes has rapidly accelerated since 1990; however, there is important heterogeneity by region and tax structure, and the taxes are shaped by a country’s economic capacity, social development, and health conditions.”

· Cfr Stat: About half of countries in South, Southeast, and East Asia have adopted taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages

“… Overall, the Lancet Global Health study found that 29% of high-income countries have taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, based on global datasets from 183 countries between 1990 and 2024. Countries were more likely to introduce taxes if they had higher rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes; surprisingly, higher consumption levels of sugary drinks didn’t predict adoption of the policy…”

VCF and World Bank Group launch landmark eye health partnership

https://visioncatalystfund.org/news/worldbankpartnership?cid=HNP_TT_health_EN_EXT

(5 June) “Vision Catalyst Fund and World Bank Group announce a partnership to transform how eye health is financed globally. $2.2 million investment will unlock greater investment in eye health.”

“The Vision Catalyst Fund’s $2.2 million investment in the World Bank Group’s Health Systems Transformation and Resilience Multi-Donor Trust Fund will help countries unlock greater investment through catalytic financing. It will be formally announced today at the IAPB’s 2030 IN SIGHT LIVE event in Nairobi, Kenya….”

International Journal for Equity in Health – Climate change, financial development, and health outcomes in sub Saharan Africa

L Amoah et al; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12939-026-02894-z

“This study examines the relationship between climate change and health outcomes in Africa. It further explores the role of financial development in moderating the relationship between climate change and health outcomes. It applies the dynamic system of the generalized method of moments estimation to a panel dataset of 43 African countries over the period 2000–2023. The key findings confirm that higher CO2 emissions significantly reduce life expectancy and increase mortality rates, whereas financial development has a positive effect on life expectancy but negatively affects mortality rates, indicating that an increase in financial development mitigates the negative impact of carbon emissions on health outcomes. This paper provides empirical evidence of the fundamental role of financial development in the nexus between climate change and health outcomes. While governments are encouraged to increase investments in climate-resilient healthcare infrastructure, clean water systems, sustainable energy, and disease monitoring, financial sector players are advised to prioritize the creation of innovative financial tools related to climate and health, such as climate risk insurance, weather-indexed insurance, and health insurance, which can help reduce the impact of health problems caused by climate change on people, governments and the economy as a whole.”

Peter Singer – What do people mean when they say, “health is an investment”? Fiscally Positive Health provides an answer.

https://singerp.substack.com/p/what-do-people-mean-when-they-say?r=5gcqxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true

“One-fifth of health spending could be returned to government, but only half of that is captured today. That’s $36 trillion governments are leaving on the table….”

Singer uses a framework he calls “Fiscally Positive Health (FPH). It evaluates — as a finance minister would — not just economic growth but fiscal return to governments. I modelled this return in 58 countries (and extrapolated to all) over a 25-year period (see attached technical paper for details). The bottom line: a $36 trillion opportunity….”

“.. the $34 trillion is the value if innovation became standard practice within public health systems… …… Health is an investment because it returns measurable fiscal value to the treasury — up to a fifth of every dollar spent globally, at a benefit-cost ratio near $5.80 on the new commitment required to fully capture it. That return is largest by kind in innovation, and within innovation in service delivery. It is most concentrated, in absolute terms, in a handful of large economies, and most intense, per dollar, in low- and middle-income countries…..”

· Related tweet by prof D Sharma:

“…. Singer finally gives substance to the oft-repeated phrase “health is an investment.” The concept of Fiscally Positive Health re-frames public health in language that finance ministries understand: not merely as expenditure, but as a generator of measurable fiscal returns. By demonstrating how better health can strengthen public finances, this framework builds a compelling bridge between economics and equity—a rare example where sound public health is also sound fiscal policy.”

Devex – Can ‘locally blended finance’ fill some of the gaps left by aid cuts?

David Njagi; https://www.devex.com/news/can-locally-blended-finance-fill-some-of-the-gaps-left-by-aid-cuts-112623

“As aid budgets shrink and governments face mounting fiscal pressure, some communities are turning to locally blended finance models that combine resident contributions with philanthropic support.”

“The model combines community contributions with philanthropic support, creating a financing structure designed to keep projects locally owned while reducing dependence on external donors, according to Dr. Patricia Kingóri, Kenya country director of CorpsAfrica. …”

“… The model is now being used in 12 African countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Malawi, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda…. Funded by the Mastercard Foundation and implemented by CorpsAfrica, the initiative supports projects focused on water, sanitation, and hygiene, or WASH; maternal and child health; food systems; climate resilience; and the economic empowerment of women and young people….”

UHC & PHC

Lancet GH – Mexico’s Servicio Universal de Salud: a pathway to integration and universal health coverage?

Edson Serván-Mori et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00158-0/fulltext

Analysis of Mexico’s decreed Universal Health Service (Servicio Universal de Salud [SUS]), published on April 17, 2026.

SSM Health Systems – Assessment of strategic health purchasing arrangements in Malawi

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949856226000899

By N Mwase et al.

Guardian – ‘The patients scattered’: how gun crime cuts off healthcare for South Africa’s poorest

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/10/south-africa-townships-poverty-gun-crime-gangs-extortion-healthcare-hospitals

“Cities see surge in attacks and extortion demands at clinics in townships, leaving patients and staff vulnerable.”

Pandemic preparedness & response/ Global Health Security

Science – How did the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak start? Scientists are investigating new scenarios

https://www.science.org/content/article/how-did-cruise-ship-hantavirus-outbreak-start-scientists-are-investigating-new

Analysis by K Kupferschmidt. “Understanding how the first patient became infected may shed new light on Andes virus’ transmission patterns and incubation period.”

Planetary health

Guardian – World’s largest banks pledged $906bn to fossil fuel companies in ‘unfathomable’ increase in 2025, report finds

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/09/world-banks-pledge-billions-fossil-fuel-industry-2025

“JPMorgan Chase leads 65 banks making decisions incompatible with restraining rising temperatures, researchers say.”

“The world’s largest banks committed $906bn in financing to the fossil fuel industry last year, an “unfathomable” increase in investment locking in years more of coal, oil and gas production as the world continues to overheat, a new report has found. The surge in new fossil fuel lending, up $64bn or nearly 8% on 2024, shows that the world’s largest 65 banks are making decisions incompatible with international agreements to restrain rising global temperatures, according to the coalition of environmental groups behind the new analysis….”

“JPMorgan Chase is again the world’s leading financier of fossil fuels, according to the annual Banking on Climate Chaos report, after pushing $58bn to the sector last year – up 13% from 2024….”

Nature (Book review) – Sustainability or dystopia? What past patterns tell us about where society is heading

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01821-0?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nature&linkId=62228946

“A new book applies principles of environmental tipping points to past societal transformations — and attempts to draw lessons about what the future holds today.”

Re “Tipping Out of Trouble: How Societies Transformed and How We Can Do So Again “ by Marten Scheffer Cambridge Univ. Press (2026).

Critical review.

Excerpt: “ … Scheffer lays out three futures into which our unstable global society could tip. One is a “failed world” of climate chaos, authoritarianism and entrenched inequality. A second is a happier “good Anthropocene” of sustainability, restored global cooperation and strong governmental regulation to ensure that private corporations act for the common good. The third is a “buying time” scenario, in which the large-scale relocation of people from areas rendered unliveable by climate change over the coming decades to other countries (despite questions of the feasibility or indeed inevitability of such movements) and, possibly, geoengineering projects give humanity enough time to tip the world towards a good Anthropocene later this century….”

PIK – Human activities accelerate changes in the freshwater cycle

https://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/human-activities-accelerate-changes-in-the-freshwater-cycle

“ Climate change, land use and water use are significantly altering the global freshwater cycle at an increasing pace. This produces more widespread and frequent dry and wet periods, pushing freshwater systems further beyond its planetary boundary, according to a new study published in Nature Communications. Led by researchers at the University of Eastern Finland, with contributions from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the study provides an updated assessment of the planetary boundary for freshwater change and identifies the key drivers of its accelerating transgression at both global and regional scales.”

“… The findings show that climate change, together with large-scale land and water use, is pushing the freshwater cycle further away from a stable state, as defined by the planetary boundary for freshwater change. This boundary is already considered to be transgressed, reflecting a long-term trend that jeopardises the freshwater cycle’s ability to support vital climatic and ecological Earth system processes….”

Guardian – Average person eats six times more chicken than in 1961, UN report finds

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/05/global-meat-supply-chicken-pork-fao-report

“UN report says global meat supply has risen fourfold in last 60 years and is expected to keep rising.” Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Earth’s Future – We Are in the Anthropocene—Now What?

Johan Rockström et al; https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025EF007730

“We describe different pathways in the Anthropocene up to the year 3,000, systematically characterizing them according to impacts and causes…”

From the ‘plain language summary’: “Most people have a general, intuitive understanding of the term “Anthropocene.” And while it has not formally been declared as a new geological epoch, it is scientifically clear that these new times have only begun to fully unfold. The Anthropocene stresses both the enormity of the human imprint on Earth, as well as its long-term nature. That latter aspect, however, is highly underappreciated among the public. We describe several qualitatively different Anthropocene pathways for the next millennium, some of them depending on our cumulative actions as humanity, some on how the Earth system responds to these human pressures. We highlight how much we are already stuck in a figurative “Anthropocene quicksand”, where only an active pull can free us from consequences like global heating—while even a very modest continuation of greenhouse gas emissions will keep us at high warming levels. Should Earth system resilience, the natural buffering capacity, significantly decline, the impacts of our actions would become even stronger. In a worst-case scenario, shifts in Earth system feedbacks could even surpass human forcing in relevance. But we are not there yet and can still pull ourselves out of the quicksand.”

· Related tweet J Rockström: “New Anthropocene paper. Earth still operates in “Holocene logic”, buffering heat imbalance. Anthropocene = Pressure. But, BAU, reaching 3°C in 2100 & we get “stuck” in a Hothouse trajectory for 1000 years. Anthropocene risks turning into a state. No Good. “

· And a tweet co-author Rahmstorf: “We are in the Age of Humans – the Anthropocene. Our new article (open access) shows how even with a moderate future emissions scenario, global temperature will still be elevated by 3-4°C in the year 3000!”

Review of International Political Economy – Why do countries adopt supply-side policies? The international political economy of fossil fuel phaseouts

Peter Newell; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2026.2680132

“Drawing on original interview-based research in four countries that have unilaterally adopted supply-side climate policies and led international initiatives to limit the production of oil and gas (Costa Rica, Colombia, Denmark, and the UK), we identify key lessons that can be derived from the experience of these countries regarding the drivers of these policies and the specific forms they take, before reflecting on what lessons can be drawn for efforts to phase-out fossil fuels elsewhere. We argue that understanding this new frontier in climate governance requires an international political economy approach that links shared material drivers of supply-side climate policy to national institutional responses shaped by countries’ positions in the global political economy, incumbent power structures, and state capacity to manage conflicts among capital, labor, and civil society within and beyond their borders.”

Covid

Lancet GH – Effects of compulsory and free basic education policies and COVID-19-related educational disruptions on offspring mortality in low-income and middle-income countries: a quasi-experimental and modelling study

Zhihui Li et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00005-7/fulltext

Interpretation of the findings: « Education policies significantly reduced offspring mortality in LMICs, with greater benefits for populations with lower household wealth. Modelling indicated that interruptions to educational instruction time led to a substantial increase in offspring mortality. There is a critical need for policies to mitigate educational disruptions to prevent offspring deaths. »

Infectious diseases & NTDs

NEJM – Global Cholera-Control Efforts — Progress and Remaining Challenges

E Ryan et al; https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2600873

“If the current cholera pandemic, which began in 1961, is ever to end, the world will need better cholera vaccines that are effective in young children and global access to safe water and adequate sanitation….”

AMR

Plos GPH – Community health volunteers as a frontline platform for antimicrobial resistance mitigation in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review

https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0006640

By B M Kavulavu et al.

NCDs

Nature (News) – Why are so many young people getting cancer? What researchers do and don’t know

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01780-6

« Candidates for the trend are emerging, but are likely to vary from one type of tumor to another.”

« Researchers around the world are grappling with a vexing problem: why are so many young people developing cancers once considered the purview of old age? The question was prominent at two of the world’s largest cancer meetings this year, and hypotheses abounded. Ultra-processed foods, obesity, microbial toxins and agricultural chemicals were all considered. But a clear answer remained elusive…. »

Nature News – TB vaccine from the 1920s shows promise in diabetes trial

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01825-w

“The shot reduced insulin use for people with type 1 diabetes and another autoimmune condition.”

Social & commercial determinants of health

Reuters – Alcohol drinking will shrink in the next decade, research finds

Reuters;

“ Global alcohol consumption is set to drop over the next ‌decade, despite population growth and rising demand in India, which is set to become the world’s biggest drinks market after China, according to market research firm IWSR….”

International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services – The need for expanding conceptual and analytical frontiers in the field of SDOHS

J. Benach and Carles Muntaner; https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/27551938261451205

Editorial of special issue.

“The need to expand the conceptual and analytical frontiers of the field of Social (Political, Economic, Cultural) Determinants of Health and Health Inequalities (SDOHS) is no longer merely a methodological concern—it is an ethical and political necessity. The articles in this issue cluster around several themes—health inequalities in urban environments, experiences of marginality, and the political economy of health-care services—yet they collectively converge on a single imperative: advancing SDOHS so it can explain the structural production of inequity across time and space, not merely document disparities after they emerge. In this editorial framing, the most urgent catalyst is the persistent reordering of global life by war and geopolitical violence, and the ways these processes are borne differently through social inequalities, institutional neglect by design, or political-economic organizations….”

“From a critical public health perspective, war must be understood as a central—yet historically neglected—determinant of population health. …Despite this, mainstream public health research has often marginalized war and geopolitics, focusing instead on proximal risk factors and treating conflict as an “external shock” to health systems. This framing weakens causal explanation…. By contrast, an expanded SDOHS lens situates war not as an abnormal external event but as a constitutive element of global health inequities—one that reorganizes pathways from power to health by dismantling infrastructure, restricting movement and care, and normalizing violations of essential protections for civilian life. This issue’s contributions respond to that agenda….”

“…There is a pressing need to expand the conceptual and methodological frontiers of SDOHS because prevailing approaches often reduce health inequalities to a limited set of measurable, proximal factors while neglecting the broader political, economic, and historical structures that produce them. Conventional frameworks tend to privilege static indicators and cross-sectional analyses, thereby obscuring power relations, global processes, and forms of structural violence that shape population health across time and space…”

“ … Across these sections, the shared analytical message is clear: equity cannot be engineered only through clinical or behavioural levers when macro-structural determinants—war, governance, pricing regimes, trade rules, and institutional incentives—shape access to care and life chances. The task for SDOHS is to continually expand its conceptual and methodological frontiers so it can represent, explain, and intervene on those determinants with the urgency that population health equity requires.”

Corporate Accountability – The Tobacco Industry’s Political Influence: The Erosion of Article 5.3 FCTC in Latin America and the Caribbean

https://corporateaccountability.org/resources/the-tobacco-industrys-political-influence-the-erosion-of-article-5-3-fctc-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean/

“This report analyzes the political influence of transnational tobacco corporations in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a focus on the strategies deployed by the tobacco industry to access and shape public institutions. Covering eight countries — Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Panama — the report draws on credible public sources, including official communications, media coverage, civil society reports, and institutional social media content produced.”

Mental health & psycho-social wellbeing

Cidrap – Another pandemic repercussion: Remote work tied to isolation, mental distress

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/another-pandemic-repercussion-remote-work-tied-isolation-mental-distress

“For many people, the ability to work from home is one of the COVID-19 pandemic’s most enduring changes. Remote work has increased significantly since the start of the pandemic, rising from roughly 7% of US workers in 2019 to 28% in 2023. But a new study suggests that the shift away from the office may have come with a cost: more time spent alone and poorer mental health….”

“For the study, published last week in Science, researchers found that workers in jobs amenable to remote work spent significantly more time alone and reported greater psychological distress than workers whose jobs require at least some on-site work. The effects were especially pronounced among people who live alone….”

Plos Climate – The mechanisms underlying the effects of heat on mental health: A narrative review

Julia Feriato Corvetto et al; https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000958

“… The review focuses on two distinct yet interrelated pathophysiological-related outcomes: (1) exacerbation of pre-existing mental health disorders, and (2) heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Moreover, we integrated these pathways to six psychiatric conditions most established as heat sensitive: organic disorders (International Classification of Diseases-10th Edition F00-F09), substance misuse (F10-F19), schizophrenia (F20-F29), bipolar disorders (F31), neurotic disorders (F40-F49), and suicidal behaviour (X60-X84)…” Check out results.

Guardian – New study casts doubt on reliability of mental health diagnosis interviews

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/06/mental-health-disorders-interview-diagnosis-study

“Diagnostic interviews seen as ‘gold standard’ vary in reliability from condition to condition, study says.”

“Diagnostic interviews – the most common way to diagnose substance use and mental disorders including depression, anxiety, bipolar and personality disorders – vary in reliability from condition to condition, according to a new study in Jama Network Open….”

Sexual & Reproductive health rights

Journal of Global Health – Correlates of hysterectomy in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review

https://jogh.org/2026/jogh-16-04172

By Jesty Saira Varghese et al.

Global Public Health – Stakeholder perspectives on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights in Malawi: Barriers, incentives, and opportunities for reform

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17441692.2026.2685999

By Gavin George et al.

Neonatal and child health

Cidrap News – The world is seeing far fewer deaths from infections that cause diarrhea

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/rotavirus/world-seeing-far-fewer-deaths-infections-cause-diarrhea

“Deaths from infections that cause diarrhea and other intestinal illnesses have fallen sharply since 1990, according to a study published last week in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2023, an international team of researchers examined mortality from enteric infectious diseases across 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2023. Their analysis found that the number of global deaths from enteric infectious diseases fell from 3.69 million in 1990 to 1.27 million in 2023, and the global age-standardized mortality rate fell from 74.1 per 100,000 to 16.4. …”

SSM Health Systems – Understanding the nature, drivers, and policies on health-seeking for children in Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review of literature

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949856226000802

By Prince Agwu et al.

Nature Health – Compound effects of extreme heat and wildfire-PM2.5 air pollution on child hospitalizations in multiple countries

Y Zhang et al ; https://www.nature.com/articles/s44360-026-00133-x

“Compound effects of extreme heat and wildfire-PM2.5 air pollution on child hospitalizations in multiple countries.”

“Days with both extreme heat and high wildfire-sourced fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were associated with increased childhood hospitalizations for respiratory, renal and diabetic conditions in a retrospective analysis of five countries….”

Access to medicines & health technology

TGH – Lenacapavir: the HIV Breakthrough Proving Why NIH Funding Matters

R Modi; https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/lenacapavir-the-hiv-breakthrough-proving-why-nih-funding-matters

“Biomedical advances such as lenacapavir depend on years of publicly funded basic research.”

From Mercosur to US Tariffs: Access to Medicines and the EU’s Trade Challenge

Jaume Vidal; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-mercosur-us-tariffs-access-medicines-eus-trade-challenge-vidal-jozve/

Nuanced analysis.

Lancet GH (Health Policy) – Inclusion of young adolescents in policy development for new tuberculosis vaccines

M Hatherill et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00017-3/fulltext

“The infant tuberculosis vaccine, BCG, prevents severe tuberculosis disease, but protection is rarely durable beyond childhood. New tuberculosis vaccines are being developed for the prevention of infectious pulmonary tuberculosis in older adolescents and adults, but younger adolescents have been historically excluded from clinical trials of new tuberculosis vaccines. Reasons to include young adolescents (aged 9–14 years) in tuberculosis vaccine policy development include the opportunity to vaccinate before the age-related increase in risk of tuberculosis disease, as well as increased rates of HIV acquisition and pregnancy, which are both independently associated with tuberculosis risk, and the opportunity to implement tuberculosis vaccination with delivery of other school-age vaccines, such as human papillomavirus. These advantages are offset by several challenges, including testing vaccine efficacy in an age group with low rates of tuberculosis case accrual; low rates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis sensitisation, which might compromise bridging of immune correlates of protection from adults; and modest modelled population impact of vaccination of young adolescents, compared with mass campaigns in older age groups with higher tuberculosis incidence. Notably, if a tuberculosis vaccine that was effective only in individuals who are infected with M tuberculosis was rolled out exclusively to young adolescents, the projected low population impact could take many years to detect. We propose that challenges to the inclusion of young adolescents should be considered explicitly in the development of tuberculosis vaccine policy, so that they do not risk exclusion from the direct benefits of vaccination. We describe an alternative efficacy trial design, which would leverage higher rates of tuberculosis case accrual after recent household tuberculosis exposure, to deliver both vaccine efficacy data and validation of an immune correlate of protection. This novel strategy, together with licensure data from older populations, might support rapid implementation of new, effective tuberculosis vaccines for young adolescents.”

Human resources for health

IHP – The AHEAD Grant’s Promise & Limitations: Towards a Better Future for the Philippine Health Workforce

Jerome Babate; https://www.internationalhealthpolicies.org/blogs/the-ahead-grants-promise-limitations-towards-a-better-future-for-the-philippine-health-workforce/

“… the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) launched the Allied Health Experiential Assistance for Deserving Students (AHEAD) Grant on 25 May 2026, providing one-time financial assistance to students enrolled in 14 allied health disciplines at CHED-accredited institutions….” With respect to Related Learning Experiences (RLE), including hospital and community placements.

Discover Health Systems – Reframing continuity of care in Nigeria through the triple helix of collapse framework for understanding health workforce and system failure in low and middle income countries

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44250-026-00371-6

by S M Maaji et al.

Decolonize Global Health

Lancet Regional Health Africa – June issue

https://www.thelancet.com/issue/S3050-5011(26)X2004-1

Starting with the Editorial: Whose evidence counts? Strengthening African health systems

“Amid external funding constraints, there is growing consensus for re-imagining the future of domestically funded yet resilient health systems across Africa. To realise this aspiration, evidence-based policy making, which is standard practice across governments and global health agencies, is more critical than ever. Unfortunately, for too long, much of the evidence that guides policy and investment decisions has been, and is still, generated outside Africa. Consequently, there is a wide gap in context-specific data and locally grounded research evidence that threatens efforts to effectively strengthen African health systems. At the recent World Health Summit Regional Meeting, convened in partnership by the WHO, Africa CDC and Kenya’s Ministry of Health, this was echoed in an urgent call for context-specific evidence to inform the strengthening of health system equity and resilience….”

AI & health

Lancet Viewpoint – Global advances in health artificial intelligence: a workforce imperative

Tinglong Dai et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00693-8/abstract

“The global health workforce is approaching a breaking point, driven by administrative overload, inefficient workflows, burnout, and accelerating retirements, with a projected global shortfall of 11 million health professionals by 2030. This urgency coincides with the rapid emergence of clinical artificial intelligence (AI) tools, especially generative systems now embedded in documentation, triage, and workflow support. Therefore, AI should be framed less as a substitute for clinicians than as a retention strategy that preserves careers, expertise, and the human core of care. High-impact uses include ambient documentation, coding support, scheduling and demand prediction, claims and billing support, and inbox triage—tools that can reduce clerical burden and return time to caring, teaching, and leadership. Workforce shortages also create an ethical and geopolitical dilemma; reliance on international recruitment can deepen global inequities, whereas responsible AI deployment might ease competition for scarce talent and expand capacity in lower-resource settings. … … The policy priority is expertise amplification, not workforce replacement.”

Miscellaneous

Devex – Poverty’s new frontlines

Devex;

“World Bank funding for settings mired in fragility, conflict, and violence, or FCV, surged from $4 billion in 2015 to $30 billion last year, according to World Bank President Ajay Banga, who said “part of that is for good reason” — because the bank is more engaged on the issue. But “part of that is for the poor reason of the scale and size of the problem multiplying.””

“In fact, in 2024, for the first time, FCV-affected countries accounted for over half of the people living in extreme poverty. Moreover, the decades-long global decline in extreme poverty is now projected to reverse by 2030 because of the growing number of people living in extreme poverty in FCV-affected countries….”

“Sticking to his long-standing emphasis on jobs, Banga noted that in the next 10 years, 250 million young people in FCV countries will be of working age, “and if you don’t get a job for them, you know only bad things will happen.”

Global Policy – After Asia: The Next Turning Point in Global Poverty

https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/11/06/2026/after-asia-next-turning-point-global-poverty

“Jonathan Manullang argues that the era of rapid global poverty reduction may be coming to an end as its geographic centre shifts from Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Nature (News) – Human migration has surged since 2000 — these maps reveal where people are going

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01796-y?utm_source=x&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nature&linkId=62263924

“Modelling with artificial-intelligence tools has filled gaps in migration data, revealing detailed global population movements from 1990 to 2023.”

“Global forced displacement has decreased for the first time in a decade, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Thursday, though the figure remains unacceptably high and tens of millions of people are still trapped in prolonged exile with little prospect of rebuilding their lives. UNHCR’s flagship Global Trends Report, launched in Geneva by High Commissioner Barham Salih, showed that global refugee numbers fell by three per cent in 2025 to 41.6 million.”

Papers & reports

WHO Bulletin – June issue

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/?term=((%22Bulletin+of+the+World+Health+Organization%22%5BJournal%5D)+AND+104%5BVolume%5D)+AND+6%5BIssue%5D

“In the editorial section, Joseph Millum et al. argue for the need to embed ethics in health research priority-setting. Zhuo Li et al. present a case for using spatial evidence in waterborne disease control.”

Ethics, Medicine & Public Health -Defining the limits of income and wealth of the healthcare professional

M. De Proost & J. De Maeseneer; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352552526000587?dgcid=author

“To what extent should delivering healthcare services be a source of income and wealth? This article explores the role of limitarianism in answering this question. Such justice conceptualization posits upper bounds on permissible wealth accumulation and can provide an important contribution to the debate on distributive justice in healthcare. Against the backdrop of rising concentration of wealth in (some groups of) healthcare providers, evidenced by the emergence of disparities in Belgian physician incomes, the article considers the ethical justification for income ceilings in healthcare….”

Global Policy (Editorial) –Justice Across Generations: Rethinking Reciprocity Under Conditions of Uncertainty

V Gentile et al; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1758-5899.70179?campaign=wolearlyview

Editorial of a special issue.

“This introduction investigates the role of justice as reciprocity in intergenerational settings. It argues that the growing prominence of intergenerational framing in contemporary policy agendas is best understood in light of distinct questions emerging within the normative debate on intergenerational justice. Thus, a proper understanding of this subject requires a fine-grained analysis of three key dimensions, namely: analytical units (age groups vs. birth cohorts), temporal perspectives (lifetime vs. contemporaneous life stages), and scope (overlapping vs. nonoverlapping generations). The article then critically examines reciprocity as a foundational principle in liberal egalitarian thought, with particular reference to Rawlsian scholarship, highlighting both its enduring appeal and its limitations in intergenerational settings… … By situating the contributions to this Special Section within this framework, the article shows that the relationship between reciprocity and intergenerational justice is more complex and contested than commonly assumed….”

Tweets (via X & Bluesky)

Ben Bellows

“I’m really not OK with this. A premiere British medical journal that has been a reference for global health researchers for decades continues to maintain a social media account on a website whose owner foments race riots and destroyed USAID, a leading global health agency. Leave X @thelancet.com.”

Dr Tedros

“Omar Artan didn’t just make the #FIFAWorldCup, he made history as the first Somali referee to get there, and as #Africa’s best. That milestone stands no matter what. So sorry to see this, Omar. You reached the summit of your profession and inspired a generation back home just by getting there, and being kept off the pitch you earned doesn’t change that. This won’t be the end of your story on the world stage. The world stands with you as one family, wishing you resilience now and many more major finals to come. Solidarity. #Somalia”

Editorial: From ‘Health for All’ to ‘Scary for All’ (IHP News #884)

Kristof Decoster — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 06:18:13 +0000

Dear Colleagues,

As we provide today’s Featured article by Rajeev B R in full – he reflects on his IHP residency from last year -, we’ll keep it short in the intro.

In this newsletter issue, you find among others updates and analysis on the ongoing Ebola emergency and related PPPR discussions and advocacy ( including a high-profile letter to “stop the cycle of panic and neglect” ); the Bonn climate meeting (8-18 June); the usual sections on global health governance & financing, global health reform, etc. In Malaysia, a Global Health Security conference takes place this week (stay tuned for analysis by colleagues next Friday), and in Brussels, The Lancet Commission: Accelerating Progress on Essential Medicines convened, in partnership with “Team Europe” (from 9-11 June). The Commission is developing a new report to be launched in 2027, the 50th anniversary of the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines.

Early next week, Macron hosts the G7 Leaders’ summit in Evian, France (we’re already bracing ourselves for an inflation of fluffy ‘middle powers’ discourse). Later this month an important UN High-Level meeting on HIV/AIDS is scheduled in New York (22-23 June) against a rather dark backdrop.

Among the publications of the week, later this morning a new Lancet Series will be launched, led by WHO and HRP researchers, and unveiling a transformative roadmap for the leading cause of maternal death worldwide, postpartum haemorrhage (PPH).

We leave you with a short reflection for the weekend.

Back in the old days, many of us called for ‘Health for All’ – I’m sure you still vaguely remember those days. While at the time, clearly the global economic system was also cruel for hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of people, the hope was something real could be done about it. In the year 2026, however, given all the worrying trends (in areas as diverse as climate change & planetary boundaries, AI, geopolitics, conflict trends & nuclear weapons spending, extreme concentrated wealth …) the planet looks increasingly ‘Scary for All’. True, the downfall of neoliberal globalization was always going to be ugly. But with four years left till the SDG deadline, the world has become a rather frightening, dystopian place for most of us, with few being “left behind” in this respect. At least if we dare to look carefully at many of the abovementioned trends.

Fortunately, courageous and visionary people continue to think another future is possible. They aren’t wrong. It requires, however – as they rightly claim – “changing the rules of the global economy”, no less. While time is running out. As scary times often attract scary leaders (as I’m sure you’ve noticed lately).

Enjoy your reading.

Kristof Decoster

Editorial: On football, the Ebola emergency & planetary health (reform) (IHP News #883)

Kristof Decoster — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 05:28:09 +0000

Dear Colleagues,

My week started with wasting another 3 hours of my life, watching an incredibly boring Champions League final (I blame Arsenal). Do read Branko Milanovic’s take on football’s extreme commercialization. But it’s worse than that, actually, given the game’s multiple links with unsavory authoritarian regimes, a FIFA president “BFF” with Donald Trump (and a bunch of other thugs), and of course a World Cup about to begin in a country constantly in the news for all the wrong reasons. Nevertheless, I still fancy late-capitalist football once in a while, and with a Belgium team not half as bad as many might suspect, I’ll probably go for watching matches taking place in Mexico and Canada. Hope the stadiums will be mostly empty in the US – you’d have to be nuts to go there as a fan, for so many reasons.

Over to the more usual ‘global health policy & governance’ news then.

In Ghana, “Ghana’s LGBTQ community is living in fear after the country’s parliament approved a sweeping bill that criminalises the promotion of LGBTQ+ activities and identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer”, the Guardian reported earlier this week. The sorry bill came ahead of the fourth ‘African inter-parliamentary conference on family values and sovereignty’ in Accra (from 3-6 June), the first time the event is being held in Ghana. I trust the High-Level panel advising president Mahama on the Accra Reset will make a related ‘High-Level statement’ one of these days (Mahama has to sign the bill).

In the DRC, meanwhile, the Ebola outbreak is raging, and the picture will no doubt remain very worrying for a long time still. On a slightly more positive note, however, on Wednesday evening, WHO officials sounded for the first time a cautious note of optimism. Last weekend, the DRC’s health minister said that, based on previous experience, they aim to stop this epidemic in four to six months. Let’s hope that’s possible.

Perhaps sparked by the new Ebola emergency, at least some people in the Trump administration seem to have second thoughts on the continued importance of multilateral Global Health these days, complementing their bilateral transactional, ahum, ‘efforts’ (see Rubio on ‘re-engaging with GAVI’ this week, in Congress). All it took was apparently one major global health security crisis to shift some of the few remaining half-sane minds in the Administration. Though you can’t rule out that concerns about the upcoming World Cup football play a role as well. In any case, it’s certainly not a major shift yet (unlikely under this president).

Still on Ebola, in a FT op-ed from last weekend, Africa CDC’s Jean Kaseya acknowledged the health emergency is a serious test for Africa CDC and the African Union ( among others ), but he also emphasized: “…I also saw something the world still fails to recognise clearly enough: an African response taking shape rapidly, under African leadership, with African professionals on the front line. International partners still play an essential role. But their support matters most when it aligns with strategies built alongside African institutions and governments…”.

And so this newsletter has a big chunk on the Ebola emergency, as you might expect. Against that backdrop, the 2026 Virchow prize for JJ Muyembe & P Piot comes more than timely too.

Over to the US, then, where Bill Gates is gearing up for a Congressional hearing (10 June) re the Epstein links. The Gates Foundation’s CEO, M Suzman, naturally shied away from that topic in a new Foreign Affairs op-ed, ‘The end of foreign aid is not the end of development’. Instead, he argued ‘the world can do more with less’. That doesn’t really seem to pertain to his own foundation, though – as it still intends to spend 200 billion over the next twenty years (and I assume his own paycheck isn’t going to change much either : ) ).

I’m not going to deny that some of what Suzman says in the op-ed makes sense. But for a far more ambitious & convincing view of what the world (including the ‘development crowd’) should aim for, we recommend The Global Justice Report, released on Thursday by the World Inequality Lab. The report also provides some great ideas for global health reform that actually would make a serious effort to tackle the key (interconnected) post-2030 challenges the world faces. As for all the positives the converging Global Health reform processes already brought (and there are certainly some encouraging trends), this report lays out where the reform is still found badly wanting. From where I sit (and I usually sit in this job (huh)), even if many of the ideas sound rather utopian, Piketty et al offer an alternative vision sorely needed if we still want to avert epic doom & gloom in the 21^st century. And so ‘Global health’ should side with it, unequivocally. At least if ‘Health for all’ is still somewhat on our radar. And no, you don’t need to be Gramsci material to get that.

Continuing with the publications of this week, we also already want to flag here the Cancer workforce – Lancet Oncology Commission. (related HR hint: in case AI takes away your job, “One Direction” : )).

Finally, we hope you take the time to delve into this week’s Featured article, “Transcending Boundaries: From Inner Embodiment to Planetary Health” (by B van Mierlo & W van de Put), who shed light on the climate-health nexus from an angle not often covered in ‘global/planetary health’. It’s a remarkable read, somewhat related perhaps also to “The Health, Equity, Peace, and Planetary Value of “Unplugging” ( on ‘Cortisol Dysregulation as a Biological “Plug-Indicator” of Immersion in Extractive Systems’) by Juan Garay.

We still remember the time when European Global Health strategies and Communications weren’t all about ‘resilience’. Juan Garay was around back then in Brussels. Good times.

With that (and perhaps Nirvana’s ‘MTV Unplugged in New York’ in the backdrop ? ), enjoy your reading!

Kristof Decoster

Weekly topics: IHP news 882: Highlights of the week (IHP News #882)

International Health Policies — Fri, 29 May 2026 06:07:11 +0000

Structure of Highlights

· WHA79 – Continued coverage since Friday

· WHA79: More analysis (and a few more side events)

· More on Global Health Reform

· WHO DG race

· More on Global Health Governance & Financing/Funding

· Global Tax Justice

· Ebola outbreak

· More on PPPR & GHS

· AMR

· Trump 2.0

· Bilateral health agreements & US Global Health strategy

· UHC & PHC

· SRHR

· Planetary Health

· Access to Medicines, Vaccines & other health technologies

· Global housing crisis

· AI & Health

· Conflict/War & Health

· Some more reports, Lancet Commissions, ….

· Miscellaneous

WHA79 – Continued coverage since Friday

In this first WHA79 related subsection, we continue with the main updates since Thursday afternoon/Friday morning. We start with some WHO daily updates (for a quick overview), and then go a bit deeper in some of the agenda items.

· PS: you might also want to check out daily briefs from PHM: see https://phmovement.org/phm-79th-world-health-assembly ) (18-21 May so far) And a PHM policy brief (among others on WHO’s work in health emergencies, and on the draft strategy on the economics of health for all)

In a next WHA79 related subsection, we feature some more analysis (via colleagues from HPW, Devex, GHF, Habib Benzian ….)

WHO – Daily update: 22 May 2026

https://www.who.int/news/item/22-05-2026-seventy-ninth-world-health-assembly-daily-update-22-may-2026

“Member States establish joint process to support reforms of global health architecture. The World Health Assembly today decided to establish a joint process led by Member States, hosted by WHO and with global health partners to support reforms of the global health architecture. The Assembly agreed that the process should develop options and recommendations for reforms of the global health architecture to meet the specific and collective needs of countries and communities, to maximize access, impact and equity. The process should draw on existing reform initiatives and relevant elements of the UN80 Initiative. Member States expressed strong support for WHO’s central convening and normative role, emphasizing that while the process will be Member State-led, it should be taken forward jointly with global health initiatives and UN partners, with meaningful engagement of key stakeholders, including civil society and youth.”

“The proposal adopted by the Assembly recognized the health improvements generated from the existing global health architecture in recent decades, including in disease control, global norms and standards, and more effective collective action to address cross-border health threats. But Member States noted that the global health architecture had not kept pace with the new and evolving global environment. This included the expansion of national health sovereignty and regional capacities; changing disease burdens and health risks; rapid evolution of science, AI and digital technologies; and contractions in health financing. In addition, the global health landscape had become more complex due to the expansion in the number of health actors, resulting in power imbalances, fragmentation and duplication, which have impacted country ownership and leadership.”

“The Health Assembly requested the WHO Director-General to submit a final report with options and recommendations for the transformation of the global health architecture to next year’s World Health Assembly.”

PS: 22 May, Countries also agreed on the first-ever Assembly resolution on stroke, ….

WHO -Daily update 23 May

https://www.who.int/news/item/23-05-2026-seventy-ninth-world-health-assembly—daily-update–23-may-2026

“At the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly in Geneva this week, Member States adopted more than 20 decisions and 13 resolutions on health issues including stroke, liver disease, tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance, diagnostic imaging, emergency care, haemophilia, precision medicine and radiation….”

“The Assembly also covered a range of political and administrative issues, including the agreement to reform the global health architecture through a Member State-led, WHO-hosted joint process….”

23 May included, among others:

“Countries agree critical amendments to the WHO Code on ethical international recruitment of health workers”: Member States today approved a resolution to amend the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel (the Code) and to strengthen its implementation, following Member State-led consultations in the lead up to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly. … … Key revisions to the Code include the incorporation of provisions covering health personnel recruited internationally for employment as care workers and clarification on the applicability of the Code’s recommendations during emergencies. The Code also encourages co-investment in health systems and the health workforce to ensure international recruitment generates proportional benefits for both source and destination countries….”

· Related: WHA79: A landmark Code resolution, and the question it left open (Global Health Partnerships)

· And CGD (blog) – Amendments to the Code Regulating Health Worker Mobility Were Adopted at the World Health Assembly. Now What? (by H Dempster et al)

Still on 23 May, “….. Countries adopt landmark strategy placing health at the heart of economic policy: The World Health Assembly approved a decision to adopt the Strategy on the economics of health for all (2026–2030), marking a significant step towards aligning economic systems with health, equity and sustainable development. Delegates emphasized that health and economic prosperity are deeply interconnected and must be advanced through coordinated government approaches…..”

“… Member States agree on updated action plan to reduce deaths from antimicrobial resistance : Countries approved the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (GAP-AMR) for 2026–2036, renewing commitments to strengthen the global response to AMR…..”

HPW – EXCLUSIVE: World Health Assembly Declines to Recognize Argentina’s Withdrawal from WHO

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/who-assembly-declines-argentinas-withdrawal/

“After a full day of intense diplomatic debate, the World Health Assembly adopted a compromise text on Friday declining formal recognition of Argentina’s withdrawal notification, and leaving the nation’s legal status unresolved.”

PS: “The current decision on Argentina mirrors how the organisation handled seven Soviet-bloc nations that attempted to leave in 1949 and 1950. Those nations eventually resumed active participation years later, without navigating a formal re-accession process….”

HPW – Liver Disease, Social Media Harms and ‘Health Taxes’ Dominate Non-Communicable Disease Debate

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/liver-disease-social-media-harms-and-taxes-dominate-non-communicable-disease-debate/

“Liver disease, social media harms and health taxes dominated the World Health Assembly’s (WHA) discussion on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on Thursday.”

“For the first time, countries resolved to include steatotic liver disease (SLD), which is closely linked to obesity and diabetes, into NCD plans. ….”

PS: “WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the resolution “highlights the growing recognition of the need to address metabolic conditions in a more integrated way.”

“Metabolic conditions are becoming an increasingly important challenge globally. The rising prevalence of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular and steatotic liver diseases, are driven by shared risk factors and determinants,” Tedros told an event convened by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in Geneva this week….”

· See also Devex:

“While much of this WHA has been about divisions …, member states did come together to adopt the first-ever resolution on steatotic liver disease — aka conditions caused by having excess fat in the liver — which affects more than 1.7 billion globally. The resolution urged member states to integrate steatotic liver disease into their national plans to address noncommunicable diseases. ….”

HPW – WHO to Convene Donor Conference on Gaza Rehabilitation

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/who-to-convene-donor-conference-on-gaza-rehabilitation/

“A stiffly-worded resolution approved this week by World Health Organization member states condemned the “wanton” destruction of Gaza’s health facilities and “extreme violence of the illegal Israeli settlers.” The decision called on Israel to ensure humanitarian access to Gaza of medicines, fuel, and other essentials, refrain from further destruction of food production and water supplies, and release Palestinian civilians arbitrarily detained. “

“After hours of debate straddling Tuesday and Wednesday, World Health Organization member states approved two overlapping reports and resolutions on the situation in Israeli-occupied territories, calling on WHO to convene a donor conference on the rehabilitation of Gaza’s health infrastructure before the next World Health Assembly….”

HPW – WHA Advances Global Health Architecture Reform Amidst Questions About Where Process Will Really Lead

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/wha-global-health-architecture-reform/

Going a bit deeper in the GH reform debate. “The 79th World Health Assembly adopted a widely anticipated Global Health Architecture Reform initiative. While WHO and many member states lauded it as a landmark move, the actual mandate is in fact highly restrictive. The process will not yield recommendations on “revisions to organizational mandates nor specific mergers or consolidations” in the often overlapping functions of multiple UN global health agencies. The process also must navigate sharp developed and developing world priorities, regarding equity. And the framework faces fierce backlash from civil society groups over their exclusion from the joint task force steering the initiative.” Some excerpts:

“WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised that the overhaul must remain intrinsically bottom-up and mirror the agency’s own recent 16-month internal restructuring efforts. He explained that the Secretariat is identifying its absolute core mandates and will explicitly delegate non-core responsibilities to other global health partners based on their comparative advantages, thereby eliminating systemic duplication….”

“…. Leading the process is a 25-member task force, including 14 WHO member state representatives, including developed and developing nation co-chairs. The task force will also include up to four representatives of other UN health-related entities, as well as the World Bank and “a regional health organization.” And the task force will include five representatives of the largest, non-UN global health organizations, including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations; Unitaid; and the World Bank-hosted Pandemic Fund.”

“Governed by consensus, the body must hold regular Geneva-based consultations to ensure member states retain ultimate decision-making authority over international health policies. To synthesise its recommendations, the task force will engage with parallel reform efforts like the UN80 Initiative and the Lusaka agenda, a non-binding agreement launched in 2023 that aligns external financing with domestic health priorities….”

“…. Core mandate lacks ambition : Some member states, as well as a leading philanthropy, Wellcome Trust, criticised the lack of a real mandate to enact substantive structural changes in the way the UN agencies and its partners do business. ….”

“… Meanwhile, non-state actors, led by the NCD Alliance, condemned their structural exclusion from the core, joint task force, noting that sidelining affected communities undermines meaningful governance and removes a critical force for accountability. To preserve the primarily intergovernmental nature of the reform, civil society groups other than the five named to the task force, would be relegated to peripheral consultations in “stakeholder constituency groups.”….”

“North-South frictions: demanding equity and sovereign control: Underlying frictions that emerged during the debate also revealed a divide between high-income countries focused on streamlining and stabilising the strained multilateral system and the Global South’s demands to shift more control to countries, including of finance for health systems, and protect vulnerable countries from financial shocks.”

“… While the Secretariat emphasised inclusive decision-making and internal institutional safeguards, experts warn that real change requires moving beyond procedural vocabulary to address the external structural dependencies that produce global inequity. … Highlighting the profound humanitarian consequences of geopolitical trade restrictions, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) insisted that the GHA Reform would remain fundamentally incomplete without addressing trade sanctions and economic barriers that fragile states and marginalised populations face amidst increased geopolitical tensions….”

“… Echoing this demand to tackle systemic barriers, Ilona Kickbusch, Co-Chair of the World Health Summit Council, cautioned that true institutional change requires confronting the political and financial interests of the states that dominate global governance. “The current debate about reforming the global health architecture is, at its core, a debate about power – who holds it, who is losing it, and who intends to use this moment of rupture to consolidate it on new terms,” said Kickbusch ahead of this year’s World Health Assembly….”

PS: “…. While experts debate these broader power dynamics, the joint task force must focus on its operational mandate along a tight timeline. It will need to convene and begin synthesising evidence and proposals immediately, with the aim of submitting an interim report by late 2026 for review by the WHO Executive Board. The ambition is high. For instance, member states also expect the joint task force work to help align international funding with sovereign health strategies, ensuring greater readiness for emerging threats like the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo…..” “ Ultimately, the success of the Global Health Architecture Reform will depend on whether the global community can navigate these competing priorities and translate them into a Geneva-based consensus for final approval at the Eightieth World Health Assembly.”

HPW – WHO Member States Warn of Acute Operational Risks Amidst Severe Budget Cuts

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/operational-risks-amidst-who-cuts/

Focus on WHO’s health emergencies work (& budget). “Sweeping personnel cuts and a massive emergency funding shortfall trigger sharp warnings about acute WHO operational risks from member states and experts. Yet, diverging regional priorities complicate short-term and sustainable financing solutions.”

“Member states sounded alarms over severe WHO budget constraints on Thursday at the World Health Assembly. Delegates warned that a 9.4% staff reduction as of December 2025, culminating in reductions of nearly a quarter of staff by mid-2026, are depleting the organisation’s crisis response mechanisms, in particular and thus its ability to respond to emerging health risks….”

“…. The debate cast a harsh spotlight on the organisation’s capacity to manage global health emergencies. According to official financial reports, the WHO Emergency operations segment currently faces a massive $553 million funding gap. Emergencies and Polio eradication budgets, funded separately through special donor appeals, budgeted at about $2 billion for 2026-27. The Emergencies deficit is separate from the gaps in the base budget which still faces a funding shortfall of $420 million or 10%. Additionally, the critical Contingency Fund for Emergencies has plummeted to a historic low balance of under $20 million, falling drastically short of its official $100 million target capitalisation…..”

HPW – WHA Member States Approve Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy After Resolving Tech Transfer Debate

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/wha-member-states-approve-who-antimicrobial-resistance-strategy-after-resolving-tech-transfer-debate/

“WHO Member States approved a new 10-year global action plan to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on Friday after a months-long fight over how the world should share AMR-related medical technologies.”

“The plan, which runs through 2036, maps out strategies for countries to implementing the ambitious targets set at a UN High Level Meeting, including reducing deaths from AMR by 10% by 2030. It’s also the first overhaul of the WHO’s circa-2015 AMR strategy, adopted in an era when the public health threat of drug resistance was less, as was awareness. ….”

“… The investment case is equally staggering: action on infection prevention, water and sanitation, vaccination and responsible drug prescribing could avert 110 million AMR associated deaths and yield nearly $1 trillion in economic gains by 2050, WHO says.”

“Low- and middle-income countries bear the heaviest burden. People in LMICs are 1.5 times more likely to die from AMR than those in high-income countries, and 99.65% of children under five who die from drug-resistant infections live in poorer nations, according to research from the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project published in The Lancet.”

“… The plan pins itself to the goals adopted by member states in the 2024 UN political declaration on AMR. Along with the headline target of a 10% reduction in bacterial AMR-associated deaths by 2030, The declaration outlined a four-part strategy to combat AMR. It calls for more careful use of antimicrobial agents in healthcare, farming, and animal sectors, alongside improved management of untreated sewage and hospital emissions. “

“The significant departure from the architecture of the 2015 strategy is a turn towards prevention as the key to the crisis, as compared to a prior focus overwhelmingly on new drug innovation. The plan elevates infection prevention and control, water and sanitation, vaccination, biosecurity, husbandry practices and pollution prevention as the primary tools, with new drug development framed as complementary. … …. The logic underpinning the plan is that the antibiotics the world already has can be made to last far longer if the drivers of resistance, such as overuse, poor sanitation and low vaccination coverage, are addressed.

PS: “the tech transfer fight : The plan’s adoption this year was initially postponed at WHO’s Executive Board in February after Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia objected to language in the action plan stating that transfers of patents, manufacturing know-how and data from pharmaceutical companies to producers in developing countries for AMR innovations should happen on “voluntary and mutually agreed” terms. The fight is, at its core, about whether developing countries can override drug patents during national health emergencies to produce generic versions of a drug… … The compromise text adopted Friday softens the language to “the promotion of knowledge sharing and the transfer of AMR-related technologies, respecting international and national rules in line therewith.” Reference to “international and national rules”, access advocates said, leaves open legal room for countries to pursue compulsory patents in a crisis. Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), one of the civil society groups that lobbied hardest against the original draft, declared victory: “KEI is pleased that WHO negotiators eliminated problematic language on technology transfer in the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance,” the group said….”

PS: “The updated strategy is largely silent on AMR in war zones.

“… The AMR debate also overlapped with another issue on the WHA agenda this week: substandard and falsified medical products…..”

PS: “AI and Sustainable Development Goals Crammed into final WHA hours in scramble to finish: The last grouped agenda item, covering progress on the health-related Sustainable Development Goals and the harmonisation of digital health and artificial intelligence governance, drew no resolution. Member states “noted” the Director-General’s reports and closed the file. Member states used the floor to confront the fact that the world is on course to miss every one of the 52 health-related SDG targets by 2030, according to a WHO report released earlier this week. Once considered the most achievable of the SDGs, the health goals have been derailed by stalling progress on maternal mortality, flatlining childhood immunisation, a reversal in malaria gains, and what the WHO has called a “global health financing emergency”…..”

HPW – The Overlooked Decisions of the 79th World Health Assembly

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/the-forgotten-decisions-of-the-79th-world-health-assembly/

“…. Between the headlines on the global health financing emergency, WHO’s declining budget, Argentina’s withdrawal from the organisation and the first-ever absence of the United States — whose voting rights were formally suspended for the 2027 Assembly in the absence of back dues payments — member states quietly adopted more than 20 decisions and 13 new resolutions on a wide range of health systems and disease themes, many overlooked. Several of them updated health frameworks decades to more than half a century old. Most went unnoticed. Here’s what they decided…..”

“…. Perhaps the most consequential text adopted that went uncovered this week was the first revision in 16 years to the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel – the people on whom, after all, every other resolution depends. … The updated recommendations now explicitly cover health personnel recruited abroad to work as care workers, closing a loophole that wealthy, ageing societies have used to staff elder care with workers trained in lower-income countries. The new Code’s recommendations also apply during “pandemics and other health emergencies, environmental disasters and humanitarian, economic or crises situations”, a change intended to stop wealthy destination countries from treating ethical recruitment as a fair-weather principle…..”

“… A stroke of progress: For the world’s second-leading cause of death and third-leading cause of disability, stroke has spent decades waiting for its turn at the World Health Assembly. On Friday, that finally changed. The first-ever WHA resolution dedicated to stroke, led by Egypt and co-sponsored by Chile, Georgia, Palestine, Paraguay and Tunisia, addresses a disease responsible for an estimated 11.9 million new cases globally in 2021……”

“…. Early Cold War-era guidelines get update: If stroke waited decades for a resolution, the global system for monitoring whether medicines are killing the people taking them has waited longer. …. …. The 1963 resolution called for member states to systematically collect reports of serious adverse drug reactions. Pharmacovigilance — the WHO’s term for that surveillance — has not been substantively updated at this level since. This week’s resolution teleports that framework into the era of COVID-19, real-world data and artificial intelligence. It calls on countries to leverage AI and machine learning “in a safe, transparent and ethical manner to improve safety signal detection and response, while also maintaining public trust.” The recognition matters because pandemic-era mRNA vaccines and antivirals were rolled out in months, and post-marketing safety signals had to be tracked across populations of billions…..”

“The assembly closed by adopting a strategy on the economics of health for all for 2026–2030, building on the work of WHO’s Council on the Economics of Health for All chaired by economist Mariana Mazzucato. The text is ideologically the most ambitious of the week: a “well-being economy” framework calling for governments to use tax, trade, industrial and labour policy as health levers, address “harmful commercial practices,” and confront the “financialization of healthcare delivery.” It is also the text most exposed to the gap WHO itself now openly calls a “global health financing emergency.””

PS: “That financing gap is the wall every resolution adopted this week will hit on its way out the door. While the World Health Assembly issues guidance, it does not mobilise funds. Unlike the UN climate summit, where the headline negotiation each year is over hundreds of billions of dollars in pledges, the WHA passes rules that national governments must then choose to fund on their own.”

Concluding: “… The resolutions adopted this week, by any reasonable read, are good policy. Stroke needs a stroke unit. Drug safety needs surveillance. Genomes need to be sequenced from populations they will be used to treat. Health workers cannot be poached without consequence from countries that trained them. Emergencies do not respect borders. But none of these resolutions is binding. They sit in the WHO archive unless governments — finance ministries more than health ministries — find the money and the political appetite to implement them. The history of the World Health Assembly is, among other things, a history of resolutions that did not. The 79th assembly produced more than 33 of them. Whether any of these become more than pages in the archive will not be decided in Geneva.”

UN News – WHO chief calls for urgent Ebola action and pandemic preparedness

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/05/1167581

Re Tedros’ closing speech. “The recent Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks demonstrate that the world is still vulnerable to rapidly spreading infectious diseases, Tedros Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), warned on Saturday at the close of the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva.”

WHA 79 – More Analysis (& a few more side events)

Habib Benzian – The Health Sovereignty Paradox

On Substack;

“Global health wants national control. Outbreaks keep exposing shared dependence.”

“Sovereignty has become one of the most attractive words in global health. Across the World Health Assembly this year, the language is everywhere: country ownership, domestic financing, regional manufacturing, self-reliance, localisation, strategic autonomy. Much of it is justified. Many countries are exhausted by a system in which priorities are shaped far from where diseases spread or patients seek care. When external financing disappears overnight, sovereignty stops sounding ideological and starts sounding necessary. But health is an unforgiving field for political fantasy. The same Assembly now debating sovereignty was unfolding under the shadow of Ebola outbreaks, hantavirus concerns, financing collapses, and renewed arguments over pandemic agreements and pathogen sharing. Each of these crises reveal the same uncomfortable truths: health security cannot be nationalised. Viruses cross borders faster than governance reforms do. The contradiction reveals something important about how sovereignty is being misunderstood, not only in health, but as a political concept.”

“But sovereignty exercised as exit often deepens the vulnerabilities it seeks to solve. Countries want to reclaim control over health systems, yet the conditions that determine health outcomes are becoming more interconnected, not less. Surveillance systems depend on international data exchange. Laboratory capacity depends on financing networks, training systems, regulatory harmonisation, and scientific collaboration that no single country fully controls. Even the language of self-reliance often rests on deeply international infrastructures. The alternative is sovereignty exercised as voice: the capacity to shape the rules of interdependence rather than withdraw from them. This reframes the entire debate. The question is not whether countries should have more control over their health systems. They should. The question is whether that control is best achieved by pulling away from multilateral systems or by building enough domestic capacity to reshape them.

Perhaps the more honest word is agency. Not the formal equality of sovereign states, but the practical capacity to act, prioritise, and shape outcomes within systems of shared dependence. Sovereignty, as currently invoked, implies you can stand outside a system. Agency acknowledges you are inside one and asks whether you have enough institutional weight to influence its direction. That is a less satisfying political slogan, but a more useful political project….”

Geneva Health Files – Ebola Emergency Frames The Pathogen Access Benefit Sharing System As Key For Global Health Security [WHA79 UPDATE]

N Sirohi & P Patnaik; Geneva Health Files;

Quick update on the extensive discussion on the Pathogen Access Benefit Sharing system at the World Health Assembly this week. “My colleagues have mapped statements from nearly two dozen countries to give you a texture of the commitments by countries on this key topic.”

“Key takeaways on this topic: The Africa Group and Brazil, have called for conclusion of the negotiations in 2026. Most countries appear to favor buying time till May 2027. Informal consultations expected in June 2026. Next formal meeting of the IGWG will be in July 2026. Sources tell us that there is likely to be changes in teams of some of the delegations. Ebola emergency and hantavirus outbreak adds urgency to PABS discussions. Many countries framed PABS as important for global health security.”

Devex@WHA79

Devex;

“The debate over the value of data has dominated this year’s World Health Assembly.”

“The global north has made it clear that it wants data from its counterparts in the global south. In some cases, the reasons are obvious: Governments, researchers, and pharmaceutical companies want information on emerging pathogens so they can work to stop their spread. Look no further than the current outbreaks of Ebola and hantavirus to understand how valuable this data is.
In other cases, the reasons are a little more opaque, such as Washington predicating its bilateral health financing deals on decades of access to health data…. …Countries in the global south recognize the value of their data. It’s exactly what has stalled the negotiations over the pathogen access and benefit sharing, or PABS, annex, as countries in the global south demand equitable access to whatever vaccines, treatments, or diagnostics emerge from the information they share. The pharmaceutical industry and its backers in the global north, meanwhile, don’t want to be bound to any specific obligations.”

“… Washington has only further complicated the debate with its push for bilateral health deals, Lawrence Gostin, a global health law expert, explained on another panel: “Instead of having a multilateral system for pathogen and benefit sharing, the United States is trying to extract data from a particular country.” … …. But the fact that so many countries — 32 at last count — have signed these agreements with the U.S. reveals that there is actually a price they’re willing to accept for their citizens’ data.”

Geneva Health Files – Geopolitical Votes Wound The World Health Organization: Health For Some, Not All

https://newsletter.genevahealthfiles.com/geopolitical-votes-wound-the-world-health-organization-health-for-some-not-all/?ref=geneva-health-files-newsletter

“Neutrality in Global Health Suffers a Blow at the World Health Assembly. Countries Voted 11 times.”

“There was a time when voting in the World Health Assembly was seen as debilitating to the spirit of consensus-building in this member state organization. Those days are long gone. Under the World Health Assembly’s “Protect Health” agenda, Member States convened to discuss health emergencies, preparedness, and conflict-related health crises. Yet across discussions in plenary and committee sessions, debates repeatedly extended beyond epidemiology or operational response. Questions of agenda-setting, visibility, reporting, and institutional mandate became central features of the proceedings, reflecting broader tensions over how WHO should navigate increasingly politicized global crises. In this story we cover nearly a dozen votes that took place this week on Iran, Palestine, Ukraine, Lebanon. We also discuss other political issues including Taiwan.”

“From the opening days of the Assembly this week, procedural votes became proxies for deeper geopolitical disagreements. Delegations repeatedly disputed whether certain crises warranted standalone treatment, whether emergency discussions were being selectively politicized, and how far WHO’s mandate should extend in documenting the health consequences of conflict….”

Key Takeaways: “This week witnessed a normalization of calling for votes over several political issues. Countries voted more than 10 times during this week. The proceedings witnessed an unfortunate weaponizing of procedural legalese to paper over geopolitics. Politicization was deftly used to further security politics at the WHO. The spectre of geopolitics hung over the proceedings. … Political alignments superseded health consideration of people suffering in conflicts, in some of the votes. (See vote against Iran, and vote in favor of Lebanon, for example.)… Many diplomats noted that the sanctity of the proceedings of the Assembly has been destroyed by hyper-politicization. The management of the proceedings left insufficient space for technical deliberations of health matters many were of the view. There were few direct references to the United States – that was not in the room.”

Habib Benzian & C Hommes– Geneva Rules (5): The Human Machinery

on Substack;

“The people behind WHO, and the political realities they navigate.”

“…. The World Health Assembly is usually seen through its most visible figures. Ministers at microphones. Ambassadors reading statements. Senior WHO officials moving between rooms. Delegations under flags. Photographers waiting for handshakes. Speakers rehearsing lines that have already been negotiated. But the assembly also depends on another layer of people, less visible and often more continuous. They are the technical officers who know why a sentence matters. The programme staff who keep a workstream alive between governing body cycles. The consultants who draft the document someone else will present. The interpreters, assistants, interns, secondees, regional advisers, country-office staff, data analysts, report writers, and clearance coordinators whose work rarely becomes the story, but without whom there would be no story to tell. This essay is about the people inside the machinery. …”

PS: “…. WHO’s human machinery is not confined to Geneva. It stretches through the six regional offices and country offices where global mandates are translated into regional strategies, country support, technical advice, implementation plans, and the daily negotiation between what Geneva has agreed and what health systems can actually absorb.”

“That is why human resources at WHO are not an administrative side issue. At WHA79, they are on the Assembly agenda, alongside WHO’s prioritisation and realignment process for 2025-2026. The people who keep global health moving are themselves part of what Member States are being asked to note, review, amend, or govern. “… And they are doing this under growing strain….”

Geneva Health Files – Reading the Global Health Security Consensus: Countries on the International Health Regulations at WHA79

Nishant Sirohi et al; Geneva Health Files;

« The World Health Assembly deliberations last week were accompanied by rising concerns on the unfolding Ebola emergency. The emergency occurs less than a year since the amended International Health Regulations (IHR) came into force in September 2025. This also comes in at a time, when countries are negotiating the Pathogen Access Benefit Sharing System – discussing precisely the kind of operational and logistical issues that have emerged in the current Ebola emergency. For health, trade and biosecurity negotiators, the Ebola emergency is a live case to situate their understanding on preparedness and response. In today’s edition, my colleagues have captured and interpreted the statements made by countries on the implementation of the IHR at the Assembly. Nishant argues that, in their reflections, countries seem to suggest that equity is no longer peripheral rhetoric in governance of health emergencies, but a condition for legitimacy. »

Some excerpts:

“There appears to be a significant shift in the way member states understand the role of the International Health Regulations (IHR) within the evolving global health architecture. Once seen primarily as a technical framework for disease notification and outbreak reporting, the IHR is now increasingly understood as the operational backbone of global health security and pandemic preparedness….”

“Several member states now framing IHR implementation as part of broader agendas of national resilience, health systems strengthening, development planning, and multi-sectoral emergency preparedness. … preparedness is no longer framed narrowly as an epidemiological function.”

“This shift was reflected across multiple interventions. Tanzania, speaking on behalf of the WHO Africa Region, linked IHR implementation to climate-related emergencies, zoonotic threats, and humanitarian crises. India similarly emphasised the growing complexity of health emergencies driven by climate change, conflict, and fragile health systems. The discussions also demonstrated increasing convergence between the IHR amendments, Pandemic Agreement negotiations, the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) annex, and financing mechanisms. Taken together, these interventions suggest that the post-COVID institutional ecosystem is consolidating around a more integrated architecture of global health governance, with the IHR increasingly functioning as its operational foundation. This is the shift this article examines. …”

“… 1. Equity has moved from normative language to structural demand: A striking feature of the discussions under WHA agenda item 13.2 was the extent to which developing countries framed preparedness as inseparable from equity, financing, and industrial capacity. Speaking on behalf of the WHO Africa Region, Tanzania stressed that implementation of the amended IHR requires equitable access to medical countermeasures, technology transfer, and sustained technical and financial support for developing countries. Uganda similarly argued that sustainable preparedness depends on timely technology transfer, local manufacturing capacity, and equitable access to medical countermeasures. While Pakistan linked implementation of the IHR directly to broader demands for equity and support for low- and middle-income countries. … … This reframing signifies a broader political shift. These interventions suggest that equity is no longer peripheral rhetoric in the governance of health emergencies but a condition for legitimacy. Member States are not rejecting multilateralism itself; rather, they contest unequal implementation burdens within it. Indonesia and Pakistan both stressed that equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics, and other countermeasures is central to health security, particularly for low- and middle-income countries, and must be supported by sustained investment in domestic capacity.”

“2. …. Climate Risk, Digital Surveillance and the Expansion of Health Security: Another notable trend emerging from the discussions was the widening scope of what states now consider “health emergency preparedness.” Member States increasingly linked implementation of the IHR not only to infectious disease surveillance, but also to climate resilience, disaster preparedness, digital infrastructure, and cross-border data governance. This reflects a change in global health security thinking, in which preparedness is increasingly shaped by climate shocks, population displacement, supply chain disruptions, and technology-driven surveillance systems. …… Overall, these interventions suggest that future discussions around the IHR may increasingly involve debates over data governance, digital sovereignty, climate resilience, and technological capacity – signalling a quiet but significant expansion in the meaning of “core capacities” under global health security governance. “

“3. WHO’s Authority Is Expanding Politically While Its Capacity Remains Fragile : The discussion further revealed a growing contradiction at the centre of post-pandemic global health governance: expectations placed on WHO continue to expand, even as concerns mount over institutional underfunding, workforce reductions, and fragmentation across the global health architecture. While Member States repeatedly reaffirmed WHO’s central coordinating role during health emergencies, many also warned that the organisation’s operational capacity is under increasing strain. …

“…. 4. The Geopolitics of Preparedness and the Emergence of a Multipolar Health Order : The discussions on implementation of the IHR also reflected a broader geopolitical transition underway in global health governance. Pandemic preparedness is increasingly becoming a site of strategic influence, with member states using health security cooperation, technical assistance, and implementation support to shape emerging norms and partnerships. Importantly, the interventions suggested not a rejection of multilateralism, but the gradual emergence of a more multipolar health order in which Global South states are playing a more assertive role in defining preparedness priorities. Russia and China positioned themselves as defenders of implementation-oriented multilateralism centred on sovereignty, technical cooperation, and capacity-building….”

HPW – Decades After Ottawa Charter on Determinants of Health, a Question of Combating Commercial Influences

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/decades-after-ottawa-charter-on-determinants-of-health-a-question-of-combating-commercial-influences/

“Three emerging threats to health: the commercial, digital, and climate determinants of health played centre stage at an event 40 years after a WHO charter shifted the focus of health from individual lifestyle choices to broader social and environmental determinants. Commercial formula company practices are just one case study of how structural factors like marketing can determine health across the life span.”

“Since the signing of the Ottawa Charter, Ilona Kickbusch underscored that three emerging issues now fundamentally shape health: those of commercial, digital, and climate influences. …”

“The convening at the Geneva Health Forum, held on the side of the World Health Organization’s annual Assembly, discussed the gap between the Ottawa Charter’s political discourse on the determinants of health and the reality of implementing them through funding, governance, accountability, and mediating commercial interests. …”

“…. The shift in understanding that health is more than the sum of individual choices but the result of policies and environments is political, the panelists argued. “We understood very clearly that health is political,” Kickbusch said. “What we now call the ‘political determinants of health’ was actually at the basis of our work of the Charter,” she explained. These political determinants, as Kickbusch and others recalled, include power, poverty, and other social issues. “

“… Since the Ottawa Charter outlined that health is often a result of structural, social, economic, and environmental conditions, the WHO established a commission on social determinants of health (CSDH) that paved the way to another important political declaration in Rio more than two decades ago. The text, which emphasizes collective action and the injustice of health inequities, seems at odds with the current geopolitical context. It expresses what it terms a “global political commitment” for reducing health inequities through a social determinants lens…..”

Habib Benzian – Geneva Rules (6): After Geneva

On Substack;

“What remains after global health leaves the room.” Last episode in this fabulous series.

“When you leave the Palais des Nations, the Broken Chair is still there. The chair does not ask to be read as a metaphor for global health. That may be why it works. It stands there as a reminder that institutions often gather around injury, but rarely from a place of wholeness. The building behind it is full of language about protection, prevention, rights, equity, access, preparedness, coverage, resilience, solidarity and sovereignty. The square outside holds a giant chair that cannot stand straight. It is not collapsing. But it is not whole either. That is the unsettled condition of global health governance. WHO stands, but often with missing support: mandates without money, commitments without enforcement, strategies without implementation capacity, authority without sovereignty, and sovereignty without the shared machinery that would make it meaningful. Global health does not fail simply because it is broken. It continues to function while carrying its incompleteness in plain sight. That tension is not accidental. It is Geneva….”

“This is the moment when global health becomes harder. Not because Geneva does not matter. It does. The World Health Assembly creates language, mandates, visibility, coalitions, reporting obligations and political reference points. It turns some concerns into official priorities and leaves others still waiting outside the room. It gives WHO space to act, Member States language to use, advocates something to cite, and institutions a way to say that progress has been made. But Geneva is not implementation. It is the choreography before implementation begins. Many commitments do not die in Geneva. They die later, quietly, in the distance between agreement and action. That distance has a geography of its own. Some of it runs through New York, where global health is translated into development, security, rights and high-level political declaration. Some of it runs through Washington, where finance, development lending, philanthropy and geopolitical interest shape what remains possible after the Geneva applause has faded. Some of it runs through London, with its journals, universities, NGOs, think tanks and dense ecosystem of evidence, advocacy and policy influence. But much of it runs elsewhere, and this is the point Geneva can obscure. It runs through Cairo, Manila, Copenhagen, Brazzaville and other regional offices, where global mandates are turned into regional strategies, compromises and workplans. It runs through Brasília, Pretoria, Jakarta, Nairobi and hundreds of other capitals, where ministries decide whether global language becomes law, financing, procurement, workforce policy, surveillance, regulation, or nothing very much at all.”

“Each place changes the meaning of language agreed in Geneva. New York gives it diplomatic scale. Washington gives or denies it financial gravity. London gives it narrative and evidentiary authority. Regional offices give it institutional translation. Capitals give it political consequence. And somewhere far from all these centres, in clinics, schools, municipal offices, district health teams, procurement units and households, that language either becomes real or does not….”

“… That is why visibility is not the same as consequence. Without Geneva, many issues would remain nameless in global policy. Without the Assembly, there would be fewer mandates, fewer shared reference points, fewer opportunities for smaller countries and weaker constituencies to use multilateral language against domestic neglect. The global does matter. Language agreed in Geneva can become useful elsewhere. But usefulness is not automatic. At the beginning of WHA week, the question is what will be visible. Who will speak? Which issues will appear on the agenda? Which side events will fill? Which officials will attend? Which phrases will survive? Which commitments will be announced?…”

Benzian concludes, re the ‘Broken chair’: “… That is not a bad image for global health after Geneva. The Assembly leaves behind mandates, language, reports, strategies, photographs and carefully worded commitments. It also leaves behind absences: stronger obligations, clearer accountability, adequate financing, regulatory courage, institutional memory, and the issues that were acknowledged without being made urgent. Geneva can give a problem language, legitimacy and a place in the official record. That matters. It can turn silence into text. It can turn neglect into recognition. It can create the procedural thread by which an issue survives for another cycle. But Geneva cannot complete the work it makes visible. The city shows what global health has agreed to say. The world beyond it decides what that agreement is worth.”

Geneva Health Files – The GHF View: Reflections WHA79

https://newsletter.genevahealthfiles.com/decoding-the-world-health-assembly-reflections-what-a-mapping-of-the-side-events-reveal/?ref=geneva-health-files-newsletter

Some reflections by P Patnaik: “The fragmentation in global health was too literal. The fragmentation in the venues of the 79th World Health Assembly, between the Palais des Nations in Geneva, and the Headquarters of the WHO, was never going to be easy. This meant that at least some of the agenda items got a short shrift including the discussion on budget and finances, as Switzerland mentioned in a formal statement at the Executive Board earlier this week. The splintering of the venues meant that there were far too fewer serendipitous encounters among attendees…..”

“… There were numerous intersecting themes not only in corridor conversations, but also in the formal statements by member states. The concerns on the Ebola emergency merged with the negotiations of the Pathogen Access Benefit Sharing System under the Pandemic Agreement, which merged with the reforms discussions. This is just one example….”

“…. The near-dozen political votes sucked the oxygen in the room. The technical discussions were boxed into the remainder of the timeline. Perhaps the time has come to consider a political arm of the Assembly to conduct these charged discussions that will certainly not go away given the harsh geopolitics. Some developed country diplomats had previously suggested a dedicated forum for political discussions where foreign ministries can treat their agendas, while leaving the technical deliberations at the Assembly to the health experts. But as we know it is near impossible to separate both. So we learn to witness the fractures of the world, unfold at the WHA…..”

· PS: and gated content – a mapping of side events of WHA79 (by Julia Dötzer)

“We analysed more than 200 listed side-events at the WHA79. Most of them were multistakeholder events with private sector participation. There were more than ten different themes.”

The Forsaken – The view from Geneva 2026

Andrew Green; https://theforsaken.substack.com/p/the-view-from-geneva-2026

“Too many crises at this year’s World Health Assembly.”

“In that mix of crisis and unpredictability, the global HIV response didn’t much feature at this year’s gathering. When it came up, it was often with a sense of relief that the emergency that was predicted when President Trump started slashing U.S. support to global HIV programs had not materialized. That things weren’t as bad as had been feared…. …. Dr. K.J. Seung offered a corrective at one of the few side events dedicated to the epidemic. He described a “psychological denial of what is going on. For HIV, it is going to be a massive problem and it hasn’t completely happened, yet.” “

“We’re just starting to see the implications…”

Alliance – Country pathways to 2050: shaping the future, not waiting for it

https://ahpsr.who.int/newsroom/news/item/27-05-2026-country-pathways-to-2050-shaping-the-future-not-waiting-for-it

“At a 79th World Health Assembly side event hosted by the Alliance last week, the Chair of the Alliance Board, policy-makers from Ethiopia and Ghana, an academic from Singapore and senior WHO colleagues together made two converging arguments: (1) countries must move from coping with shocks to actively shaping the systems of the future, and (2) health cannot be considered in a vacuum while doing so.” “The event highlighted an ongoing initiative at the Alliance called Health Systems 2050, which is exploring how big global trends are shaping health systems and how these health systems can and are responding. It starts from the perspective that we are in a time of profound upheaval, and the choices health systems make now will either enable or constrain their ability to protect populations in the future.”

A quote re (2):

“Dr Kalipso Chalkidou, Director of Performance, Financing and Delivery at WHO, pushed that argument furthest. She began by inviting the panel to revisit the very definition of a health system. The WHO 2000 World Health Report definition – all organizations, people and actions whose primary intent is to promote, restore or maintain health – was a reasonable starting point, she said, but it now risks being too narrow. Social, commercial and political determinants – pollution, education, trade, taxation – sit at the centre of what 2050-ready will mean.”

“In a second intervention, Chalkidou returned to the same point through the financing lens. “The world has never been wealthier,” she said. Roughly half a quadrillion United States dollars – US$ 500 trillion – sits in the global financial system, she noted, and the public sector owns around 4% of it and central banks another 5% or so. That implies nearly 90% is in private sector, whose motivation is profit, and not necessarily development. “The problem is not one of scarcity,” she said. “It’s one of distribution.” That has implications for how the health sector talks about sovereignty. “Sovereignty cannot be sector-specific,” Chalkidou argued. “It can’t be sovereign health when the financial system is geared against us….”

(ps: you can also rewatch the event).

HPW – How to Treat the Disinformation ‘Virus’ Undermining Health and Democracy

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/how-to-treat-the-disinformation-virus-undermining-health-and-democracy/

Coverage of another side session at the WHA.

“Helen Clark, chair of the vaccine platform Gavi and former Prime Minister of New Zealand, calls mis- and disinformation “an existential threat to public health”, representing a “crisis of trust”. … … “Misinformation and disinformation are no longer sitting at the periphery of our challenges, but very much at the core, front and centre of the daily humanitarian response, but also clinical realities,” said Robert Mardini, Director General of Geneva University Hospitals and former head of the International Committee of the Red Cross…..”

More on Global Health Reform

Development Today – Nine member states push back on UN80 proposal to merge UNFPA and UN Women

A D Usher; https://www.development-today.com/archive/2026/dt-4–2026/nine-member-states-push-back-on-un80-proposal-to-merge-unfpa-and-un-women

(gated) “A group of countries, including Canada, Brazil and Sweden, reject the proposal of the UN80 reform working group to merge UNFPA and UN Women which, they say, “would not sufficiently preserve key normative mandates” like gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights.”

Partnership for International Politics and Diplomacy for Health – Side Event during the 79th WHA: What’s at Stake and What Comes Next for Global Health Reform

https://www.globalhealthdiplomacy.se/side-event-during-the-79th-wha-whats-at-stake-and-what-comes-next-for-global-health-reform

“On the sidelines of the 79th WHA, the Partnership for International Politics and Diplomacy for Health convened a conversation among eminent and emerging global health leaders, including faculty and fellows from the Partnership’s Executive Program. We asked them about ‘elephants in the room’; narratives that must be challenged; questions that are still avoided; and uncomfortable truths that have not been articulated so far.”

““Discussions at this year’s World Health Assembly reaffirmed that reform of the international system for health remains high on the global health agenda. Even though reform dialogues have moved well beyond problem diagnosis, concrete reform recommendations are yet to be put forward. At this stage, it is crucial to keep the conversation going and ensure it remains inclusive and accessible.”

“Several recurring themes emerged from the conversation at this side event. Participants warned of ‘reformitis’ or the risk that reform becomes a buzzword without transforming mandates or power structures. Institutional self-preservation was identified as a major threat, with organizations unlikely to initiate their own downscaling without political pressure. The redistribution of power was acknowledged as the central and most contested question. And a deep-rooted trust deficit, built up over two decades of unfulfilled promises, was named as an undeniable elephant in the room. “

Global Climate & Health Alliance – re the ‘WHO joint process’

https://mailchi.mp/ebb6a26bb4f3/health-community-climate-health-inseparable-in-practice-so-must-be-in-policy?e=3289726e8a

“…While climate and health was not a specific issue on the agenda of WHA79, eight agenda items touched on climate-related issues, however it was missing from several key discussion items. The Global Climate and Health Alliance noted the omission of climate from discussions on global health architecture reform during the meeting. “

“While the proposal focused on the process, not the content of these reforms, two key concerns were highlighted by numerous members of the Alliance. Firstly, the current joint taskforce does not include any agency or body with responsibility for climate and health and, while many of the proposed members do touch on climate in their work, there is no clarity on who can be held accountable for ensuring that this new architecture recognises and responds to the magnitude of the challenge that that climate crisis poses for health. Secondly, that the taskforce does not include any representatives of civil society organisations or communities, to raise the perspectives of those most acutely affected by the health impacts of the climate crisis. As a result, there are fears that the topic may fall between the cracks. …”

Lancet Offline – The dishonest politics of global health

R Horton; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01039-1/fulltext

On some discussions at the WHA (side events, eg on global health reform).

Excerpts: “Reform has become an end in itself. Too much attention is given to the organogram of global health. Structural change is merely window-dressing. The first purpose of any global health initiative has become self-preservation. Donors do not want change. WHO does not have the mandate for change. What is WHO anyway? A collection of member states or a voice for the peoples of these member states? Can the complexity of institutions be simplified? Probably, but only by those with the power to do so. And political power follows economic power. One cannot delegate power that does not exist. Even when a decision is taken to liquidate UNAIDS or merge UN Women with UNFPA, resistance kicks in and reform stalls. …”

“… One speaker on the Rue Rothschild did speak honestly. He pointed out the lack of accountability for political leaders who break their promises. What do we do? Forget global health reform, please. Forget a new global health architecture. Forget the idea of a reset. The first step must be to tell the truth. We should stop lying to one other. We should stop being deliberately deceitful. If we speak honestly, we might be able to re-establish the trust lost between global health and governments. And if we can bring politicians and the public with us, perhaps we can rebuild hope and optimism in global health. Without truth, we have nothing.”

Geneva Solutions – Spanish top health official: New global health architecture must break with ‘inherited structures’

https://genevasolutions.news/global-health/spanish-top-health-official-new-global-health-architecture-must-break-with-inherited-structures

“Geneva Solutions spoke with Spain’s health secretary about how Madrid hopes to steer the debate….” Javier Padilla Bernáldez is health state secretary and second in command to Spain’s health minister – on how the country plans to help shape tomorrow’s global health.

Institute for New Economic Thinking – Are We Reforming Global Health or Washing Our Hands Of It?

Padmashree Gehl Sampath; https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/are-we-reforming-global-health-or-washing-our-hands-of-it

“Global health financing is collapsing just as demands on health systems are rising. As funding retreats and reform debates intensify, a deeper question emerges about who bears the costs, and whether today’s fixes risk creating lasting damage that will be difficult to reverse.”

Among others on “the real cost: Hysteresis in Health systems”: “Hysteresis refers to the path dependency of a system and to how it reacts to temporary shocks even after the shock is removed. Closely linked to the concept of resilience (the ability to bounce back to the original state or move to a better one), it helps to showcase how cuts to health funding can have lasting, irreversible effects, long after the funding drop is reversed. When health systems are suddenly underfunded – like the current 51% drop in global health financing from 2021 to 2025 – they rupture in ways that make it harder to normalize again, as Figure 3 suggests. …. Table 1 below explains some of the ways in which hysteresis sets in from the current funding crisis….”

· And via Devex: (re the “GAVI Leap”)

“Speaking onstage at Devex Impact House during WHA79 on Wednesday, Sania Nishtar went into detail on Gavi’s reform process — which amounts to a radical simplification to help countries where paperwork pileup was getting in the way of health programming. The vaccine alliance is cutting 30 funding levers down to two, shrinking contracts from 700 to about 60, and digitizing grant processes to ease the administration burden on both countries and Gavi itself. “Yesterday was a proof of the pudding … minister after minister came and said … ‘this is what we wanted, we wanted authority to be delegated to us,’” Nishtar said.”

“Gavi wants countries moving faster toward financing their own vaccine programs, with copayments rising alongside income. Eighteen countries have already graduated from Gavi support — and more are expected to follow. … …. The Trump administration has proposed cutting funding for Gavi, but the alliance has still secured $10 billion of the $11.9 billion it needs for 2026–2030, including from former recipient countries such as India and Indonesia. Nishtar called that “a huge testament to the trust that donors have in Gavi.”

WHO DG race

HPW – WHO Executive Board Adopts Process for Election of Next Director General, With Powerful Role for Poor African States

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/who-executive-board-adopts-process-for-election-of-next-director-general/

“The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Executive Board (EB) decided on Monday that the first forum for candidates aspiring to become the next Director General will be held on 18 November, where they will face questions from member states. Meanwhile, some of Africa’s poorest countries will play a decisive role in choosing the next DG, thanks to their membership of the global body’s 34-member EB. The EB has the powerful task of shortlisting three candidates for election by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2027. The Africa region’s seven representatives for the DG selection are Cabo Verde, the Central African Republic (CAR), Côte D’Ivoire, Guinea, Mozambique, South Sudan and Zimbabwe. CAR, South Sudan and Mozambique are among the 10 poorest countries in the world. “

“On the other end of the spectrum, China is the most powerful new addition to the EB, representing the Western Pacific Region (WPRO). WPRO decided at a closed meeting in October 2025 to nominate China to replace Australia, whose term expires this month, as previously reported by Health Policy Watch. The closed-door nature of the WPRO proceedings suggests this was contentious, which is reinforced by the chair’s report noting that the equitable distribution of seats within WPRO will be revisited for a final decision sometime in 2026. …”

“Meanwhile, the contentious nature of selecting EB members in the WHO European Region spilt into the open during last week’s WHA, when Russia accused the United Kingdom of depriving it of a seat at the EB. Georgia and the UK are Europe’s new EB representatives, replacing Switzerland and Ukraine whose terms end this month. The European Region decided a while back that its permanent members of the UN Security Council are entitled to EB membership for three out of every six years. This accounts for the UK’s selection, with France already confirmed as its replacement. However, Russia, which is also on the Security Council, was not afforded the same rotating privileges and stood as a competing candidate for the seat ultimately won by Georgia.”

“… The EB, which met in Geneva on Monday, adopted a report by the Director General outlining the election process. According to this process, two candidates’ forums will be convened by the WHO Secretariat to enable the candidates to make themselves and their vision known to member states. The first forum, starting on 18 November and continuing for not more than three consecutive days, depending on the number of initial candidates. Each candidate will get 60 minutes, made up of a 10-minute presentation followed by a question-and-answer session. The second forum on 15 March 2027 will consist of a more interactive panel discussion between the candidates and member states….”

PS: “Germany, which is contemplating a couple of potential nominations, stressed that the “next DG will inherit an organisation that has gone through significant challenges. To be successful, we need to see [a candidate with] a commitment to champion necessary reform and a distinct focus for delivering on the organisation’s core mandate in the future”. Germany wants its financial weight reflected as the largest global health donor following the US withdrawal from the WHO in January 2025. The most likely German candidate is Helge Braun, Chief of Staff in former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, insiders told Health Policy Watch…..”

KEI – WHO Director-General elections: Why the path to victory runs through Beijing, Honiara, Juba, London and Thimphu

https://www.keionline.org/41329

“… While the 80th session of the World Health Assembly elects the next Director-General (under the principle of one country, one vote), the 34-member Executive Board winnows down the pool of candidates to a shortlist of up to three names at its 160th session (25 January 2027 to 2 February 2027). Consequently, the WHO Executive Board plays a key vetting role in the selection of the next WHO Director-General.

“The WHO Executive Board is comprised of these members:…” (check them out)

Or via Tedros: “Outgoing members of the Board: Australia, Barbados, Cameroon, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Korea, Lesotho, Togo, Qatar, Switzerland and Ukraine. New members: Bhutan, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Georgia, Guinea, Kuwait, Mozambique, South Sudan, Suriname and the United Kingdom.”

More on Global Health Governance & Financing/Funding

Lancet GH (Comment) – Reframing the language of global health for a leverage-driven era

S Shariq et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00108-7/fulltext

“In his Comment (April, 2026), Nelson Evaborhene argues that global health cooperation is being reorganised around leverage, highlighting the active threat of abrupt donor exit. This analysis captures an important transformation: performance and technical capacity no longer guarantee continuity. Yet, if global health governance is shifting towards a politically conditional order, the field should also reconsider the language it uses to justify cooperation.”

“Global health discourse continues to rely heavily on a moral vocabulary of equity, solidarity, and universality. Although these principles remain ethically compelling, as the emerging policy environment described in the Comment suggests, they often do not resonate with the drivers of contemporary international relations. Therefore, the conceptual foundations of global health warrant reassessment. The influential definition proposed by Koplan and colleagues frames global health primarily as an endeavour to achieve health equity worldwide. Although these definitions offer an ideal for global health, they do not provide a precise description of its real pragmatic value for global actors operating within a leverage-driven system.”

“The equity argument has a moral underpinning, suggesting that donors fund global health for altruistic reasons. In practice, international health cooperation has often served strategic interests alongside moral commitments. Investments in global health strengthen pandemic preparedness, support economic stability, and reduce cross-border health risks. A pragmatic reframing of global health funding as reciprocal investments in shared vulnerability would present it as non-negotiable to finance, foreign policy, and security actors who now primarily shape the conditions of engagement…..”

“… The language of global health also reflects a geographical assumption, situating donors in high-income countries and recipients in low-income countries. This framing has arguably diverted attention from domestic inequalities within high-income countries and reinforced the perception that domestic populations are overlooked in favour of international commitments, thereby driving a political shift towards isolationism. … …This reframing of global health language around shared risks and mutual investments instead of moral responsibilities does not mean abandoning equity. Rather, such an approach would strengthen the political foundations needed to sustain that commitment in an era of geopolitical uncertainty.”

Guardian – UK, German and French aid cuts will take ‘devastating toll’ on most vulnerable, says study

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/may/23/uk-german-and-french-aid-cuts-will-take-devastating-toll-on-most-vulnerable-says-study

“As Europe’s leading donor countries slash budgets, the result could be more than 11.5m preventable deaths, report suggests.”

“Cuts to foreign aid budgets by the UK, France and Germany could contribute to more than 11.5 million preventable deaths by the end of the decade, according to a new report, which warns that Europe is abandoning its role as a pillar of global health and development. …. Three separate studies within the report reveal the extent to which the nations have slashed their foreign aid budgets, and illustrate the impact worldwide. UK official development assistance (ODA) spending is projected to fall by 45% between 2020 and 2026, Germany’s by 37% between 2023 and 2026, and France’s by 30% over the same period, according to the research. “Led by its three largest donors, the continent is moving toward a ‘new normal’ of significantly reduced international engagement – not as a temporary adjustment, but as a structural realignment,” said the report, produced by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)…..”

Geneva Graduate Institute (PhD thesis) – International Law and the Financialization of Global Health

Kirpalani, Dena; https://repository.graduateinstitute.ch/record/321896

“This PhD thesis examines the intersection of global health, law, and finance, exploring how law facilitates the financialization of global health through three case studies of Innovative Financing Initiatives for Health (IFI-Hs): the Solidarity Levy (Unitaid), the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine Advanced Market Commitment (GAVI), and the Affordable Medicines Facility for Malaria (Global Fund). The thesis looks at the historical and institutional character of these IFI-Hs. The thesis builds on existing scholarship that describes the financialization of global health by studying the constitutive role of law in enabling and structuring financialization in global health. Drawing on theory that law and finance are co-constitutive, law and development scholarship, TWAIL, and Law & Political Economy scholarship, the thesis treats these initiatives as legal artefacts through which power is organized. It argues that soft and informal international law, trust arrangements, contracting, and regulatory frameworks constitute a governance architecture that protects financial interests while embedding conditions on access to essential medicines. The thesis concludes that IFI-Hs replicate a familiar civilizing mission dynamic: framing the Global South’s inability to deliver medicine access as a deficit requiring deeper integration into capitalist economic ordering, while privileging the interests of asset-holders and donor States. Law assists financialization by establishing norms that prioritize financial actors, protecting assets as vehicles for extraction, and integrating financiers into global health governance…”

Devex – African economies are growing despite Iran war, but transformation lags

https://www.devex.com/news/african-economies-are-growing-despite-iran-war-but-transformation-lags-112586

“The African Development Bank says Africa’s economies are weathering the fallout from the Iran war, but weak tax collection, rising debt burdens, and limited structural transformation continue to weigh on growth.” Excerpts:

“Much of the report focused on what AfDB sees as one of Africa’s biggest missed opportunities: the sheer amount of money slipping through the cracks at a time when foreign aid flows are declining, and governments are struggling with rising debt-servicing costs. Even as many African economies have expanded, governments have increasingly failed to capture that growth in the form of public revenues. Africa’s revenue-to-GDP ratio has actually declined over the past two decades: from roughly 23%-30% in the 2000s to 16.2% in 2024, according to the report.”

“The bank estimates Africa could unlock as much as $1.43 trillion annually through better resource mobilization and utilization. Much of that money, AfDB argues, could come not from creating entirely new taxes, but simply enforcing existing ones more effectively. Weaknesses in tax compliance, administration, and policy design are costing African governments nearly $469 billion in unrealized revenues, according to the report. Value-added tax alone represented one of the largest missed opportunities: improved compliance could generate an additional $140.8 billion annually — more than double the continent’s current VAT collections.”

“The report also pointed to gaps in corporate and personal income tax collection, particularly among large corporations and high-net-worth individuals, along with weakly taxed parts of the digital economy.”

“And the leakage is not only on the revenue side. More than 40% of public investment is currently lost to inefficiencies, according to the report — representing as much as $299 billion annually in missed growth-enhancing investments….”

PS: “…. But the report warns that the underlying pressures have not gone away. The share of government revenue devoted to external debt service rose from 23.7% in 2017 to 31% in 2024 — meaning that governments have less money available to spend on social services or infrastructure. And, troublingly, the AfDB report suggests that in some cases, countries have taken on more debt without seeing stronger economic outcomes as a result. “The higher public debt on the continent does not always translate to higher economic productivity,” Urama said. “In fact, the report is showing that some countries, when they increase their debt, we see a reduction in productivity.””

“Taken together, the report argues that Africa’s next phase of growth will depend less on weathering external shocks and more on whether governments can mobilize domestic capital more effectively — through stronger tax systems, more efficient public spending, deeper financial markets, and investments that translate into jobs and productivity growth.”

Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia and Zambia among countries benefiting from €10 million in EIB Global support for primary healthcare

https://www.eib.org/en/press/all/2026-181-angola-burundi-ethiopia-and-zambia-among-countries-benefiting-from-eur10-million-in-eib-global-support-for-primary-healthcare

“EIB Global provides €10 million to support the provision of technical assistance, catalysing potential investments into bankable projects in Sub-Saharan countries. The support is delivered through the Health Impact Investment Platform (HIIP), an initiative of EIB Global, Islamic Development Bank and World Health Organisation.”

“Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia and Zambia are the first four African countries to join this programme. The technical assistance aims to accelerate investments in primary healthcare and progress towards universal health coverage by strengthening the planning, prioritisation and design of relevant projects. The assistance is being offered through an initiative of EIB Global, Islamic Development Bank and World Health Organisation known as the Health Impact Investment Platform (HIIP). The three institutions together are providing an initial €30 million to support technical assistance and capacity building and aim to attract more funding for health projects.”

Global Fund – Global Fund Welcomes Indonesia’s US$10 Million Commitment to the Eighth Replenishment

https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/updates/2026/2026-05-27-global-fund-indonesia-us10-million-commitment-eighth-replenishment/

“The Republic of Indonesia has announced a pledge of US$10 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) as part of the partnership’s Eighth Replenishment, reaffirming Indonesia’s role in advancing global health and resilient health systems….”

Global Tax Justice

Bloomberg; UN Draft treaty aims to boost Nations’ rights to tax Tech giants

Bloomberg;

(gated) “Countries at the United Nations are rewriting international tax rules in an effort to be able to tax technology giants like Alphabet and Amazon based on where their users are located rather than where they’re headquartered. A draft tax proposal seen by Bloomberg — which covers advertising, search functions, social media platforms, online gaming, cloud computing, supply of user data, and more — could significantly increase how much tax companies pay, and where.”

Guardian – At least £325bn of ‘dirty money’ flows through UK each year, says report

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/24/dirty-money-through-uk-corruption-tax-evasion

“Call for crackdown as finance linked to corruption, tax evasion and money laundering is estimated at 10% of GDP.”

“At least £325bn worth of dirty money is flowing through the UK every year, according to research that is causing concern about funding for state investigators and the government’s push into crypto assets. The figure is equivalent to more than 10% of UK GDP and includes illicit funds linked to financial crime, money laundering, corruption, illegal trade and tax dodging, according to the report by the Finance Innovation Lab charity. Including the UK’s crown dependencies and overseas territories, such as Jersey and the Cayman Islands, the figure jumps to more than £788bn annually.”

“The research is believed to be the first comprehensive attempt to quantify the scale of illicit finance flows linked to the UK, with cross-border data on tax evasion and financial crime revealing the extent of the UK’s international role as a hub for dirty money from across the world…. … The figures were released as the UK postponed the Illicit Finance Summit, originally due to take place on 23-24 June, to December.”

Ebola DRC outbreak

First with some more or less chronological overview of key statements and press releases since last Friday, then with some analysis (and various efforts from stakeholders such as Africa CDC, CEPI, GAVI, Pandemic Fund, Gates Foundation, …)

WHO – First meeting of the IHR Emergency Committee regarding the epidemic of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda 2026 – Temporary recommendations

WHO;

(22 May) “On 17 May 2026, pursuant to paragraph 2 of Article 12 – Determination of a public health emergency of international concern, including a pandemic emergency of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR), the Director-General (DG) of the World Health Organization (WHO), after having consulted the States Parties where the event was known to be occurring, determined that the epidemic of Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), but did not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency, as defined in the IHR. The DG statement issued on 17 May 2026 also contained “WHO advice” to States Parties to respond to and prepare for the event. On 19 May 2026, the DG convened the first meeting of the IHR Emergency Committee regarding the epidemic of Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda (hereafter “Committee”). The Committee’s advice aligned with the determination by the DG that the event constitutes a PHEIC, but does not meet the criteria for pandemic emergency. “

Check out the temporary recommendations.

Devex – WHO revises DRC Ebola outbreak risk to ‘very high’

https://www.devex.com/news/who-revises-drc-ebola-outbreak-risk-to-very-high-112576

(22 May) “The World Health Organization has raised its assessment of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to “very high” at the national level as confirmed and suspected cases continue to climb.”

“… Yesterday, WHO convened leaders from several partner organizations — including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations — under the interim Medical Countermeasures Network to review the pipeline of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics. The interim Medical Countermeasures Network is a global coordination platform aimed at ensuring rapid and equitable access to essential health tools during public health emergencies.”

“WHO has also released $3.9 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies to support the response, while the United Nations has allocated an additional $60 million.”

“Acting director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, Maria Van Kerkhove, said WHO works to ensure ministries of health maintain a baseline level of outbreak response capacity, but warned that financing remains a major challenge.”

Geneva Health Files – WHO Update: Ebola PHEIC

https://newsletter.genevahealthfiles.com/reading-the-global-health-security-consensus-countries-on-the-international-health-regulations-at-wha79/?ref=geneva-health-files-newsletter

Highlights from the press briefing (May 22, 2026)

Among others:

“Global Coordination: Unified Strategic Response: Maria Van Kerkhove, the Acting Director of the Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Threats, said the WHO and partners are developing a single Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) to align national efforts in the DRC and Uganda and to prevent organizations from competing for limited emergency funds.”

“On the Interim Medical Countermeasures Platform: The (i-MCM-Net) is fully activated on a technical level. The DG convened the principles of the agencies leading work on medical countermeasures(CEPI, The Global Fund, Gavi, The Gates Foundation), …”

UN News – Ebola epidemic spreading rapidly and outpacing containment efforts

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/05/1167584

(25 May) “There are more than 900 suspected cases of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and 220 suspected deaths, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, said on Monday.”

“Director general of World Health Organization urges neighbouring countries to take immediate action.”

Africa CDC – African Leaders Mobilise Funding and Regional Response as Ebola Outbreak Escalates

https://africacdc.org/news-item/african-leaders-mobilise-funding-and-regional-response-as-ebola-outbreak-escalates/

(26 May) “During a high-level virtual ministerial briefing convened by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the African Union, leaders backed a continental preparedness and response plan requiring at least US$319 million between June and November 2026 to strengthen outbreak control in affected countries and preparedness in at least 11 high-risk African Union member states.”

“It was also revealed that nearly US$500 million had been committed or pledged by governments, multilateral agencies and humanitarian partners. ….”

Guardian – WHO chief calls for DRC ceasefire to tackle Ebola outbreak

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/27/who-chief-tedros-calls-for-drc-ceasefire-ebola

(27 May) “The head of the World Health Organization has called for an immediate ceasefire in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to help tackle the Ebola outbreak there. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on social media that the region was in the midst of a “catastrophic collision of disease and conflict with the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province outpacing the response”.

HPW – Africa CDC Chief Condemns Ebola Travel Restrictions and Broken Aid Promises

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/africa-cdc-chief-condemns-ebola-travel-restrictions/

“International Ebola-related travel restrictions imposed on people from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and South Sudan – which has yet to record a single case – are “unacceptable” will have a detrimental effect on the economies of affected countries, said Dr Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. The US was the first to ban travellers from the three countries, with Canada, the Bahamas, Jordan and Bahrain following, but Kaseya said 15 countries have now imposed some form of travel restrictions. “We cannot stop this outbreak with travel restrictions that Western countries have started to impose on African countries….

“… Kaseya said that he had visited Bunia in the last few days where he encountered “mistrust of Western countries” by people in the area. “The question they are asking me is: ‘DG, why after 19 years of this [disease], we still don’t have a vaccine, we still don’t have medicine? A local leader was telling me: ‘If this outbreak was in Europe or in the US, a vaccine and medicines will already be available’,” Kaseya told the media briefing. Kaseya also condemned countries that had pledged financial support for the outbreak effort only to renege a few days later, saying that he would name them within a week if they did not make good on their promises.”

“The DRC will contribute $50 million to the effort, but the need is in the region of $319 million. “On Monday (25 May), we ended the day with a pledge of $498.8 million almost $500 million. Since then the figure is going down. Now, as I’m talking to you, the figure is around $290 million We cannot afford to stop this outbreak without resources. We cannot afford to stop this outbreak just with political declaration from some countries,” he said….”

(28 May) “On Monday, Africa CDC announced nearly $500 million had been raised to fight the alarming Ebola outbreak in Central Africa. But that number has since dropped to $219 million.”

Guardian – WHO chief arrives in DRC promising Ebola outbreak ‘can be stopped’

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/29/who-chief-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-drc-ebola-outbreak-epidemic

(29 May) “Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus heads for Ituri province where epidemic is centred and calls for halt to fighting that hampers medical relief efforts.”

WHO – Experts convened by WHO advise on candidate treatments and vaccines for Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus

https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2026-experts-convened-by-who-advise-on-candidate-treatments-and-vaccines-for-ebola-disease-caused-by-bundibugyo-virus

(28 May) “In response to the current outbreak of Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with cases also reported in Uganda, WHO convened several of its expert and advisory groups. These groups assessed potential vaccines and therapeutics for both prevention and treatment of Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD). The WHO advisory groups recommended that all the products identified and considered be used exclusively within clinical trials to generate robust data and ensure safe, ethical, and effective research. WHO convened a series of meetings with the WHO R&D Blueprint technical advisory groups on candidate vaccines and therapeutics for BVD. In parallel, WHO also convened the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) and its Ebola vaccine working group to advise on the potential role of licensed Ebola vaccines during BVD outbreaks.”

Check out their recommendations.

Devex – The Ebola species rapidly spreading has no vaccines. Here are the options

https://www.devex.com/news/the-ebola-species-rapidly-spreading-has-no-vaccines-here-are-the-options-112583

(25 May) “Vaccines licensed for the Zaire strain have been incredibly helpful in the management of Ebola but there is extremely limited evidence on its efficacy against the Bundibugyo strain — which is what’s currently circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

PS: “Gavi has already issued a statement deploying an advanced purchase commitment for vaccines that are effective against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus to incentivize manufacturers, Nishtar said….”

“on the therapeutic side, WHO has recommended prioritizing two monoclonal antibodies to use in clinical trials, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during the high-level meeting….”

““In recognition of the scale and urgency of this situation, CEPI has activated its highest level of response, and the board will be meeting tomorrow to consider what further support is needed for this response,” said Dr. Githinji Gitahi, group CEO of Amref Health Africa and vice board chair of CEPI. “This is only the second time that we’ve actually activated this highest level.” “We are coordinating with Gavi, World Bank, and development finance institutions to secure surge financing for manufacturing and procurement,” he added….”

Science Insider – Can fast, nimble clinical trials deliver a drug to halt the new Ebola outbreak?

https://www.science.org/content/article/can-fast-nimble-clinical-trials-deliver-drug-halt-new-ebola-outbreak

“Past outbreaks spawned clever strategies for testing antivirals and antibodies, but researchers will still face major challenges on the ground.”

Reuters – World Bank says responding to Ebola outbreak, plans to increase funding

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/world-bank-says-responding-ebola-outbreak-plans-increase-funding-2026-05-22/

“Existing project in DRC has $200 million in undisbursed funds; World Bank worried about lack of healthcare response systems in South Sudan, Burundi; Neighboring Uganda has stronger system but faces financing gaps.”

“The World Bank has dispatched staff and resources to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to respond to the Ebola outbreak, and is putting together a ‌financing package to ensure more funding can be made available rapidly, a top bank official said.”

“Monique Vledder, who heads the World Bank’s global health department, told Reuters that the bank was also very concerned about neighboring states South Sudan and Burundi, which have weak healthcare response systems. Uganda, which has reported two Ebola cases, has a strong public health system but also faced some financing gaps, she added.”

“Vledder gave no immediate details on the size of the financing package being prepared, but it was clear that more funding would be needed ⁠in coming months. … The DRC has an existing $250 million health project with the World Bank that was approved in March 2024 to help the Central African country detect and respond to disease outbreaks and other emergencies. About $200 million of those funds have not been disbursed and remain available, World Bank data show….

“”We are pulling together today and early next week a complete package where we will be drawing from different types of financing mechanisms that will help us to make available more funding in a rapid way,” Vledder said. … …. She said the World Bank was coordinating with partners at the national, regional and global levels, including the World Health Organization and ‌Africa Centres ⁠for Disease Control and Prevention to respond to the outbreak as quickly as possible. …”

Devex Opinion – Collaboration will be key in race for vaccine to control rare Ebola strain

Dr. Sania Nishtar & Dr. Richard Hatchett; Devex ;

“Gavi and CEPI issue an urgent plan for the response to the latest Ebola outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus.”

“In an opinion piece for Devex, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance CEO Dr. Sania Nishtar and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations CEO Dr. Richard Hatchett lay out the playbook: test whether the existing Ebola Zaire vaccine offers any cross-protection, fast-track candidates specific to the rare Bundibugyo strain, and make sure the basics are in place — health workers, cold chains, community engagement, and the operational machinery needed for trials or rollout in an active conflict zone….”

KFF (brief) – Is The U.S. Stepping Up In The Fight Against Ebola?

KFF;

(updated on May 23) “A major Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization on May 17, is testing the United States’ ability to respond to global health crises under the Trump administration’s America First Global Health Strategy, according to a new KFF brief. “

“With nearly 600 suspected cases and over 139 deaths as of May 20, the outbreak presents unique challenges for the U.S. global health response, including a different Ebola virus species (for which vaccines and treatments are unavailable), ongoing regional insecurity, a reduced U.S. global health footprint, and a changed environment for international cooperation. The outbreak is also raising questions about whether existing resources and new organizational structures can effectively engage with a multinational/international response to address a major viral outbreak in a region already facing multiple humanitarian crises….”

“The recently announced Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is quickly escalating in the region, emerges at a time when the larger fiscal and programmatic environment for global health efforts faces particular hurdles, and international cooperation has been significantly challenged. This is in large part due to policy decisions made by the Trump administration and presents the first real global outbreak test following those changes.”

Gates Foundation – Gates Foundation Ebola Response Funding Announcement

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-center/press-releases/2026/05/ebola-outbreak-africa

“The Gates Foundation is committing an initial $15 million in emergency funding to support this response through trusted institutions already working on the ground. The funding is designed to place the majority of resources as close to affected countries and communities as possible: $5 million to Africa CDC for regional coordination, rapid deployment, and cross-border surveillance; $5 million to WHO AFRO for frontline operational support to countries; and $5 million to WHO Headquarters to support rapid procurement, diagnostics, and surge logistics for critical response commodities.”

“The foundation also supports collaboration between Africa CDC and WHO AFRO through the Joint Emergency Action Plan (JEAP), a framework designed to strengthen coordination and provide governments with more unified emergency support during health crises…”

Guardian – Suspected Ebola cases triple in a week as WHO warns of rapid spread in DRC

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/may/22/suspected-ebola-cases-triple-in-a-week-as-who-warns-of-rapid-spread-in-drc

“Situation described as ‘deeply worrisome’ by officials as aid cuts and community distrust impede responders.”

Devex – ‘It’s so bad’: Inside the fast-spreading Ebola outbreak

https://www.devex.com/news/it-s-so-bad-inside-the-fast-spreading-ebola-outbreak-112578

(from earlier this week – 25 May) “The aid sector and countries in the affected region are on high alert. They’re playing catch-up to contain a very deadly virus that’s had ample time to spread undetected in areas where conflict makes it arduous and dangerous to reach people.”

“Africa CDC is aiming to raise $318.97 million for the overall continental plan for the next six months, which it is coleading with the WHO office for Africa, and implementing with partners.”

PS: “Kaseya said during the high-level meeting that he received a message from Jeremy Lewin, the senior official in charge of foreign assistance at the U.S. State Department, that $382 million had been pledged by the U.S., which includes around $300 million in general humanitarian aid for both DRC and Uganda and $82 million in emergency funding through the OCHA mechanism. It’s unclear how much of this is specifically allocated for the Ebola response — and is assumedly not in addition to other commitments. …”

“South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also announced during the high-level meeting that his country would increase its contribution to $5 million from $2.5 million.” “Ramaphosa added that African business leaders, such as Aliko Dangote through his foundation, are also stepping forward with support. The private sector as well as financial institutions, including multilateral development banks, will convene in Nigeria in the coming days to also make their pledges….”

PS: “….But responders warn that pledges alone will not stop this outbreak. It must quickly translate to money on the ground to support frontline workers. “Up-front funding that’s needed now is actually more valuable than the funding that may come later down the line,” says Dr. Mesfin Teklu Tessema of the International Rescue Committee.”

· And via Devex Check-up :

“During the ministerial briefing earlier this week to get high-level support for the $319 million plan put together by Africa CDC and WHO, Ramaphosa revealed that African countries had committed 10% of the required financing. That includes $5 million from South Africa. “Africa is no longer waiting passively for others to act,” he said.
The reality is, though, that the vast majority of the nearly $500 million raised for the response so far is still coming from traditional donors. ….” (but see the update by now on the shrinking pledges)

Devex – UK Ebola response sparks questions over aid cuts

P Adepoju; https://www.devex.com/news/uk-ebola-response-sparks-questions-over-aid-cuts-112604

“Critics warn emergency Ebola funding cannot replace long-term investment in outbreak preparedness systems as the U.K. moves ahead with major aid cuts.”

BMJ Opinion – The DRC Ebola outbreak has exposed the consequences of global health underfunding

https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-678216

“Trust and community engagement will be as important as vaccines in controlling the disease, say Daniela Manno and Bikioli-Bolombo Freddy.”

Lancet Comment – The PHEIC for Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus: an inflection point for solidarity and health equity

Alexandra L Phelan, Jennifer B Nuzzo & L Gostin; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01037-8/fulltext

« On May 16, 2026, the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus took the unprecedented step of declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) without first convening an Emergency Committee for the Ebola outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus (Orthoebolavirus bundibugyoense) in DR Congo and Uganda. Although this procedural departure is grounded in the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005), its rarity underscores the gravity of this Ebola virus disease outbreak. The crisis is the predictable outcome of deeper structural challenges: chronic underinvestment in local health systems and a global failure to prioritise pathogens that predominantly affect lower-income countries….”

“…. The PHEIC declaration in this outbreak has been an unprecedented process. The WHO Director-General convened an IHR Emergency Committee for each of the previous eight PHEICs. Although the IHR (2005) grants the Director-General sole authority to determine a PHEIC, Article 12 stipulates procedural steps he “shall consider”, including consulting affected States Parties, reviewing scientific evidence, assessing human health risks, and seeking the counsel of an Emergency Committee. Because “shall” denotes a mandatory legal obligation, historical precedent dictated that an Emergency Committee must be convened before an emergency could be declared. The decision to bypass this initial vetting step is structurally unprecedented yet remains legally defensible. The fast-tracked declaration matches the velocity of the epidemic and relies on Article 12 which empowers the WHO Director-General to formulate an immediate “preliminary determination” through direct consultation with affected States Parties, provided they concur (panel). The WHO Director-General subsequently convened an Emergency Committee on May 19 with members expressing their strong support for the PHEICs continuation and issuing temporary recommendations to countries. This novel approach reflects a reasonable legal construction of the IHR to prioritise immediate global mobilisation.”

“…This epidemic underscores the untenable vulnerabilities and injustices arising from market failure and neglected pathogens. The successful development of vaccines including rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine (Ervebo) and highly effective monoclonal antibodies for the O zairense species showed that biomedical countermeasures can be achieved when political will, market incentives, and sustained financing align. However, medical research and development for Bundibugyo virus has been neglected, owing to historically infrequent outbreaks and systemic market failures that deprioritise research for pathogens confined to resource-constrained settings. Consequently, the current containment response remains tethered to the same public health and social measures (PHSM) deployed decades ago: case detection, isolation, contact tracing, safe burials, and supportive clinical care. WHO and DR Congo have deployed experts and first responders to the outbreak, with additional teams expected to assist with surveillance, community engagement for PHSM, and clinical care. On May 22–23, Africa CDC held a high-level public health and political coordination meeting in line with the AHSS strategy with ministers of health from DR Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan, as well as National Public Health Institutes, technical experts, WHO, and UNICEF in Kampala. Success of PHSM will depend on ensuring sufficient financial and mutual aid so that patients and contacts have food, childcare, and income security that enables them to follow health measures without undue hardship….”

“This countermeasure vacuum directly tests global health law reforms…” Do read how.

They conclude: “This crisis must serve as an inflection point. The international community must reverse the ongoing disinvestment in global health architecture and expand front-line diagnostic and surveillance capacities beyond a few high-profile pathogens to encompass the full spectrum of viral threats. In time, the Pandemic Agreement and successful negotiation of the PABS Annex can facilitate this effort. The Ebola epidemic caused by Bundibugyo virus has followed a predictable, tragic trajectory of institutional neglect. It is now incumbent upon all countries to redefine the parameters of a PHEIC—shifting it from a mechanism of reactive, self-interested panic into an enforceable covenant of global solidarity and health equity.”

Stat – The Ebola outbreak will lead to devastating violence against women and girls

L Stark et al; https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/26/ebola-outbreak-congo-violence-women-girls/

“Not building violence prevention into the Ebola response is negligence.”

“Public health advocates will spend the next several months talking about transmission, case fatality, contact tracing, and vaccine development. But one critical topic will go largely undiscussed: what this outbreak will do to women and girls. We recently co-authored a systematic review that synthesizes 112 studies on violence against women and girls during infectious disease outbreaks. The findings are all too clear. Outbreaks increase the risk of violence. They do so through five overlapping mechanisms: income loss, movement restrictions, reduced access to schools and clinics, fear of infection as a tool of control, and mistrust of health systems that persists from prior outbreaks. These mechanisms were consistent across countries and populations.”

“We know all of this because it has already happened. We documented it during the last DRC Ebola outbreak. We documented it during Covid-19 in 57 countries. The literature is now large enough that we can say, with reasonable confidence, that women and girls in eastern Congo will be harmed in predictable, named ways over the next 12 months. Some of that harm will be irreversible. Three things are different this time, and all three are worse….”

“However, several studies in our review showed that the path to violence is not inevitable. There are some proven strategies for protecting women and girls: Embed violence monitoring in outbreak surveillance from day one. Treat gender-based violence services, including shelters and clinical care, as essential, providing staff and volunteers with PPE and training to avoid infection. Restore funding from the U.S. and other global powers. Train front-line responders to identify and refer survivors. Keep schools open or substitute structured alternatives….”

“None of this is groundbreaking. None of this is rocket science. None of this is speculative or new. It is in our review. It’s in WHO guidance. It’s in the operational plans the dismantled agencies wrote years ago….”

Lancet World Report – Ebola in Africa

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01073-1/fulltext

“A lack of vaccines, diagnostics, and basic public health capacity is raising fears over the scale of the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo and Uganda. John Agaba reports from Kampala.”

· And via X: The Pandemic Fund

“As the Ebola outbreak evolves, the @Pandemic_Fund is coordinating with countries and partners to scale up surveillance, diagnostics, risk communications & #CommunityEngagement, and other emergency response measures in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, and neighboring countries. Our financing will complement broader efforts underway. …. …. An extraordinary meeting of the Fund’s Governing Board will be held this week to determine concrete measures, including the reprogramming of available resources to meet urgent needs.”

And some links:

· AP – Uganda closes its border with Congo, where suspected cases of a rare Ebola type are surging

· BMJ News – Ebola in numbers: Aid agencies warn current outbreak may become “deadliest on record”

“ The Ebola virus disease outbreak rapidly spreading through the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and into Uganda could become the “deadliest on record” without urgent action, warns aid agency International Rescue Committee (IRC)….”

More on PPPR & GHS

Foreign Policy – Geopolitical Chaos is Wrecking Pandemic Agreements

M Kavanagh; https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/05/22/hantavirus-who-cruise-ship-outbreak-ebola-congo-trump-cdc-vaccine-inequality-geopolitics/

“U.S. dysfunction is undercutting attempts at equality.”

Via the author: “In @foreignpolicy.com today I argue inequality now main driver of pandemic risk. 3 deaths on lux cruise gets wall to wall covg while Ebola in Congo goes undetected. Pandemic agreement stalled over tech sharing. Lack of a serious political venue is a growing crisis.”

A few excerpts:

“… The United States is the epicenter of the global disorder: U.S. President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) was premised on the idea the country could replace multilateralism with bilateral deals. After the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which assumed this money was doing little good and a more extractive approach would get the United States better information sharing and a greater health security, the new “America First” global health strategy has aimed to prevent dangerous outbreaks and pandemics by prioritizing “making America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.” So far, the Congo Ebola outbreak is proving these assumptions wrong. The Trump administration halted millions of dollars in grants to Congo outbreak and surveillance projects. It also cut hundreds of millions of dollars to the health workers in malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, and maternal health efforts, who had been an informal surveillance network in past outbreaks. Congo was one of the first countries to agree to Trump’s new America First global health deals, yet instead of stronger information sharing and quicker responses the United States has found itself on the outside looking in, unable to coordinate with WHO and learning things not much sooner than headlines break.”

“But while the Trump administration’s moves are perhaps the most high-profile symptom of the geopolitics of inequality, these geopolitics were already wreaking havoc on a great many governments….”

“… A recent report from the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS, and Pandemics, which I co-authored, proposed that a pandemic emergency declaration could trigger opening of a surge financing facility, perhaps one based in the global south (such as the New Development Bank, established by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and one based at the International Monetary Fund. This facility would use special drawing rights as capital, as happened during COVID-19, albeit then too late and too piecemeal. The report also proposed, in an idea led by Joseph Stiglitz, creating a patent-free system of prizes for pandemic technology to incentivize innovation without creating global monopolies that allow viruses to spread while factories sit idle in Africa, Asia, and Latin America….”

“Inequality is driving today’s pandemics, but there is currently no serious political venue in which to address it. The World Health Assembly is deadlocked on how to bring the Pandemic Agreement into force and whether to allow Argentina to withdraw from WHO. The G20 under its U.S. chair has eliminated its health track entirely. The BRICS countries considered the idea of a pandemic fund of their own based at the New Development Bank; but while such a fund could be more equitable, it has not materialized and the group has its own deep political divisions. Important work is happening at regional level in Africa and within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but when facing a global outbreak it will be hard to see how this work adds up to more than the sum of its parts.”

“There are multiple proposals being floated for reforming the architecture of global health governance—from WHO, African leaders, charitable foundations, and think tanks. But none would accomplish this major missing piece: generating a shared venue where genuine high-level political negotiation over the inequality drivers of pandemics occurs among powerful states. Until that happens, viruses will continue to triumph, no matter how well international organizations’ mandates are aligned and funding streams rationalized.”

Foreign Policy – The Next Pandemic Will Come From a Conflict Zone

A Sparrow et al; https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/05/22/ebola-outbreak-congo-uganda-pandemic-preparedness-conflict/

“The latest Ebola outbreak underscores a central flaw with the global preparedness model.” “… perhaps the question people should be asking is: How can fragile health care systems withstand such crises?…”

“… The COVID-19 pandemic intensified a preparedness model centered on technological containment. The current Ebola outbreak underscores a flaw in this model. As negotiations over the WHO Pandemic Agreement remain focused on debates around vaccines, intellectual property, and technology transfer, less attention has been paid to the human forces that determine whether dangerous outbreaks can be contained. … … Technological tools matter enormously, but fixating only on these solutions and single pathogens obscures a larger unfolding threat: the slow collapse of the human systems required to contain outbreaks once they emerge.”

“… The West African Ebola epidemic in 2014-16 demonstrated the catastrophic consequences that Ebola can have for fragile regional health systems and local economies, while also revealing the comparatively limited direct threat to most Western populations. That limited threat helps explain a political dynamic rarely acknowledged openly at pandemic summits. Though outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola and hantavirus are invoked to underscore the urgency of pandemic treaties and preparedness plans, Western governments often appear far less alarmed in practice than their rhetoric suggests….”

“… Ebola exposes a profound fault line in the global system: inequity. Outbreaks of Ebola, mpox, anthrax, cholera, malaria, and polio emerge disproportionately in conflict-affected settings where health care systems are already weakened by violence, displacement, poverty, and underinvestment. Mpox, for example, emerged as a major sustained epidemic in eastern Congo in 2023, where insecurity, sexual violence, and weak surveillance systems created ideal conditions for prolonged transmission. …. … Meanwhile, global preparedness has increasingly drifted toward a technologically seductive vision of pandemic prevention centered on pathogen discovery. Beginning in 2009, the United States invested heavily in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) program—including PREDICT, a system that sought to identify viruses with pandemic potential circulating in wildlife populations. In 2018, an independent evaluation of the EPT program commissioned by USAID—which is no longer available online—found that PREDICT had failed to anticipate any of the four major epidemics that defined the late 2000s and 2010s: the H1N1 influenza pandemic, MERS, Ebola, or congenital Zika syndrome. The problem was never simply scientific. Governments poured billions of dollars into pathogen-specific countermeasures, vaccine platforms, and biodefense programs while paying far less attention to airborne and asymptomatic transmission, risk communication, and the structural fragilities that transform a virus into a global disaster: overcrowded hospitals, workforce shortages, unequal health care access, fragile supply chains, political mistrust, and underfunded public health systems.”

“… Pandemic preparedness is not simply a scientific and biomedical challenge. It is fundamentally political.”

HPW – Mandates or Markets? Geopolitical Rift Impairs Pandemic Preparedness as Crisis Funds Hit ‘Dangerous Lows’

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/geopolitical-rift-pandemic-preparedness/

Coverage of a high-level forum in Geneva from during the WHA (“From Preparedness to Crisis Response: Ensuring Equitable Access to Medical Countermeasures”). Co-hosted by the GHC, the WHO, the European Commission, and the governments of Indonesia and Germany, the forum convened a diverse coalition of decision-makers.

“WHO emergency funds are running low, and global health leaders are concerned about a systemic paralysis in pandemic preparedness. In high-level discussions in Geneva, experts explored the geopolitical rifts, pitting the Global South’s demand to treat pandemic tools as legally binding “public goods” against a European push for market-driven surge financing.”

On the latter: “…. To circumvent the delays of traditional voluntary funding – and provide a market-driven alternative to the mandatory corporate contributions demanded by the Global South – industrialised nations are instead championing the Global Surge Financing Initiative. First established in 2024 through a memorandum of understanding signed by development finance institutions from G7 nations, the European Investment Bank (EIB), MedAccess, and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), this mechanism aims at pooling institutional capital to rapidly finance advance purchase agreements for lower-income countries. The surge financing model combines market-based capital, private-sector reliance, and a hybrid PABS system….”

Participants in the debate: “Alongside Van Kerkhove, Dr Viroj Tangcharoensathien, vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on the WHO Pandemic Agreement, and Matthias Seiche, head of health policy and financing at Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, offered contrasting visions over approaches to crisis funding. They were followed by a technical panel of specialised agencies that explored practical implementation, moderated by GHC’s Head of Policy Engagement, Daniela Morich….

“The debate exposed a deep ideological rift: while low- and middle-income countries are demanding legally binding treaties that mandate equitable access to life-saving tools as a universal public good, western states are pushing for market-based financial mechanisms to quickly mobilise capital in the event of a crisis.”

Lancet Public Health (Correspondence) – Health security: why preparedness alone will not keep us safe

K Buse et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(26)00099-X/fulltext

“As health security expands to address climate, trust, and systemic risks, a continued focus on emergency preparedness risks fragmenting public health and obscuring the political and economic drivers of those risks. The upcoming Global Health Security Conference suggests a welcome shift, reflecting an evolution in how health security is understood. Topics now extend beyond infectious disease preparedness to include climate change, misinformation, trust, and governance, pointing towards more systems-oriented and interconnected understandings….”

“Yet, while the agenda has broadened, the way health security is operationalised has changed far less. Emergency preparedness, response systems, and surge capacity models continue to dominate expansion without transformation. At risk is the indivisibility of WHO’s Essential Public Health Functions, a framework that makes it clear that prevention, promotion, protection, and governance are interdependent. Community engagement, health promotion, disease prevention, and public health regulation are often deprioritised in favour of emergency response. Separating health security from the broader public health system risks weakening the foundations on which resilience depends. Work by WHO and the International Association of National Public Health Institutes reinforces the need for balanced delivery across these functions…”

The Letter then makes five points.

AMR

Guardian -Climate crisis is accelerating antibiotic resistance across world, study says

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/26/climate-crisis-accelerating-antibiotic-resistance-across-world-salmonella-study

“Experts say climate change linked to 10% rise in salmonella antibiotic resistance genes between 1940 and 2023.”

“The climate crisis is accelerating a global increase in antibiotic resistance that poses a serious threat to human health, experts have said as figures show a rise in salmonella antibiotic resistant genes. … Now a study, led by researchers from the UK, France, Australia, Switzerland and China, has revealed how climate change is linked to rising antibiotic resistance in salmonella, one of the world’s most common bacterial diseases. Climate change is associated with a 10% global increase in salmonella antibiotic resistance genes between 1940 and 2023, according to the first-of-its-kind study, which has been published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal.”

PS: “The main drivers of antibiotic resistance are still the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which are used to treat infections. But the research suggested the problem is being worsened by climate change….”

Trump 2.0

Guardian – US voters support HIV/Aids relief – will Trump’s cuts backfire in the midterms?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/24/hiv-aids-trump-midterms?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

“US midterm voters overwhelmingly support Pepfar, an initiative to end HIV/Aids that also has strengthened health systems against other infectious disease threats but has come under fire from the Trump administration. …… About three in four (74%) likely voters in the US midterm elections say they support funding the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), with voters more likely to back candidates who support Pepfar, according to a recent poll. Four in five voters said there is a moral argument for supporting lifesaving treatment for people at risk for or living with HIV/Aids, regardless of their personal choices. Among voters, “it’s going to be seen positively if Republicans or Democrats pursue Pepfar,” said Jennifer Kates, the senior vice-president and director of the global and public health policy program at KFF, a health non-profit.”

Independent – Trump administration restricts leading US scientists’ involvement in global Ebola response – report

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ebola-policy-cdc-niaid-b2983603.html?trk=feed_main-feed-card_feed-article-content

“New restrictions prevent US health experts from contributing during conference calls with the World Health Organisation and limit those only listening to “small groups”.”

NYT – Trump Administration to Send Americans Exposed to Ebola to Kenya

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/us/politics/trump-ebola-kenya.html?unlocked_article_code=1.lVA.rw8t.qQwePLZ7qHMD&smid=url-share

“In past outbreaks, Americans exposed to the virus were sent home to be treated in state-of-the-art facilities. The Trump administration has already flown some U.S. citizens to Europe for treatment.”

US Bilateral health agreements & US Global Health strategy

FT – Donald Trump reboots foreign aid with cash-for-data strategy

FT;

“After gutting USAID, Washington is striking transactional deals that some critics liken to ‘recolonisation’.”

A few quotes:

“Some African officials have also accused the US of predicating aid money on other demands, including preferential access to critical minerals, though Washington has categorically denied this. “It’s a recolonisation of our health system,” said Ayoade Alakija, a Nigerian ministerial health envoy and co-chair of the African Vaccine Delivery Alliance, of the $5bn MOU Nigeria signed with Washington in December. “They can create vaccines and diagnostic tools with our data and we get scraps off the table.””

“… health experts warned that Washington was pushing for implementation too quickly to deal with such complex issues. “America is giving countries very little time,” said Serah Makka, executive director for Africa at the One Campaign, which advocates for an end to extreme poverty and preventable diseases. “Even the American government doesn’t work that fast.” The new-style MOUs signed with governments in Africa, Latin America and Asia are focused on HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and maternal health…”

“… Some African health officials cautiously welcomed the transactional nature of agreements as more transparent. “Aid has always been conditional,” said Makka of the One Campaign. “What we are seeing is the overt nature of it, and, quite frankly, overt is better than covert.” Githinji Gitahi, chief executive of Amref Health Africa, said: “We always knew aid was not charity, so we have no problem with an America First policy.” The problem, he said, was the power imbalance. Recipient countries were desperate for money to keep HIV and other programmes going and were signing agreements in a rush, he said. Kenya’s high court suspended implementation of a $2.5bn MOU with the US after a consumer lobby group brought a case. “Let us first determine the issues being raised by civil society around data sovereignty [so] the public can feel safe that their data is being protected,” said Gitahi.”

BMJ Opinion – Trump and RFK Jr have a new approach to global health: holding vulnerable people to ransom

G Yamey; https://www.bmj.com/content/393/bmj-2026-387444

“The US government is withholding healthcare for children and people with HIV to exert control over lower income countries, says Gavin Yamey.”

Excerpt: “… Multilateral global health institutions, including WHO, can better confront transnational challenges and extractive bilateralism in three key ways: firstly, renewed multilateralism must include reform of global health institutions. Institutional leadership must become more globally representative, with permanent representation of the global south in governance structures. Institutions should be consolidated to reduce overlap, increase efficiency, and sharpen their focus on providing global public goods. Second, WHO can use its role in setting global norms and standards to boost the collective bargaining power of countries in the face of asymmetric bilateral aid contracts. For example, WHO could establish legal and institutional frameworks to strengthen governance over bilateral relationships and reduce low income and middle income countries’ exposure to asymmetric power structures. Thirdly, multilateral institutions must support low income and middle income countries in gaining national sovereignty over their own health systems and increasing their domestic health financing, with planned and phased transition away from external financing…”

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists – African countries can still get US funding for public health—if they cough up minerals and data first

https://thebulletin.org/2026/05/african-countries-can-still-get-us-funding-for-public-health-if-they-cough-up-minerals-and-data-first/#post-heading

Not that much new in this analysis, except perhaps the following paragraphs:

“Deals under the auspices of President Trump’s America First Global Health Strategy are offering countries in Africa and elsewhere a progressively diminishing amount of critical health funding—revokable at any time—in return for granting the United States expansive and continuing access to an array of resources ranging from minerals to valuable health data, experts and officials say. The deals aren’t coercion at colonial gunpoint, exactly, but they’re still life or death propositions for the countries involved. Nelson Evaborhene, a doctoral fellow at Denmark’s Roskilde University, said the leaders of the African countries are making these agreements for domestic reasons. “They are looking at the next electoral cycle,” he says. “Many of them, they’re clearly going to pick the US funding.”

And towards the end of the article, on ‘leverage’:

“Leverage. … …. The America First Global Health Strategy “is about US interests, American prosperity, access to American products, supply chains, and American security,” Evaborhene says. “This has a lot of implication for global health, which is a field defined by equity and solidarity.”

“Though the Trump administration’s global health policies have been controversial, Evaborhene doesn’t expect the America First ethos to completely disappear from US policy, even if a future presidential administration returns to emphasizing greater international cooperation. We’re in an era of fierce geo-political jockeying, he says, with large powers like the United States, China, and Russia seeking advantage. “The era of deals that are struck for just altruistic purposes, for moral purposes, I think that era is gone,” he says.”

“Countries need to adapt, Evaborhene and Munga say, and play a more transactional game themselves. For Evaborhene, African countries should diversify their partnerships. They should negotiate to strengthen the deals, for example, so that the Trump administration couldn’t simply terminate aid at will. Munga says countries should get something for providing data for products and artificial intelligence. “They’re sitting on something that is of value” that may help grow their economies, she argues. “I think it’s an imperative for countries to start looking at this differently and find the silver lining. They need to find the silver lining.” For some countries, their resources and their importance in various geopolitical machinations give them currency—leverage in dealings with the United States or other countries. The reward may be a healthier population with more access to medicine. But, Evaborhene says, for countries without leverage, it’s a different story: “You know, what are they going to get? But that is the era that we are in right now, and it’s very sad.”

Emily Bass – Exclusive: State Department Shifts All U.S.-Funded Health Commodity Procurement to Global Fund’s Wambo Platform

On Substack;

“All US government health commodity procurement has shifted over to the Global Fund’s Wambo.org pooled procurement mechanism, as of May 15 2026, according to a Department of State démarche sent to embassies around the world on the same day. Under the new arrangement, countries will order US-funded commodities using Wambo’s Non-Grant Financed Procurement” (NGFP) channel. The US will pay for the purchases by transferring money to the Global Fund under via a “funding agreement.” The communique, which has not been previously reported, says that the current US supply chain contract, managed by Chemonics International, will “fulfill all outstanding purchase orders and complete all in-transit deliveries by September 2026.” The new arrangement “applies for the period during which the US government continues to finance commodity purchases…””

““It’s a pretty good idea. If you want to support country ownership of health programs, it’s a good idea to move away from a contract with a US-based company to procure and deliver other countries’ commodities, and towards the platform that most countries are already using to buy stuff with money from their Global Fund grants. This will make life simpler for some countries. The shift will also increase Global Fund purchasing power, as the volume of orders it processes increases….”

“… while the idea is solid, the execution is on-brand for Trump Era GHSD: short on details, blisteringly hasty and utterly blasé about timely, transparent public communication. GHSD can be congratulated on having a good idea and also be held accountable for ensuring that it is implemented responsibly and effectively….”

Stat – 8 former CDC directors: Reform PEPFAR, don’t dismantle it

W Roper et al; Stat;

“A State Department plan scheduled to be implemented June 1 would strip the U.S. of decades of disease defense.”

“…in the coming weeks, a new State Department plan could derail PEPFAR, endanger the lives of people living with HIV, and undermine global and American security. As a prelude to this change, on May 5, the State Department froze the funds needed to extend 105 active Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cooperative agreements that today support HIV treatment to 8.1 million people…..”

“Global health security requires deep expertise as well as relationships built over many years. PEPFAR was launched to fight HIV; the CDC country offices, laboratories, and trained workforce it sustains are also what CDC mobilizes when any outbreak appears. CDC’s country offices deploy staff within hours when emergencies strike, drawing on decades of partnership. CDC-supported laboratories sequence viruses within a day…..”

“After more than two decades, it is reasonable to ask how PEPFAR should evolve. The State Department has stated its goal of transferring ownership of these programs to the partner countries themselves. African leaders are asking for the same shift. Last year, Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama and other African heads of state launched the Accra Reset, a call for African governments to finance, staff, negotiate, and establish the health and public health institutions needed to protect and improve their health. That’s the right approach….”

“But how reform is sequenced matters. The administration’s current direction, which asks partner countries to choose, à la carte, which CDC services to buy, risks pulling out the scaffolding and expertise before an effective alternative is in place. Without a transition plan and a manageable timeline, the result will not be a more effective PEPFAR — it will be the rapid dismantling of America’s overseas public health capability and the relationships that have taken years to build…. …. Recent experience with the U.S. Agency for International Development provides a cautionary note: The rapid dismantling of USAID severed relationships built over decades, harmed children and others around the world, hollowed out institutional knowledge, and forfeited American influence. CDC’s global health relationships and expertise risk going down the same path if the State Department’s new and untested PEPFAR approach is adopted. Without more time to transition, at least 18 CDC global outposts could close before the end of the year. Up to 85% of CDC’s global presence could evaporate over the next two years, leaving no U.S. presence to connect with health leaders, build trust, and identify areas of mutual benefit, such as faster detection and control….”

UHC & PHC

Lancet Primary Care – Population expectations of primary care quality in 18 countries: a cross-sectional analysis of data from the People’s Voice Survey

Todd P Lewis, M Kruk et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanprc/article/PIIS3050-5143(26)00046-4/fulltext

“This study provides the first nationally representative, multicountry assessment of health system expectations using a harmonised instrument across 18 diverse countries. We quantify expectations of primary care, describe variation within and across countries, and identify groups with systematically low or high expectations—an important dimension for performance measurement and interpreting population-reported care quality…”

“… The combined evidence shows that expectations are a crucial determinant of how people interpret and rate their health system, yet they remain poorly measured and understood. As a result, population ratings that do not account for expectations should be interpreted with caution. Incorporating expectation measures into performance monitoring can clarify where low reported quality reflects genuinely poor performance versus low expectations that might lead patients to be overly satisfied with poor-quality care. For policy makers, these findings highlight the importance of raising expectations alongside improving services to increase demand for high-quality care, while also communicating what the health system can reasonably provide. …”

Interpretation of the findings: “Populations can often misjudge primary care quality, with substantial cross-national variation. Recognising and measuring expectations are essential for accurately interpreting health system ratings and guiding efforts to improve primary care. Policy makers should invest in strategies that strengthen health literacy and patient activation, empowering populations to recognise and demand high-quality primary care.”

SRHR

The Conversation – A draft African charter on ‘family values’ is on the cards: why it’s flawed and dangerous

C Macleod et al ; https://theconversation.com/a-draft-african-charter-on-family-values-is-on-the-cards-why-its-flawed-and-dangerous-282423

« A series of conferences held in Entebbe, Uganda, between 2023 and 2025 have resulted in a draft African Charter on Family, Sovereignty and Values. The meetings were organised by the Inter-parliamentary Network on African Sovereignty and Values, which organises continental conferences for African legislators and faith-based advocates. Supported by international conservative groups like Family Watch International and heavily promoted by Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, the aim of the drafters of the charter is to convince African governments to sign on to it. …. …. The draft charter is situated within the current global movement to the right, which prioritises nationalism, tougher immigration policies and an erosion of social values like gender equity. Framed as an effort to “protect” the family, it urges governments to adopt a series of regressive measures.”

“These include: opposing comprehensive sexuality education; rejecting the sexual and reproductive health and rights agenda, especially abortion (under any circumstance); establishing African “sovereignty” over health, food, education and economic development; preserving African cultural values, traditions and the role of elders.”

“… We are researchers with extensive experience in sexual and reproductive health and rights. Here, we address the inaccuracies contained in the charter. We are particularly concerned about the implications if it is adopted. Decades of scientific evidence produced on the African continent and elsewhere suggest that the measures, if adopted, will cause significant harm….”

Planetary Health

HPW – Global Temperatures Head For Record Highs in Next Five Years

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/global-temperatures-head-for-record-highs-in-next-five-years/

“Global average temperatures are likely to reach record levels in the coming five years, the latest report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns…”

Guardian – Global heating is making hajj ever more dangerous, report finds

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/29/global-heating-hajj-muslim-pilgrimage-saudi-arabia-dangerous

“Rising heat in Saudi Arabia threatens millions of Muslim pilgrims – but cutting fossil fuels would keep it safer.”

See the study (by researchers from World Weather Attribution).

Carbon Brief – Experts: Why migration is ‘not a failure of adaptation’ in a warming world

https://www.carbonbrief.org/experts-why-migration-is-not-a-failure-of-adaptation-in-a-warming-world/

“Hundreds of scientists gathered in London this week to discuss the role of migration as a way for communities to adapt to climate change.”

“As a form of climate adaptation, a decision to migrate involves an array of different factors, such as politics, conflict and economic opportunity. The conference unpacked these topics, as well as the impacts of climate change on livelihoods, relocation and gender norms across Africa and Asia.” “The event had a strong focus on urban areas, with one co-convenor stating that “half of the world’s population now lives in the cities…A lot of the battles of climate adaptation will be won and lost in cities.” “Another co-convenor told Carbon Brief that the conference’s “focus really is on the climate change adaptation community, showing that migration is not a failure of adaptation – it is part of adaptation”.

“The two-day conference on “mobility in adaptation to climate change” was held at Wellcome’s headquarters in London. It gathered more than 100 leading experts in migration, adaptation and climate change from countries across Europe, Africa and Asia….”

Guardian – ‘My head spins with the heat’: India’s gig workers battle exhaustion amid soaring temperatures

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/26/high-temperatures-millions-workers-impacted-by-heat-india-asia

“Cities across south and south-east Asia are becoming places where informal workers can no longer recover from the heat.”

“Rising temperatures are turning cities across south and south-east Asia into places where workers can no longer recover from the heat. A new report by US-based People’s Courage International (PCI), using research in Delhi, Dhaka, Kathmandu, Jakarta and Quezon City, has found hotter nights, combined with the urban heat island effect – the trapping of heat inside dense cities – are leaving millions of informal workers exhausted before a new workday even begins.”

“… Across Asia, the International Labour Organization estimates that more than 70% of the workforce are exposed to excessive heat at some point during their jobs, with informal workers among the most vulnerable. This has a big impact in countries like India, where nearly 90% of workers are employed in the informal economy.”

Access to Medicines, Vaccines & other health technologies

HPW –‘Failure was Never an Option’: South Africa’s mRNA ‘Hub’ Awarded Good Manufacturing Practice Certification

https://healthpolicy-watch.news/failure-was-never-an-option-south-africas-mrna-hub-awarded-good-manufacturing-practice-certification/

“Afrigen Biologics, the South African facility that developed an mRNA vaccine from scratch during COVID-19, has become the first African facility to be certified to manufacture investigational biological products for Phase I and II clinical trials. The facility celebrated receiving its Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification for its mRNA facility in Cape Town from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) on Wednesday. This means that Afrigen now meets internationally recognised pharmaceutical manufacturing standards.”

““Failure was never an option,” said Afrigen CEO Professor Petro Terblanche, while paying tribute to her team, the World Health Organization (WHO), Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and several key donors. Almost four years ago – on 21 June 2021 – Afrigen was selected as the “mRNA hub” by the WHO and MPP – along with BioVac and the South African Medicines Control Council. Afrigen had the “enormous task to develop an mRNA platform, to industrialise it and to transfer technology to 15 partners on four continents in low-middle-income countries representing four billion people”, she added. “We are ready to support clinical trial material production, advance technology transfer and contribute meaningfully to vaccine and biologics development and manufacturing.” Afrigen’s 15 partners – including Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, India, Nigeria, Ukraine, Serba and Vietnam – are using the knowledge acquired from the hub to develop mRNA products to address a wide range of challenges from cancer to dengue to foot-and-mouth disease in animals.”

PS: re sustainability: “…However, Gore said that the next phase of the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme is to ensure that it is “really sustainable, because there is no point having the capacity if you then walk away and leave it to stagnate”. This means that Afrigen and its partners will need to make – and sell – high quality products to governments and companies. As previously reported by Health Policy Watch, the key challenge facing all mRNA hub partners is to ensure that governments procure their vaccines and medicines – although the new start-ups’ products are likely to be more expensive than the giant pharma firms that have been in the business for years and are already supplying large global markets. “

FT – Philanthropists launch $140mn push for Strep A vaccine

https://www.ft.com/content/d56a49e7-a60a-48d2-9986-e77d7b2a7335

“Global health philanthropists are backing a fund for a vaccine against the Strep A bacterium that kills hundreds of thousands of people annually in poorer countries and is an often underestimated threat in rich ones.”

“Coefficient Giving will today launch a $140mn fund, backed by donors including former Facebook and Asana co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna. Its lead goal is to double the number of vaccine candidates and ready at least one for full human clinical trials by 2030.”

“Group A Streptococcus, known as Strep A, is estimated to kill similar numbers of people worldwide to malaria and HIV/Aids, but efforts to combat it have received only a fraction of the finance devoted to the other two threats….”

“The new fund aims to mobilise $200mn from a range of funders over the next five years. Its aims include improving scientific understanding of Strep A, assisting existing and next-generation vaccine candidates, and working with authorities to smooth the deployment of any successful jabs.”

“… Strep A is familiar to many people in high-income countries as the cause of Strep throat, which often affects children and either disappears naturally or can be treated with common antibiotics. But it can cause much more serious problems such as sepsis and rheumatic heart disease, a chronic and potentially fatal condition estimated to affect more than 50mn worldwide. More than 639,000 people are thought to die each year because of illnesses related to Strep A, most of them in poor and middle-income countries…”

· Related: Coefficient Giving – Announcing the Strep A Vaccine Fund (26 May)

Stat (Opinion) – The innovation trap: How pharma weaponizes a word to extend monopolies

T Amin & R Malpani ; https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/26/humira-patents-abbvie-innovation-pharma-monopoly-excerpt/

“The patent system has become more of an exclusivity system for financial investment, not invention.”

Via T Amin: “In this excerpt from Chapter 5 of Pharma Monopoly, titled “The Innovation Trap,” we explain how the pharmaceutical industry has weaponized the word “innovation” to ensure a perpetual novelty of knowledge that should be in the public domain.”

On the marvels of ‘lifecycle management, ‘incremental innovation’ etc. Big Pharma is stunningly good at it (and makes billions out of it).

NYT – A powerful HIV drug lands in Zambia. But will it reach those who need it?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/health/lenacapavir-hiv-zambia.html

“Lenacapavir is arriving in a country where the health systems has been hollowed out by US aid cuts.”

Global Housing crisis

UN News – World Urban Forum backs ‘Baku Call to Action’ on global housing crisis

https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/05/1167577

“A landmark gathering of more than 57,000 participants – the largest in the history of the World Urban Forum – closed on Friday in Baku with an urgent call to rethink how the world houses its people, as a new roadmap urges governments, cities and communities to act collectively on a crisis affecting billions.”

· And via HHR’s weekly digest:

“Türk: Build sustainable houses for people everywhere: UN Chief Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk urged the international community to commit to developing sustainable housing solutions for people everywhere. Speaking to the 13th World Urban Forum this week, he warned of the growing global housing crisis, compounded by climate-induced disasters, proliferating conflicts, and deepening inequities. “Even as challenges grow, so does our capacity to respond with creativity, solidarity, commitment – and human rights at the centre,” he said…..”

· Related: IISD – World Urban Forum Tackles Global Housing Crisis (with some more info on the Baku Call to action).

AI & Health

Guardian – Pope Leo denounces ‘culture of power’ driving rise of AI

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/25/pope-leo-encyclical-ai-artificial-intelligence-slavery

“Pontiff calls for ‘disarming’ of artificial intelligence and apologises for church’s delay in condemning slavery.”

“Pope Leo has denounced the “culture of power” driving the rapid rise of artificial intelligence while warning that the technology must be subject to the “most rigorous” ethical constraints as it infiltrates everything from work to war. In his encyclical – the first major text on safeguarding humankind of his papacy – he also apologised for the Catholic church’s long delay in condemning slavery, describing it as “a wound in Christian memory”, and spoke of the “new forms of slavery” due to the digital economy…..”

Conflict/War & Health

Via HHR’s weekly digest :

“Nations investing in war rather than wellbeing: The right to development is under threat as nations are investing in war rather than in the wellbeing of their populations, the High Commissioner for Human Rights told the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development. Volker Türk urged States to “recommit to economies and societies that deliver for everyone” and expressed grave concern at current trends in global security…..”

TGH – Cuba’s Health Care Buckles Under Fuel Blockade

Arachu Castro;

https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/cubas-health-care-buckles-under-fuel-blockade

“A professor of Latin American public health details how the 2026 fuel blockade has affected every domain of Cuba’s health system.”

Some more reports, Lancet Commissions, …

Lancet – The Lancet Commission on precision health: equitable, data-driven health outcomes for all

Paul W Franks et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00612-4/fulltext

“The Lancet Commission on precision health is a new global initiative that will assess the landscape of precision health and make recommendations for equitable adoption in health systems worldwide. The Commission will align with other key initiatives and processes, including the 2026 draft resolution on precision medicine from WHO. Key outputs will include precision health frameworks amenable to contextualisation, consideration of disease burden, and cultural, economic, and social characteristics of specific populations and health-care systems. ….”

“… The Commission will primarily consider four categories of high-burden non-communicable disease (NCD): oncology, cardiometabolic disease, respiratory disorders, and mental health…”

PS: “The Commission will critically evaluate existing regulatory frameworks and community engagement models, including considerations about data sovereignty and power dynamics between researchers and research participants. Implementation barriers in high-income countries and low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) will be considered, alongside opportunities to help LMICs bypass intermediate, outdated technologies and adopt advanced, modern systems directly, allowing the acceleration of precision health in LMICs. Such opportunities might exist where clinical care pathways are less entrenched, task-sharing and task-shifting among health-care professionals are common, and the mechanisms for health-care delivery are versatile—all features of some LMICs.

Health systems around the world are increasingly strained, creating an urgent need for innovations in health care. The Lancet Commission on precision health will help address this need by providing guidance to facilitate affordable, accessible, scalable, fair, and effective precision health care across diverse health-care settings and populations.”

Lancet special issue on neurology

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/current

Start with the Editorial – A new era in neurology

“Reflecting on both the growing global burden and recent scientific progress, The Lancet publishes today a special issue on neurology…..”

Miscellaneous

Guardian – US-Israel war on Iran driving historic levels of global hunger, UN says

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/may/27/us-israel-war-on-iran-driving-historic-levels-of-global-hunger-un-says

“Conflict and cuts in funding have left World Food Programme ‘taking from the hungry to feed the starving’.”

“The continuing US-Israel war on Iran has compounded other global disasters to drive record numbers of people into hunger at a time when funding to combat famine has fallen dramatically, the head of the UN World Food Programme has said. The WFP says 363 million people around the world are now at risk of acute hunger, 45 million of them as a result of conflict in the Middle East and the consequent oil price spike….”

Global health governance & Governance of Health

Report of the Secretary-General: UN80 Initiative Progress Report

https://www.un.org/un80-initiative/en/media/629

(26 May 2026) “This report frames the next phase of the initiative. It records decisions already taken. It shows where UN80 has generated movement, and how reform proposals are advancing along their respective pathways. It distinguishes issues that are ready, or nearly ready, for decision-making from those requiring further design and consultation. It also makes clear where political support and decisions are now needed to carry reform all the way from design to delivery, always as a Member State-driven process and in strict respect of established mandates and governance arrangements.”

PS: Related comment by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres: “…urging strong Member States’ engagement to move the process forward. … “The status quo is untenable,” he warns, arguing that the choice is between planned reform, led by Member States, or externally imposed, crisis-driven change. “

Health Affairs – China’s Evolving Global Health Strategy And Its Implications for the US

Jennifer Bouey and Yanzhong Huang; https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/china-s-evolving-global-health-strategy-and-its-implications-america-first-global

“The strategic convergence of the US moving to an America First Global Health Strategy while China advances multilateral soft power undermines US health diplomacy at the very moment China’s structural limitations are most exposed.” A few excerpts:

“In 2021, Xi announced the Global Development Initiative at the United Nations—a rebranding that offered a more palatable, people-centered face for China’s global ambitions. By 2023, mentions of the BRI (Belt & Road Initiative) by China’s top leaders had declined noticeably. … The GDI was preceded by China’s foreign aid reform, which began in 2018 with the transfer of policy leadership from the MOFCOM to the newly established China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA). The CIDCA has since drafted comprehensive foreign aid legislation—including the Foreign Aid Evaluation Measurement System (2021), Foreign Aid Governance Methods (2021), Foreign Relations Law (2023), and Manual for the Foreign Aid Project Database (2023)—aimed at standardizing aid categories, governance, financing, and evaluation.”

“In health-related development assistance, China is increasingly positioning itself as a global health knowledge producer rather than merely an aid provider. Tsinghua University’s BRIGHT program, launched in 2022, funds early-career researchers in developing countries to collaborate with Chinese scientists, building networks similar to the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty model. In September 2025, China launched its first research, development, and translation institution dedicated to global health equity—the Global Health Innovation Institute in Shanghai—leveraging China’s low-cost manufacturing and rapid clinical trial capabilities to develop affordable treatments for tuberculosis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases, and maternal-child health.

Against the backdrop of the US pause from global health and development assistance, China is positioning itself as a “stabilizing force.””

“…While still unfolding, China’s evolving approach to international development is generating a multifaceted array of effects—spanning economic, geopolitical, normative, and developmental dimensions. In the health sector, China has strategically sustained signature initiatives that exemplify its long-term commitment to South-South cooperation. These include Chinese medical teams and friendship hospitals operating across dozens of developing countries; major infrastructure investments, such as the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters and central laboratory (completed in 2023 with Chinese funding), specialized tropical disease surveillance laboratories in West Africa, and high-level biosafety facilities for outbreak response in formerly Ebola-affected countries; and decades-long medical training programs that have equipped African health professionals—many now in key governance positions across the Global South…. …“

“Can China translate these changes into meaningful soft-power gains and reshape global health norms? Evidence from RAND Corporation field research in Africa suggests significant structural constraints remain. China’s foreign aid budget—a combined $2.85 billion from the MOFCOM and the CIDCA in 2024, compared to USAID’s $42.8 billion—limits scale, while overlapping mandates between the CIDCA and the MOFCOM keep commercial imperatives dominant over health outcomes. Most fundamentally, decades of prioritizing trade and geopolitical returns over health impact have left China with a chronic shortage of global health professionals skilled in cross-cultural communication, implementation science, and health systems strengthening. These constraints are not incidental—they are structural, and they offer the US a durable competitive opening.

Summarizing “Beijing’s structural constraints—limited global health capacity, modest grant budgets, bilateral bias, and implementation shortcomings….”

Chapter – Rising Powers and the Shifting Landscape of Global Health Governance

Pranjal Khare ; https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/rising-powers-and-the-shifting-landscape-of-global-health-governance/411746

“This chapter examines the profound shift in global health governance, arguing that the traditional Western-dominated system is giving way to a new multipolar order shaped by rising powers like China and India. It analyzes the distinct mechanisms through which these nations exert influence, including financial contributions, strategic health diplomacy, and the push for institutional reform. Through detailed case studies, the analysis highlights the divergence in approach, contrasting China’s state-led, top-down model with India’s market-driven, cooperative strategy. The manuscript explores the dual implications of this transition, identifying significant challenges such as fragmentation and institutional gridlock, while also highlighting opportunities to decolonize global health and reduce North-South inequalities. It concludes that the future of global health governance will be defined by a complex interplay of competition and cooperation, with the ultimate outcome impacting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the very definition of global health itself.”

ECDPM – Experts on the collapse of ODA and what comes next

https://ecdpm.org/work/experts-collapse-oda-and-what-comes-next

Well worth a (short) read.

“Just as global crises demand we work together, the machinery of development cooperation is breaking down. The continued decline of Official Development Assistance (ODA) – down 23% this year alone – is not the cause itself, but a symptom of the general collapse of faith in the aid model. Something will have to replace it. At this turning point, we spoke to the people who shaped and challenged this model: former African Prime Ministers, senior EU civil servants and leading development experts. They describe a system losing its purpose without a clear path to what should come next….”

“The old certainties are fading: Assumptions that shaped development cooperation for much of the past four decades have broken apart: a relatively stable multilateral order, a clear hierarchy between ‘donors’ and ‘recipients,’ and the idea that poverty reduction could be pursued at arm’s length from geopolitics….

Check out what they see as a possible future.

IDOS (Discussion paper) – International development cooperation and the emerging global order

M Furness et al; https://www.idos-research.de/discussion-paper/article/international-development-cooperation-and-the-emerging-global-order/

Sketching three scenarios.

“This discussion paper brings together 14 contributions drawing on the German Institute of Development and Sustainability’s (IDOS) broad regional and thematic expertise to examine these questions….”

Global health financing

CGD (brief) – Health Taxes and the IMF

M Ahmed et al; https://www.cgdev.org/publication/health-taxes-and-imf

“…In summary, governments are missing out on additional revenue and health benefits, particularly where consumption is high and administrative capacity exists to implement and enforce higher health taxes. Revenues from tobacco and spirits taxes, for example, remain below estimated benchmark levels in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, and the Western Hemisphere….”

“With fiscal pressures mounting and health burdens rising, the IMF is well positioned to elevate health taxes from underused instruments to a central pillar of domestic revenue mobilization, delivering both stronger public finances and better health outcomes…” With some recommendations.

UHC & PHC

Lancet GH (Comment) – Uniting public and private sectors: sustainable partnerships for resilient health systems in Egypt

Ahmed S Hammad et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00114-2/fulltext

“Egypt, similar to many low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), operates two parallel health-care systems. This dual system places a large proportion of the population in a vulnerable middle ground, where their income levels render them ineligible for free public care yet are insufficient for them to afford private insurance, forcing them into catastrophic out-of-pocket spending that WHO calls a major barrier to universal health coverage (UHC). Achieving UHC through public systems alone remains challenging for several LMICs. Workforce capacity, funding, and service quality pose major constraints when public systems dominate health-care provision. However, equity concerns, fragmentation, and high spending are key constraints when private sectors dominate health-care provision. Private systems are known to promote innovation but risk worsening the disparities in access to medical services, financial protection, and quality and continuity of care without strong public oversight. Public–private partnerships (PPPs) offer a pragmatic solution, leveraging the efficiency of private sectors within regulatory frameworks that prioritise equity and UHC. PPPs align private provision with public goals through contracts, linking payment to quality indicators, and enforcing common clinical and reporting standards….”

Well, in theory I guess.

Planetary health

Plos Climate – The subnational wedge in Paris-aligned pathways

Angel Hsu et al; https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000921

“In this commentary, we introduce the notion of a “subnational wedge”—the share of the global 1.5 °C-consistent mitigation gap that could be closed if existing city and regional government targets were fully delivered. We not only assess its magnitude and distribution, but also its temporal credibility, asking whether near-term emission trajectories are consistent with stated mid- and long-term goals. On this basis, we argue that turning the subnational wedge from paper commitments into real emission cuts requires a multilevel “delivery architecture” that links finance, legal-institutional entrenchment and network capacity across scales of governance…”

Covid

Nature Health – Learning from COVID-19, MERS and SARS to build sustainable coronavirus disease threat management

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44360-026-00144-8

“To advance the sustained, integrated and evidence-based management of coronavirus disease threats, WHO released the Strategic Plan for Coronavirus Disease Threat Management: Advancing Integration, Sustainability, and Equity, 2025–2030 in December 2025. This is not a new, stand-alone COVID-19 emergency plan, but a deliberate effort to help countries to consolidate a shift that is already underway, moving from bespoke, coronavirus-specific emergency responses to the long-term management of the risks posed by this viral family…. …. The plan frames coronavirus disease threat management as a comprehensive, One Health-anchored approach, encompassing prevention, preparedness, monitoring, response and impact reduction across settings, populations and time horizons. …. To translate this approach into practice, the plan sets out four strategic objectives…”

Infectious diseases & NTDs

Lancet Infectious Diseases – June issue

https://www.thelancet.com/issue/S1473-3099(26)X2005-9

· Editorial: The value of infectious disease conferences.

Plos Med – Differences in tuberculosis prevalence by sex in low- and middle-income countries over 1993–2025: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Nicole A. Swartwood et al; https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1005114

Conclusions: “Men in LMICs consistently experience TB at a higher prevalence than women. Time trend estimates are uncertain, but consistent with widening sex differences in TB prevalence over the last three decades, despite efforts to address the risk factors underlying this excess TB burden.”

Science – New drug ‘functionally cures’ many hepatitis B virus infections

https://www.science.org/content/article/new-drug-functionally-cures-many-hepatitis-b-virus-infections

“GSK’s “bepi” performs better than expected in efficacy trials, but its global impact is likely limited.”

“A 6-month regimen of an experimental drug for the hepatitis B virus (HBV) added to standard antivirals has “functionally cured” 19% of people in two efficacy trials, meaning they can naturally control that virus without any further treatments. The results, published today in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and presented at Europe’s largest meeting on liver health, come from people whose chronic HBV infections were already relatively well controlled with the existing drugs, so its effectiveness in other populations that are more challenging to treat remains unknown….

“The findings are “remarkable” and “a major step” forward for the field, hepatologist Anna Lok of the University of Michigan Medical School wrote in an editorial accompanying the NEJM editorial —although she cautioned it was far from a solution to a major global problem….”

Guardian – Mosquitoes can become attracted to insect repellant, study suggests

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/28/deet-mosquito-spray-attract-insects-study-malaria-zika

“The insect may learn to associate the chemical Deet with a ‘blood meal’, researchers say.”

Cfr a study in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Social & commercial determinants of health

Globalization & Health – Commercial practices of the arms industry and implications for global public health: a scoping review

S Meciar, D Gleeson et al; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12992-026-01215-x

“ Our review found that the arms industry not only engages in commercial practices identified within established commercial determinants of health frameworks but also employs additional strategies, such as bribery and corruption, worker surveillance, contesting worker illness claims, and a number of supply chain practices that extend beyond existing typologies. The majority of studies focused on firearms-related practices, particularly within the United States, while few addressed other arms industry sub-sectors such as major conventional weapons and nuclear weapons, and little attention was given to low- and middle-income countries….”

“… Despite the scale and influence of the arms industry, its commercial sector practices remain largely overlooked in public health research. Greater scrutiny and recognition of the arms industry as a commercial determinant of health is essential to mitigate the health harms and inequities associated with the global production, proliferation, and use of weapons.”

Globalization & Health (Debate) – Shrinking appetites: Will GLP-1 adoption in high-income countries accelerate Big Food’s push into low- and middle-income countries?

B Even et al ; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12992-026-01217-9

“We argue that if demand for energy-dense, ultra-processed products softens further in high-income markets, transnational food and beverage firms may hedge by redirecting and intensifying marketing pressure and portfolio growth towards some low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where regulatory frameworks often remain weaker and GLP-1 access remains uneven. This could add to the already rising burden of diet-related non-communicable diseases linked to ultra-processed foods and beverages in LMICs. The risk is sharpened by limited and inequitable access to GLP-1 therapies in these settings, even though most people living with overweight and obesity are projected to reside in LMICs by 2035. We outline plausible pathways for an LMIC GLP-1 “spillover effect”, including intensified corporate political activity, more aggressive marketing, accelerated modern retail expansion; and more aggressive use of price promotions, pack size engineering, and premium “healthier for you” ultra-processed products….”

Sexual & Reproductive health rights

Lancet Regional Health – Perineal trauma in Africa: from normalized morbidity to preventable injury

Timothy Mwanje Kintu et al; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanafr/article/PIIS3050-5011(26)00057-X/fulltext

“Perineal trauma, comprising first and second-degree perineal tears and obstetric and anal sphincter injuries (OASIS), complicates a significant number of vaginal deliveries worldwide, and is documented as the second leading cause of postpartum hemorrhage, the leading killer of mothers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A recent review of low- and middle-income countries estimated rates of second-degree tears at 24% and OASIS at 1.4%. Yet these figures may underestimate the true burden of perineal trauma in SSA, where country-specific studies report OASIS rates as high as 7.4% in Ethiopia2 and 6.6% in Uganda. This underestimation is driven by fragmented documentation, varying diagnostic and therapeutic standards for perineal injury assessment, and providers’ varying attitudes regarding the significance of this injury. Historically, survival has been prioritized above well-being for maternal health. However, as African health systems strengthen, long-term morbidity from perineal trauma can no longer be neglected….”

Neonatal and child health

Plos GPH – Development of an effective illness severity measure and assessment of the impact of perceived illness severity on formal careseeking for fatal illnesses of neonates and infants in six sub-Saharan Africa countries and Pakistan

https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0006455

by Henry D. Kalter et al.

Access to medicines & health technology

SS&M – Social capital and vaccine decision-making: A scoping review

Erynn Monette et al; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953626005198

“34 studies use social capital theory to examine vaccine decision making. 17 studies use Putnam’s theory. 6 use Coleman’s. Only 4 use Bourdieu’s. Variables used to measure social capital vary across studies. Social capital can act as a facilitator or barrier to vaccine uptake. Vaccine decisions are used to gain membership into specific networks.”

BMJ GH – Weak economic evidence for WHO’s essential cancer medicines for Africa

A E van der Steege et al; https://gh.bmj.com/content/11/5/e022533

Authors conclude: “…Recent WHO MLEM(c) modifications to cancer medicines are rarely supported by robust, context-specific economic evidence yet several have been adopted in African LMICs. Stronger requirements for economic evaluations are essential to ensure the affordability, sustainability and policy relevance of WHO essential medicine recommendations…..”

Lancet Regional Health Africa – Can the near point-of-care TB test close the diagnostic gap in Africa?

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanafr/article/PIIS3050-5011(26)00056-8/fulltext

By N A Ismail et al.

Lancet World Report – From hope to uncertainty: regulating novel drugs for Alzheimer’s disease

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)01035-4/fulltext

“Why have regulatory agencies offered differing assessments of new treatments that have brought promise to millions of people affected by Alzheimer’s disease? Nayanah Siva reports.”

Decolonize Global Health

Panafrican Medical Journal – Health economics and financing for health systems transformation: lessons from five African epistemological frameworks

https://panafrican-med-journal.com/content/article/53/152/pdf/152.pdf

By A O Adjagba et al.

Conflict/War & Health

Guardian – Hunger increasingly used as weapon of war as ‘food-related violence’ surges, analysis shows

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/may/24/hunger-weapon-of-war-food-violence-surges

“More than 20,000 attacks on markets, farmland and food distribution systems have been recorded since 2018… …. The analysis looked at the period since UN resolution 2417 unanimously condemned the deliberate starvation of civilians in 2018. It found starvation is being increasingly weaponised with the supply of food routinely targeted in Gaza, Sudan, Lebanon and Haiti among others.”

“Data compiled by Insecurity Insight uncovered 21,403 incidents in 15 countries where food supplies have been deliberately targeted since 2018, when the UN security council unanimously passed a resolution condemning the unlawful denial of humanitarian aid as a tactic of warfare….”

AI & health

Nature Health – A framework for longitudinal health AI agents

G Lin et al ; https://www.nature.com/articles/s44360-026-00141-x

“In this Perspective, we draw on established clinical and personal health informatics frameworks to define what it would mean to orchestrate longitudinal health interactions with AI agents….”

“The Perspective outlines the main components needed to design AI models that can assist individuals in the long-term management of their health, formalizing also the shortcomings and challenges of current solutions.”

Lancet Comment – The recursive care law: artificial intelligence reinforcing feedback loops and health inequity

J Car, R Atun et al ; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00982-7/fulltext

« In The Lancet in 1971, Julian Tudor Hart gave medicine one of its most important insights: the availability of medical care tends to vary inversely with need—the inverse care law. Half a century later, artificial intelligence (AI) risks turning this observation into something more dynamic and dangerous. Evidence suggests that AI implementation is already unevenly distributed. In a 2023–24 analysis of 3560 US hospitals, implementation of AI models was geographically clustered, and regions with greater health-care need were less likely to have hospitals using such systems. This finding substantiates the inverse care law but is not surprising, as the inverse care law has been a persistent feature of health systems around the world…”

Health Data Science – Digital and AI-Empowered Health Elements: An Integrated Pathway to Advancing Health

Pengfei Li et al; https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/hds.0468

“Health outcomes arise from complex and evolving interactions among biological, behavioral, social, environmental, and technological influences. The social determinants of health framework have played a central role in establishing the importance of nonmedical drivers of health and continues to inform population health research and policy. As health data ecosystems expand and digital technologies become increasingly embedded in daily life, there is growing interest in approaches that can more explicitly represent dynamic, multidomain interactions shaping health in contemporary societies. In this Analysis, we introduce the concept of Health Elements, a framework that conceptualizes health as an emergent property distinct from complex additive effects arising from the interplay of biological, behavioral, social, environmental, and technological domains….”

PS: chronic kidney disease in China is offered as a case study.

Miscellaneous

Development Policy Review – A new architecture of solidarity: The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty in an age of weakened multilateralism

Thiago Lima et al ; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dpr.70071

« The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, launched during Brazil’s presidency of the G20 in 2024, represents a significant innovation in global governance. It responds to widespread frustration with fragmented aid systems and the erosion of trust in traditional multilateral institutions. This analysis of its emergence offers insights into how middle-ranking powers can advance development agendas within a fractured international order, as well as the risks and limitations involved. »

« The Alliance exemplifies a “post-aid” approach to development cooperation, based on coordination, evidence-based policy-making, and shared ownership. Policy-makers should support such adaptive, coalition-based mechanisms that improve effectiveness within the constraints of fragmented global governance. Its early performance will determine whether this experiment can serve as a template for revitalizing international solidarity in the post-multilateral era. »

CGD (blog) – The Developing World’s Jobs Crisis Was Here Before AI

A S Gonzalez et al; https://www.cgdev.org/blog/developing-worlds-jobs-crisis-was-here-ai

“Developing countries need to create roughly 800 million more jobs over the next decade than they are on track to produce. That gap is already there before a single algorithm has replaced a single worker. Of the 1.2 billion young people who will reach working age over that decade, only about 420 million can expect a job to be waiting. In Africa alone, nearly a quarter of young people will struggle to find work. Robots and large language models are not the reason. The labor markets they are entering were never built to absorb them in the first place. The crisis is decades old. AI is mostly just making it harder to look away….”

Papers & reports

IJHPM – What Is Not Conceptualized Is Not Measured: Towards Healthier Societies; Comment on “How to Build Healthy Societies: A Thematic Analysis of Relevant Conceptual Frameworks”

Erica di Ruggiero; https://www.ijhpm.com/article_4867.html

“Global geopolitical conflicts, pandemics, the climate crisis or rising inequities within and between countries alongside other intersecting crises all impede the pursuit of healthier societies. This commentary highlights gaps in how framing and measurement approaches reflect narrower biomedical conceptualizations of health. These gaps also relate to whether and how power is analysed, and how interventions that contribute to the (re)building of healthier societies are designed, implemented and evaluated. Dominant measurement approaches in health that prioritize individual measurement of problems and solutions at the expense of whole-of-society intersectoral interventions, and their governance are among some of the reasons. More holistic and explicit measurement equity and well-being (as opposed of disease) are required. Theory-informed research that interrogates values, social norms and ideologies, power asymmetries and that centres the study of complex context-sensitive policy and program interventions should inform future inquiries.”

Health Policy Open – Structural drivers of health inequality in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence and policy implications

Mercedes Tejería-Martíne et al; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590229625000164

« This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of health disparities in 10 SSA countries. We focus on both men and women, using BMI as a health indicator.”