WHO Watchers in Geneva
Fran Quigley, in Geneva
The election of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as the new director-general of the World Health Organization has dominated the news from the 70th World Health Assembly. But, arguably, it was not the most important decision the delegates […]
In his first press conference as director-general-elect of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today made his core mission clear. “As I traveled in recent months, the message I heard around the world was that health is a rights issue,” he said. “What the world promised […]
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been elected Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the next five years. Dr Tedros, Ethiopia’s foreign minister and former health minister, believes WHO must evolve and adapt to urgent global health challenges, and “put the right to health at the core of its functions, and be […]
Fran Quigley, from the WHA in Geneva
In her final address to the World Health Assembly as WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan identified access to medicines as the most contentious issue of her decade-long tenure. That struggle was engaged, she said, “especially when intellectual property and the patent system were perceived […]
Fran Quigley
At first glance, it seems that clinical trials are the much-criticized pharmaceutical industry’s best contribution to the medicines process. The industry leans on governments to fund early-stage research, then claims the patent rights to the most promising fruits of that research. That arrangement frustrates many public health advocates, […]
Gina Li
The humanitarian crisis in Syria is now in its sixth year. The rest of the world is barraged with alarming images and harrowing accounts of entire families, their homes, and their livelihoods persistently coming under attack. Amidst the overwhelming storm of brutality, a concerning pattern has emerged: the destruction of entire […]
Marie Elske Gispen
The interface between the human rights and drug control frameworks is subject to much international debate and controversy. This is particularly the case in the context of access to controlled medicines: serious negative health, socioeconomic, and human rights consequences can occur with insufficient access to pharmaceuticals. Consumption data reveals […]
Dainius Puras
Every year, World Health Day falls on 7 April, the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO). Each year, WHO observes this occasion by promoting an important global health issue.
This year, the theme is “Depression: Let’s Talk”. This theme emerges from a broader series of […]
Eric Friedman and Lawrence O. Gostin
The need for WHO leadership on human rights—and for global leadership on health and human rights beyond WHO—has always been present, yet has become ever more pressing. A reactionary, nationalist populism has been gaining momentum, particularly in the United States and parts of Europe, and […]
Fran Quigley
“OK, but tell us what we would replace it with.”
The response in the online comments section following one of my articles on access to medicines may have been a bit curt, but the point was well-taken. Virtually no one who is not a pharmaceutical corporation CEO likes the current […]
