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Friday 12.10.21 | Issue 137
WHO / Blink Media - Hannah Reyes Morales
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) updates
A virtual press briefing with simultaneous translation in all UN languages with the participation of the WHO Director-General is planned for next week. Media advisories with Zoom links/dial-in details will be emailed in advance. For the latest news from WHO on COVID-19 and other breaking health stories, read WHO's news updates.
Sunday, 12 December
Universal Health Coverage Day 2021
Universal Health Coverage Day is an opportunity to review progress and identify gaps in ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can access the health care they need, close to where they live and without falling into financial hardship. It is also a day to focus on what needs to happen next to achieve continuous, concrete progress towards a fairer and healthier world.
A new report by the World Bank and WHO launches Sunday and is expected to show that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to halt two decades of global progress towards Universal Health Coverage. Report materials available upon request under embargo.
13-15 December
10th Global Conference on Health Promotion
Climate change, inequities, conflict and stalled mortality trends have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic shows the danger of not considering health in all policies. To address and promote the underpinning priority of health, WHO will hold the 10th Global Conference on Health Promotion on 13–15 December 2021.
This Conference will mark the first time that WHO has used well-being as the theme of a major conference. High-level policymakers and advisers will discuss the contributions that health promotion can make to well-being in people, the planet and prosperity. At the end of Conference, they will issue a high-level political statement that recommends how governments can use health promotion to advance well-being. For more information and to register, please visit here.
5th Meeting of the Sustainable financing Working Group
Next week, WHO Member States will convene for the fifth Meeting of the Sustainable financing Working Group to discuss sustainable financing for WHO. This will be the last meeting of this kind before topic is discussed at the Executive Board meeting on 24 January 2022. The Working Group's recommendations and other meeting documents are here. Read more about how WHO is funded here. Please note this is a closed meeting.
Monday, 13 December
New platform for global access to childhood cancer medicines
WHO and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the USA will announce the establishment of a platform to dramatically increase access to childhood cancer medicines around the world. The Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicines, the first of its kind, will provide an uninterrupted supply of quality-assured childhood cancer medicines to low- and middle-income countries.
Currently, close to nine in ten children with cancer live in low- and middle-income countries, yet survival in these countries is less than 30%, compared with 80% in high-income countries. The new platform aims to provide safe and effective cancer medicines to approximately 120 000 children between 2022 and 2027, with the expectation to scale up in future years. Embargoed materials are available, and spokespersons are available for interviews in English, French and Spanish.
Thursday, 15 December
WHO Global analysis of health care waste in the context of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to large increases in health care waste, straining under-resourced health care facilities and exacerbating environmental impacts from solid waste. On Thursday, WHO will be publishing the WHO Global analysis of health care waste in the context of COVID-19. At the time of publishing, no global analysis of waste volumes generated from COVID-19 health care activities has been undertaken.
As the UN and Member States grappled with the immediate task of securing and quality-assuring supplies, less attention and resources were devoted to the safe management of COVID-19 related health care waste. This is despite the evidence that the majority of health care facilities in low- and middle-income countries lack the capacity to manage existing waste loads, let alone the reported increases in waste volumes.
The report is a starting point to reflecting on the current health care waste situation, in relation to PPE, highlighting innovative solutions and lessons identified, and lays out a set of recommendations for integrating better, safer, and more environmentally sustainable waste practices into the current COVID-19 response and future pandemic preparedness efforts. Embargoed materials available next week.
Listen to the new Global Health Matters on “Discoveries from vaccine implementation”
Featuring:
- Margaret Gyapong: Director, Institute for Health Research at the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ghana
- Lee Hampton: Vaccine preventable disease surveillance and vaccine safety focal point at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Switzerland
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