Good morning, this is Elaine bringing you Geneva Solutions’ global health news, produced in collaboration with Health Policy Watch.

Today, we’re looking at the imbroglio over WHO’s suppression of an independent report on Italy’s pandemic response. We are examining new data showing that one-quarter of health facilities worldwide lack basic water access. And we are hopeful about the launch of a ‘Nutrition Year of Action’ in 2021 to combat global hunger, exacerbated by Covid disruptions and climate change.

17.12.2020

Today’s reason for hope

Credit: Flickr - EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid.

‘Year of Action’ launched to advance ambitious nutrition goals in 2021. After a year marred by huge setbacks for global food security, a group of governments and international organisations have launched a forward-looking initiative for 2021 to address the global hunger and nutrition crisis.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

Global Health News

One quarter of the world's health facilities lack basic water access. In the world’s least developed countries, half of facilities lack water sources, increasing infection risks from Covid-19 as well as other diseases.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

The WHO’s suppression of an independent report on Italy’s Covid-19 pandemic response sets a dangerous precedent for other sensitive investigations underway into the pandemic and the origins of the SARS-CoV2 virus, critics say.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

Landmark court ruling recognises air pollution as factor in child’s death. Global health and air pollution advocates have hailed a landmark UK court ruling which lists air pollution as a factor in the death of nine-year-old Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah in 2013.

Health Policy Watch (EN)

Here's what else is happening

Facebook overhauls Covid-19 misinformation policy following criticism.
Statnews (EN)
How can the finance sector contribute to the SDGs? Patrick Odier discusses.
Leman Bleu (FR)
Millions of children in Tigray remain out of reach despite access agreement.
UNICEF (EN)
Health funding shortage in Yemen puts thousands of migrants’ lives at risk.
IOM (EN)
Burkina Faso and Thailand achieving UHC for Sexual and Reproductive Health.
WHO (EN)
World Trade Organization debates how to ease food aid hurdles during pandemic.
The Economic Times (EN)
WHO-led team expected in China in January to probe Covid-19 origins.
Reuters (EN)
Nagorno-Karabakh: Attack on church a possible war crime.
Human Rights Watch (EN)

Image of the day

Credit: EPA/ Muhammad Sadiq

Health workers administer a polio vaccination to a child in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 16 December. Vaccination campaigns are only now resuming in some parts of the country after almost seven months of disruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to UNICEF, the disruption in immunisation left a total of 50 million children without their polio vaccine in Afghanistan and Pakistan - the last two polio-endemic countries in the world.

Spotlight

🎧 The Geneva Solutions podcast | In conversation with Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng. For the latest episode of the Geneva Solutions podcast, we revisit our interview with Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to the highest attainable standards of mental and physical health, and discuss what the global pandemic has revealed about our health systems, the need to decolonise global health, and how the right to health can be used to restore dignity.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

Next on the agenda

17 December | Is it time for a global agreement on toxic chemicals? The film Dark Waters has put ‘forever chemicals’ on the global policy agenda, and kickstarted high-level talks on action needed to ban non-essential use.

Think-Film Impact Production (EN)

17 December | How can essential movement of workers and goods be restored during Covid-19? Coordinated global action is urgently needed to restore movement of essential goods and workers, but how can this be achieved?

World Economic Forum (EN)

18 December | Covid-19 treatments: Optimising evidence and access. WHO and partners will discuss how to optimise access to safe, effective and affordable Covid-19 therapeutics.

WHO (EN)

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