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Good morning, this is Elaine editor of Geneva Solutions’ Health stream, produced in collaboration with Health Policy Watch.

Today, we’re covering news about the US opposition to Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, a leading global health figure, as WTO director general. We look at how Remdesivir, just approved by the US FDA to treat Covid-19, failed to reduce mortality in large WHO trials. We hear from the new UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health. And we are feeling hopeful that Covid-19 innovations can be repurposed to tackle the world’s oldest and most deadly disease, TB.
photo journaliste

Elaine Fletcher

29.10.2020

Today’s reason for hope
Photo article

Credit: Keystone/EPA/Divyakant Solanki

Harnessing Covid 19 innovations could revolutionise TB care. According to experts, the same infrastructures that have been created to respond to and manage the Covid-19 pandemic could revolutionise TB detection, treatment, and care, if they were applied to tackling the disease.

Health Policy Watch (EN)

Global Health News

US Opposes Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as next World Trade Organization chief. The Gavi board chair was widely supported by other countries to head WTO, as it faces difficult debates over patent restrictions on COVID-19 health products.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

FDA ignores WHO advice and approves US Covid-19 drug. Gilead Sciences FDA submission ignored WHO evidence that Remdesivir failed to reduce mortality in largest-ever study.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng on decolonising global health, learning from Covid-19 and how to make healthcare accessible for all.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

Few Covid-19 rapid diagnostic tests meet WHO standards for accuracy. A recent study has found that only two of the six RDTs making it to the final round of testing met WHO accuracy standards.

Geneva Solutions (EN)

Here's what else is happening

Image of the day
Photo article

Credit: AP Photo / Aftab Alam Siddiqui

Voters maintain a social distance as they queue at a polling station during the first phase of state elections at Paliganj, in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. The first phase of the state elections was held on Wednesday as the country’s cases neared 8 million, trailing only the United States, which has over 8.7 million.

Next on the agenda

29 October | Online: Technological and science-based solutions to the Covid-19 challenge. Assessing innovations that have developed during the pandemic, as well as identifying good practices and areas where work is still needed.

UN DESA (EN)

29 October | Online: Covid-19 and Beyond: Cities on the Front Lines of a Healthier Future. Guests at this event to mark World Cities Day on 31 October will include Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Michael Bloomberg.

Vital Talks (EN)

5 November | Online: What do telemedicine and AI mean for health professionals and people living with circulatory diseases? The event will explore what can be done to make digital health work for stronger health systems and workforces.

World Heart Federation (EN)

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