WHO Pandemic Agreement Good for Everyone

Fernando Simón Soria -

After 14 International Health Conferences (1851–1938), the International Health Regulations, the first in 1951 and the last in 2005, with a significant package of amendments approved at the World Health Assembly in 2024, the first Pandemic Agreement was adopted at the 78th World Health Assembly on 20 May 2025.

2025

The Crisis of the Multilateral System and Global Health

José Antonio Alonso - Professor of Applied Economics (UCM)

The Trump administration's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement and from some United Nations agencies, such as the WHO, UNRWA and UNESCO, and to reduce funding to many others (such as the UNDP and OCHA), is plunging the UN into the deepest funding crisis in its eight decades of existence.

2025

GAZA: the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time

TThe constant violation of international humanitarian law, the siege and blockade imposed on Gaza, the systematic obstruction of aid, deliberate attacks on medical facilities, and the killing of civilians, humanitarian and medical staff have made the Strip the site of the worst humanitarian catastrophe in history.

2025

Towards a Renewed Global Health Ecosystem

Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities for Financing Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable Health Systems

The objective of the initiative is to reform the global health architecture to make it more cohesive, country-led and aligned with sustainable financing strategies.

2025

Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4)

Seville does not end in Seville

The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), held in Seville from 30 June to 3 July 2025, was conceived as an opportunity to rethink the global financial architecture and accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

2025

Health as a target of war

Over the past three years, attacks on healthcare in conflict settings have increased alarmingly, both in frequency and severity, with a record number of violent incidents against healthcare in 2024.

2025

First steps for the new EU Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034

On 16 July 2025, the European Commission presented its first proposal for the EU's next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the period 2028-2034

2025

Climate Change and Health Action Plan

In May 2024, during the 77th World Health Assembly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) approved a historic resolution that marks a turning point in how the intersection between climate change and public health is addressed.

2025

WHO Reform: a civil society perspective

Lauren Paremoer - teaches in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Cape Town and is a member of the People’s Health Movement

Though some argue that the WHO has become increasingly irrelevant, it is still true that WHO norms and standards impact national level health priorities and budgets.

2025

Humanitarian Reset, OCHA's proposal to reform the humanitarian system in times of crisis

The humanitarian sector is facing a dramatic financial crisis. Now we are facing a wave of brutal cuts.

2025

Humanitarian aid in Syria: sustaining life and building a future

In a world marked by successive crises, humanitarian aid goes far beyond simply responding to emergencies.

2025

Mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian crises

When the world falls apart, the invisible world crumbles too

Humanitarian crises not only destroy infrastructure and livelihoods, they also erode certainties, bonds and identities, leaving invisible scars that take their toll on the body, on memories and on community life.

2025

Israel's unprecedented humanitarian blockade of the Occupied Palestinian Territory

On 9 October 2023, Israel launched a “total siege” on the Gaza Strip, which has since become the worst humanitarian catastrophe in history, due to the sheer number of people affected, the scale of violence and the significant impact on International Humanitarian Law (IHL)

2024

The first master plan following the approval of the new cooperation law

The Sixth Spanish Cooperation Master Plan for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity (2024-2027), approved on 23 July 2024 by the Council of Ministers at the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, has been generally well received by all actors.

2024

30 Years of the Cairo Programme of Action

Highlights and Challenges in Promoting Universal Sexual and Reproductive Health and Right

Filomena Ruggiero and David Llorente - Advocacy Department, SEDRA-FPFE

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994. Three decades on, this milestone provides the opportunity to reflect on progress made and the challenges that remain in ensuring universal sexual and reproductive health and rights.

2024

Hunger and Hope: Sudan at the Crossroads of Resilience and Global Solidarity

Paloma Martin de Miguel - Africa Operations Manager - ACF-Spain

Declaring famine is a rare and desperate measure, signalling that food insecurity has reached critical levels, where hunger and extreme malnutrition pose an imminent threat to a substantial portion of the population.

2024

The Pandemic Treaty: An Unjustifiable Delay

The 2021 Special Session of World Health Organization (WHO) Assembly marked a pivotal moment in addressing the shortcomings in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when countries were still grappling with its far-reaching consequences

2024

Mpox: Stumbling Over the Same Stone Again

Smallpox was a devastating disease that plagued humanity for millennia, causing millions of deaths over the more than 3,000 years it coexisted with people. However, it is an exception in humanity's battle against infectious diseases, as it is the only one to have been successfully eradicated

2024

The IV International Conference on Financing for Development

The conference will address new and emerging issues and the urgent need to fully implement the Sustainable Development Goals and support the reform of the international financial architecture

2024

The One Health approach: is it truly one health?

it wasn't until 2000 that the concept of One Health — the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally to attain optimal health for people, animals, and our environmen

2023

Guatemala: defending democracy in the face of multiple crises

The main barriers to universal access to health in Guatemala are funding costs

2023

Burkina Faso: The world's most neglected humanitarian and nutritional crisis

In June 2023, Burkina Faso's humanitarian and nutritional crisis was ranked as the most neglected crisis in the world, a classification based on a lack of funding for humanitarian response, little media attention, and a lack of international political initiative to provide support to the country

2023

Forgotten Crises: The Urgency of Political and Economic Accountability for the Normalisation of Suffering in the Global South

Some crises, despite affecting millions of people, seem to be forgotten by both the press and the international community, and become chronic to the point that they are seen as unsolvable problems, unworthy of attention

2023

The gradual erosion of aid

Eurodad -

In 2022, large parts of the global south were plunged into a complex and multi-layered emergency due to the polycrisis partially brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, and compounded by the war in Ukraine

2023

WHO under construction

Dr. Andreas Wulf, MD - Medico international e, representante en Berlín

Seventy-five years have now passed since the World Health Organization (WHO) was founded in 1948 as the ”directing and coordinating authority” in global health policy

2023

Protecting humanitarian and health workers in conflict : collective next steps and ways forward

Aïda Ndiaye - Advocacy Analyst on the protection of humanitarian and health workers

The protection of humanitarian and health workers is far from being a new topic for the humanitarian community

2023

Gaza, an unprecedented humanitarian crisis

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been an unresolved breach of international humanitarian law and UN resolutions for the past 75 year

2023

Strengthening health systems... again

Natxo Oleaga - Researcher

the COVID pandemic is having disastrous effects in terms of health and the economy, unevenly distributed across different geographical regions and with consequences that are still difficult to quantify.

2022

Is there any chance that the 'Pandemic Treaty' will be based on human rights principles?

Thomas Schwarz - Executive Secretary of Medicus Mundi International

Certain governments have used COVID-19 as an excuse to crush dissent, silence independent reporting and press freedom, or restrict NGO activities

2022

Unequal access to monkeypox vaccines

Ángela Bernardo - Senior Health and Public Policy Editor - Civio Foundation

The detection of the first cases of monkeypox outside its usual regions in May 2022 did not hint at the magnitude of the looming crisis

2022

The case of the United Kingdom and the shielding of the 0.7% in its International Development Law

Since 2015, the United Kingdom has been used as an example in several reports to highlight the importance of consolidating the commitment to the aid sector by means of a legal framework

2022

Should covid-19 vaccine donations be counted as oda?

the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) reached a consensus to report as ODA the donation of surplus doses of COVID-19 vaccines that were purchased for domestic use only

2022

Successes and challenges of Spanish cooperation. Peer review

In 2021, the OECD conducted the 'peer review' of Spanish cooperation and produced a report assessing the progress made since the last review in 2016

2022

Sahrawi Refugee Camps: 47 years of humanitarian crisis and life in exile in the face of the international community's indifference

In the Sahrawi Refugee Camps (SRC) located in the Algerian region of Tindouf, this year has been marked by a significant deterioration of humanitarian conditions

2022

Pandemic, war, food crisis

José María Medina Rey - Head of knowledge management - Enraíza Derechos

The 2021 edition of 'Global Report on Food Crises' noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had been the main driver of acute food insecurity for more than 40 million people in crisis

2022

Democratic Republic of the Congo: more than 25 years of humanitarian crises

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Africa's second largest country in terms of land area, has for more than two decades been plagued by chronic and complex humanitarian crises in the north, east and centre of the country

2022

Mental and psychosocial health of the Palestinian population under Israeli occupation

This text summarises the report “No Peace of Mind”, produced by the NGO network AIDA together with Doctors of the World France in Palestine

2022

Addressing mental health in humanitarian crises

The response of most international agencies and organisations to humanitarian crises has in recent years incorporated mental health and psychosocial support components

2022

Ukraine: access to healthcare when humanitarian law is under threat

Up to 2021, the conflict in Ukraine had been considered the only forgotten crisis in Europe

2022

Fighting sexual violence in conflict: the unresolved issue

The resurgence of a number of conflicts in recent years, coupled with the outbreak of new ones, has seen an increase in sexual violence

2022

The inadequate European and global response to the pandemic

Daniel López Acuña - Doctor. Epidemiologist. Former Director of Health Assistance in Crisis Situations at the World Health Organisation. Associate Professor at the Andalusian School for Public Health

neither health security nor vaccines against COVID-19 have been public assets

2021

Reforming the Spanish Cooperation system

The Spanish cooperation system must adapt to changes occurring in the international sphere and accommodate a more ambitious agenda, connected at once to the SDGs and climate change.

2021

Humanitarian actors face daily the challenges of a shrinking of humanitarian space

Léa Gauthier - Plaidoyer Humanitaire/Humanitarian Advocacy Advisor – Médecins du Monde, France

Humanitarian space is a concept that symbolizes the environment in which we, as a non-governmental humanitarian organization, can work. It is framed by international humanitarian law (IHL).

2021

Health security versus universal access to health: the world pandemic treaty

On 30 March 2021, 25 government leaders and the WHO’s director-general called for the negotiation of a pandemics treaty that would allow countries across the world to strengthen national, regional and global capacities and resilience to deal with future pandemics.

2021

“No Profit On Pandemic”, civil society initiative for an equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines

Julie Steendam - Coordinator of the European Citizens' Initiative No Profit on Pandemic

Ensuring fair and equitable access to safe vaccines and treatments is one of the biggest challenges of these times.

2021

Syria: the need for adequate and sustained commitment from the international community

Despite the serious human rights violations and internal warfare, the focus on the needs of refugees and displaced people from Syria has not gained adequate and sustained support from the international community.

2021

Haiti: the urgency of long-term commitments to stop turning tragedy into obscurity once again

The earthquake on 14 August 2021 enabled, after a long time, the media focus to be placed on Haiti.

2021

Crises forgotten by the international community: the urgent need for memory and responsibility

Forgotten crises are defined as “situations that do not receive enough attention among the international community”, in general, but that need to be kept among assistance priorities

2021

Problems of world and European governance in relation to health security and the COVID-19 pandemic

Daniel López Acuña - Doctor. Epidemiologist. Former Director of Health Assistance in Crisis Situations at the World Health Organisation. Associate Professor at the Andalusian School for Public Health

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the governance mechanisms of global health security, based primarily on the International Health Regulations, have revealed major weaknesses that have affected the world’s management of the pandemic.

2020

Burkina Faso: a forgotten crisis

The Burkina Faso humanitarian crisis is framed inside a broader crisis that is destroying the Sahel Region with a pronounced food crisis and constant deterioration of farming and livestock production over the past four years

2020

COVID-19: the challenge of breaking down economic barriers obstructing equitable access to treatment and vaccines

On 11 March 2020 WHO declared the coronavirus disease a pandemic. The announcement virtually signalled the starting pistol to a frantic race to find a vaccine or effective treatment.

2020

Towards a European Health Union amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

Remco van de Pas - Senior Research Fellow ITM Antwerp & Vice-President MMI- Network Health for All

Each country still has very different approaches to the public health containment of the viral outbreak

2020

Assessing Spanish Cooperation’s COVID-19 strategy

The Spanish Cooperation’s Joint Response Strategy to the COVID-19 Crisis grants all actors the opportunity to contribute to threading together a comprehensive and impactful report in the medium and long term.

2020

The Palestinian health care system: attacked by COVID-19 and weakened by 50 years of conflict and occupation

For decades this small section of land stokes indignation over the human rights violations against the Palestinian people

2020

The triple nexus: Humanitarian, Development and Peace actions. An opportunity with challenges to face

In recent years, humanitarian needs have been decisive in the international community’s advance towards a new, more global and inclusive response framework that includes not only humanitarian action and development, but also the dimension of peace.

2020

The Universal Health Coverage Divide

Remco van de Pas - Vice-President, Medicus Mundi International — Network Health for All!

The UN mandate was from the beginning constrained by the need to balance security and economic interests of a handful of powerful countries.

2019

Barriers to access innovative, life-saving medicines

as factors affecting universal health care

Fernando Lamata Cotanda - Member of the Fair Access to Medicine Association

Over the past 25 years, since patented medicines became widespread with the agreement of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, the prices of medicines and the pharmaceutical industry’s revenues have been growing unjustly

2019

Metrics for financing for development

Keeping tabs on TOSSD

Luca De Fraia - Deputy Secretary General, ActionAid Italia

As the 2030 Agenda made its debut in 2015, the new statically measure took the semblance of TOSSD, namely Total Official Support for Sustainable Development.

2019

European development cooperation policy

in the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework 2021–2027

Cristina Linaje Hervás - The Cáritas Española Political Advocacy Team – Partner Organisation of the NGDO Coordinator

The European Union plans its budget with a long-term outlook by means of a complex negotiation process which relies heavily on the domestic situation of its Member States

2019

For a State policy: 0.7% ODA by law

Spain took on this 0.7% commitment when it joined the DAC in 1991. It was never fulfilled.

2019

Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a failed goal?

The International Emergency declaration was made after the first case was confirmed in Goma.

2019

The eastern Ukraine conflict

a forgotten crisis on Europe’s doorstep

April 2019 marked the fifth anniversary since the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

2019

The Astana Conference: 40 years of Alma Ata

The Alma Ata Conference on Primary Health Care completely changed the vision, role and work a health care system should undertake to improve the health of its population.

2018

Yemen: Staring into the abyss

After three years of conflict, the situation in Yemen has gone from bad to worse and is now the world’s greatest humanitarian tragedy.

2018

South Sudan, a never-ending crisis

In 2018, South Sudan entered its fifth year of conflict, an humanitarian crisis that continues to intensify and expand.

2018

Global Health Governance: WHO

and the prospects for its new Director-General

David Sanders - Emeritus Professor of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, South Africa And Global Co-Chair Peoples Health Movement

While WHO is officially recognised as the multilateral agency primarily charged with political and technical leadership in global health, its pre-eminent role in GHG has been reduced by the increasing involvement of other multilaterals

2017

'Modernisation' of Official Development Assistance

Polly Meeks - Senior Policy and Advocacy Office - Eurodad

The OECD DAC embarked on a process to modernise the definition of Official Development Assistance in order to ensure that ODA is directed to where it is most needed and where it can catalyse other flows and promote accountability

2017

Syria. A health care system under attack

More than six years after the start of the war, Syria represents not only the biggest humanitarian disaster of our times, but also the most complex.

2017

The process of revising the concept of ODA within the Development Assistance Committee

Ana Henche Cuesta - Head of the Statistics Service - Sub-Directorate General of Development Policies - State Secretary for International Cooperation and for Ibero-America

United Nations submitted a formal request to DAC to identify and improve the transparency of all flows deployed in the interests of sustainable development.

2015