Washington, D.C. — At an extraordinary meeting, the Governing Board of the Pandemic Fund approved the activation of the Fund’s Emergency Financing Procedures (EFP), enabling the mobilization of up to US$220.6 million in Pandemic Fund grant financing to provide rapid and flexible support to fill critical gaps in response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Central and…
As the news spread about the outbreak of Ebola in mid-May 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report about pandemics. The title was: A World on the Edge: Priorities for a Pandemic-Resilient Future. The document was prepared by the WHO’s Global Preparedness Monitoring Board. It sets out why the world isn’t better prepared…
The report also highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence and digital technologies for preparedness, especially in pandemic monitoring, but warned that inadequate governance could widen global inequalities in health security and access. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the world faces worsening pandemic threats, warning that investments in preparedness are failing to keep pace with…
Discover moreOnline Magazine SubscriptionsAfrican Cultural ExperiencesReal-time Event UpdatesBloomberg The Iran war is raising borrowing costs for African countries that are only just recovering from the post-pandemic shock that sent debt burdens soaring. Research published Tuesday by ONE Data showed borrowing costs from the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development jumped to 5.2% in…
Six years ago, the Director-General of the World Health Organization sounded the highest global alarm available under international law at the time, declaring the outbreak of a new coronavirus disease (later known as COVID-19) a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). While the PHEIC was declared over in May 2023, the impact of COVID-19…
Gaborone, Botswana — Eight Southern African countries – Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe are joining forces to Prevent, detect and respond to disease outbreaks before they spread to communities. The three-year, USD 35.8 million initiative, Strengthening One Health Disease Surveillance and Response in Southern Africa, coordinated by the World Health…
Four years after its landmark report A Global Deal for Our Pandemic Age, the G20 High Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, recently reconvened by the South African G20 Presidency, has found that the world remains dangerously underprepared for future pandemics and must take urgent, coordinated action to…
A new global report warns that inequality is increasing the world’s vulnerability to pandemics, making them more deadly, more costly and longer lasting – and where you live, could determine how badly impacted you are. The study, released on Monday, ahead of G20 meetings taking place later this month in Johannesburg, South Africa, shows that…
Every time the world faces a pandemic, we act surprised. But the truth is, pandemics do not come out of nowhere. They grow out of inequality, and unless we tackle that, we will keep finding ourselves in the same place: scrambling to respond instead of building resilience. A new report released today, Breaking the inequality–pandemic…
Durban — Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat of new pandemics still looms, and the urgency remains. As the fourth International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA 2025) began in Durban, South Africa, a big question emerged: Is Africa prepared for the next pandemic? In his opening remarks at a press briefing,…
