News

This week: 72nd World Health Assembly

From May 20-28, the 72nd session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) will take place in Geneva, Switzerland. Each year, senior health officials from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Member States gather there to discuss the WHO’s progress, new goals and global health agenda and challenges. Wemos will be present as well as a civil society organization and attend sessions on Financing for Health, the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being and Access to Medicines.

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Overpriced drugs developed with tax money

Research shows major Dutch public investments in drug development

 

Overpriced, a report published today jointly by The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporation (SOMO) and Wemos, examines the extent of Dutch public funding of drug development, through donations, loans and/or investments. This funding occurs both directly by financing development of new medicines, and indirectly through investments made into biotech companies, but channelled through universities, public research bodies, and national and regional investment funds. The report reveals, however, that because no conditions are set on these investments, the Government loses its chance to curb subsequent high drug prices.

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EU Medicines Manifesto: put the health of European citizens first

There is increasing pressure on access to affordable, innovative medicines for many European citizens. Change is urgently needed. This key message emerges from the joint manifesto by several members of the Medicines Network Netherlands (Medicijnen Netwerk Nederland), of which Wemos is a member. The publication of the manifesto anticipates the European Parliament elections to be held on 23 May 2019.

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Investing in our health workers: less talk, more action!

Health workers worldwide are overburdened, burned out, and even being attacked while doing their job. Last week, during the World Health Worker Week 2019, there was a lot of attention for health workers worldwide. But actually they deserve this attention every week of the year. In their blogs, Wemos’ global health advocate Amanda Banda and Dr. Fredrick Oluga explain why we need less talk – and more action.

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How can we accelerate progress towards Universal Health Coverage in Africa?

How can Africa accelerate progress towards Universal Health Coverage? From March 5-7, world leaders, policy makers, civil society, the private sector, experts and youth advocates will discuss this pressing question at the Africa Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC) in Kigali (Rwanda). In collaboration with the Health Systems Advocacy Partnership (HSAP), Wemos will co-host a session on civil society with HSAP-partners Amref, ACHEST, HAI, and the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism of UHC2030 (CSEM).

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