Jean-Daniel Ruch, former Swiss ambassador, at an earlier press conference in early 2024. (Keystone/Alessandro della Valle)

Former Swiss diplomat Jean Daniel Ruch: Our neutrality’s reputation is damaged but not lost. As global tensions rise, Switzerland’s long-held neutrality is under growing pressure from home and abroad. Jean-Daniel Ruch, head of the Geneva Centre for Neutrality, is convinced an informed public debate is long overdue to determine the way forward.

🦠PANDEMIC TREATY TALKS. Negotiators return to the table to try to iron out nasty creases in talks for a pandemic preparedness and response treaty. But a US exit from the World Health Organization, announced by Trump last month, has raised concerns over the feasibility of an agreement that was already at an impasse.

Ripple effects. At a practical level, the US's step back from the international scene has already had significant impacts. The freeze on US foreign aid is already hampering Africa’s response to the mpox outbreak at its epicentre in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the transport of samples from affected remote regions has been curtailed. In the US, federal agencies have gone silent amid a worsening bird flu outbreak.

New US health chief. Last week's confirmation of vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as US health secretary has also sent shudders across global authorities. In the US, he has caused alarm by suggesting that Black Americans should be on a different vaccine schedule than the White population, a contention that has been scientifically debunked.

🗳GERMAN AID AT STAKE. Ahead of Germany’s federal elections on Sunday, aid groups are left wondering how its outcome may affect development and humanitarian relief budgets amid the rise of the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Proposed changes to Germany’s aid policy, including sharp budget cuts, were put on hold following the call of the snap elections late last year, and development has not positioned high in political parties election campaigning.

With USAid donations on ice and several European nations, including France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, announcing reductions, Germany's retreat would deal another blow to the struggling sector. Germany is one of the few countries to contribute more than the UN’s aid target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income.

– By Paula Dupraz-Dobias

❝Nature won’t wait, but can a meaningful pandemic agreement get done in 2025? As a divided world edges closer to a pandemic treaty, gaps in pathogen sharing, One Health commitments, and funding threaten progress. In this context, Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre, explores if 2025 will deliver the needed breakthrough.

This piece has been republished in partnership with the Geneva Policy Outlook, an initiative of the Geneva Graduate Institute in partnership with the Republic and State of Geneva and the City of Geneva.