Hello, it's Kasmira. As the World Health Assembly kicked off on Monday, the spectre of last week's stalled pandemic accord negotiations hung heavy over the agenda. But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted it wasn't over yet, "because where there is a will, there is a way".
An analysis of a recent UNCTAD data underscores the stranglehold that rising interest rates have on emerging and developing countries. And an opinion piece that takes a critical look at the "rules-based international order" that western policymakers preach but too often don't uphold. |
WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his opening remarks at the World Health Assembly, 27 May 2024. (Geneva Solutions/Paula Dupraz-Dobias)
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Here's what else is happening
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🫱🏽🫲🏾WHO chief ‘confident’ of eventual pandemic treaty deal.
Despite failing to clinch a deal last week, Tedros on Monday voiced confidence that countries would one day reach an agreement, although health officials warned it could take years.
Reuters (EN)
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🕗Global life expectancy slumps to 2012 level: WHO.
Covid-19 has erased nearly a decade of progress in improving life expectancy in just two years, statistics released on Monday by the WHO show. The report said that between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy dropped by 1.8 years to 71.4 years, returning to 2012 levels.
Business Standard (EN)
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💵Global South pays more to service its debt than it receives in development aid.
In 2022, the first year of sharp rate hikes to curb rising inflation, the countries of the Global South paid almost $50 billion more in debt than they received in new financing, according to data from the UN’s trade and development arm.
El Paìs (EN)
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🇺🇲America breaks global rules as it defends the free world.
Washington should talk less about the rules-based international order – a claim full of contradictions as seen by its recent tariff policies undermining WTO rules – and more about defending the free world.
Financial Times (EN)
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💥UN Palestinian refugee agency says attacks on Rafah ‘horrifying’.
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said on Monday that reports of attacks on Sunday families seeking shelter in Rafah in the southern tip of the Gaza Strip were "horrifying".
Reuters (EN)
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Geneva Solutions in the news
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🎧On 15 May, Geneva Solutions organised a debate with the Geneva Press Club on the topic of one of our recent stories, Behind the UN's liquidity crunch, a multilateral system in crisis? Panelists included Michael Møller, former director general of the UN office in Geneva and Maya Ungar UN Analyst at the International Crisis Group, based in New York. Catch up on some of the highlights by listening to this interview with our journalist Michelle Langrand.
Radio Cité Geneve (FR)
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