03 August 2010

In her blog article "Rethinking the mission of medical schools", Jemma Weymouth summarizes a recent debate which asks whether US medical schools are producing the health workforce that America needs. The recent study that sparked this debate did so by ranking US medical schools in an innovative and highly provocative way: on the extent to which they accomplish a "social mission": producing doctors who practice primary care, work in underserved areas and are minorities underrepresented among health professionals. This debate is made all the more pressing as the US prepares for an influx of newly-insured patients under health reform. Europe is also at a point where the health needs of its citizens are changing in ways that surpass the missions' of medical schools created to cope with 20th century challenges. Are European medical schools producing a health workforce capable to tackle Europe's future health needs?

06 July 2010

For those who expected that the baton would be passed from G8 to G20, that wider engagement of middle income countries would herald a human rights based approach to health and development and that global governance would be transformed, this Chatham House meeting brought a useful dose of realism. G8 will remain an important focus for the global health and development agenda. G20 is unlikely to address human rights, health is unlikely to be central to its agenda, the voices of civil society organisations are not expected to be heard at its meetings and there is little prospect of better connection with the UN system. This is a personal perspective of a truly fascinating meeting, for an authoritative view check the web site at: http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk

2 July 2010

Despite rumours to the contrary, last week's G8 meeting in Muskoka, Canada confirmed to the world that this highly influential club of powerful countries plus the EU has no intention of being phased out in the near future. While their influence on global economic affairs has been eclipsed by the G20, the G8 will remain an influential forum to address the most pressing issues in development, peace and global security (Summit Conclusions). This year has brought a totally new element into play: the first ever G8 accountability report. The Muskoka Accountability Report, commissioned at the 2009 L'Aquila Summit, aims to assess actions taken and their results against the commitments that the G8 has made for development over the last 30 years.

28 June 2010

In a presentation delivered at the June 2010 "Global Health: Together we can make it" conference in Brussels, Professor Ilona Kickbusch, Director of the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute, Geneva and Chair of the Global Health Europe Task Force, summarized the key challenges that have to be tackled in order to improve global governance for health.

07 June 2010

The EU Commission launches its consultation on "Strengthening European Union Preparedness on Pandemic Influenza" against a background of accusations that the threat of this pandemic was overstated and that European countries (with the exception of Poland) were persuaded to invest too much in stocks of anti-viral medicines. This controversy was fuelled by the revelations published in the BMJ that WHO guidance issued in 2004 was authored by three scientists who had previously received payment for other work from Roche, which makes Tamiflu, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which produces Relenza. The report by Paul Flynn, a UK Member of Parliament, on ''The handling of the H1N1 pandemic: more transparency needed'' which was adopted by the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee of the Council of Europe Assembly at its meeting in Paris on 4 June raises even more questions.

07 June 2010

In the Gulf of Mexico the blow out beneath BP's oil rig has revealed just how little regulation was provided by the US Minerals Management Service. It now seems likely that BP, an international giant formed as the result of a merger between the Amoco (formerly Standard Oil) and British Petroleum Companies, will be held to account for a final bill of up to $20 Billion.

It is a big misunderstanding that the rotating presidency will be abolished with the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty. In fact, the rotating presidency will continue to exist outside the European Council, in which the heads of the EU states meet and the Foreign Affairs Council, which will be chaired and represented by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR; Catherine Ashton).

20 November 2009

Dear colleagues and friends,

I am pleased to welcome you to this ‘transition process' website, which is one element of a formal and informal process I am initiating to explore ways of adapting the WHO Regional Office for Europe to the changing European environment. I am launching this site to share with you my vision for the WHO European Office and, importantly, to hear your views and suggestions about this vision and a number of priority action issues.