News Archive: June 2017

The next WHO director-general is Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Policy
The long wait is over: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been elected as the World Health Organization’s new director-general by the World Health Assembly. The former minister of health of Ethiopia beat two other finalists in the race — the U.K.’s David Nabarro and Pakistan’s Sania Nishtar — with a...

Rwanda turns to drones to deliver vital blood supplies

Press and media
Rwanda has launched a drone delivery network to transport vital blood supplies to far-flung areas of the country. Through a partnership with the Government of Rwanda, Zipline, a Silicon Valley Start-up will deliver all blood products for twenty hospitals and health centers starting this summer,...

The 2017 Bakken Invitation Award: Building a Philanthropic Movement of Patients Who “Live On. Give On. Dream On.”

Members
When Roberta Alves Silva of Belo Horizonte, Brazil was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 14 years old, she spent years trying to understand and control her disease before using an insulin pump. But it took attending a camp for kids with diabetes to transform her life. “Being a part of the Colonia...

IAPO and UAPO African regional meeting: The role of patients in African harmonisation

Members
On 4th – 5th July, IAPO’s member organizations in Africa will be coming together to address the next steps forward for joined-up healthcare across the continent.

Takeaways from the World Health Assembly

Policy
The week long hard intense debates on global health at the 70th World Health Assembly in Geneva came to an end on 31st May 2017. The slow slog of the debates inside the Assembly Hall was a contrast to fast-paced side-events and discussions being held by non-State Actors. Issues were not just...

Policy Briefing #4 - Patient Involvement in HTA

Policy
This month’s policy briefing focuses on patient involvement in health technology assessment (HTA). This topic features within the second key theme of the IAPO 2017 engagement and empowerment plan : access. There is a crucial connection between access and HTA. In fact, to be truly valuable, access...