From May 23-28, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened the 69th World Health Assembly, an annual gathering of ministers of health from 194 countries and experts to assess the state of health around the world and to agree on major priorities for the year. In six days, delegates agreed on 76 agenda items that will lead to a healthier, more prosperous world.   With the adoption last year of two major global agreements – the Sustainable […]

Editor’s Note: This post was co-written by Data2X’s Emily Courey Pryor and Rebecca Furst-Nichols “Data, once the domain of geeks, is being put at the center of women’s rights,” writes Belinda Goldsmith in a recent article about the 2016 Women Deliver conference. Indeed, the attendees of both Women Deliver and the World Humanitarian Summit will attest that the subject of data received prime placement during these gatherings of development and humanitarian aid workers. This increased

The 69th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva demonstrated once again the central role of the World Health Organization (WHO) in global health. Whether one focuses on WHO’s global action plan on antimicrobial resistance or the international response to health emergencies like the Ebola and Zika viruses, there were countless venues for official and unofficial decisions and discussions on every health issue under the sun. One of the unique benefits of discussions during the annual Assembly that

My first encounter with the ocean was on the Jersey Shore when I was 3 years old and I got knocked over by a wave. It wasn’t frightening; it was more exhilarating than anything else. Life in the ocean captured my imagination and has held it ever since. When my family moved to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico became my backyard, I spent hours just searching through the giant piles of seaweed that washed ashore, picking

Bold. Unconventional. Generous. This is how Bill Gates has described Ted Turner, the United Nations Foundation’s Founder and Chairman, who was honored yesterday with the Forbes 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Philanthropy. This award could not be more deserved. Ted is a big thinker and has long understood that in our increasingly connected world, filled with “problems without passports,” we need planetary philanthropy. Ted’s commitment to global problem-solving led him to create the UN Foundation in 1998

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a pressing global health threat that has been receiving increased attention from everyone from journalists to world leaders. Read more to learn about AMR, and why it’s important that we act to defeat it. What is antimicrobial resistance, and why is it a problem?Microbes are living things that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Some microbes, such as certain kinds of bacteria and fungi, are harmful, and we have

While the world is closer than ever to eradicating polio, a final push of funding is needed to get over the finish line. Why should donors and advocates support this cause? Polio is a devastating disease that can paralyze and even kill children. In 1988, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) – a partnership led by national governments, with five core partners, including the World Health Organization, Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

“Refugees are people like anyone else, like you and me. They led ordinary lives before becoming displaced, and their biggest dream is to be able to live normally again. On this World Refugee Day, let us recall our common humanity, celebrate tolerance and diversity, and open our hearts to refugees everywhere.”– United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on June 20, 2015 June 20 is World Refugee Day, and as the global community faces the highest level of displacement

Objects in motion will stay in motion, observed Sir Isaac Newton, unless compelled to change by an external force. Today’s most pernicious problems – extreme poverty, violence, gender inequity, climate change – will continue shuttling our world toward an unsustainable future, unless we create external forces that compel change. The December 2015 Paris climate conference demonstrates that multinational agreement on a dedicated course of action is indeed possible. The Paris Agreement is but one branch in an