WHO aims to finalise a pandemic pact by May 2025, despite uncertainty under Trump’s leadership, as nations negotiate global collaboration amid ongoing health crises.
The World Health Organization (WHO) chief expressed confidence on Tuesday that a pandemic agreement could be finalised by May 2025, despite uncertainty over support from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
Negotiations among the WHO’s 194 member states have been ongoing for two years to enhance global collaboration on pandemics after shortcomings during COVID-19. A prior attempt to finalise the agreement this year failed, and with right-wing critics claiming it threatens sovereignty, a deal appears less certain under Trump.
“They (countries) are committed to finalising the agreement in time for the World Health Assembly next May. I remain confident they will,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a Geneva press briefing.
Ghebreyesus emphasised a long-standing partnership with the U.S., stating, "U.S. leaders understand that the United States cannot be safe unless the rest of the world is safe."
Separately, Tedros reported that malaria was detected in 10 early samples from a mystery illness in the Democratic Republic of Congo but cautioned this might not exclude other diseases.
He also highlighted increased strain on Syria's fragile health system due to the displacement of 1 million people in the wake of a rebel offensive, noting that returning refugees could further exacerbate the crisis. The WHO is providing trauma supplies to hospitals and supporting other facilities in the region.
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A drone attack on a hospital in East Darfur, Sudan, has killed at least 64 people and injured 89 more, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Saturday.
Measles cases across Europe and Central Asia fell sharply in 2025 compared to the previous year but health officials have warned that the risk of fresh outbreaks remains unless vaccination gaps are urgently addressed.
The United States officially left the World Health Organization on 22 January, triggering a financial and operational crisis at the United Nations health agency. The move follows a year of warnings from global health experts that a U.S. exit could undermine public health at home and abroad.
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The foreign ministers of the G7 group of nations on Friday called for an immediate stop to attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Iran war.
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France has rejected claims that South Africa was dropped from the guest list for this year’s G7 summit under pressure from United States, insisting the decision to invite Kenya was its own.
Two months after Indian negotiators worked in January to secure relief from punitive U.S. tariffs on the country’s exports and New Delhi moved to cut back its purchases of Russian crude oil, India and Russia are stepping up their energy ties once again, according to Reuters.
Turkish military personnel participating in NATO’s mission in Iraq have been “successfully” withdrawn from the country, the Turkish Defence Ministry announced on Thursday.
Austria’s government on Friday approved plans to introduce a nationwide ban on social media use for children under the age of 14, alongside reforms to upper secondary school curricula aimed at boosting media literacy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) education from the 2027/28 academic year.
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The Scottish Parliament has voted against legalising assisted dying, ending a years-long campaign to make Scotland the first part of the UK to allow the practice.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has released $2m in emergency funding to support health responses in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria as escalating regional conflict strains hospitals, raises displacement and increases pressure on already fragile health systems.
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