Global Health Resource Center

Ebola and the New Politics of Global Health Cooperation: As outbreaks of Ebola and Andes hantavirus make headlines, governments are engaged in a consequential debate about the future of global health cooperation. Can ongoing deliberations build greater trust, strengthen regional capacity, and support more equitable cooperation?

Getting Ahead of the Next Global Disease Outbreak: An emerging scientific field is shifting how the world thinks about pandemic risk. A more systematic understanding of pandemic risk will be essential to strengthening prevention, preparedness, and response in the years ahead.

Protecting the Future: Keeping Mothers and Children Healthy During Humanitarian Crises: On the sidelines of the 79th World Health Assembly, alongside  the  International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Foundation co-hosted a discussion titled, Sustaining Life-Saving Services for Mothers and Children in Fragile Settings, where speakers shared their perspectives on efforts to strengthen responses to health emergencies while building longer-term health system resilience.

Global Health in Transition at WHA79: Global health thinkers, doers, and decision-makers will converge in Geneva for the 79th annual World Health Assembly. In a rapidly changing world, this Assembly will make choices that recalibrate how global health –– and global health emergencies –– are governed.

From Home Visits to Health Intelligence – How Community Health Workers Track Disease in Real Time: Community health workers are the connective tissue of strong health systems. Their role in detecting outbreaks of infectious diseases remains vital to global health security.

Health Sovereignty and Reform at WHO’s 158th Executive Board: Twice each year, 34 countries meet as the WHO Executive Board to tighten the bolts of global health governance. At the 158th meeting, redrawing the blueprint of the World Health Organization anchored the agenda.

Aligning Global Health Reforms in 2026: With the current emphasis on country-centricity and more exclusive, transactional partnerships, explore how can global health institutions deliver essential global public goods and closing major health gaps.

No Time to Stall: Funding, Trust, and the Future of Immunization: Data shows that childhood immunization progress is halting. Learn more about current efforts to redefine global immunization priorities given funding constraints.

Beyond Preparedness Metrics: Toward a Global Agenda for Pandemic Risk Assessment: Discover how the scientific and policy communities are working together to address the need for proactive pandemic risk assessment.

World Health Assembly 78 – What Happened? What’s Next?: Learn about the important discussions and decisions made at the 78th World Health Assembly and how they will impact the future of WHO and the global health ecosystem.

Countries Cross the Finish Line on Pandemic Agreement, Assess Next Steps: Negotiators from around the world defied expectations when they reached consensus on a Pandemic Agreement. Learn more about the negotiations and next steps.

Frontline Champions: Investing in Community Health Workers to Save Lives: Learn about the economic and health benefits of investing in the global health workforce, including local community health workers.

WHO’s 156th Executive Board Meeting Considers Course of Action for Health Agency: In February 2025, amid mounting financial pressures and an expanding mandate, the WHO Executive Board convened to strategize for the Organization’s future.

Lusaka Agenda Explained: Learn more about how the Lusaka Agenda has evolved from a list of policy recommendations to a multifaceted effort to transform health financing and accelerate progress toward universal health coverage.

How Global Health Experts are Redefining Pandemic Risk: Are we able to predict the risk of emerging threats? Over 85 experts and key stakeholders from around the world met to discuss this question and identify gaps in pandemic risk assessment.

Reporting on a Forgotten Disease: UN Foundation Press Fellows Share their Experiences Covering Polio: Journalists from the 2024 Polio Press Fellowship relay their experiences traveling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Pakistan to collect stories from health workers and polio survivors.

The Americas Mark 30 Years Without Wild Polio: Polio experts weigh in on why the 30-year anniversary of the Americas region’s wild polio-free certification is so important.

Countries Deliver New Commitments to the Fight Against AMR: Our experts dive deep into the intergovernmental process behind the 2024 High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance and the resulting political declaration.

Will UNGA 79 Bring Fresh Energy to the AMR Emergency?: Antimicrobial resistance has been dubbed the “Grand Pandemic.” Find out how the High-Level Meeting on AMR and negotiations for a political declaration will guide future policy initiatives on this important cross-sectoral issue for years to come.

Health for All: Including Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in National Health Services: In commemoration of World Humanitarian Day, the UN Foundation and the Alliance for Malaria Prevention convened over 100 global, regional, and country-level humanitarian stakeholders to discuss the importance of providing malaria services to displaced populations, including refugees.

UN Foundation Launches Outbreak Prevention & Preparedness Fund: Our new pooled fund is set to make a significant impact on global health by supporting efforts that reinforce national immunization systems and allow countries to better prevent, detect, and respond to vaccine-preventable diseases.

Hard-fought Wins for Global Health at WHA77: Learn more about the biggest accomplishments during the 2024 World Health Assembly — from agreements on regulating health emergencies to support for WHO’s strategy and financing — and the tough negotiations along the way.

Tracking the Pandemic Agreement: Countries’ Last Crack at an Accord by May: Over two years ago, world leaders committed to negotiating an innovative, legally-binding instrument to strengthen our collective pandemic preparedness, prevention, and response (PPPR).

Humanly Possible: Protecting Immunization’s Profound Progress: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is seeking replenishment from donor governments, while many low- and middle-income countries are striving to catch up ton childhood immunizations.

Progress and Promise: Compelling Reasons for Optimism in Immunization for the Year 2024: Data released by WHO and UNICEF showed that routine immunization rates had started to improve since the beginning of the pandemic but not enough.

COP28 Health Day Reflections: Bringing a People-Centered Approach to the Climate Crisis: For the first time, COP28 brought together ministers of health and health experts from around the world, alongside climate leaders – from ministers of energy and environment to adaptation, mitigation, and resilience experts and others.

Building on Polio’s Legacy: Webinar Unveils Strategies to Transform Polio Investments into Resilient Health Systems: UN Foundation and the Civil Society Working Group on Polio Integration and Transition hosted a webinar to provide a platform to discuss the new strategy for polio transition and the challenges associated with this process.

Why Universal Health Coverage Remains a New Year’s Resolution for Global Health: Over half of the world’s population lives without access to essential health services. Each year on December 12, Universal Health Coverage Day recognizes the urgent need to address this unacceptable inequality.

Ahead of COP28 Health Day: Addressing the Growing Threat of Vector-Borne Diseases: The first-even health day at COP28 is a crucial moment for the global community to rethink climate action in terms of priorities and solutions to address the growing impact of climate change on health.

Charting the Course for the AMR Agenda in 2024: In 2024, the UN General Assembly will convene its second high-level meeting on the subject of antimicrobial resistance.

Inching Toward a Pandemic Accord: A Review of the Latest Text: Since December 2021, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body has conducted six formal meetings and numerous informal discussions to consider the purpose and scope of a new legal instrument to prepare the world for future pandemics.

R21 Vaccine: Another Ray of Hope Lighting the Path to a World Free of Malaria: WHO recommended R21/Matrix-M, the world’s second malaria vaccine, bringing a ray of hope, not just for the tens of thousands of kids whose lives could be saved each year by this vaccine, but also for all those living in areas of high malaria transmission.

UNGA High-Level Meetings on Health: What Did We Learn?: UNGA 78’s unprecedented focus on health signals tremendous interest and concern about the challenges and opportunities ahead for protecting public health.

Take These Steps to Help Make Polio History: WHO outlines three small actions anyone can take to help end polio.

Making Global Health Policy at UNGA 78: The 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly will feature three greatly anticipated high-level meetings on global health topics, including pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR), universal health coverage (UHC), and the fight against tuberculosis (TB).

Climate Change Threatens to Undo Malaria Control Progress: Vector-borne diseases have been considered a problem only in tropical areas for many years. Nevertheless, during the past two decades, they have emerged and re-emerged, spreading to new parts of the world

Deep Dive Into Troubling New Measles Data: While several countries have made impressive strides to improve DTP vaccine coverage rates, low-income countries continue to lag behind, and measles immunization coverage remains low in most parts of the world.

Assessing Progress & Confronting Hurdles in Polio Eradication: The fight against polio is at a critical juncture as the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) aims to eliminate all polio cases by the end of 2023.

Gavi Mid-Term Review: Countries Speak Up on Immunization: From June 13-15, 2023, representatives from all constituencies of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, met in Madrid to discuss the Alliance’s progress toward its 2021-2025 immunization targets. Here are the main takeaways.

Controlling Vector-borne Diseases in Complex Operating Environments: Humanitarian emergencies often result in prolonged internal or external displacement, increased risk of disease transmission, strained health systems, and collapse of supply chains.

WHO Celebrates 75th Anniversary at World Health Assembly: As the world emerges from the acute phase of the COVID-19 emergency, countries used this Assembly – which marks WHO’s 75th anniversary – to consider how to regain lost ground and contribute to a WHO that is fit to meet future needs.

Climate Change Fuels the Spread of Malaria: In 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported approximately 247 million malaria cases and 619,000 deaths worldwide, with 95% of the disease burden concentrated in the WHO African region.

Leveraging Civil Society Contributions for Polio Efforts in Africa: Civil society organizations (CSOs) have a vital role to play in the control of infectious diseases.

Debunking Pandemic Accord Mis- and Disinformation: Over the last year, mis- and disinformation about the current process by WHO Member States to draft and negotiate an international agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response has been circulating online and in some media coverage.

Women Are the Backbone of Immunization Efforts & Polio Eradication: Roughly 25 million children are missing out on life-saving vaccines due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, humanitarian crises, and misinformation, putting children at risk for preventable diseases such as polio and measles.

Putting Pandemic Preparedness Reforms to the Test: Key efforts towards strengthening the global capacities for PPR have begun to take shape at the international, regional, and national levels.

Promoting the Inclusion of Displaced Populations in HIV, TB, and Malaria Programs: Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis (TB) present unique risks to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) around the world.

Walking the Talk on Sustainably Financing WHO: The COVID-19 pandemic put in stark relief the vital role that the World Health Organization (WHO) plays as the leading global authority for health.

The Pandemic Accord: Actualizing Ambition in 2023: Recognizing the moral and technical failure of the global response to COVID-19, Member States of the World Health Organization are seizing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance international cooperation through this new agreement.

Best Practices for Malaria Elimination in the Americas: Twenty countries in the Americas have eliminated malaria. This policy paper reveals what is possible when strong political commitment is paired with targeted, context-appropriate action.

Jointly Advancing Polio Eradication & Broader Global Health Goals: A policy paper and accompanying video reveal how polio eradication is key to achieving broader global health goals and provide actionable recommendations to maintain momentum.

Protecting the Vulnerable: Polio Eradication and Public Health in Conflict and Crisis: This policy paper discusses how polio vaccines reach hard-hit areas while programs deliver critical health services to communities in crisis.

AMR Messaging Guide: In response to key policy moments on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the United Nations Foundation, funded by Wellcome Trust, created a messaging guide and resource platform to build momentum and ensure commitments become actions.

Solutions to Address the Impact of Climate Change: In 2023, the UN Foundation, in collaboration with the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), convened a roundtable to facilitate south-south action-oriented discussions around the climate and health nexus and offer practical insights to address the increasing impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases. The key takeaways and recommendations are summarized in this policy brief.

Pakistan’s Lessons Learned on Climate Change, Malaria, and Vector-Borne Disease Transmission: This case study discusses strategies and recommended for effective and efficient vector control during climate change-related emergencies.

Roundtable Series on Malaria and Vector-Borne Diseases in Humanitarian Emergencies and Complex Operating Environments: Key Takeaways and Recommendations: This summary includes key findings from a series of roundtables held in Ghana, Kenya, and the United States to develop an action agenda on malaria and vector-borne disease prevention and control.

The Inclusion of Refugee and Internally Displaced Persons in Global Fund Applications 2020-2022: The UN Foundation and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reviewed the inclusion of refugees and internally displaced persons in Global Fund applications for the 2020-2022 funding cycle. This website presents their findings.

Leveraging CSO Contributions to Advance Polio Transition and Integration Efforts in the African Region: This report from the UN Foundation outlines specific areas where civil society organization (CSO) support can be of value for polio transition and integration with examples from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and South Sudan.

COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund – Impact: Read stories of impact from a network of partners joining together to stop the deadly virus.

Leave No Fever Unresolved: The Malaria Pathway to End this Pandemic and Prevent the Next: The lessons learned and the infrastructure built to fight malaria can help map a pathway to a more health-secure future.

Malaria & The Sustainable Development Goals: A RBM Partnership to End Malaria and United Nations Foundation Toolkit presented by United to Beat Malaria.

Multisectoral Action Guide to End Malaria: This Multisectoral action guide was developed to support malaria advocacy outside the health sector, specifically detailing interventions that facilitate the malaria response in various settings.