News

2/4/2021

Public-private partnerships in healthcare fail the poor: go public!

On March 24th, as part of the Civil Society Policy Forum ahead of the upcoming IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings (5-11 April 2021), Wemos co-organised the interactive session ‘Universal access to healthcare: lessons learned from Public-Private Partnerships’. Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng (UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health) was among the speakers who voiced their concerns about healthcare Public Private Partnerships to the World Bank. Read more

News

1/4/2021

Wemos welcomes three new supervisory board members

Wemos is pleased to welcome three new members to our Supervisory Board: Ingrid van de Stadt, Ruud van den Hurk and Thomas van den Akker. With their professional expertise, relevant networks and experience, they will actively contribute to our organisation’s course and further strengthen our position and (global) ambitions. The three new members will join our supervisory board as of April 2021. Read more

Video

25/3/2021

Make pooling of patents and knowledge work to end the pandemic

To end the corona pandemic as quickly as possible, we need to maximize the production of Covid-19 vaccines. The few pharmaceutical companies that currently produce safe and effective vaccines, should share their patent rights and knowledge, so other manufacturers can produce vaccines as well. Governments and pharmaceutical companies around the world: make pooling work! Read more

Report

24/3/2021

Let’s strengthen public financing and avoid the risky business of public-private partnerships

Global actors such as the World Bank Group should focus on strengthening public health financing, and refrain from promoting Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) with commercial companies in healthcare because of associated risks, such as worsening existing inequalities. This is our request in our co-signed open letter (with nearly 100 signatories) to the World Bank Group. Read more

World Bank Photo Social distancing in the market Kenya

News

12/3/2021

Election countdown: ‘building back better’ with a global health strategy

Countries can effectively combat pandemics such as the current Covid-19 pandemic by making long-term investments in structural improvements in global health. This means that governments and their ministries must pursue policy coherence and reinforce each other’s programmes. As the 2021 Dutch general election is approaching, Wemos is advocating – with fellow members of the Dutch Global Health Alliance – a Global Health strategy. Read more

Video

4/3/2021

Webinar ‘Public-private partnerships and commercialisation in healthcare: donors, profit and people’

Country experience shows that Public-Private Partnerships in healthcare (involving commercial actors) bear high costs and can hinder rather than help progress towards universal access to healthcare, and fail to reach the most vulnerable. Yet, global actors are increasingly promoting such partnerships in low- and middle-income countries – a cause of concern for civil society. Read more

News

19/2/2021

The medicines debate in de Balie

How can we keep medicines accessible and affordable for everyone in the Netherlands and the rest of the world? Now that the Netherlands has made a remarkably slow start with its Covid-19 vaccination campaign, the topic of access to medicines is again high on the (political) agenda. Read more

Covid-19 testing madagascar. Arts covid-19 madagascar

News

17/2/2021

The pandemic and the strong government’s comeback

Over the past year, the Covid-19 pandemic has confronted countries all over the world with their health systems problems, which are largely caused by decentralised governments, austerity measures and the introduction of market forces in health care. But the crisis therefore offers opportunities for a comeback of the concept of a strong government with a guiding role. Read more

The-big-foreign policy debate / Het-Grote-Buitenland-Debat

News

16/2/2021

The great foreign policy debate

Corona has shown that global health has a major impact on the rest of the world. In the run-up to the elections, various politicians will discuss the future role of the Netherlands in the world during the Great Foreign Policy Debate. Read more