News

Direct Relief Malawi Mangochi hospital. Ziekenhuis malawi

3/4/2020

Healthcare: a vital profession

It is striking what a crisis such as the COVID-19 outbreak can bring about. Five years ago, budget cuts severely restricted funding for long-term care, home care and youth care in the Netherlands. Many care organisations went bankrupt and 80,000 care workers lost their jobs. Then the economy started booming again and budget was made available to expand the health workforce. Read more

Blog

1/4/2020

Don’t underestimate the GAP!

As the Covid-19 was starting to make its way around the world, just having started in China and the first cases appearing in Thailand, there never was a better time to speak about universal health coverage (UHC) and how to accelerate progress towards achieving this everywhere in the world. Read more

News

31/3/2020

Letter to Dutch cabinet: support ‘Covid-19 pool’

Yesterday, Wemos sent a letter on behalf of 38 civil society organisations, political youth organisations and 20 public health experts to Minister Van Rijn (Medical Care), Minister Kaag (Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation) and Minister Wiebes (Economic Affairs and Climate) with the call to support the worldwide ‘Covid-19 pool’. The organisations call for free sharing of knowledge, data and intellectual property around Covid-19. Read more

Blog

27/3/2020

The answer to pandemics? Strong public health systems

Covid-19 demands a rapid response, while investing in public health systems is as important as ever. International financial institutions like the World Bank therefore need to see these uncertain times as the prime opportunity to take measures aimed at social protection, strong public services, decent work, tax justice, and progressive financing of social sectors – thereby strengthening health systems. Because after all this, we cannot go back to business as usual. Read more

News

24/3/2020

Covid-19 shows why global solidarity is needed

In her new opinion article, Wemos director Mariëlle Bemelmans explains why the Covid-19 crisis shows the need for global solidarity. ‘There is no point in only improving our own health care, and neglecting it elsewhere, because a virus outbreak elsewhere will eventually reach us all in this globalised world.’ Read more

Blog

23/3/2020

Worldwide access to Covid-19 vaccine

Researchers around the world are trying to develop treatments and vaccines against the new Covid-19 virus. This requires huge amounts of public and private funding and cooperation amongst many different organizations. Two potential risks may prevent everyone from accessing the vaccine. Firstly, the lack of sufficient production facilities worldwide. Second, patents on a new vaccine would push up prices, hindering governments from providing them to the public. Costa Rica wants to tackle both issues with a global Covid-19 Patent Pool and has asked the WHO for support. Read more

pills, money , investment. geld medicatie investeringen.

News

9/3/2020

Opinion in Trouw: ‘invest in transparent pharmaceutical company, and otherwise, don’t’

In her opinion piece in Trouw, global health advocate Ella Weggen explains why pension funds should not invest in pharmaceutical companies that are not transparent about the prices of their medicines. ‘My message to pension funds is: talk with pharmaceutical companies about transparency and fair pricing of medicines. Otherwise, do not invest in them,’ she says. Read more

News

18/2/2020

Turning the health workforce crisis into opportunity

This week, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs published its Youth, Education & Employment Strategy, ‘Youth at Heart’. With this strategy, for which we provided input last summer, the Dutch government aims to invest in more perspective for young people in the Sahel, Horn of Africa and Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) regions, with a focus on education and employment. Read more

News

14/2/2020

A strong health system is a prerequisite for sexual and reproductive health and rights

Access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) has still not been achieved in many countries and regions. For example, in Africa, 24.2% of women of reproductive age have an unmet need for family planning. SRHR can only be supported and enabled in a country with a strong, responsive and well-functioning health system. Read more