U.S. Mission Geneva / Eric Bridiers 
IHP news #522
Editorial
Getting ready for #WHA72
By Kristof Decoster on May 17, 2019
Dear Colleagues,
As I spent a day on the train to get to Geneva yesterday, for the 72nd WHA, I’m sure you won’t mind a short intro to this week’s newsletter. In case you insist, nevertheless, on reading some of my more or less random ‘thoughts of the week’, I refer you to ‘On UHC & social contracts (fit for the 21st century)’. This week’s issue of the newsletter will focus, among others, on the Ebola outbreak, preparations for and analyses ahead of WHA72, of course, with civil society meetings already starting today, updates on various global health stakeholders (including on a Global Fund Board meeting), the (ongoing) G7 health ministers’ summit in France, World Mental Health Awareness week, plenty of news on access to medicines, the world’s first wellbeing budget …
Speaking of wellbeing, you might want to check out Alex Evans’ ultra-short blog, Public interest in the SDGs, and his rather ominous conclusion: “ “…All of the top 10 most engaged countries are in Sub-Saharan Africa – whereas countries like China, US, Germany, France, UK, Brazil all score less than 5 out of 100 on the engagement scale. TLDR: these may well be the Goals the world needs in the early 21st century. But even as publics all over the world vote for radical change, not many of them are looking to the SDGs for it.” I don’t blame them, as this part of the world is currently watching (with a sense of bewilderment ?) Eurosong in Tel Aviv. Israel is always an awkward place to organize this sort of party, but with tension steadily rising in the Mediterranean & Persian Gulf areas (due to the likes of Bolton & Pompeo), aliens must really think human beings are funny creatures. Let’s just say these feel like Titanic times.
Enjoy your reading.
Kristof Decoster
(PS: you find the pdf of the full newsletter here: IHPn522 )
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