In most organisations, those who are the biggest funders are also the ones with the biggest say in their running. In the case of the World Health Organisation (WHO), on the face of it, there seem to be two entities making the biggest voluntary contributions, the US government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But a closer look at the list of voluntary contributors suggests that the Gates Foundation...

An annual assessment report released today by the United Nations shows that while significant declines have been recorded by many countries in reducing maternal and child mortality, greater progress must be made to meet the global targets contained in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). First agreed at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000, the eight MDGs set worldwide objectives for reducing extreme poverty and hunger, improving health and education,...

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) issued today its first-ever guidance on how to use more than 240 essential medicines for treatment of children aged 12 and below. “To be effective, medicines must be carefully chosen and the dose adjusted to suit the age, weight and needs of children,” said Hans Hogerzeil, director of essential medicines and pharmaceutical policies at WHO . “Without a global guide, many health-care professionals...

Development models that focus attention on the poor while expanding job opportunities, increased government spending on social services and aid flows from affluent nations are all successful strategies for alleviating global poverty, the United Nations says. Access to low carbon energy and mobilizing domestic capital by, for example, improving tax collection, are the other factors the UN Development Programme (UNDP) identifies in a new report as crucial factors for the...

The international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, opened a photo exhibition titled Starved for Attention earlier this month at The Times Center in New York City. The exhibition is part of a multimedia campaign on the crisis of childhood malnutrition that MSF is spearheading in conjunction with VII Photo, an agency created in 2001 by seven leading photojournalists from across the world. The campaign was conceived...