18 October 2020 – Mukesh Kapila The recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Programme (WFP) triggered mixed reactions. WFP’s humanitarian efforts certainly deserve applause. At the same time, questions arise. Do already privileged organisations doing their mandated jobs need such affirmation? More fundamentally, should humanitarian and peace efforts be confounded?Continue reading “Peace continues to elude the Nobel Prize”
Author Archives: Mukesh Kapila
Known only to God and statisticians
Reflections on the millionth death from #COVID-19.
Trading-off human rights with public health in the name of COVID-19
25 September 2020 – Mukesh Kapila Today, during the General Assembly marking the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights organises a high-level event on participation as a human right when tackling global challenges. A recent seminar by PlatformA and the Parliamentary Assembly of the MediterraneanContinue reading “Trading-off human rights with public health in the name of COVID-19”
Will the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response restore the world’s trust in the fractured post COVID-19 global health system?
17 September 2020 – Mukesh Kapila Some ten months after the first case was reported from Wuhan and, as the world COVID-19 meter clicks on relentlessly towards 30 million confirmed SARS-COV-2 infections, the Independent Panel For Pandemic Preparedness and Response meets for the first time today. It’s leisurely gestation has not matched the rapid evolutionContinue reading “Will the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response restore the world’s trust in the fractured post COVID-19 global health system?”
Six jobs the new World Health Organisation leader should prioritise
1 July 2017 – Mukesh Kapila Dr Tedros should steer clear of vertical disease programmes pushed by donors, be prepared for his authority to be questioned, and tighten the purse strings The first ever African director general of the World Health Organisation assumes office on Saturday. The election of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, or as he isContinue reading “Six jobs the new World Health Organisation leader should prioritise”
We need a revolution in mindsets at the top of the World Health Organization
9 May 2017 – Mukesh Kapila Medical science has never been so productive and yet health inequalities have never been wider – more of the same is not an option Does it matter who heads the World Health Organization (WHO)? Yes, say West Africans badly let down by WHO’s feeble response to the Ebola epidemic. Yes, say Darfuris, whoseContinue reading “We need a revolution in mindsets at the top of the World Health Organization”
Humanitarians need to do less to do more
12 January 2017 – Mukesh Kapila It’s time to end this cruel roulette over the life and death of people in need and tighten our definition of humanitarianism. Are humanitarians demanding too much? The latest catalogue of human misery seeks $22.2bn for 92.8 million people in 33 countries. This consolidated humanitarian appeal for 2017 is the largest-everContinue reading “Humanitarians need to do less to do more”
If We Fail in Health We Fail Overall
9 August 2016 – Mukesh Kapila The much hyped, first-ever World Humanitarian Summit has come and gone. Convened by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, 9000 participants from 173 countries assembled in Istanbul on 23-24 May 2016. They included 55 heads of state and government, and hundreds of civil society, NGO, academic, and private sector organizations. Issuing aContinue reading “If We Fail in Health We Fail Overall”
Global Health: Our Moral Compass in a World of Crisis
7 May 2016 – Jakaya Kikwete & Mukesh Kapila The first ever World Humanitarian Summit will be convened in Istanbul by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on 23-24 May 2016. This comes with the recognition that the world’s response to humanitarian crises is itself in crisis, as conflicts seem to go on for ever, record numbers ofContinue reading “Global Health: Our Moral Compass in a World of Crisis”
Remembering Darfur: The World’s Longest Running Genocide
1 January 2016 – Mukesh Kapila On the 27th of January 1945 Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated. That is why today is designated Holocaust Remembrance Day by the United Nations to recall the Nazi-perpetrated genocide that killed some 6 million Jews, 1 million Roma, 250,000 mentally and physically disabled people, and 9,000 homosexual men. We also remember today the victimsContinue reading “Remembering Darfur: The World’s Longest Running Genocide”
