Kristof Decoster

Building a Realistic Utopia: Richard Horton on Collaborating for Planetary Health The Lancet’s Richard Horton discusses the field of Planetary Health, the importance of collaboration & what makes him hopeful for the future.

www.rockefellerfoundation.org/bellagio-bre... Worth a read. Among others on the origins of 'planetary health' and how it evolved over the past 10 years.

More in particular, the 'like-minded' ones : (

When people will later analyze the past few years, they'll see that in addition to the raw & lawless power used by fascist leaders (Putin, Trump, Netanyahu...) it was also the blatant double standards by (most) European leaders that killed the (already flawed) post-WWII 'rules-based order'.

I suggest whoever is still engaged in 'reimagining global health' closes shop. As a recent visitor to ITM worried, it'll be raw power deciding where we're heading for. As well as cowardly European "leaders". Good luck.

Epstein Received Sensitive Military Intelligence Amid Gates Foundation Polio Campaign in Pakistan Justice Department emails show that Epstein helped the Gates Foundation gain access to the Taliban—and received confidential reports and intelligence on Pakistani military operations.

It will be lost in today's news, but @dropsitenews.com is doing amazing work digging into the Epstein files, and its revelations that Epstein involved himself in the polio eradication campaign with the cooperation of the Gates Foundation is just jaw-dropping. www.dropsitenews.com/p/epstein-se...

Bolstering Infectious Disease Outbreak Prevention and Response in Niger and the Dominican Republic Through the America First Global Health Strategy - United States Department of State On February 26, the United States signed bilateral health cooperation Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Niger, reinforcing U.S. leadership in global hea...

Plenty new bilateral health agreements... www.state.gov/releases/off... & www.state.gov/releases/off...

You hear this call for 'vaccine sovereignty' increasingly also in "the North" now. Probably has to do a bit with that country formerly known as a 'trusted ally'.

How Zimbabwe Walked Away from a $367 Million U.S. Health Deal — Global Health Unfiltered On February 25, 2026, the U.S. Embassy in Harare issued a terse, four-sentence statement confirming what Zimbabwean officials had already made clear weeks earlier: the United States would begin windin...

Following the dissolution of USAID what is emerging to replace it are exploitative one-sided deals proposing the exchange of aid dollars for sensitive health data, lack of reciprocal benefit and agreements that bypass multilateral frameworks.
www.globalhealthunfiltered.com/blog/jn2u6d5...

“Who the hell is upstream pushing them all in?” Reclaiming public health’s defining metaphor to counter the commercial determinants of health Public health policy and practice are often described by means of a metaphor that depicts interventions as “upstream” efforts to prevent people from falling into a river, from which they must be rescu...

journals.plos.org/globalpublic... by May C. I. van Schalkwyk et al.

"...Jeffrey Epstein presents a rare opportunity to hold Bill Gates accountable, and to finally have a larger public debate about extreme wealth and billionaire philanthropy—the common ground that initially brought Epstein and Gates together. " So let's have that independent investigation.

World News in Brief: Epstein scandal highlights ‘silencing’ of women, Danish breakthrough on HIV transmission, Belarus rights update UN human rights chief Volker Türk warned on Friday that the Epstein and Gisèle Pellicot scandals are an illustration of intensifying threats to women and girls forced to suffer in silence.

Via UN News: World News in Brief: Epstein scandal highlights ‘silencing’ of women news.un.org/en/story/202...

Aid groups win court reprieve from Gaza ban The decision comes days after 19 organizations petitioned Israel's High Court over new registration rules, which would have required the groups to provide detailed staff information to the Israeli gov...

Aid groups win court reprieve from Gaza ban www.devex.com/news/aid-gro...

WHO backs pooled TB testing to expand diagnosis and cut costs It includes pooled testing for tuberculosis in resource-constrained settings, allowing governments to screen more people for TB without additional costs.

WHO backs pooled TB testing to expand diagnosis and cut costs www.devex.com/news/who-bac...

Innovative Finance Can Strengthen Fragile Health Systems  - Health Policy Watch “New sources of financing are developing, breaking with the traditional vision of charitable action financed by grants from humanitarian agencies and

Innovative Finance Can Strengthen Fragile Health Systems  healthpolicy-watch.news/innovative-f... Sbd should really go through all this "innovative finance", and establish what is innovative & useful, what is total bullshit and makes things worse, and what is just common sense to do & long overdue.

Brunswick: Global State of Philanthropy.
www.brunswickgroup.com/app/uploads/... In the category 'hmmmm'. Not sure what to think of this : )

Global Health Financing Needs a Reset Bertrand Badré & Johanna Benesty propose ways to rethink aid, as dependence on a handful of budget-cutting donors threatens hard-won gains.

Global Health Financing Needs a Reset by Bertrand Badré, et al @projectsyndicate.bsky.social prosyn.org/EuI6yhs Co-authored by the Boston Consulting group. So I'm guessing the 'powers that be' will pay attention. And @felixundstein.bsky.social :)

‘Truly spectacular’ drug for sleeping sickness simplifies treatment, raising hopes for eradication European regulators greenlight new one-dose compound that could help African countries get rid of an ancient burden

‘Truly spectacular’ drug for sleeping sickness simplifies treatment, raising hopes for eradication | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Global health in a new era of US extraction The US is targeting African countries with bilateral deals that squeeze governments to secure health security at substantial costs, writes Sophie Harman If 2025 was the year of destruction for globa...

www.bmj.com/content/392/... by Sophie Harman. Re Kenya & beyond.

Labour’s worst fears realised by Greens’ victory in Gorton and Denton byelection Result shows progressive voters they have an alternative to Labour against Reform UK, and reveals task ahead for Starmer

www.theguardian.com/politics/202... Cool.

Facing Existential Challenges, WHO Shuts Down its Policy, Law, and Human Rights Unit - Science, Public Health Policy and the Law “The Department of Policy, Law, and Human Rights at the World Health Organization is officially closed,” mental health podcaster and pianist Chad Lawson said

publichealthpolicyjournal.com/facing-exist...

Rising anger over ‘lop-sided’ and ‘immoral’ US health funding pacts with African countries Zimbabwe refuses to sign agreement and Kenya faces a court case over data sharing as new aid deals come under scrutiny

Are we reaching a tipping point on these bilateral health financing agreements? www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Not wrong i'm afraid...

Newsletter

Check out this week's IHP news 868: “Human rights are not a spectator sport” www.internationalhealthpolicies.org/newsletter/ pdf: www.internationalhealthpolicies.org/wp-content/u... (also with some translations & AI summary)

Home Switching the Poles in International Health Policies

To subscribe to the weekly IHP newsletter & knowledge management tool: www.internationalhealthpolicies.org

Democratic Republic of Congo and US agree $1.2 billion strategic health partnership Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States have agreed a $1.2 billion strategic health partnership, the two governments said in a joint statement on Thursday.

Via Reuters: www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Watching the watchers: a reply from Global Health Watch 7 We deeply appreciate Richard Horton's engagement with the latest edition in the Global Health Watch (GHW) series of alternative world health reports.1 Although we changed the subtitle after WHO stoppe...

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... by R Labonté & C Bodini.

Candidates prepare for WHO Director-General election There is a wide field of unofficial candidates. Whoever succeeds will take the helm of an agency in turmoil. John Zarocostas reports from Geneva.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... Lancet World report.

Curbing methane is the fastest way to slow warming - but we're off the pace Scientific assessments show that the technical potential exists to meet a global pledge to cut methane emissions 30% by 2030 - the gap lies in implementation Scientific assessments show the technical ...

Via Climate Change News: www.climatechangenews.com/2026/02/26/c...

Europe still leads on SDGs, but progress is stalled Europe’s SDG progress is stalling, threatening the region’s historic role in global poverty reduction and undermining public trust in multilateral goals.

Europe still leads on SDGs, but progress is stalled www.devex.com/news/europe-...