… Addressing delegates at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Mr Mahama said about 1.4 million South Africans living with HIV are now uncertain about the continuity of their treatment due to the halt in support. …
… Addressing delegates at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, President Mahama said the current global health system was struggling to meet the needs of vulnerable populations and called for a new approach grounded in partnership, fairness, and sustainability. …
… Addressing delegates at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, President Mahama said the existing global health architecture, established in the aftermath of an earlier era, was under strain and required urgent transformation to respond effectively to present and future health …
… Delivering the keynote address at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Mr Mahama said the gathering was not intended to lament past challenges but to chart a new path towards self-reliance in healthcare delivery. …
… Addressing delegates in Geneva on Monday, Mr Mahama said sweeping cuts to international aid and the withdrawal of major Western funding from global health programmes had exposed the vulnerability of African health systems and made “health sovereignty” an urgent necessity rather t …
… Speaking at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, the President warned that the continent remained heavily dependent on external systems despite accounting for a large share of the global disease burden. …
… Delivering a keynote address at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva on Monday, May 18, Mr Mahama said the development had dealt a significant blow to Ghana’s healthcare sector and broader development agenda. …
… Addressing the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Mr Mahama said the government had moved “beyond rhetoric” to place citizens at the centre of healthcare delivery. …
… Speaking at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, Mr Mahama said recent cuts in humanitarian assistance and overseas development aid should serve as a wake-up call for African governments. …
President John Dramani Mahama is expected to deliver a keynote address today at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, where he will advocate greater health sovereignty for countries in the Global South. …
Officials from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda are meeting in Geneva for talks on implementing the 2025 Washington Accords through the Joint Security Coordination Mechanism, with mediators from the United States, Qatar, Togo and the African Union Commission. The talks come as fighting persists in eastern DRC and key security commitments—including the DRC's obligation to neutralise the FDLR and Rwanda's disengagement of forces—remain unresolved.
Officials from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda are meeting in Geneva for talks on implementing the 2025 Washington Accords through the Joint Security Coordination Mechanism, with mediators from the United States, Qatar, Togo and the African Union Commission. The talks come as fighting persists in eastern DRC and key security commitments—including the DRC's obligation to neutralise the FDLR and Rwanda's disengagement of forces—remain unresolved.
The POS Foundation's executive director says Ghana's participation in the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review has produced tangible changes, including community-sentencing reform; however, significant commitments remain outstanding. He cited the Community Service Bill passed in July 2026 as a legislative outcome stemming from UPR recommendations to address prison overcrowding.
UNICEF says severe acute malnutrition admissions in Somalia jumped 32 percent in the first six months of 2026 as more than 200 health and nutrition facilities closed due to international aid cuts, with nearly 1.9 million children projected to be malnourished this year.
President Paul Biya returned to Cameroon on Thursday after more than 10 weeks abroad, his longest recorded absence since taking power more than four decades ago. The 93-year-old's extended stay fuelled speculation about his health and capacity to govern, though authorities had said he would return.
Paul Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982 and is one of the world's longest-serving leaders, left on June 7 for what his office described as a "brief private stay in Europe" and has not returned in two months. His absence has revived questions about his health and governance of the country, though a government spokesman confirmed he was in Geneva, Switzerland and not hospitalized.
Paul Biya, 93 and president of Cameroon since 1982, left on June 7 for what his office called a "brief private stay in Europe" and has not returned in two months, prompting questions about his health and who is running the country in his absence.
The Deputy CEO of the Environmental Protection Authority, Prof. Michael Ayamga, has described the death of former Environment Minister Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed as a deeply painful personal loss. Ayamga recalled their final conversation took place while he was in Geneva preparing for an International Negotiating Committee meeting on a legally binding global agreement to address plastic pollution, the day before the helicopter crash on August 6, 2025 that claimed Dr Murtala Mohammed's life.
The Trump administration unfroze $600 million in congressionally appropriated funds for Gavi, a global alliance helping the world's poorest countries purchase vaccines, after Washington withheld the money over concerns raised by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The State Department said the decision followed Gavi's commitment to transition away from mercury-containing vaccines and expand access to mercury-free alternatives.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has signed an Accelerated Patent Grant arrangement with Ghana's intellectual property office, the first such agreement between the USPTO and an African country. The worksharing arrangement will continue for five years from the date of signing.
The United States and China will hold talks over artificial intelligence in September to address risks from each other's increasingly powerful frontier models, five sources told Reuters. The talks, an outcome of the Trump-Xi summit in May, are expected to take place before Chinese President Xi Jinping's planned September 24 visit to the U.S., and will likely be led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
At least one million women and girls have lost access to critical humanitarian support over the last eighteen months due to historic contraction in international development assistance, according to a UN Women report. The funding shortfall is forcing women-led organisations across 52 countries to scale back or cease operations, with nearly 90 per cent of surveyed organisations reporting they can no longer meet their communities' urgent needs.
After Wednesday's NATO summit in Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presented each NATO leader with a Gumusay .357 Magnum revolver produced by Turkish arms maker MKE in the 1990s, engraved with their names and accompanied by live ammunition, to showcase Turkey's defence industry. The gifts created logistical complications for recipients including Belgium's prime minister, who handed his to airport police for safekeeping.
El-Obeid, a city of 500,000 on the front line of Sudan's three-year civil war, endured 27 drone strikes in June and has been under siege-like conditions for 18 months, with UN human rights chief Volker Turk reporting at least 45 people killed and 41 injured in 15 strikes between 6 and 28 June, alongside summary executions, abductions, torture, and sexual violence affecting those fleeing the conflict.
UNICEF reported that the conflict between Sudan's military and the Rapid Support Forces has killed or wounded at least 330 children in the first six months of 2024, with drone strikes accounting for 60 per cent of casualties. Hostilities continue to intensify in Kordofan, Darfur, and Blue Nile regions, with attacks on schools, markets, and water and fuel stations displacing over 500,000 residents.
A clinical trial of two therapeutics for the Bundibugyo virus strain of Ebola has begun in the DRC with the enrolment of the first patient, the WHO announced. The current outbreak has confirmed over 1,400 cases and 438 deaths in the DRC as of 30 June, with additional cases reported in Uganda and France.
The Vatican excommunicated more than half a million members of the Society of Saint Pius X, a conservative Catholic splinter sect, after the group consecrated four bishops against papal instruction. The Vatican said all SSPX lay members are to be considered schismatic and excommunicated, though those who leave and return to the Roman Catholic Church would be welcomed back.
Congo's Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak has the largest number of confirmed cases within the first month of any outbreak on record, according to WHO. The surge is attributed to rapid spread to urban areas like Bunia and Mongbwalu, though the virus had been circulating for months before official detection on May 15.
Substitute Johan Manzambi scored twice, including one just 2 minutes 46 seconds after entering, as Switzerland defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 4-1 in a chaotic final 20 minutes to edge towards the World Cup last 32.
Dr George Agyekum Donkor, President and Chair of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, has been selected to receive the Distinguished African Development Finance Leadership Award for Regional Integration and Economic Transformation at the 16th African Business Leadership Awards 2026, in recognition of his contributions to development finance and regional economic integration in West Africa.
Ambassador James Victor Gbeho, who served as Ghana's Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1997 to 2001 and as President of the ECOWAS Commission from 2010 to 2012, died at a hospital on Saturday, June 13, 2026, at age 91. Born in Keta in 1935, Gbeho was a lawyer and diplomat who also represented Anlo Constituency in Parliament and held ambassadorial postings in China, India, Nigeria, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and at the United Nations.
The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development announced that its President and Chairman, Dr George Agyekum Donkor, has been named recipient of the Distinguished African Development Finance Leadership Award – Regional Integration & Economic Transformation at the 16th African Business Leadership Awards 2026. EBID has also been positioned as a Strategic Development Finance Partner of the ALM Africa Summit 2026, and Dr Donkor will serve as Special Guest of Honour and Keynote Speaker at the awards ceremony on 3 July 2026 in London.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for face-to-face talks with Vladimir Putin in an open letter, proposing a full ceasefire during negotiations to end the war in Europe. The Kremlin confirmed receiving the letter but reiterated its earlier position that Zelensky would need to travel to Moscow for talks.
Volodymyr Zelensky has written an open letter to Vladimir Putin proposing face-to-face talks and a full ceasefire during negotiations, arguing that peace can only come through direct engagement between Ukraine and Russia. The Kremlin confirmed receipt of the letter and responded that Putin would be welcome to meet Zelensky in Moscow.
An opinion piece argues that judges must uphold independence, impartiality, and integrity as core values and that the judiciary must remain insulated from political influence to maintain public confidence and the rule of law.
The WHO Director-General concluded his visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo by briefing President Felix Tshisekedi on the response to an Ebola outbreak that aid agencies warn is likely much larger than official figures. Health officials say the outbreak, already the third-largest on record, persisted undetected for weeks and responders are struggling to bring it under control.
Swiss tennis player Stan Wawrinka lost 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4 to Jesper De Jong in his final French Open on Monday, though he will not officially retire until October's Swiss Indoors in Basel. Wawrinka, 41, called the venue witness to the best match of his life—his 2015 final victory over Novak Djokovic—and wore a memento of the iconic plaid shorts from that performance.
B-Weh Schools and Right to Dream won the Junior and Senior categories at Ghana's 2026 Robotics for Good Youth Challenge national qualifiers, held at Ghana International School in Accra, and will compete in Geneva. The competition, organized by the ITU and The MakersPlace with partners including Google and the FAO, challenged 50 teams of 400 young people to design technology-driven solutions for food security and agriculture.
The World Health Organization has raised the public health risk from the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo from "high" to "very high," while the wider African region faces a "high" risk and the global risk remains "low." The rare Bundibugyo species, with no proven vaccine and a fatality rate of about a third, has resulted in 177 suspected deaths and 750 suspected cases so far.
The WHO states it could take up to nine months before a vaccine against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola is ready, as two candidate vaccines are still in development and have not entered clinical trials. With 51 confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and two in Uganda, the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern but said the risk at the global level is low.
The WHO says a vaccine against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola could take up to nine months to develop, as two candidate vaccines are still undergoing development and have not entered clinical trials. There have been 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths, with 51 confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and two in Uganda, though the WHO assessed the risk as high at national and regional levels but low globally.