scholarly journals WHO’s Attempt to Navigate Commercial Influence and Conflicts of Interest in Nutrition Programs While Engaging With Non-State Actors: Reflections on WHO Guidance for Nation States Comment on "Towards Preventing and Managing Conflict of Interest in Nutrition Policy? An Analysis of Submissions to a Consultation on a Draft WHO Tool"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Rodwin
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Of Interest ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
World Health ◽  
Draft Guidance ◽  
Corporate Influence ◽  
Nutrition Programs ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The World ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Health Organization

This commentary situates the comments submitted in response to the World Health Organization (WHO) draft guidance on conflicts of interest in national nutrition programs in light of: (1) WHO policies to protect WHO integrity; (2) the Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors (FENSA); (3) WHO’s attempt to seek funds due to cuts in member contributions; and (4) attempts—often by corporate entities—to redefine conflicts of interest to avoid oversight of conflicts of interest and increase corporate influence. The WHO guidance defines conflicts of interest in ways that deviate from standard legal usage which confuses its analysis and facilitates the creation of conflicted public-private partnerships. The guidance suggests that nations can allow engagement with non-state actors when the benefits are greater than risks without separate check due to conflicts of interest. Instead, the WHO should have recommended that nations seek alternative ways to achieve their goals when non-state actors have significant institutional conflicts of interest.

Preventing and Managing Conflict of Interest in Nutrition Policy: Lessons for Alcohol Control Comment on "Towards Preventing and Managing Conflict of Interest in Nutrition Policy? An Analysis of Submissions to a Consultation on a Draft WHO Tool"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Severi
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Of Interest ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Nutrition Policy ◽  
Alcohol Policy ◽  
World Health ◽  
Alcohol Control ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Food And Nutrition ◽  
Industry Engagement ◽  
Health Organization

Ralston et al present an analysis of policy actor responses to a draft World Health Organization (WHO) tool to prevent and manage conflicts of interest (COI) in nutrition policy. While the Ralston et al study is focussed explicitly on food and nutrition, the issues and concepts addressed are relevant also to alcohol policy debates and present an important opportunity for shared learning across unhealthy commodity industries in order to protect and improve population health. This commentary addresses the importance of understanding how alcohol policy actors – especially decision-makers – perceive COI in relation to alcohol industry engagement in policy. A better understanding of such perceptions may help to inform the development of guidelines to identify, manage and protect against risks associated with COI in alcohol policy.

scholarly journals Global Governance and the WHO’s Mandate Post-COVID-19 Crisis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Vilbert
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
World Health ◽  
First Year ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Democratic Principle ◽  
The World ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Health Organization

The COVID-19 has renovated the debate about global health governance. A number of scholars have proposed that the World Health Organization should assume the position of a central coordinator with hierarchical powers, demanding nation-states to “share their sovereignty”. This article presents four main objections to this project. First, when international institutions receive leverage, they use to impose “one-size-fits-all” policies, which conflicts with the characteristic heterogeny across countries. Second, geopolitical questions and the distribution of power in multilateral institutions put developing countries in a position of vulnerability within a hierarchical order. Third, the risk of crowding out parallel initiatives, especially from non-state actors. Fourth, decisions about health can have a major impact on countries, which may thwart the internal democratic principle. A Pareto improvement would be possible by strengthening the WHO’s operational capacity and its ability to issue technical guidance and coordinate with countries. To test this hypothesis, this study analyses the possible influence of the WHO’s guidance in the first year of the coronavirus health crisis, from January 2020 to January 2021, in 37 countries reported in the World Values Survey Wave 7 (2017-2020). The OLS regression performed shows a statistically significant negative relationship between the trust in the WHO, assumed as a proxy for the level of the organization's penetration, and the number of cases of COVID-19 (per million people) in the countries of the sample. These findings reinforce the hypothesis that there is a valid case for the countries to strengthen the WHO’s mandate post-COVID-19, but they should enhance the operations of provision of reliable information and support. Nation-states, in particular the developing ones, should eschew the temptation to create a hierarchical global health structure, which may not only fail due to countries’ asymmetries but is likely to create losers in the process.

Incidence of Bone Marrow (BM) Fibrosis in Multiple Myeloma (MM) Patients and Its Relationship to Cytogenetic (CG) Abnormalities in a Minority Population

Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (21) ◽  
pp. 5077-5077
Author(s):  
Gurinder Sidhu ◽  
Rabia Latif ◽  
Jinli Liu ◽  
Constantine Axiotis ◽  
Ratesh Khillan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
World Health ◽  
Minority Population ◽  
Kings County ◽  
Cytogenetic Data ◽  
The World ◽  
Grade 3 ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Abstract 5077 Background: The incidence of BM fibrosis in MM is low and uncertain, and its causes are not known. Cytogenetic and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in some MM patients reveals prognostically significant anomalies. Methods: Records of patients with MM seen at Kings County Hospital from 2004 through 2010 were reviewed, the histological sections of patients reported to have fibrosis we re-examined. The degree of fibrosis was graded according to the World Health Organization system. Results: Records of 113 patients were reviewed, 110 (97%) were African American (AA). Of these, 62 (55%) were female and 51 (45%) male. Their age ranged (median 65) from 38 to 89 years. Cytogenetic data (CGD) was available in 46 patients; and abnormal in 10 (22%) and normal in 36 (78%) of those. All patients with abnormalities of chromosomal number were hyperdiploid. Of 113 patients, 62 (55%) were female, 110 were African American. Ages ranged from 38–89 (median 65) years. Cytogenetic data was available for 46 patients and abnormal in 10 (22%). All patients with abnormal chromosome numbers were hyperdiploid. FISH studies to detect abnormalities in chromosomes 13, 14 and 17 were available in 25 and abnormal in 2 (8%). BM fibrosis had been initially noted in 27 of 113 patients (24%), and confirmed by another hematopathologist; 17 (63%) were women. The ages of the patients with fibrosis ranged from 4–79 years: median age was 67, 67 for the women and 62 for the men. Focal and grades 1, 2 and 3 fibrosis were noted in 2 (7%), 12 (44%), 7 (26%) and 6 (22%) of patients. Grade 3 fibrosis was found in 24% of the women and 20% of the men with fibrosis. CG data was available for 17 fibrosis patients and abnormal (hyperdipliod) in 2 (18%). FISH studies for chromosomes 13, 14 and 17 were normal in the 7 patients studied. CGD for all 8 of the female fibrosis patients studied were normal, and abnormal in 2 of the 9 men (22%). Conclusions: Of our 113 AA myeloma patients 25% had detectable BM fibrosis, but it was grade 3 in only 5%. Female preponderance was more marked in the patients with fibrosis than in the whole MM group. CG and FISH data did not distinguish patients with and without fibrosis. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

scholarly journals World Health Organization and the search for accountability: a critical analysis of the new framework of engagement with non-state actors

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Hanna Rached ◽  
Deisy de Freitas Lima Ventura
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
World Health ◽  
World Health Assembly ◽  
The World ◽  
Accountability Mechanism ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
New Framework

The article probes the origins and content of the Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors (FENSA) of the World Health Organization (WHO), approved on May 28, 2016, at the 69th World Health Assembly, which established different rules of collaboration to four categories of actors: nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), private sector entities, philanthropic foundations, and academic institutions. Applying the findings of International Legal Theory and based on extensive documentary research, we sought to determine whether FENSA is an appropriate accountability mechanism according to four functions of accountability: constitutional, democratic, epistemic, and populist. The article concludes that there is a risk of the prevalence of the populist function at the expense of the accountability potential that could result from the better use of the other three accountability functions.

scholarly journals The World Spatiotemporal Analytics and Mapping Project (WSTAMP): Further Progress in Discovering, Exploring, and Mapping Spatiotemporal Patterns Across the World’s Largest Open Source Data Sets

2017 ◽  
Vol IV-4/W2 ◽  
pp. 199-205
Author(s):  
J. Piburn ◽  
R. Stewart ◽  
A. Myers ◽  
A. Sorokine ◽  
E. Axley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Workshop ◽  
World Health ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Behavioral Stability ◽  
Open Source Data ◽  
The World ◽  
User Data ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Textual Content

Spatiotemporal (ST) analytics applied to major data sources such as the World Bank and World Health Organization has shown tremendous value in shedding light on the evolution of cultural, health, economic, and geopolitical landscapes on a global level. WSTAMP engages this opportunity by situating analysts, data, and analytics together within a visually rich and computationally rigorous online analysis environment. Since introducing WSTAMP at the First International Workshop on Spatiotemporal Computing, several transformative advances have occurred. Collaboration with human computer interaction experts led to a complete interface redesign that deeply immerses the analyst within a ST context, significantly increases visual and textual content, provides navigational crosswalks for attribute discovery, substantially reduce mouse and keyboard actions, and supports user data uploads. Secondly, the database has been expanded to include over 16,000 attributes, 50 years of time, and 200+ nation states and redesigned to support non-annual, non-national, city, and interaction data. Finally, two new analytics are implemented for analyzing large portfolios of multi-attribute data and measuring the behavioral stability of regions along different dimensions. These advances required substantial new approaches in design, algorithmic innovations, and increased computational efficiency. We report on these advances and inform how others may freely access the tool.

scholarly journals Transparency in public pharmaceutical sector: the key informants’ perceptions from a developing country

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Atefeh Esfandiari ◽  
Vahid Yazdi-Feyzabadi ◽  
Leila Zarei ◽  
Arash Rashidian ◽  
Hedayat Salari
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Conflict Of Interest ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Pharmaceutical Policy ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pharmaceutical Sector ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Counterfeit Medicine ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Background Policymaking in the pharmaceutical sector plays a pivotal role in achieving the health systems’ goals. Transparency in the pharmaceutical policy could increase confidence in decision-making processes. This study aims to assess transparency in the public pharmaceutical sector of Iran. Methods This qualitative study with a content analysis approach was conducted in 2017 using the World Health Organization tool to explore pharmaceutical transparency. The perceptions of the various stakeholders of the health system through semi-structured interviews with a maximum variation of stakeholders were obtained in eight functions, including registration, licensing, inspection, promotion, clinical trials, selection, procurement, and distribution of medicines. Results There are some problems in two main categories: (1) General problems, including lack of transparency, conflict of interest, centralization, and monopoly. (2) Ethical problems include illegal payments, gifts, bribes, conflicts of interest, hidden power, hoarding, relationship-oriented behavior, medicine trafficking, and counterfeit medicine. Suggested solutions include evidence-based decision-making, the use of transparent and accountable processes, standardization, needs assessment, declaring a conflict of interest, skilled human resources, and tracking prescription. Conclusion Despite the development of effective pharmaceutical policy in the health care system and government interventions for the control of the market, in some functions, reviewing the pharmaceutical policy is essential. Additionally, declaring a conflict of interest statement must be at the core of policy development to provide greater transparency.

Financing the World Health Organization

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-338
Author(s):  
Kristina Daugirdas ◽  
Gian Luca Burci
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
Voluntary Contributions ◽  
The World ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Gates Foundation ◽  
Health Organization

When it comes to financing the work of international organizations, voluntary contributions from both state and non-state actors are growing in size and importance. The World Health Organization (WHO) is an extreme case: voluntary contributions – mostly earmarked for particular purposes – comprise more than 80 percent of its funds. Moreover, non-state actors supply almost half of WHO’s funds, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ranking as the second-highest contributor after the United States. A number of public-health and international relations scholars have expressed alarm over these trends, arguing that heavy reliance on voluntary contributions is inconsistent with genuine multilateralism. Relying on interviews with current and former WHO officials, our study explores the causes and consequences of these trends, and recent efforts by member states and the WHO secretariat to reconcile growing reliance on voluntary contributions with multilateral governance. We describe the headway WHO has made in mitigating the risks associated with heavy reliance on voluntary contributions – as well as the challenges that persist. Most importantly, we argue that multilateralism is not categorically incompatible with reliance on voluntary contributions from both state and non-state actors. Collective multilateral decision-making is not a binary feature, either present or absent. Even if the final decision to provide voluntary contributions is up to individual donors, international institutions have opportunities to regulate such contributions both in terms of substance and process. The more heavily regulated voluntary contributions are, the more embedded they become in collective decisions, and the less tension there is between multilateralism and reliance on voluntary contributions.

scholarly journals The World Health Organization, Corporate Power, and the Prevention and Management of Conflicts of Interest in Nutrition Policy Comment on "Towards Preventing and Managing Conflict of Interest in Nutrition Policy? An Analysis of Submissions to a Consultation on a Draft WHO Tool"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Jonas Fooks ◽  
Charlotte Godziewski
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Nutrition Policy ◽  
World Health ◽  
Corporate Power ◽  
Government Relations ◽  
The World ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Problems And Solutions ◽  
Health Organization

The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) draft Decision-Making Process and Tool to assist governments in preventing and managing conflicts of interest in nutrition policy marks a step-change in WHO thinking on large corporations and nutrition policy. If followed closely it stands to revolutionise business-government relations in nutrition policy. Ralston and colleagues outline how the food and beverage industry have argued against the decision-making tool. This commentary expands on their study by setting industry framing within a broader analysis of corporate power and explores the challenges in managing industry influence in nutrition policy. The commentary examines how the food and beverage industry’s collaboration and partnership agenda seeks to shape how policy problems and solutions are interpreted and acted on and explores how this agenda and their efforts to define conflicts of interest effectively represent non-policy programmes. More generally, we point to the difficulties that member states will face in adopting the tool and highlight the importance of considering the central role of transnational food and beverage companies in contemporary economies to managing their influence in nutrition policy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document