Speaking in her car from an undisclosed location somewhere in war-torn Ukraine, Yana Teerleva, head of TB in the country’s Ministry of Health, lamented the destruction that she is witnessing every day in hospitals and clinics – including the shelling of three huge dispensaries where the country had stockpiled sufficient TB medications for the remainder of 2022. 

Every day, more than 650 children around the world die from tuberculosis – largely because they have never had the chance to be diagnosed and treated. 

28 May 2019: The World Health Assembly today approved a milestone resolution to support greater public disclosure of prices for medicines and other health products – capping a nail-biting series of negotiations that continued until the very moment the measure came to the floor.

Ten countries, including five European Union (EU) member states, have now lined up in support of a landmark resolution to increase transparency of drug prices globally, which is expected to be a key focus of deliberations by WHO member states as they convene for the 72nd World Health Assembly (WHA), May 20-28 in Geneva.

WHO said that it will launch a public online consultation involving governments, industry and civil society to try to come up with a broad consensus on what actually constitutes a “fair price” for essential medicines.