Inside Geneva

Send us Fan MailIn episode four of our series interviewing candidates for director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), we talk to Gevorg Tamamyan. This series is in partnership with the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute.Tamamyan is professor of paediatric oncology at Yerevan state medical university and he has spent his career treating children with cancer. In his native Armenia, he has seen survival rates rise, by raising the funds to ensure his patients have the same access to medicines as those in wealthier countries like Switzerland. If he succeeds in becoming WHO director-general, he wants to tackle health inequity across the board. “People are dying not because of lack of knowledge or science, but because of lack of equity and a lack of access,” he tells us. He sees the Covid-19 pandemic as a prime example of what’s wrong. “In 2021, out of 8 billion vaccine doses, only 3% went to Africa, while other countries were already rolling out booster doses.” He knows the WHO faces big challenges, but believes positive reform can guarantee its future. “I'm convinced that the world is much better with the WHO than without it.”Listen to the full interview and subscribe to our Inside Geneva podcast. Get in touch!Email us at [email protected]: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_enThank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter. For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/Host: Imogen FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us Fan MailInside Geneva has partnered with the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute to bring you exclusive interviews with the candidates for director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). Who wants to lead our top public health body? Maria Neira was a doctor for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as the genocide in Rwanda began. Now she is a WHO insider, serving as its Director of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants. And she knows public health from the government side; she was vice-minister of health in her native Spain from 2002 until 2005. She’s a passionate advocate for the WHO, telling us “it is one of the most powerful and beautiful ideas ever created by humanity.” She remembers that when she was a medical student, WHO advice was seen as a gold standard. Today, amid funding cuts and widespread disinformation, she says “we need to be very strategic, to rebuild credibility and trust.” But she’s convinced she can inspire member states to rededicate themselves to the WHO, “through healthcare we can change the world. Imagine if we put in place prevention strategies: people will be healthy, their economies will be better.“Listen to the full interview and subscribe to our Inside Geneva podcast.Get in touch!Email us at [email protected]: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_enThank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter. For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/Host: Imogen FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us Fan MailHere is episode two of our series in partnership with the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, bringing you exclusive interviews with the candidates for director general of the World Health Organization (WHO).Budi Sadikin is currently Indonesia’s health minister, but has spent most of his career in finance, as a top executive at Indonesia’s biggest bank. “Before, my job was to make my clients wealthy; now my job is to make my people healthy,” he says with a smile. Sadikin believes his experience in finance will help him tackle WHO reform, even as the organisation suffers big cuts in donor funding.But he is also a firm believer in health equity, telling us that during a global pandemic, emergency treatments “should become global public goods.” He says his good relations with the United States will help him encourage Washington to rejoin the WHO, but also warns that “if any country believes it can safeguard its population on its own during the next pandemic, that is scientifically and practically impossible.”Listen to the full interview and subscribe to our Inside Geneva podcast.Get in touch!Email us at [email protected]: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_enThank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter. For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/Host: Imogen FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us Fan MailInside Geneva has partnered with the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute to bring you exclusive interviews with the candidates for director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). Who wants to lead our top public health body?Hanan Balkhy is currently regional director for the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean regional office, so she’s something of a WHO insider. A native of Saudi Arabia, she was educated in the United States and always wanted to be a doctor. Doing the WHO’s top job, she says, is a way “to serve the broader humanity.”She is especially concerned about antibiotic resistance, about the effects of climate change on health, and healthcare in conflict zones. She also warns about a “normalisation” of attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers. But she is also well aware that the WHO needs to reform and do more with less money. “The bottom line is that the funding is slimmer.”Listen to the full interview and subscribe to our Inside Geneva podcast.Get in touch!Email us at [email protected]: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_enThank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter. For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/Host: Imogen FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us Fan MailThis week on Inside Geneva, host Imogen Foulkes asks whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) can survive Washington’s brutal sanctions.James Goldston of Open Society tells us the sanctions mean a “financial death sentence” for the court’s judges and lawyers, who can no longer use credit cards and even US based systems like Microsoft. Philippe Bolopion of Human Rights Watch says the court is a last resort for the victims of terrible atrocities, such as war crimes and genocide. But Richard Goldberg of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies describes the ICC as a “kangaroo court”, which he believes is intent on prosecuting US and Israeli citizens.Tune in for a lively debate.Get in touch!Email us at [email protected]: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_enThank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter. For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/Host: Imogen FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us Fan MailThis week on our Inside Geneva podcast, we ask whether the world has forgotten women in Afghanistan. Under Taliban rule, they cannot work, go to secondary school, leave the house alone or even visit a public park. Human rights defenders say the world is looking away. Some argue that what’s happening in Afghanistan amounts to gender apartheid and want it recognised as a crime under international law.They also warn that if the repression of women in Afghanistan is not challenged, it could happen in other countries too.Listen now to the full episode. Get in touch!Email us at [email protected]: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_enThank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter. For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/Host: Imogen FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us Fan MailWhat takes a woman from a law career in Australia to Somalia, Afghanistan and then…Fiji? On our Inside Geneva podcast, host Imogen Foulkes talks to UN Women’s Alison Davidian about being in Kabul when the Taliban returned and about the effects of climate change and rising sea levels on women’s livelihoods. They also discuss why men and boys should never feel threatened by gender equality.Listen to the full episode now. Get in touch!Email us at [email protected]: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_enThank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter. For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/Host: Imogen FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us Fan MailDiversity, equality, inclusion, woke: are these concepts now toxic?The past two years have seen a pushback against gender equality, and it is having real-world consequences for women and girls. Yet in Geneva, the International Gender Champions, led by senior diplomats, are not giving up. “I embrace wokeness,” one ambassador tells us. The data shows that equality benefits everyone, socially, economically and politically. So why is it so out of fashion?Get in touch!Email us at [email protected]: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_enThank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter. For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/Host: Imogen FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us Fan MailIt’s been ten months since the ceasefire in Gaza. Almost a million people still live in tents. There are 60 million tonnes of rubble to clear.The UN estimates reconstruction will cost at least $70 billion. But the work has not started. Key building materials are being denied entry, there is little clean water, but many rats. Inside Geneva talks to Jehan Salim and Mohammed al Aklouk, aid workers from the Norwegian Refugee Council, about the huge task and the very limited resources.Listen now and subscribe to the podcast.Get in touch!Email us at [email protected]: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_enThank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter. For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/Host: Imogen FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang

Send us Fan MailUN investigations have documented war crimes in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. So why is no one being held accountable?Why do some political leaders talk about human rights as though they were an optional nuisance? In this episode of our ‘Inside Geneva’ podcast, we speak with Phil Lynch and Pooja Patel from the International Service for Human Rights. We discuss impunity, scapegoating, funding cuts, standing up for our rights and much more.Listen to the full interview and subscribe to our Inside Geneva podcast! Get in touch!Email us at [email protected]: @ImogenFoulkes and @swissinfo_enThank you for listening! If you like what we do, please leave a review or subscribe to our newsletter. For more stories on the international Geneva please visit www.swissinfo.ch/Host: Imogen FoulkesProduction assitant: Claire-Marie GermainDistribution: Sara PasinoMarketing: Xin Zhang