News

As envoys from around the world gather in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for the UN's 27th annual climate change conference, countries in the Global South will be asking for compensation for the losses and damages that they are already suffering as the climate crisis escalates.  

Click here to learn more about loss and damage and the push by the Global South for solutions to address climate injustice and inequity. The link includes an excellent video on the issue.   

Click here for a "light read" primer on COP27. This GRAN News Post is the first of four posts throughout the month of November that will bring news related to COP27 including voices from Africa and the Global South, the solutions that will be discussed, and Canada’s response.

By the end of 2021, nearly half of the world’s population had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. But those vaccines were not distributed equitably: vaccination rates were 75% in high-income countries, but less than 2% in some low-income countries.

Mathematical epidemiologists at the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK used data on mortality and vaccine availability to model what would have happened if vaccines had been distributed according to need rather than wealth.  The team found that more equitable vaccine coverage could have prevented 1.3 million deaths worldwide.

Click here to read more about the implications of this study.

"Far from a progress report, this document describes a reversal. Women’s and children’s health and rights are threatened to a degree not seen in more than a generation."  António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations

Protect the Promise, a new UN report, shows that women’s and children’s health has suffered globally, as the impacts of conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change converge with devastating effects on prospects for children, young people and women.

Click here for more details and a link to the full report.

What does it mean to take global health to the next level?

A new global agreement based on a shared vision.

A new global architecture that is coherent and inclusive.

A new global approach that prioritises promoting health and preventing disease, rather than only treating the sick.

Because health is not a cost, it’s an investment. It’s not simply an outcome of development, but the means. It’s not a luxury, but a fundamental human right.

Click here to read the full text of WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' keynote speech at the Opening Ceremony of the World Health Summit - 16 October 2022.

The Grandmothers Advocacy Network applauds and thanks the Government of Canada for its pledge of $1.21 billion to the Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria. To read GRAN's full response to the welcome news of Canada's ambitious pledge, click here.

Watch this 6-minute video as global health expert Dr. Madhu Pai takes the podium at the International AIDS Conference in Montreal and delivers a searing indictment of the racism underpinning global health inequities.

"Right now, if you are hosting a global health conference in US, UK, Canada, EU or Australia, you have decided that it’s acceptable to exclude people from the Global South. How global is your global health?"  -- Dr. Madhu Pai

Dozens of protesters took over the stage at the opening ceremony of the 24th International AIDS Conference in Montreal to condemn Canada’s denial of visas to “high numbers” of delegates from the Global South.

Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman, President of the International AIDS Society and International Co-Chair of AIDS 2022, says her organization will re-evaluate how it organizes international conferences as a result of visa denials by the Canadian government.  "Underlying the difficulty experienced by many attendees of AIDS 2022 to enter Canada lies a broader problem of global inequities and systemic racism that significantly impacts global health."

Click here to read more.

The intensifying risk of famine in a number of African countries has been dangerously neglected as the world focuses on other crises.

Over 14 million people across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are already on the verge of starvation—about half of them children. This number will rise to 20 million by September if the rains continue to fail, prices continue to rise, and world leaders don’t boost aid funding to meet the needs of people in crisis.

To learn more, click here for country-specific information and a call to action from the International Rescue Committee (IRC). 

We were delighted to learn that GRAN member Sharon Graham has been awarded Citizen of the Year by her community, Brighton, ON.  The award was presented by Brighton mayor, Brian Ostrander, during Brighton’s Canada Day celebrations. This award honours Sharon for her many contributions within her community and beyond.  We are grateful that so many of her volunteer hours go to her work in GRAN.  Congratulations, Sharon! 

Insecurity and climate change, compounded by disruptions in supply chains for food, fertilizer and fuel caused by the war in Ukraine, are driving a humanitarian crisis that is leaving millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa in acute hunger. 

Canada recently announced a time-limited matching fund to enable humanitarian partners to provide lifesaving services. From June 15 to July 17, 2022 the Government of Canada will match, dollar for dollar, donations for hunger crisis relief in sub-Saharan Africa made by individual Canadians to member organizations of the Humanitarian Coalition, up to a maximum of $5 million.

Click here to read more.