Devex: Opinion: A vote for the world’s health, absent from the headlines
Malebona Precious Matsoso, director general of the National Department of Health in South Africa, and Mushtaque Chowdhury, vice chairperson of BRAC

“…We urge the candidates [for WHO director general] to commit that, if elected, they will put the full weight and resources of WHO behind a proposed global treaty based on the human right to health, the Framework Convention on Global Health. A treaty is needed because the right to health cannot be achieved by individual countries acting alone. The new treaty would facilitate the coordinated global effort needed to achieve the right to health everywhere. … Establishing a Framework Convention on Global Health is an ambitious undertaking. But ambition, rooted in universal human rights, is precisely what is needed to eliminate unconscionable health inequalities, protect us from emerging threats, and better promote public health. The right to health for all is the path toward true global health security. Joining together in this treaty would bring countries together in a common venture for global health — and help heal a fractured world” (11/10).