Devex CheckUp: Dr. Soumya Swaminathan opens up about her WHO tenure

Last week we reported on the big shake-up at the World Health Organization, in which quite a few vocal and key leaders of the last two years  — some of whom were critical to the pandemic response — announced that they’re leaving.

Jenny has the inside scoop on subsequent internal drama at WHO: Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has asked his deputy director general, Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, to delay her retirement. Jakab has also been running the organization’s Western Pacific regional office since its former leader was put on leave over staff complaints about racism and bullying. To see the full list of interim post-holders whom Tedros has asked to step in while new hires are made, check out Jenny’s full report.

Scoop: Tedros asks deputy to delay retirement, fills posts temporarily

This week, Jenny also caught up with Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO’s outgoing chief scientist who has left Geneva for her home country, India. In the conversation, she outlines the highlights of her time at the organization, and what she hoped to have achieved in her tenure. “I think it's all going to happen. And it could have happened sooner, but … these things take time,” she says.

• The biggest challenge? “There are many things which there isn't a lot of data and evidence on. COVID was a good example where we had to come out and say something which was true at that time, on the best available scientific knowledge, but a month or two or six months later that could have changed. And so you need to be able to communicate that effectively.”

• Were there pressures? “There are interest groups … that [are] maybe trying to influence or put pressure one way or the other. And so WHO always has to be very true to the science and the evidence, and be very careful that interest groups are not playing a role there.”

• What can solve inequity? “I think perhaps the paradigm of donor-driven research and innovation has to be now supplemented by countries actually putting more money into research and development and innovation. I think that is the only way to drive this type of movement that will result in an equitable access where you're not depending on just a few companies and high-income countries to do all the innovation.”

• What were you not able to achieve? “There are many things that I wish we'd move faster on … The way we do research, for example, I would have loved to set up a global R&D network for TB vaccine research, which would work with the same urgency that we've shown for COVID vaccines. I wish we could have expanded the genomics platform data sharing mechanisms for other diseases.”

Swaminathan also has advice for her successor. Read through the full interview to find out what she counsels.

‘Speak truth to power’: First WHO chief scientist urges successor

ICYMI: Here's everyone who is leaving WHO leadership

How to: Get a Global Fund grant

The board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has recently approved total country grant allocations for 120 countries for the next three years, with an amount of $13.2 billion — which will eventually be allocated to NGOs selected as implementing partners.

• There are three important entities in countries involved in the funding request cycle that NGOs should know about  — the country coordinating mechanisms, or CCMs, the principal recipients, and the subrecipients.

• The implementation will follow Global Fund’s new strategy which “puts greater emphasis on meeting the needs of people and communities, integrating programs, and addressing health inequities as well as human rights and gender barriers to health,” Jenny writes.

• CCMs are responsible for coordinating country dialogues  — and if new NGOs that are not connected to the CCMs wish to be selected as implementing partners, they should get involved in the country dialogues, says Lindsay Smith, the manager of communication and information management at the Global Fund.

DevExplains: How NGOs can access Global Fund grants (Pro)

+ Devex Pro members can also read about the Global Fund’s top 10 implementing partners. Not a Pro member yet? Start your 15-day free trial today to read both articles.

Lessons learned?

The European Union released its long awaited Global Health Strategy this week, but we are wondering whether the bloc has really got the message about the depth of resentment over how the COVID-19 vaccine rollout was handled for high-income versus low-income countries. Our colleague Vince Chadwick’s question did not exactly meet with a satisfactory answer.

What do you think about the new strategy? Tell us here.

Women on the front lines

Long fraught with taboos and charged with emotion, the controversy around family planning and sexual and reproductive health and rights, or SRHR, services bubbled over onto the global stage in 2022 with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Speaking to Devex contributor Rebecca Root on the sidelines of the International Conference on Family Planning, health workers revealed that a more vocal abortion rights and SRHR debate is taking place that is being felt in tangible ways — not just by those affected by the U.S. law directly, but by those working on the issues across the globe.

Read more: What it’s like to work in family planning and SRHR right now

Power of communication

Across the globe, practitioners in the field known as social and behavior change communication, or SBCC, are tackling major challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated how crucial behavior change can be in mitigating the impact of a virus, whether that’s encouraging new social norms such as mask-wearing and distancing or helping people overcome vaccine hesitancy.

Next week, as 1,800 SBCC practitioners from more than 80 countries gather in Marrakech, Morocco, their agenda will be twofold — to learn from each other, and to show the “donor community how essential SBCC is to achieving the SDGs, along with the investment required to finance the work,” Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs’ Jane Brown and Leanne Wolff write in an op-ed for Devex.

Opinion: The overlooked field of SBCC could change the race for SDGs

+ Will you be in Marrakech for the SBCC summit next week? Amruta will be covering it — be sure to say hello!

One big number

That’s the number of people with HIV who have been put on antiviral treatment over the past two decades — “an extraordinary achievement,” according to Sharon Lewin and Kenneth Ngure of the International AIDS Society. But even so, they write in an op-ed for Devex, 10 million people are not on treatment and 650,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses last year. On World AIDS Day today, the pair echo the findings of a UNAIDS report this week that argued that inequality is a major factor impeding the fight against HIV.

Opinion: The HIV response must put people first

What we’re reading

In a global first, Malawi has started a malaria vaccination campaign for children, despite relatively low efficacy for youths in clinical trials. [BBC]

Twitter is no longer enforcing its COVID-19 misinformation policy, created in 2020 to combat harmful misinformation about the pandemic. [CNN]

The fight against AIDS can serve as a model for tackling other diseases, says U.N. whistleblower Mukesh Kapila. [Al Jazeera]