THE BRIEF by Maya Plentz
Maya Plentz is the founder and chief editor of THE BRIEF, a weekly newsletter with exclusive interviews and analysis focusing on tech policy, and the global digital economy. She has over two decades of experience in the news media sector. Her work has aired at UN Radio, BBC World, RFI and Bloomberg TV.
During her tenure as a producer and presenter at Bloomberg TV in New York, she covered Google, Microsoft, and the 2000 dot-com boom. She also produced a daily segment on science, medicine, and technology.
At the UN News and Media Division in New York, she served as a broadcast producer and website news editor, conducting interviews with UN officials, government representatives, and diplomats. Her programs reached millions of viewers weekly across the globe, airing on UN national broadcast partners in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
As a member of the European Commission High-Level Group of Experts, under the leadership of Pascal Lamy, former WTO Director General and Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research and Innovation, she was tasked with reviewing the EU's research and innovation funding framework, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe. She provided advisory on communication strategies to promote innovation funding at the EU.
THE BRIEF by Maya Plentz
WHO Director-General Meets With German Minister for Development
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This morning Dr. Tedros held a press conference with Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mrs. Svenja Schulze.
Germany is the largest donor to the WHO in voluntary contributions, the second is the US. On the core, regular budget, the US is still number one.
The WHO Executive Board is meeting this week, they are calling for reforms, in particular in the way the budget of the organisation is structured.
The New York-Presbyterian Hospital alone had, by 31 December of 2020, revenues of around $9.4 billion. Compared to it WHO barely scrapes by, with slightly below $2 billion, and that to serve the demands of its 194 country-members and coordinating a global health system of emergency responses that are strong enough to manage pandemics.
They spoke about allowing emerging economies to produce their own COVID vaccines, technology transfer and programs led by Germany currently under way with Rwanda, Senegal, Ghana, and South Africa.
They also discussed cooperation and collaboration with developing countries through the Berlin hub that was created last Summer with the blessings of former chancellor Angela Merkel and USD $100 million grant from the German government, to make it a global centre for data research and pandemic preparedness.
WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros, who is expected to have his appointment as the chief of the global health organisation renewed, outlined WHO’s priorities going forward:
Deliver results for country-members.
Help countries focus on prevention and well-being.
We spoke also about the new hub that was launched in Berlin this past Summer for pandemic early warning and prevention, and data gathering in collaboration with developing countries. Watch:
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