21 JANUARY
WED
15.00 – 16.30
From ‘Harm Reduction’ to Corporate Capture: How Tobacco Industry Marketing and Pharmaceutical Acquisitions Are Reshaping Public Health Policy.
Session hosted by Corporate Accountability
17.00 – 18.30
Unpacking the landscape and power dynamics of public-private partnerships in global health governance.
Session hosted by WEMOS
13.00 – 14.30
Health Workers Are Not Targets! Making the Voices of Health Workers in Conflict Zones Heard.
Session hosted by Public Service International
15.00 -16.30
From Resolution to Reality: Strengthening the WHO ECO Framework for Safe Surgery, Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pediatric Care.
Session hosted by International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care
Access the speakers’ presentations (slides)
11.00 -12.30 CET (10-11.30 GMT)
Serious Food Safety Failings expose global health risks of unregulated online cross-border promotion.
Session hosted by IBFAN
In November, a new US company called ByHeart recalled its Powdered Infant Formulas (PIF) in the USA because of risk of Clostridium botulinum contamination. This was followed in January, with a recall in 60+ countries of Nestlé’s infant, follow-on, pre-term and specialised formulas Austria’s Health Ministry has said that the recall is the largest in the company’s history, affecting more than 800 products from over 10 Nestlé factories. Contamination outbreaks are especially problematic in the Global South and settings where the risks of using formula are greater, diagnosis is restricted and access to treatment is reduced. The global online promotion and sale exacerbates the risks, idealising products and encouraging unquestioning trust.
One of our key speakers will be Yasmine Motarjemi, WHO’s Food Safety Senior Officer from 1990-2000 and Global Director of Food Safety at Nestlé and Assistant Vice-President (2000 to 2010). Yasmine will explain how she was forced to leave her job after repeatedly raising concerns about Nestlé’s mismanagementof food safety. All the time she was in post at Nestlé, her department of food quality, the cockpit of the Company,was never inspected by government authorities, not even when food incidents occurred. She refused to be silenced and became a whistleblower. Her new book Ce que l’empire Nestlé vous cache(What the Nestlé empire is hiding from you) was published in 2025 Bernard Nicolas, Yasmine Motarjemi.
Speakers
- Yasmine Motarjemi, formerly WHO’s Food Safety Senior Officer (1990-2000) and Nestlé’s Global Director of Food Safety and Assistant Vice-President (2000 to 2010).
- Elisabeth Sterken, INFACT Canada, IBFAN Global Council and Coordinator of IBFAN’s Codex team.
- Lynn Moeng Mahlangu, IBFAN AFRICA TECHNICAL Director, former Head of Health Promotion and Nutrition in South African Ministry of Health.
- Patti Rundall, IBFAN Global Council
- Nigel Rollins, Professor, Queen’s University, Belfast. Formerly WHO Maternal Child Health
- Moderated by Patti Rundall
Resources
Register below for the other webinars
Ahead of the 158th session of the WHO Executive Board, this series of G2H2 policy debates offers a platform for civil society to engage with key questions concerning global health, connecting policy discussions with their implications for health systems, communities, and equity worldwide. Spanning from the assessment of “hot” topics to be addressed at the upcoming Executive Board, to a detailed analysis of other burning technical or political matters that have been left out, each session will feature selected speakers which will guide us into an enriching discussion.
Join us by registering to each session ( below) and bring along interested colleagues!
Choose a date below
19 JAN
MON
20 JAN
TUE
21 JAN
WED
22 JAN
THU
23 JAN
FRI
15.00 – 16.30
From ‘Harm Reduction’ to Corporate Capture: How Tobacco Industry Marketing and Pharmaceutical Acquisitions Are Reshaping Public Health Policy.
Session hosted by Corporate Accountability
17.00 – 18.30
Unpacking the landscape and power dynamics of public-private partnerships in global health governance.
Session hosted by WEMOS
13.00 -14.30
Taking stock of the Draft Global Plan of Action for Indigenous Peoples’ Health.
Session hosted by People’ Health Movement
11.00 – 12.30
Serious Food Safety Failings expose global health risks of unregulated online cross-border promotion.
Session hosted by IBFAN
13.00 – 14.30
Defunding Communicable Diseases: New Forms of Colonialism.
Session hosted by People’ Health Movement and Third World Network
15.00 – 16.30
Moving Beyond Addiction: A Health-Centered Approach to Substance Use.
Session hosted by DIANOVA
13.00 – 14.30
Health Workers Are Not Targets! Making the Voices of Health Workers in Conflict Zones Heard.
Session hosted by Public Service International
15.00 -16.30
From Resolution to Reality: Strengthening the WHO ECO Framework for Safe Surgery, Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pediatric Care.
Session hosted by International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care
13.00 -14.30
Blended Financing for Healthcare in Palestine.
Session hosted by Global Surgery Umbrella
15.00 – 16.30
PABS Negotiations in the Final Stretch. Towards a fair pandemic system or cementing voluntary mechanisms?
Session hosted by Global Policy Forum Europe, Medico International, Brot für die Welt
In the weeks before the WHO 158th Executive Board, a series of public briefings and policy debates organized by the Geneva Global Health Hub (G2H2) and its members provide spaces for sharing, assessing and debating health policy and governance challenges within and beyond the items covered by the formal agenda of WHO EB, bridging from health policies to people’s realities, addressing determinants of health and promoting democratic governance.
For general enquiries, please get in touch with the G2H2 secretariat.
