Bulletin #125: Health workers demand pharma overhaul and accountability for Israeli Medical Association
This fortnight
Access to medicines in Europe is shifting as drug shortages and pressure from Big Pharma on governments and health authorities mount. Rather than accept these pressures as inevitable, health activists and experts are working to build a new pharmaceutical model rooted in solidarity and the public sector. At the second Public Pharma Conference in Frankfurt, held October 22–23, participants discussed the steps needed to translate that vision into practice.
The latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo adds urgency to the conversation about radically reimagining the current pharmaceutical system, including vaccine development and production. The protracted outbreak has strained health services in the DRC – and threatened to add stress to other countries across the African continent.
Health workers continue to campaign in solidarity with Palestine. In October 2026, doctors petitioned the World Medical Association to suspend the Israeli Medical Association over its complicity in the genocide in Gaza.
While international calls for the medical community to support Palestinian liberation remain strong, Israeli authorities continue to attack and abuse medics in the occupied territories. Dr. Mazen Al-Rantisi, a 71-year-old physician known as “the doctor of the poor,” was recently released after four months in Israeli prison.
Attacks on healthcare also undermine access to essential care elsewhere: the World Health Organization has warned that violence in northern Ethiopia is pushing an already fragile health system closer to collapse.
Featured articles
As drug prices in Europe soar, Public Pharma advocates are charting a new course
Public Pharma activists gathered in Frankfurt to outline an alternative vision for Europe's pharmaceutical landscape, free from Big Pharma's influence.
Doctors mobilize to hold Israeli Medical Association accountable
Health workers demanded the World Medical Association suspend the Israeli Medical Association over medical ethics violations during the Gaza genocide.
DR Congo’s deadliest Ebola outbreak kills over 4,200 as armed groups undermine response
Aid cuts, lack of infrastructure, and foreign-backed armed conflict for DRC’s resources have come together in a confluence that is fueling the fastest-spreading Ebola outbreak on world record.
Risk grows of continental spread of Ebola after case is reported in Nigeria
Nigeria confirmed its first Ebola case after a Uganda-born Swiss citizen fell ill in Abuja after a vacation in Uganda.
Short reads
Showing visible signs of abuse, Dr. Al-Rantisi was released from prison
Dr. Mazen Al-Rantisi was released by Israel on Sunday, October 25, after spending more than four months in Ofer Prison.
Violence is driving healthcare in northern Ethiopia to collapse, warns WHO chief
Calling the recent drone strikes that killed at least 12 civilians in Tigray and at least 16 more in Amhara “deeply disturbing,” WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus warned that violence is driving “an already fragile health system” to the brink.
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