Devex: Q&A: The ups and downs of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme
“The World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Programme was less than three years old when Dr. Michael Ryan took over earlier this year — putting him in charge of responses ranging from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to meeting the health needs of Rohingya who had been forced from Myanmar. … He spoke with Devex at the World Health Summit in Berlin this week about the program’s evolution and what he has learned from the challenges encountered in some of its responses…” (Green, 10/30).

STAT: The fireman of global health: The WHO’s emergencies chief is put to the test
“…[Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme,] and his staff are firemen, the paramedics of global health. Their work is all front-burner stuff. Half an hour spent on this is 30 minutes not spent on that. There is the Ebola crisis — and a massive measles outbreak — in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Rohingya refugee situation in Bangladesh, too many crises to count in Yemen and Syria. … He has taken on the job at a time when disease outbreaks and natural disasters appear to be happening at a more rapid pace. Many countries around the globe are becoming more affluent and better able to look after the health of their people — but some are spiraling in the opposite direction, creating enormous challenges…” (Branswell, 10/30).