Climate change is claiming millions of lives annually through extreme heat, air pollution, wildfires and the spread of deadly infectious diseases, according to the most comprehensive assessment to date of the links between climate change and health. The ninth annual Lancet Countdown report, authored by 128 experts from 71 academic institutions and UN agencies worldwide, […] Continue reading ->
At around midnight on the last night in August, a powerful earthquake destroyed homes and villages in Afghanistan – and the Taliban-controlled government’s restrictive policies exacerbated the suffering of women and girls caught in the disaster. Women and girls living in eastern Afghanistan are bearing the heaviest burden after the 6.0-magnitude earthquake killed and injured […] Continue reading ->
Member states start text-based negotiations next week on the final outstanding piece of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Pandemic Agreement, the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system. They will have had nine days to consider the seven-page first draft of the PABS system, which was distributed late Friday (24 October) by the administration Bureau […] Continue reading ->
Of the 62 countries who were assessed globally, only half have the basic capacity to monitor extreme weather events, and 16% of the countries have less-than-basic capacity, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report, ‘Early Warnings for All in Focus: Hazard Monitoring and Forecasting’ was released during last week’s […] Continue reading ->
Africa is continuing to make progress in meeting its Universal Health Coverage (UHC) targets (part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals). Countries like Rwanda and Ethiopia are two examples of African countries making exemplary progress. Kenya, Ghana and South Africa are also among those making significant progress towards realising this dream. However, there is […] Continue reading ->
At least $7 billion is needed to rebuild Gaza’s health system, which has no fully functioning hospitals, and critical shortages of essential medicines, equipment and health workers, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing on Thursday. While Tedros welcomed the ceasefire negotiated by US President Donald Trump on […] Continue reading ->