Human skin can absorb ‘forever chemicals’, University of Birmingham researchers discovered, revealing a new pathway for these toxic substances to enter the body. The finding amplifies health concerns as researchers increasingly detect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in people worldwide. PFAS are man-made chemicals that persist in nature and human bodies for a millennium before […] Continue reading ->
UNAIDS has welcomed the recent ruling by Namibia’s High Court that its laws prohibiting same-sex acts between men are unconstitutional as they unfairly discriminate against gay men. Namibian citizen Friedel Dausab, supported by the Human Dignity Trust, sought to have laws prohibiting sodomy and “unnatural sex acts” and sections of the Immigration Control Act and […] Continue reading ->
Physical inactivity levels have jumped to 31%, meaning that around 1.8 billion people did not meet the recommended levels of physical activity in 2022 , according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). This is an increase of 10% since 2000, mostly driven by data from lower-middle income countries. Lack of physical […] Continue reading ->
The leadership of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) is under significant global pressure to reverse its decision to close its Access Campaign, with indications that the issue may be raised at the organisation’s general assembly that begins in Geneva on Thursday (27th). The decision has been described as a triumph for technocrats within MSF, who want […] Continue reading ->
WHO framework to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis (VL), a deadly disease most prominent in East Africa, was launched Thursday. It can play an important role in eliminating VL as a public health problem by 2030: a goal key countries of the East African region committed to in last year’s Nairobi Declaration. “The VL elimination framework will offer […] Continue reading ->
Romania, Georgia and Czechia have the highest alcohol consumption rates in the world while, in the best-case scenario, only 14% of those who abuse alcohol have access to treatment. These are some of the insights from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global status report on alcohol and substance use disorders, based on 2019 data from […] Continue reading ->
When Felicia Knaul met Tonya Rosa, a Mexican woman undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, “she was there with a big smile on her face…even though her cancer had recurred.” But Rosa told Knaul that her first round of treatment had impoverished her family, “they had to sell their business, their home, their assets to be […] Continue reading ->
Malaria has long been at the heart of public health efforts in Africa. As a preventable but potentially fatal disease, it is caused by a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes. In 2022, the WHO African Region accounted for about 94% of cases globally. WHO says 78% of deaths in the region are among children under 5 […] Continue reading ->
None of the over 2,000 young women and girls injected twice a year with a new drug, lenacapavir, contracted HIV in one of the most important advances in HIV prevention. Gilead Sciences announced these results last Friday, reporting that its Phase 3 PURPOSE 1 trial, conducted in South Africa and Uganda involving 2,134 women and […] Continue reading ->
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, announced last week that it will offer high risk countries the option of obtaining preventative Ebola vaccines, particularly for health workers, as part of the rollout of new vaccine offerings, which also include meningitis, rabies and hepatitis B vaccines. Plans to add the vaccines to the basket of available products were […] Continue reading ->