Two-thirds of countries no longer criminalise consensual same-sex sex, a “remarkable reversal” since the start of the AIDS pandemic that has enabled global progress against the spread of HIV. This is a key finding of Progress and the Peril, a report on HIV and decriminalisation released this week by Georgetown University’s Global HIV Policy Lab. […] Continue reading ->
A new report from the Lancet Countdown, an annual assessment of progress toward the climate targets of the 2015 Paris Agreement, paints a grim picture of the escalating health risks associated with a warming planet. The report, compiled by an international consortium of 114 scientists, health experts, and researchers, warns that the world is on […] Continue reading ->
Israel launched what it described as a “targeted operation” into Gaza’s besieged Shifa Hospital early Wednesday morning – which was immediately denounced by the World Health Organization as “unacceptable” and contrary to international law – regardless of whether Hamas made use of the facility for military purposes. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, an Israeli delegation visiting Geneva […] Continue reading ->
In anticipation of coming climate crises, developing countries should put in place “effective mechanisms in their domestic laws” that allow them to use the TRIPS flexibilities, asserted Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday. TRIPS flexibility refers to space allowed in the WTO’s Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) […] Continue reading ->
Tobacco industry interference in governments’ tobacco control policies has increased in 43 out of 90 countries analysed over the past two years. This is according to the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023 released on Tuesday by tobacco watchdog STOP, and the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC). “No country has been […] Continue reading ->
Fierce gun battles between Israeli and Hamas forces raged in the vicinity of several strategically located hospitals in northern Gaza over the weekend and into Monday – leaving the fate of the remaining patients hanging in the balance. At Al Shifa hospital, hospital staff were reportedly trying to keep some 37 premature babies warm by […] Continue reading ->
Alcohol has had a fairly easy pass from public health authorities – although the World Health Organization (WHO) recently asserted that there is no safe level of drinking, upending many people’s cherished illusion that a glass of alcohol at the end of the day is harmless. RESET Alcohol, a new public health initiative led by […] Continue reading ->
A new Health Technology Access Pool (H-TAP), which aims to broaden the scope of IP and patent-sharing with low- and middle-income countries and a new African Union co-sponsored ‘manufacturing support platform’ were among the initiatives announced this week at the Second World Local Production forum in The Hague. The global forum, the second ever to […] Continue reading ->
There has been a massive rise in diarrhoea, respiratory infections and skin conditions and in Gaza since Israel’s siege and bombing of the territory began in early October, disrupting supplies of clean water, sanitation, food, fuel and leaving thousands homeless. Since mid-October, over 33,551 cases of diarrhoea have been reported in the area, over half […] Continue reading ->
An effective pandemic agreement will need to include “accountability mechanisms” to ensure that countries implement the terms – and these will need to be independently monitored, according to new research published in BMJ. “Accountability mechanisms are used through a variety of methods across global treaties and governance mechanisms to varying degrees of effectiveness,” argue the […] Continue reading ->