Improving access to clean cooking will not only help the world get closer to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, but it will not be possible to reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) without doing so, said experts speaking on the sidelines of COP28. “We don’t want people to be breathing polluted air as a […] Continue reading ->
As the world continues to burn fossil fuels, heatwaves and air pollution are getting worse, and increasing the pressure on human health. This is exacerbating the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which comprise the lion’s share of the world’s disease burden, experts at COP28 said on the opening day of the summit on Thursday. “We […] Continue reading ->
With the annual United Nations (UN) climate conference, COP28, due to start at the end of the month, climate-vulnerable countries have reiterated that wealthy countries should cut down their carbon emissions, provide finance to vulnerable countries, and help with technology transfer so all countries can transition to a greener economy faster. Meanwhile, recent meetings between […] Continue reading ->
Amidst a flurry of allegations of nepotism and political corruption, Saima Wazed, daughter of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has emerged victorious in the race for the World Health Organization’s South-East Asia (WHO-SEARO) regional director. Wazed’s limited international public health experience and expertise, confined to the narrow field of autism, have raised concerns among experts […] Continue reading ->
The drug regulatory authorities of Switzerland, the Republic of Korea and Singapore have become the first three countries to be listed as WHO-Listed Authorities (WLA) that can be used as a point of reference for other countries’ deliberations on approval of new drugs and vaccines. The WHO’s recently established WLA framework is intended to create […] Continue reading ->
Bangladesh has become the first country globally to be validated by the World Health Organization for the elimination of visceral leishmaniasis or kala azar, as a public health problem. VL, a life-threatening neglected tropical disease (NTD) caused by a parasite transmitted by sandflies, affects some one million people worldwide every year, mostly in Southeast Asia […] Continue reading ->
Human activity is pushing the world towards multiple tipping points that will cause rapid and fundamental change to the planet, according to a new report by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS). The Interconnected Disaster Risks report, released on Wednesday, identifies six key tipping points: accelerating extinctions, groundwater depletion, mountain […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a technical advisory group that will advise it on pricing policies for medicines, particularly the prices of medicines on the essential medicine list (EML).The 17-member Technical Advisory Group on Pricing Policies for Medicines (TAG-PPM) will support WHO to help strengthen policies, improve transparency about prices and improve access […] Continue reading ->
International climate targets cannot be met without rapid and drastic cuts to global methane emissions, according to a series of reports published on Wednesday by the Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA). The reports found that reducing methane emissions by 45% by 2030 would avert nearly 0.3C degrees of global warming by 2045, a margin […] Continue reading ->
PUNE, India – The World Health Organization’s (WHO) two-day summit on traditional medicine, held last week in the Indian city of Gandhinagar, was an attempt to start a dialogue about how to integrate evidence-based traditional medicine into modern medicine – but many were disconcerted about social media posts from the global health body that appeared […] Continue reading ->