German Ministers urge more investment in the Pandemic Fund and universal health coverage at a high-level pandemic preparedness meeting Even if vaccines and medicines are developed at record speed to address the next ominous global pathogen, they cannot prevent a pandemic without strong health systems to deliver them, stressed politicians and health leaders at a […] Continue reading ->
BAD HOFGASTEIN, Austria — Belgium, which takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union in January 2024, plans to make the healthcare workforce crisis a central item on its agenda, the first time the issue will be prioritized at the highest level of EU policymaking in over a decade. “We are actively […] Continue reading ->
After the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing in indoor spaces raised awareness of the risks of infection in closed spaces and super-spreader events, scientists concerned about human exposure to other indoor contaminants and strategies to reduce risks are hopeful that the time has come for more action. BERN, Switzerland – A dearth of data and […] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK – While the world’s leaders set new global health goals and appraised existing ones at the United Nations (UN) last week, implementing these noble goals falls on the shoulders of people like midwife Ashu Martha Agbornyenty. Agbornyenty works in poor communities in Cameroon, where the deaths of women and newborn babies are relatively […] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK – While the United Nations (UN) high-level meeting (HLM) on universal health coverage (UHC) adopted a political declaration on Thursday committing member states to accelerate health for all, this will remain a paper promise unless governments invest in primary healthcare. This was the challenge issued to member states by World Health Organization (WHO) […] Continue reading ->
Health systems in Africa are under considerable strain: rapid demographic change, rising non-communicable diseases, and emerging and re-emerging threats such as COVID-19 and Ebola are increasing demands on limited health services. Africa, however, faces a challenging period in health financing to meet these increasing needs. Health spending in most countries remains far short of what is […] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK CITY – A leading killer, hypertension, receives barely a nod in many of the world’s health systems – even though it’s the key contributor to deaths from cardiovascular disease, which claims about 17.9 million lives annually and is the single largest cause of deaths in the world today. Addressing this systemic neglect is […] Continue reading ->
European air quality activists have won a key victory in the European Parliament, which approved tough new air pollution rules that would require countries to meet stricter WHO air quality guidelines by 2035, and allow EU citizens to sue for financial compensation for air pollution-related health damage. But the draft legislation still faces an uphill […] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK CITY – There has been little progress in expanding universal health service coverage (UHC) since the last UN High Level Meeting (HLM) meeting on the issue in 2019, and trends in financial protection are even worsening, with catastrophic out-of-pocket spending increasing when compared to 2015. The final draft of the political declaration for […] Continue reading ->
Leading global health experts and activists have expressed frustration and disappointment at the draft political declarations on pandemics, universal health coverage (UHC) and tuberculosis that world leaders are expected to adopt at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) next week. Key criticisms of the three declarations are that they offer no advancement on previous international […] Continue reading ->