Amid huge global contestation over abortion, the Kenyan High Court recently affirmed that women’s “access to safe abortion services is a human right” as enshrined in the country’s Constitution, and directed parliament to enact laws in this regard. Malindi High Court Judge Reuben Nyakundi made the ruling late last month in a case involving a […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the scientific community to start to implement a  ‘One Health’ approach – encompassing people, animals, plants and the environment – to ensure the early identification of infectious diseases and make the world a healthier place. The issues that “One Health” may tackle are diverse. They can range from curbing deforestation […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 82 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since 24 February. The country’s virtual healthcare services, already strong from the pandemic, have stepped-up in response. Why it matters Online healthcare has provided a crucial lifeline to thousands of Ukrainians as the war imposes physical and psychological trauma on those caught […] Continue reading ->
Two weeks of negotiations in Geneva over a critical new agreement to protect and conserve some 30% of the planet’s land and oceans spaces by 2030 have yielded only halting progress – with the parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) agreeing to meet again in Nairobi in late June.  The Nairobi meeting, 21-26 […] Continue reading ->
In some of his most forceful remarks to date, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other senior WHO officials slammed both Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Ethiopia’s blockade of Tigray for both withholding vital health and humanitarian aid – as well as deliberately targeting civilians or putting them in harms way. Speaking from […] Continue reading ->
The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on how human health and ‘planetary health’ are inextricably linked – through deforestation, urbanization and climate change, all of which increase future disease risks. This year’s Geneva Health Forum explores these and other critical global health challenges, as well as emerging solutions,  just ahead of the World Health Assembly.    […] Continue reading ->
The weekend of 12-13 March was a glorious time to be in the Swiss mountain resort of Villars-sur-Ollon post-pandemic. Special Olympics Switzerland had organized the regional games sporting competition with skiing, bowling, tennis and boccia, drawing dozens of keen athletes and supporters. My son joined the other 46 skiers and snowboarders from the region to […] Continue reading ->
From patients lying in the parking lots of hospitals, in the back seats of cars suffocating as their family members searched frantically for oxygen in India during its second wave of COVID last year, to the inability to receive emergency care amidst constant bombing and shelling in current war-torn Ukraine, global health experts and leaders […] Continue reading ->