A wide array of stakeholders are looking toward the upcoming World Health Assembly this May to conclude negotiations on a new pandemic accord that seeks to make the world more prepared for the next pandemic. And most would agree that the primary task of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), established by the World Health Assembly […] Continue reading ->
Approximately 10 million Pakistanis are living with hepatitis C (HCV) with three people dying of HCV- related causes every minute – and this in the case of a disease that is now largely curable with treatment. Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) also poses major public health burden on the country’s health system with an estimated 4 […] Continue reading ->
The United Nations estimates that 363 million people are currently impacted by humanitarian crises driven by increasing fragility and conflict, the climate crisis and widening inequality. Around 108.4 million people were forced to flee their homes in 2022, meaning one in every 74 persons globally. Humanitarian crises, such as those occurring in Ukraine, Gaza, Libya, […] Continue reading ->
Ten years ago, India’s appalling air pollution made headlines. But $1 billion dollars of investment, new policies and a health crisis have done little to address this situation. Is there still hope? If you have a fever, you measure your temperature. If there’s a storm, you measure the wind and rain. If there’s a stock […] Continue reading ->
As we approach the final months of member-state negotiations over a World Health Organization Pandemic Accord, due to come before the World Health Assembly in May, the efforts to forge a consensus have witnessed modest progress. However, the original divide between developed and developing countries on key issues such as finance, access and benefit sharing, […] Continue reading ->
In early December, I was one of the nearly 100,000 delegates at COP28, the biggest climate conference ever held. As a senior health professional and campaigner for gender equity in health, I was pleased to see the adoption of the first ever COP health declaration. Who among us can still deny that climate change is a […] Continue reading ->
A monumental step for self-care was taken this month at the first Latin American Self-Care Regional Congress. Taking place in November in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the two-day congress brought together stakeholders from across the Latin America region to discuss critical topics, such as public policy and regulation, innovation and sustainability, and empowerment and health literacy, […] Continue reading ->
At the 2016 UN Climate Conference in Marrakesh, a small group of public health professionals from around the world laid out the shocking connections between the more than half a million childhood pneumonia deaths annually and children’s routine exposures to air pollution from both household and outdoor sources. While this was a first, our health-focused […] Continue reading ->
A project born from community advocacy and Indigenous leadership has catalysed a unique partnership between a small, rural Australian community and global health experts, shining a light on the link between climate, health and the power of community-driven change. Systematic water mismanagement combined with droughts and floods exacerbated by climate change has led to […] Continue reading ->
I endured a dreary weekend in a Paris hotel while others rushed home. As the junior English speaker of a task force of United Nations (UN) member states, it fell to me to finalise our report. It was the early 1990s and we had travelled across Asia, Africa and Latin America collating confusing evidence and […] Continue reading ->