Spain To Host Climate Conference On Behalf Of Chile From December 2-13 In Madrid

31/10/2019 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

The UN COP Bureau has accepted Spain’s offer to host the COP25 Climate Conference in Madrid from December 2-13, following a tumultuous few days after Chile suddenly withdrew from hosting the conference due to a massive wave of protests in Santiago. In a short statement released Friday, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa said, […] Continue reading ->

Cities Can Reduce NCDs And Traffic Injuries Through Better Environmental Design & Food/Tobacco Policies

31/10/2019 Grace Ren

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, heart disease and stroke, as well as road traffic injuries, are among the leading causes of death in cities – killing some 42 million people worldwide every year. A new report released by the World Health Organization shows how urban leaders can tackle these urban maladies through simple environmental […] Continue reading ->

Health Experts Push To Centre Health In Climate Action At World Health Summit

29/10/2019 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Berlin, Germany (29 October 2019) – Experts called on policy-makers to put human health and wellbeing at the centre of climate action decisions at the World Health Summit, which entered its third and final day Tuesday. “There is a need for urgent action to reduce greenhouse emissions to protect health, because we have less than […] Continue reading ->

From Climate To AMR: World Health Summit 2019 Tackles Broad Agenda

28/10/2019 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Berlin, Germany – From antimicrobial resistance to drug access, climate change and emerging trends such as growing obesity in Africa alongside under-nutrition, this year’s World Health Summit’s is packed with an imposing agenda, dwarfed only by the staggering dimensions of the real-world challenges. “Polio has almost been eradicated, HIV/AIDS has been driven back and we […] Continue reading ->

Global Eradication Of Wild Polio Virus Type 3 Declared On World Polio Day

24/10/2019 Grace Ren

Wild polio virus type 3 (WPV3) has been eradicated worldwide, the World Health Organization declared Thursday following a review of the global data by an independent commission of experts. The announcement about WPV3, coinciding with World Polio Day, comes after wild polio virus type 2 (WPV2) was declared eradicated in 2015. Although one other wild […] Continue reading ->

Mayors Stepping Up To Reduce Air Pollution

23/10/2019 Grace Ren & Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Although it was governments that made the big commitments to tackle climate change in the 2015 Paris Agreement, mayors are leading the charge in reducing air pollution on the ground. At a first-ever World Air Quality Conference, hosted by the City of London, mayors and city leaders from around the world convened Wednesday, to confer […] Continue reading ->

Ebola Public Health Emergency Still In Force, Despite Decline In Cases

18/10/2019 Grace Ren & Elaine Ruth Fletcher

The World Health Organization is not yet ready to declare that the Ebola public health emergency in the Democratic Republic of Congo is over – despite significant recent declines in the pace of new infections. WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday that he did not find it prudent to end the “Public […] Continue reading ->

Drug Pricing Transparency To Be Discussed At World Trade Organization

17/10/2019 Grace Ren

A request by South Africa to the World Trade Organization (WTO) TRIPS Council to “address the transparency of R&D costs and pricing of medicines and health technologies” is expected to be reviewed Friday, 18 October 2019 as the TRIPS Council meets this week for its third session this year. The TRIPS Council, the administrative body […] Continue reading ->

New WHO Special Initiative Aims To Expand Mental Health Coverage To 100 Million More People By 2023

14/10/2019 Grace Ren

The World Health Organization aims to expand mental health coverage to 100 million more people in 12 priority countries by 2023 as part of a new Special Initiative for Mental Health launched Monday at start of the 11th World Mental Health Forum. Over 20 health ministers from around the world gathered in Geneva along with […] Continue reading ->

Measles Resurgence, Polio Persistence & HPV Vaccine Shortages Concern Health Experts

11/10/2019 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Measles is undergoing a worrisome worldwide resurgence, and it has killed more people in the Democratic Republic of Congo than the current Ebola outbreak – which is finally showing signs of decline, said a panel of vaccine experts in a WHO press briefing on Thursday. Meanwhile, a worldwide shortage of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which […] Continue reading ->