In 2023, nearly 282 million people – 21.5% of the analysed population across 59 countries and territories – faced high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2024. This is 24 million more people than 2022. The rise was due to the report’s increased coverage of food crisis […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic agreement negotiations begin their final two-week stretch on Monday (28 April) amid a gamble with the process, a show of unity from African member states – and more suggestions for the draft text. This final intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) meeting will focus on finding “common ground and consensus”, according […] Continue reading ->
  The World Health Organization’s (WHO) working group has failed to meet its deadline of Friday (26 April) for amending the rules governing global disease outbreaks – the International Health Regulations (IHR) – and will reconvene. This emerged late afternoon on Friday (26 April) at a briefing after the week-long Working Group of Amendments to […] Continue reading ->
While no cases of human-to-human transmission have been recorded in the current H5N1 avian outbreak, scientists are concerned about its transmission speed in mammals and whether this might result in a mutated pathogen that can infect people more easily. “H5N1 is (an) influenza infection, predominantly started in poultry and ducks and has spread effectively over […] Continue reading ->
The US plans to double the number of countries it supports to prevent infectious disease outbreaks, opting for bilateral agreements with at least 100 countries, according to its new Global Health Security Strategy (GHSS). “Recent outbreaks, from mpox to Marburg, cholera, and other diseases… are wake-up calls for anyone who thought COVID was a once-in-a-lifetime […] Continue reading ->
A team of researchers from the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford have identified diabetes, traffic-related air pollution exposures and alcohol use as the most harmful out of 15 modifiable risk factors for dementia. Their paper, published last month in Nature Communications, examines how genetic traits and modifiable risk factors affect […] Continue reading ->
A year into one of the most brutal conflicts in decades, the war in Sudan has triggered the world’s largest displacement crisis and left the country’s healthcare system in tatters. Nearly 25 million people need immediate humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations (UN) and over  18 million people face acute food insecurity, with the World […] Continue reading ->