At the first international conference on water security in five decades, governments, international organizations and civil society groups from over 170 countries committed to nearly 700 new initiatives to address a global water crisis that is causing record droughts, threatening food security, and threatening global supplies of drinking water.  This week’s UN Water Conference is only […] Continue reading ->
  More than 300 health facilities have been destroyed or flooded in Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique in the wake of Cyclone Freddy, WHO estimates. That has left hundreds of communities without adequate access to health services even as the cyclone’s double whammy of devastation has raised public health risks including the increased spread of cholera, […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) hopes to be able to fast-track the testing of various Marburg candidate vaccines following outbreaks of this rare and deadly viral haemorrhagic fever in Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea. “WHO is leading an effort to evaluate candidate vaccines and therapeutics in the context of the outbreak,” WHO Director General Dr Tedros […] Continue reading ->
Submerged houses, collapsed buildings, uprooted trees and floating household items are what remains of Mtemangawa Village in Nsanje district, located in southern Malawi, bordering Mozambique. This is where one of the longest-lasting storms in the southern hemisphere, Tropical Cyclone Freddy, entered Malawi on March 12, 2023.  Home to about 300 000 people, Nsanje is Malawi’s […] Continue reading ->
During the COVID-19 pandemic, people living with cancer, heart diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) experienced difficulties in accessing their routine medicines, according to a new report released by the World Health Organization on Wednesday. While 21% of WHO member states reported stockouts of the five many medicines for people with […] Continue reading ->
“We are draining humanity’s lifeblood through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use and evaporating it through global heating,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the start of the UN 2023 Water Conference. which also coincided with World Water Day. At the conference, national governments and stakeholders from all levels of society will collaborate to make voluntary […] Continue reading ->
Raccoon dogs, lab leaks and Chinese secrecy have made for high drama as scientists who think they may have found the elusive “Animal X” that passed SARS-CoV2 were excluded from a data-sharing platform for “scooping” Chinese scientists. Nineteen scientists, including world-renowned figures such as Dr Michael Worobey and Dr Angela Rasmussen – have published a […] Continue reading ->