As Bangladesh presses for its former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to be extradited to face charges of human rights abuses, her daughter, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for South East Asia (SEARO), is also under scrutiny. Saima Wazed was elected to the WHO position by regional leaders in November 2023 amid allegations that […] Continue reading ->
WHO and other UN and international relief agencies heartily welcomed Wednesday’s announcement of a long-awaited  Israeli-Hamas ceasefire. Israelis and Palestinians, meanwhile, began an anxious countdown, hoping that the agreement would indeed take effect as planned Sunday – even as Israel and Hamas traded accusations Thursday that the other was trying to torpedo the accord. “Wednesday’s […] Continue reading ->
Diagnosing obesity should extend beyond body mass index (BMI) to include measures such as waist circumference and individual physical symptoms. So says the Commission on Clinical Obesity, comprising 58 experts from a range of medical institutions and countries in an article published in Tuesday’s The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. There has long been a debate […] Continue reading ->
Global temperatures increased by 1.6ºC above pre-industrial levels.in 2024, the first year that they have crossed the 1.5ºC threshold set by the global Paris Agreement. Last year was the hottest since temperatures started being recorded in 1850, with a global average temperature of 15.1ºC. This was 0.12ºC hotter than 2023, the previous record-holder. “Multiple global […] Continue reading ->
A widely cited study about the use of Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin to treat COVID-19, published in March 2020, has been retracted by its publisher, Elsevier. The study, published in Elsevier’s International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, was retracted in the January 2025 edition of the journal (issued last month). “Concerns have been raised regarding this article, […] Continue reading ->