Average concentrations of small and fine particulates (PM2.5 and PM10) decreased across Europe between 2003-2019 – with the largest reductions in PM10,according to a new study published in Nature on trends over the past two decades. Despite air quality improvements, more than 98 of the European population lives in areas exceeding the WHO recommended annual […] Continue reading ->
The number of children who died before their fifth birthday has dropped to 2.9 million in 2022, reaching a historic low, according to the latest estimates of under-5 mortality released today by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). And since 2000, the global under-five mortality rate has declined by more […] Continue reading ->
The sixth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNAE-6) ended last Friday in Nairobi, Kenya with the adoption of a Ministerial Declaration affirming member states’ commitment to slowing climate change, protecting biodiversity, and creating a pollution-free world. The assembly, which attracted over 5,600 delegates from 190 countries, also adopted 15 resolutions covering a range of issues including […] Continue reading ->
The sixth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6), which opened in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Monday, is focusing on multilateral action to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Around a million species are headed towards extinction, global temperature records were smashed in 2023 and pollution remains one of the world’s leading causes of […] Continue reading ->
In 2023, the Americas saw the highest recorded number of dengue cases of all time, with a total of 4,565,911 cases and 2,340 deaths, said the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in a recent call for stepped up efforts to control Aedes aegypti, the primary mosquito vector of the dengue virus. And already in the […] Continue reading ->
A new report finds that the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea have been “dumping” used, and highly polluting trucks and buses on low- and middle-income countries. Heavy duty trucks and buses account for as much as 63% of PM2.5 pollution emissions from road vehicles globally. A new UN report has exposed a […] Continue reading ->
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) needs at least five million cholera vaccines to address the worst outbreak of the disease on the African continent – but it has received none so far. Meanwhile, Zambia has received half the cholera vaccines it needs and less than a third of Zimbabwe’s vaccine needs have been met, […] Continue reading ->
From a community well in east Africa to a standpipe in an urban slum, small water operators furnish vital supplies for billions of people the world over. Now, for the first time in nearly 30 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has published new guidelines for drinking water quality for small water supplies with up-to-date […] Continue reading ->
The WHO has released a first-ever list of 21 antimicrobials earmarked as “authorized for use in humans only” – a first for the organization in its efforts to protect overuse and abuse of critical first-line drugs that need to be protected by overuse in animal and plant health sectors – and consequent antimicrobial resistance (AMR). […] Continue reading ->
Dr Soumya Swaminathan is returning to the international stage after leaving the World Health Organization (WHO) in late 2022, just as the world was recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. She became the agency’s first Chief Scientist just before the pandemic, a position that propelled her to become a widely-known global voice for WHO, analyzing and […] Continue reading ->