Climate change, unplanned urbanization, sprawling cities, and the El Nino effect all converged to make 2024 a “historic” year for dengue transmission. With increased opportunities for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes–the insects that carry dengue– to breed, cases reached a record 12.7 million cases in the WHO’s Americas Region, nearly three times more than in 2023. This translates […] Continue reading ->
More than one-third of countries worldwide lack government-level air quality monitoring, leaving nearly one billion people in the dark about one of the greatest risks to their health, a new report showed on Friday. The assessment by non-profit OpenAQ, which maintains the largest open-source database of air quality measurements, found significant gaps in government tracking […] Continue reading ->
Nearly one fifth of dengue cases in Latin America and the Caribbean, or about 45 million infections a year, are attributable to climate change, in the past decade, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard and Stanford Universities.  Rising temperatures combined with mosquito species uniquely suited to sprawling urbanization and deforestation are fueling […] Continue reading ->
The world needs to urgently change the way food is grown and land is used in order to avoid irreparable harm to global food production capacity, according to a major new scientific report released Sunday. Currently seven out of nine ‘planetary boundaries’ have been negatively impacted by unsustainable land use, mostly related to unsustainable agriculture, […] Continue reading ->
Last week, stakeholders gathered in Bangkok for the first-ever Regional Congress on Self-Care in the Asia-Pacific to discuss the importance of interventions and policies within the region. Throughout the proceedings, it was gratifying to see how increasing awareness and support for self-care is resonating regionally – as well as at national and global levels. WHO […] Continue reading ->