Amid Mountains of COVID Waste, WHO Urges Sustainable Solutions

01/02/2022 Kerry Cullinan

Almost four times the usual medical waste was generated in New Delhi during the height of India’s COVID-19 pandemic in May 2021 when all COVID-19 waste was mistakenly classified as infectious, according to a new report issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday. Most of the approximately 87,000 tonnes of personal protective equipment […] Continue reading ->

Throat Swab? Nose? Best Test Yet of Omicron’s Spread May be a Sewage Sample

14/01/2022 Maayan Hoffman

Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, monitoring sewage for evidence of disease – in this case COVID-19 – may be on the verge of becoming mainstream. At least that is what some trend-setting researchers are hoping to detect rising SARS-CoV2 infections early and set policies based on data even before swab testing can provide it. […] Continue reading ->

Africa’s Methane Gamble – Can A Climate-Warming Gas Become An Asset to Health?

07/11/2021 Paul Adepoju & Elaine Ruth Fletcher

GLASGOW – Nearly two dozen African countries, including some of the continent’s biggest methane- producing nations, have now signed The Global Methane Pledge, launched Tuesday at COP26 by United States President Joe Biden and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. While the pledge was initially announced in September with nine countries […] Continue reading ->

Children’s Health Hit Hardest by Climate Change – but Cleaner Air, Greener Cities and Healthier Foods Can Create Cascade of Benefits

07/11/2021 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

Greening cities, investing in urban bike lanes rather than new roads, and making plant-based foods cheaper and easier to access than ultra-processed foods. This is a doctor’s prescription for a healthier planet. As climate negotiators at Glasgow’s COP26 conference remain locked in debate over the big-picture ambition of targets for global CO2 emissions reductions, and […] Continue reading ->

Rediscovering the Potential of Traditional Markets as Sources of Safe, Healthy Foods

08/06/2021 Madeleine Hoecklin

While the COVID pandemic has highlighted the pathogen risks that can emerge from unsafe animal and food handling in traditional markets – those same markets are also sources of healthy, fresh food for billions of people around the world – healthier and fresher, in many cases, than what may be found on a supermarket shelf. […] Continue reading ->

WHO & UNICEF Call For Better Hygiene & More Affordable Water & Sanitation To Stop The Spread Of Deadly Infections

06/05/2021 Editorial team

Low-and-middle-income countries have made significantly less progress than high-income countries in implementing hand hygiene and infection prevention programmes that can stop deadly diseases, from diarrhoea to COVID-19, according to a recent A World Health Organization survey of 88 countries. And one in four health care facilities in poorer countries do not have basic water services […] Continue reading ->