BAD HOFGASTEIN, Austria — Artificial intelligence poses an “existential” threat to Europe’s health and social security systems through its potential to “completely replace” human work and eliminate the income tax funding base on which they depend, a leading health policy figure has warned. Clemens Marten Auer, president of the European Health Forum Gastein, used the […] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK – Although chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) are the third leading cause of death globally, there remains a ‘mismatch’ between impact and action, said a group of global health leaders and experts on the sidelines of the 80th UN General Assembly. “There is a mismatch between the disease [impact] from CRD and the action against […] Continue reading ->
The ozone layer that protects human and animal health from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation continues to be on track for recovery in the coming decades, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in its latest report released this week. In 2024, the ozone hole was smaller when compared to the previous years. This […] Continue reading ->
A sweeping new report by a consortium of climate and health experts offers a global indictment of how fossil fuels harm populations – from extraction to emissions, devastating human health from cradle to grave. Treating the fossil fuel sector like the tobacco sector will help, recommends the study’s authors. Fossil fuel advertisements should be banned, […] Continue reading ->
While deaths from malaria have fallen by 29% since over the past two decades, mortality could rise again this year due to the cuts in global health funding seen recently, says Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “There has been a significant impact…and I suspect that we […] Continue reading ->
China saw a decline in overall levels of health-harmful particulate pollution (PM 2.5) in 2024 as compared to 2023 thanks to ardent mitigation efforts of leading pollution sources. But India remained a global air pollution hotspot, while wildfire activity led to above average PM 2.5 levels in Canada, Siberia and central Africa, according to the […] Continue reading ->
SRINAGAR, INDIA – When record-breaking rains, landslides and cloudbursts lashed northern India in late August — across Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh — highways turned into rivers, homes collapsed and death tolls mounted. But beneath the visible destruction lies a quieter emergency: public health systems buckling under the strain. In Kashmir, the Jhelum […] Continue reading ->
Hundreds of migrant construction workers are likely to have died of heat stress while building soccer stadiums in the Qatari desert for the recent Fifa World Cup. But people’s exposure to extreme heat – temperatures of 38°C and higher – is becoming widespread as climate-related temperatures soar. “Billions of people are already exposed to dangerous […] Continue reading ->
Air pollution, specifically the tiny particles known as PM2.5, is linked to higher rates of dementia, according to a recently published study in The Lancet. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and black carbon, which is the black soot left behind when combustion is incomplete, have also been linked to higher risk of dementia in the study, which […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA — Negotiations over a United Nations (UN) treaty to combat the plastic pollution crisis ended in failure early Friday morning, as 183 nations were unable to bridge vast divides over production limits, toxic chemicals and financing after three years of diplomacy. Norway officially announced the failure at 7am Geneva time after a final overtime […] Continue reading ->