World Trade Organization Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has ” high hopes” that the WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) that convenes at the end of November can deliver decisions that curb harmful fisheries subsidies as well as improving access of low- and middle-income countries to COVID medicines and vaccines.  But WTO members must overcome a series of […] Continue reading ->
While there has been significant global progress in curbing conventional tobacco products, newer tobacco and nicotine products such as e-cigarettes are evading regulation, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2021 report on the tobacco epidemic. Some 5.3 billion people are now covered by at least one of the six tobacco ‘MPower’ control measures recommended […] Continue reading ->
Biodiversity sits at the heart of the simultaneous fight against both COVID-19 and the climate crisis, said experts during a Wednesday event hosted by the Society for International Development (SID).  At the event, ‘The Vaccine for Biodiversity’, panelists discussed re-focusing attention on the current health and climate crisis, and how new pandemics should and can […] Continue reading ->
The Kenyan government has taken the fight against childhood obesity to the classroom through a revised school curriculum that focuses on health and healthy lifestyle behaviours. The initiative involves including science-based food and nutrition material in the academic content and introducing physical literacy from Grade One. Addressing a recent Word Obesity Federation (WOF) virtual event […] Continue reading ->
Travellers who are fully vaccinated with vaccines authorised in the European Union (EU) “should” be allowed entry for non-essential travel – even if these vaccines were not “produced in facilities covered by the marketing authorisation in the EU”, a European Commission spokesperson for health, food safety and transport told Health Policy Watch on Wednesday.   At […] Continue reading ->
Over the past several decades, the tobacco industry has tried to influence policy by partnering with various United Nations (UN) agencies. Many of these agencies, however, have since cut ties with the industry, thus safeguarding their initiatives and policies from Big Tobacco’s commercial interests. One notable exception remains and must be addressed: the continued membership […] Continue reading ->
  A new international expert panel launched by four international organisations on Thursday aims to blunt the emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases through better understanding of human, animal, and environmental interactions that enable animal-borne diseases to break into human populations.   The One Health High Level Expert Panel will advise the World Health Organization (WHO), […] Continue reading ->