The failed 2019 UN Climate Conference in Madrid ended in mid-December just about when the massive wildfire destruction of Australia’s bushlands was beginning. The wildfires that broke shortly afterward took the form of a Gaia-like revenge. Australia, along with the United States, Japan and Brazil, had been among the countries that had blocked real progress […] Continue reading ->
More public disclosure and information-sharing about drug prices and their R&D costs, is key to determining a fair price for essential medicines, concludes a series of five articles on fair pricing published Monday in the BMJ. The series, supported in part by the World Health Organization, highlights the increased priority drug price transparency is receiving […] Continue reading ->
[UN News] Kenya, Mozambique and Niger curbed different outbreaks of vaccine-derived poliovirus over the past 24 months which affected 14 children, said a senior WHO official on Monday. Although wild poliovirus virus has not been detected in Africa since 2016, roughly 12 countries are currently facing outbreaks of vaccine-derived poliovirus. “Ending outbreaks in the three […] Continue reading ->
The number of cholera cases decreased by 60% in 2018 compared to 2017. Cholera-endemic countries such as Haiti, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo saw some of the highest reductions. “The decrease we are seeing in several major cholera-endemic countries demonstrates the increased engagement of countries in global efforts to slow and prevent […] Continue reading ->
For the first time in two decades, tobacco use is projected to decline among men in 2020, according to a new World Health Organization report on trends in global tobacco use. However, the new report does not consider trends in e-cigarette use, where use may in fact be increasing. “For many years now we had […] Continue reading ->
More than one-third of low- and middle-income countries worldwide are facing significant rates of obesity alongside continued pockets of undernutrition, according to a major new study published on Monday in The Lancet. The four-part series The Double Burden of Malnutrition, led by the World Health Organization in collaboration with a number of universities and researchers […] Continue reading ->
From clearing the air of hookah smoke in Amman, Jordan to bike lanes in Fortaleza, Brazil and salt-free menu options in the restaurants of Montevideo, Uruguay, the Partnership for Healthy Cities has been seeding small grants to cities across the globe – backed by a big ambition. The aim is to build a network of […] Continue reading ->
On 22 November, the Norwegian government broke new ground for the non-communicable disease response. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched the first international development strategy to focus on combatting NCDs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The NCD Alliance, the Norwegian Cancer Society and other civil society partners around the world have heralded this […] Continue reading ->
Make the ¨healthiest choices the easiest choices¨ to prevent many non-communicable diseases. This was a key message from an Independent High-Level Commission report on Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), released Tuesday at a WHO Global Meeting to Accelerate Progress NCDs and Mental Health in Muscat, Oman. The report, ¨It´s Time to Walk the Talk¨, released on the […] Continue reading ->
A new plan to dramatically accelerate global efforts to end tuberculosis, one of the world’s deadliest and oldest known infectious diseases, was launched Tuesday by the Stop TB Partnership in Jakarta. The fully-costed plan is based on commitments made at a 2018 United Nations High-Level Meeting on Ending TB (UNHLM) to reduce TB deaths by […] Continue reading ->