Five billion people around the world have no protection against industrially produced trans fats (ITFAs), putting them at risk of heart disease and death, the World Health Organization said. ITFAs are responsible for over 500,000 premature deaths from coronary heart disease every year. Commonly found in baked goods, cooking oils, and packaged foods, ITFAs are […] Continue reading ->
Across disciplines and sectors, experts say it will take treating health care as ‘ecosystems’ and a greater focus on access and equity to achieve solutions to critical health challenges of tomorrow and beyond. DAVOS, Switzerland – In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, huge inequities in access to health care have been exposed that demand […] Continue reading ->
At least 300,000 people lose their lives to air pollution each year across the European Union, and the bloc is pushing to tighten air quality regulations as part of its Green New Deal legislative package. The new rules aim to reduce the number of premature deaths and illness caused by air pollution, as well as […] Continue reading ->
The World Economic Forum (WEF) will partner with Wellcome Trust to collect research-based data on how climate change is affecting health. Making the announcement, WEF’s head of health Shyam Bishen said that while several organisations were working on data collection, most data is fragmented with different organisations. “We want to ensure that we have a […] Continue reading ->
DAVOS, Switzerland – The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced plans to set up a new TB Vaccine Accelerator Council to increase momentum for the development of a vaccine to combat the world’s most deadly infectious disease. Speaking at a high-level panel at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting where the plan was launched, WHO […] Continue reading ->
DAVOS, Switzerland – The presidents of Switzerland and Ecuador led a call here at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Tuesday for greater international cooperation to fight plastic pollution, urging passage of a global treaty with tough regulations to confront a burgeoning environmental and health crisis from the ubiquitous material once seen as a symbol of […] Continue reading ->
The “cost-of-living crisis” and failure to mitigate climate change are the most acute global risks, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) which opened in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday. The forum’s risk assessment report 2023 released last week identifies a “polycrisis” of risks, most of which relate to environmental and societal issues, such as biodiversity […] Continue reading ->
Nearly one billion people in low- and middle-income countries lack access to health facilities with reliable electricity, a joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank, and International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found. Electricity is essential for the functioning of medical equipment like ventilators, incubators, and cold-chain storage for vaccines, as well as […] Continue reading ->
British scientists have launched a new initiative to expand the sequencing of common seasonal respiratory viruses with the aim of developing an early warning system for new viral threats and help prevent future pandemics. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, labs around the world were sequencing tens of thousands of Sars-CoV-2 genomes a day. […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Africa Region has declared the end to the recent outbreak of Sudan Ebolavirus – just a day before WHO convenes Ebola experts in a global consultation to explore a way forward on testing three candidate vaccines for the deadly Sudan strain of the virus. The oubreak was declared over after the elapse of 44 […] Continue reading ->