A US government-funded trial on the timing of hepatitis B vaccinations, which will delay vaccination for up to 7,000 newborns in Guinea-Bissau, is due to start this week. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded a controversial Danish research group a $1,6 million five-year grant to study the “optimal timing and […] Continue reading ->
HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr makes good on promise to reduce the number of recommended vaccines. US health officials announced Monday an overhauled version of the vaccines recommended to infants and adolescents, shrinking the number of diseases for which vaccines should be administered from 17 to 11. The decision follows a December 5, 2025 […] Continue reading ->
Senior United Nations officials and humanitarian leaders have urged Israel to reverse plans to withhold registration from more three-dozen international NGOs providing humanitarian relief in war-torn Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank – warning that the move would severely undermine life-saving aid in a moment of acute humanitarian need. Israel said last Thursday that some […] Continue reading ->
The US Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed a recent finding that atrazine, the second most widely-used herbicide in the United States, is “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the World Health Organization’s cancer review agency. Atrazine is used extensively in the US on crops like corn, sorghum, and sugarcane. However, over 60 countries have banned the […] Continue reading ->
The latest ten-year data shows almost no change. Can the momentum of outrage finally push officials to take high-impact measures to lower pollution this year? It’s Delhi 2026. Since 2016, there’s been near-zero improvement in the city’s air pollution during the annual peak pollution period of October to December, a new analysis by the Center […] Continue reading ->
This has been a brutal year for global health, with shock cuts in development aid to countries most in need; a knock-on budget crisis for United Nations (UN) agencies; widespread humanitarian crises, extensive disease outbreaks, and mounting climate-related health challenges. Health Policy Watch (HPW) has provided daily coverage of developments, and our reporters were often […] Continue reading ->
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of a political declaration to combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and promote mental health on Monday, with 175 member states voting in favour, only the United States and Argentina voting against, and Paraguay as the only abstention. The declaration was due to have been adopted by […] Continue reading ->
A new WHO review has reaffirmed that childhood vaccines don’t cause autism, based on an examination of more than 25 years of studies scoping for possible linkages. There is no causal link, either, between vaccines containing preservatives such as thimerosal or aluminium and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the review by the Global Advisory Committee on […] Continue reading ->
The movie “Belén”, Argentina’s submission for the 2026 Oscars, tells the story of a 26-year-old woman who suffered a miscarriage in a hospital in Tucuman province in 2014 and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2016 after being convicted of procuring an illegal abortion. Her case sparked a nationwide campaign to decriminalize abortion, […] Continue reading ->
Global leaders pledged US$ 1.9 billion to advance polio eradication on Monday, including a new $1.2 billion commitment by the Gates Foundation. The pledges, made on the margins of Abu Dhabi Finance Week, reduce the remaining budget gap for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) to just $440 million through 2029. That’s in comparison by […] Continue reading ->