Loneliness, Social Isolation Linked to 871,000 Annual Deaths, WHO Finds

04/07/2025 Stefan Anderson

A three-year investigation by the World Health Organization found that loneliness and social isolation contribute to 871,000 deaths worldwide every year, a death toll researchers said places social health in a tier “as damaging as other public health risks” such as air pollution, tobacco and alcohol. The landmark report by the WHO Commission on […] Continue reading ->

Can Technology Tame the NCD Crisis? Experts Call for Smarter, Inclusive Digital Health Solutions

20/05/2025 Maayan Hoffman

The pace of technological change today is nothing short of revolutionary, according to Dr Douglas Bettcher, Senior Advisor in the Director-General’s Office at the World Health Organization (WHO). “I think we find ourselves very strangely in the last couple of years, in what seems to be a really brave new world, brave new reality,” he […] Continue reading ->

Public Health Spending in Low Income Countries Stagnates – Out of Pocket Costs Soar

11/12/2024 Elaine Ruth Fletcher

After an early surge of spending during the COVID pandemic, public health layouts by countries at all income levels declined in 2022, on average, as compared to 2021. Meanwhile, there was a 60% increase overall in per-capita health expenditures between 2000 and 2022 – but in low income countries this was largely driven by a […] Continue reading ->

Investing in 24 Cents per Patient Annually in Digital Health Could Save 2 Million Lives

24/09/2024 Sophia Samantaroy

Investing in as little as $0.24 per patient per year in digital health interventions – telemedicine, mobile messaging, and chatbots – could significantly lower the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), says a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunication Union (UTI). These interventions could avert 2 million deaths and 7 […] Continue reading ->

Can ‘Pact for the Future’ Really Help Reinvigorate UN’s Sustainable Development Pathway?

24/09/2024 Maayan Hoffman

Over 130 United Nations member states convened in New York City Sunday and Monday for a long-anticipated Summit of the Future that aimed to press the “reset button” on stalled global development goals and polarized geopolitical debate. The event, held just ahead of the annual debate in the U.N. General Assembly, kicked off with the […] Continue reading ->

Warning labels, Time restrictions? Experts Mull How to Curb Social Media Harms

21/08/2024 Kerry Cullinan

As evidence mounts of the health harms of excessive social media use on children, governments and academics are mulling how to regulate and contain these harms – notably anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. US Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy recently appealed to his country’s Congress to compel social media sites to carry warning labels about […] Continue reading ->

Breathing Fire: Wildfire Smoke Linked to Sharp Rise in Dementia Risk

02/08/2024 Stefan Anderson

New research suggests long-term exposure to wildfire smoke may significantly increase dementia risk, posing a greater threat to brain health than other forms of air pollution. The study, presented this week at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, examined a decade of electronic medical records for 1.2 million older adults in Southern California from 2009 to […] Continue reading ->

Biosecurity Guide Warns of Risks from AI, Cyber-attacks and Amateur Experiments

11/07/2024 Zuzanna Stawiska

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, cyberattacks, genetic engineering, and amateur-led biology experiments could all pose threats to a country, according to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) updated guidance on lab biosecurity. The guidance aims to help national regulatory bodies and other institutions “establish or strengthen frameworks for handling high-consequence pathogens”. It features a comprehensive set of […] Continue reading ->

Disinformation: Anti-WHO Convoy Heads to Geneva for World Health Assembly

21/05/2024 Kerry Cullinan

Some of the most vocal global right-wing conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers are heading to Geneva at the end of this month (May) to agitate against the World Health Organization (WHO) and its pandemic agreement – including a Trump loyalist linked to the 6 January 2021 storming of the US Capitol. An alliance of right-wing groups, […] Continue reading ->

From Pandemics to AI: Unpacking the Forces Shaping Global Health Policies

17/02/2024 Maayan Hoffman

In the most recent episodes of the Global Health Matters podcast, host Dr Garry Aslanyan and his guests reflect on the forces and factors that shape the economic, social, and physical landscape affecting health for all. “The global policy landscape is changing more rapidly than ever due to the influence of pandemics, regional conflicts and […] Continue reading ->