Although the international nurse workforce has increased by about two million between 2018 and 2023, there is still a huge global shortage concentrated in poorer nations, according to the State of the World’s Nursing 2025 report published on Monday. There was a global shortage of around 5.8 million nurses in 2023, an improvement on 2018 […] Continue reading ->
With declining global spending on health, as the world prepares to observe International Nurses Day, Monday 12 May, there is renewed urgency to build health systems that respond to the needs of nurses and the people they serve. Investing in nurses yields high returns. It improves maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and outbreak response […] Continue reading ->
In the first episode of “Trailblazers with Gary,” Global Health Matters podcast host Dr Garry Aslanyan sat down in South Africa with Professor Tulio de Oliveira — one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in global health. Oliveira leads the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation at Stellenbosch University and was part of the […] Continue reading ->
Self-care can be a key strategy in tackling the global crisis of non-communicable diseases that are responsible for three-quarters of premature deaths globally and 86 percent of early deaths (before age 70) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Moreover, dentists, pharmacists and community health workers are trained professionals who can provide innovative forms of self-care […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued its first update in 13 years to guidelines aimed at preventing adolescent pregnancies, identifying child marriage as a primary driver behind millions of early pregnancies that endanger girls’ lives and futures. The document published Thursday by the UN health agency pinpoints uptake and access to safe contraception, barriers […] Continue reading ->
A new, and near final iteration of WHO’s reorganization will shrink its programme divisions even further than previous drafts – from 10 to only four – with health systems emerging as one key pillar of the revamped organization. At the same time, disease control departments and preventive health teams – such as health promotion and […] Continue reading ->
Half of the world’s population has no access to any kind of oral care and lives with untreated oral disease every day, according to Dr. Habib Benzian, a dentist and professor of epidemiology and health promotion at New York University. “There’s no other disease group that affects so many people,” Benzian said. In fact, oral […] Continue reading ->
Maternal mortality rates have dropped by 40% since 2000, largely due to improved access to essential health services. But WHO officials warn that the recent, deep cuts to international aid could be as disruptive as the COVID-19 pandemic, if not more so, to a woman’s chances of surviving pregnancy and childbirth. And in 2023, more […] Continue reading ->
How can health inequality be reduced? This was the topic of the most recent episode of the Global Health Matters podcast with Dr. Garry Aslanyan. Understanding Health Inequality “Health inequity is produced by and within social relations that govern the production and exchange of concrete material things that we need to survive and flourish, to […] Continue reading ->
KIGALI, Rwanda – When Marie Grace Pendo was nine years old, she flew from Rwanda to India with a group of other patients and her doctor to have a mechanical valve implanted in her heart. Pendo had rheumatic heart disease, usually caused by an untreated bacterial infection. She had little energy and her life was […] Continue reading ->