A new app for mobile phones that provides localized information on ultraviolet (UV) radiation levels has been created by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization, and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The app is available free of charge on both the Apple App and Google Play […] Continue reading ->
The high rate of smokeless tobacco consumption especially in low-and middle income countries is a looming global public health challenge. The unregulated sale of these products especially in South and South-East Asia has underscored the need to revamp the national regulations, according to the Seventh Edition of the Tobacco Atlas published Wednesday. The report by […] Continue reading ->
The alcohol industry’s use of sophisticated digital media tools that transcend borders has prompted the World Health Organization to call for more effective cross border regulation. The WHO is particularly concerned about how the marketing is targeting young individuals and heavy drinkers, according to a report released on Tuesday. Someone dies every 10 seconds as […] Continue reading ->
Almost two-thirds of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region and this is driving cancer and other diseases, according to the WHO European Regional Obesity Report 2022 report released on Tuesday. The highest prevalence is in Turkey, Malta, Israel and the UK (WHO Europe […] Continue reading ->
Nearly ten years of air pollution data for dozens of Indian cities – among the most polluted in the world – was deleted from the latest World Health Organization Air Quality database just before WHO published the report on 4 April 2022, Health Policy Watch has learned. The Indian air quality data, spanning the years […] Continue reading ->
More than two years after the novel coronavirus erupted into a global pandemic, the world is beginning to settle into a new normal. COVID-19 changed how we live and work in ways that will continue long after the pandemic subsides. Digital and automation technologies are here to stay, work is done remotely, and shopping and […] Continue reading ->
In its largest release of data on air quality ever, WHO has found that most of the world’s population are breathing unsafe levels of air pollutant – particularly fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – which cause excess illness and premature death from respiratory disease, as well as from cardiovascular disease and cancers. […] Continue reading ->
United States cancer patients protesting the price of a prostate cancer drug that costs up to five times more in the US than in other high-income countries have recently revived a petition to lower it’s price – a battle that was lost during the administration of US President Barack Obama but seems to be gaining […] Continue reading ->
South Africa’s Competition Commission is pursuing prosecution against Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche for “alleged excessive pricing” of its breast cancer treatment drug, Trastuzumab (marketed as Herceptin). It estimates that some 10,000 women were unable to get the treatment they needed between 2011 and 2019 because of Trastuzumab’s cost. It has asked the country’s Competition Tribunal […] Continue reading ->
For the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Māori, cancer statistics are bleak, as they are 20% more likely to develop cancer, and twice as likely as non-Māori to die from it. But New Zealand-based Cancer Control Agency, Te Aho o Te Kahu, is trying to beat back against this inequity and close the gap […] Continue reading ->