In honour of World Oral Health Day, 20 March, three leading voices from the World Dental Federation highlight the unexpected linkages between the health of your mouth and that of the planet. It will come as a surprise to most people that the healthcare sector has a significant environmental impact. Healthcare systems are responsible for […] Continue reading ->
While it pales in comparison to tobacco industry marketing, two new capital investment funds worth some $75 million to support low- and middle-income countries in their fight against tobacco are being created by signatories to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and a related Protocol on illegal sales. Together, the funds would yield an estimated […] Continue reading ->
Proposals to incorporate some 40 new medications in WHO’s Essential Medicines List – from complex cancer treatments to new medicines for hepatitis C and rabies – will be examined over the coming two weeks by the EML Expert Committee. The Committee, which kicked off its deliberations on Monday with a public hearing, also will consider […] Continue reading ->
One of the unquantified side effects (or health impacts) of the pandemic has been in a place few people cared to look very deeply – that is our mouths. For significant parts of the past year, dentists’ chairs in many offices around the world sat empty – as COVID-19 disrupted routine dental treatments. During the early […] Continue reading ->
Indian lockdowns, telehealth in California, a “sin tax” on alcohol and cigarettes in the Philippines – three public health advocates reflect on how these and other events have shaped the narrative around non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The three included Apoorva Gomber, a medical doctor; Gina Agiostratidou, a philanthropic donor; and civil society leader Katie Dain, found […] Continue reading ->
Norway will contribute an additional 133 million USD (1.2 billion NOK) to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low-income countries from 2020 to 2024, the Ministry of International Development announced today. The announcement comes in the wake of last year’s path-blazing strategy for how to tackle the growing NCD burden in LMICs, “Better […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization recommended postponing routine dental visits in areas with community transmission of COVID-19 in new guidelines released last week. Many dental procedures can generate aerosols, or tiny solid or liquid particles that contain disease-causing pathogens. If dentists were unknowningly treating coronavirus infected patients, aerosols laden with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, […] Continue reading ->