Overburdened by non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and threatened by climate change, health ministers of Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) met in Barbados over the past few days and adopted the  Bridgetown Declaration on NCDs and Mental Health.  The declaration commits the SIDS to a number of actions including implementing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended “Best […] Continue reading ->
When Elvis Ndikum Achiri, a long-time veteran of tobacco control campaigns, began collecting data on air pollution in his community in Cameroon, he was surprised to discover how many people around him, both young and old, suffered from related illnesses even though they had never smoked – including a beloved high school teacher who had […] Continue reading ->
An impossibly long list of member states lined up to address universal health coverage (UHC) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) at the World Health Assembly on Thursday afternoon, indicating the centrality of these issues for countries. There was near-universal support for primary health services to be the backbone of UHC, with disease prevention as the other […] Continue reading ->
With a political declaration on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) on the agenda of the World Health Assembly, we unpack the WHO’s  “Best Buys” that provide countries with tools to address the diseases that are responsible for three-quarters of global deaths Health Policy Watch: The WHO’s “Best Buys” to prevent and control NCDs comprise 90 interventions, which […] Continue reading ->
Tobacco companies in Indonesia, India and Mexico circumvented international football governing body FIFA’s advertising ban on their products by associating them with the World Cup, according to a new social media analysis by public health group Vital Strategies. Data recorded by Vital Strategies’ digital media monitoring system found 354 instances of tobacco marketing in public […] Continue reading ->