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 ->
During the COVID-19 pandemic, people living with cancer, heart diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) experienced difficulties in accessing their routine medicines, according to a new report released by the World Health Organization on Wednesday. While 21% of WHO member states reported stockouts of the five many medicines for people with […] Continue reading ->
When London Mayor Sadiq Khan introduced a ban on junk food advertising on the city’s buses and tubes, he faced a backlash from big food companies. Meanwhile, tobacco companies went all-out trying to stop Montevideo in Uruguay and Kampala in Uganda from banning smoking in public areas, including resorting to litigation. Tobacco company Phillip Morris […] Continue reading ->
Eating too much salt kills nearly two million people every year, and without the rapid introduction of global policies to limit sodium content in processed foods, another seven million preventable deaths will occur by 2030, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a new report. Unhealthy diets are a major global health challenge, and sodium’s […] Continue reading ->
Respiratory infections contracted in early childhood nearly double the risk of dying prematurely from respiratory diseases as an adult, according to a new study published in The Lancet. The study followed a British cohort of over 3,500 people from their births in 1946, and then again between the ages of 26 and 73 years of […] Continue reading ->
More than half of the world’s population may be overweight or obese by 2035—with the sharpest rise expected to occur among children and adolescents, according to a new report by the the World Obesity Federation. About 2.6 billion of the world’s 8 billion people are already overweight or obese, and COVID lockdowns likely exacerbated trends […] Continue reading ->
A third of Europeans don’t meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines for physical activity – but if they did, this would avert over 10 000 premature deaths, almost four million cases of cardiovascular disease, three and a half million cases of depression and nearly a million cases of type two diabetes by 2050. This is […] Continue reading ->
Alcohol is the second biggest cause of cancer after tobacco, and Movendi is mobilizing communities worldwide to publicize the link At the WHO’s 152th Executive Board, an updated list of policy “best buys” to prevent and control non-communicable diseases (NCDs) was presented. The EB decided unanimously to adopt the updated list of cost-effective interventions in […] Continue reading ->
Successful intervention is urgently needed – and entirely possible. Cancer kills nearly 10 million people a year, but the risk of dying from cancer varies greatly depending on where in the world you live. About 70% of these deaths are in low- and middle-income countries – and the disparity is worsening. A Lancet Oncology Commission […] Continue reading ->