The global health organisation Vital Strategies has become a leading actor in the worldwide battle against obesity, which affects 2 billion people globally. Building on its tradition of working to cut tobacco consumption and traffic injuries, the organisation tackled sugary drink consumption as a flagship issue for policy change. While the famous 2013 “soda ban” […] Continue reading ->
A new State of Global Air/2019 report estimates that average life expectancy worldwide is reduced by about a year and eight months due to exposure to current levels of global air pollution. Image Credits: IHME, IHME/HEI, Rashed Shumon. Continue reading ->
In 2015, Sub-Saharan Africans lost 630 million “healthy life years” as a result of sickness and disease, amounting to an estimated loss of $US 2.4 trillion for the region, a new study finds. These economic losses, it says, emphasise the need for increased investment in health financing in Africa to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) […] Continue reading ->
Expanding access to costly cancer treatments and the high price of new generation insulin formulas were among the controversial topics of debate today as the WHO Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines convened for its biennial update of the list of over 400 drugs deemed most essential for treating public health needs […] Continue reading ->
Despite high public interest in severe air pollution episodes, the real long-term health impacts of air pollution are rarely discussed by news and social media in South and Southeast Asia, says a new study on public perceptions of the problem in one of the most dangerously polluted areas of the world. Image Credits: Vital Strategies. Continue reading ->
Tobacco industry giants built some of the leading sugary drink brands that have been marketed to children over the past 50 years, reveals a major study published in The BMJ yesterday. Image Credits: The BMJ. Continue reading ->
As posted by UN Environment in a World Environment Day press release: Nairobi, 15 March 2019 – Today, the head of Chinese delegation, Zhao Yingmin, Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment, and Joyce Msuya, Acting Head of UN Environment, jointly announced that China will host the global World Environment Day celebrations on 5 June 2019 with a theme […] Continue reading ->
The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs appears set to delay any consideration this year of a recent World Health Organization recommendation to reschedule the status of cannabis and cannabis-related substances from “particularly dangerous” to a less dangerous category – with no timeline indicated for when the Commission might actually take up the contentious issue. Image […] Continue reading ->
Students at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) renewed their protests today against a patent claim in an Indian High Court over a leading prostate cancer treatment, saying the claim, if successful, could make the drug unaffordable to millions of people in the developing world. Image Credits: Neda Ashtari. Continue reading ->
UN Environment today released its sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6), assessing the state of the environment over the last five years. The report highlights studies published in the scientific press last year estimating that the health benefits of reducing air pollution would be 1.4 to 2.5 times greater than the costs of mitigation. Savings between […] Continue reading ->