China’s COVID-19 situation is getting worse, and strategies to control the spread of the Omicron variant are getting stricter as the country registered 20,472 daily cases on Wednesday – the highest-ever infection rate. The epicentre of the outbreak is Shanghai, which recorded 17,007 cases on Wednesday and municipal authorities are conducting mass testing in the […] 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 ->
The weekend of 12-13 March was a glorious time to be in the Swiss mountain resort of Villars-sur-Ollon post-pandemic. Special Olympics Switzerland had organized the regional games sporting competition with skiing, bowling, tennis and boccia, drawing dozens of keen athletes and supporters. My son joined the other 46 skiers and snowboarders from the region to […] Continue reading ->
There have been 52 attacks on Ukrainian health facilities in the past 25 days, more than two every day, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Meanwhile, the health of fleeing refugees, their impact on the health services of neighbouring countries, and the fate of Ukraine’s tuberculosis patients are foremost on healthcare providers’ minds. “In […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) released new guidelines on abortion care on Wednesday, that include recommendations on telemedicine for the first time. Telemedicine has helped support access to abortion and family planning services during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is also being used in places where abortion access is limited. Over 25 million unsafe abortions occur […] Continue reading ->
Commercialising the health sector and leaving healthcare up to the markets is “dangerous” and “really amoral” the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the launch of a brief on measuring value in the economy on Tuesday.  The policy brief, produced by the WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All, […] Continue reading ->
Women in Africa will feel the disruptive force of the pandemic for many years to come – with upticks in maternal deaths and prolonged disruptions in maternal, child and reproductive health services issues the continent must grapple with now.  About 40% of African countries are reporting continued disruptions to sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and […] Continue reading ->