Most countries’ climate action plans refer to the health benefits of adaptation and mitigation strategies, such as reduced air pollution, but few actually track them. And as World Environment Day is observed Thursday, global climate commitments remain extraordinarily weak.  Only 21 countries out of the 195 parties to the UN Paris Agreement have submitted updated […] Continue reading ->
In Nukus, Uzbekistan, 34-year-old surgical nurse Dilaram was devastated when she was diagnosed with drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB).  But instead of facing the standard treatment, including nearly 15,000 pills to be taken over two years and painful injections causing severe side effects, she could enrol in TB-PRACTECAL, the MSF-led clinical trial testing an all-oral, six-month regimen […] Continue reading ->
As the world observes ‘No Tobacco Day’, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on governments to ban all flavours in tobacco and nicotine products, including cigarettes, pouches, hookahs and e-cigarettes – which are playing an increasing role in hooking young people to tobacco products. Over 50 countries have banned flavoured tobacco, but manufacturers are […] Continue reading ->
Adopting a pandemic agreement and securing a 20% increase in member states’ fees to support the World Health Organization (WHO) were the 78th World Health Assembly’s greatest achievements. “The words ‘historic’ and ‘landmark’ are overused, but they are perfectly apt to describe the adoption last Tuesday of the WHO pandemic agreement. Likewise, your approval of […] Continue reading ->
A new WHO Climate Change and Health Action plan was approved by a key World Health Assembly (WHA) Committee Tuesday evening – after hours of high-stakes, high-drama parliamentary maneuvers by a cluster of oil-rich World Health Organization (WHO) member states to shelve the plan failed.   WHO member states accepted the original plan by a vote […] Continue reading ->
For the first time since the 1990s, the World Health Organization has been asked by member states to update its assessment on the health impacts of nuclear war, although not without significant resistance, led by Russia and North Korea, but also including many other major nuclear states.  The resolution calling for an updated assessment of […] Continue reading ->