Citizens and NGOs welcomed the United Nations Human Rights Council’s adoption of a much-debated draft resolution that calls on nations to ensure everyone has access to medicines and vaccines. The resolution was adopted by consensus Friday shortly before the close of the HRC’s 50th session, sending what proponents called a “clear message” that access to […] Continue reading ->
The world’s transport ministers pledged to cut road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030, as part of a political declaration adopted at the first-ever United Nations High Level Meeting on Global Road Safety, which opened Thursday in New York City.   The debate came as a new Lancet series suggested that some half a million […] Continue reading ->
A new app for mobile phones that provides localized information on ultraviolet (UV) radiation levels has been created by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization, and the International Labour Organization (ILO).  The app is available free of charge on both the Apple App and Google Play […] Continue reading ->
GENEVA –Russia’s war in Ukraine grabbed centre stage at the World Health Assembly Thursday as delegates prepared to take up competing draft resolutions on Ukraine’s health emergency: one denouncing Russia and supported by Turkey, Ukraine, the United States and all European Union members except for Hungary; the other co-sponsored only by Russia and Syria. Although […] Continue reading ->
Amid huge global contestation over abortion, the Kenyan High Court recently affirmed that women’s “access to safe abortion services is a human right” as enshrined in the country’s Constitution, and directed parliament to enact laws in this regard. Malindi High Court Judge Reuben Nyakundi made the ruling late last month in a case involving a […] Continue reading ->
In advance of critical biodiversity negotiations in Geneva, over twenty former headers of state, ministers, and environmental and indigenous leaders urgently called on governments – including their own – to back the protection of at least 30% of the planet by 2030.  Led by former US Senator Russ Feingold and comprised of either former Heads […] Continue reading ->
Urban noise pollution, wildfires, and disruptions of life cycles in natural systems are all growing environmental problems with ecological consequences that require greater attention, according to the new Frontier Report published Thursday by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).  The fourth edition of the report, ‘Noises, Blazes and Mismatches: Emerging Issues of Environmental Concern’, was released […] Continue reading ->
As the 150th Executive Board Meeting of the WHO closed Saturday, attention focused on the inability of the WHO governing board to reach consensus on critical issues that it had debated – including a more sustainable financing framework as well as a clear way forward on a proposed new pandemic legal accord, reforms of global […] Continue reading ->
As pandemic treaty negotiations kick off again at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva this week, countries face a stark choice. Will they decide to move ahead on a new system that vests an independent entity with greater powers to monitor their own national alert and responses – in the name of faster pandemic […] Continue reading ->