The World Health Organization has called for the end of hostilities between Hamas and Israel, and the opening of a humanitarian corridor from Egypt to Gaza Strip for vital medical supplies – along with the release of over 100 Israeli and foreign hostages seized when thousands of Hamas militants first crossed the border on Saturday, […] Continue reading ->
Norway’s Ambassador for Global Health, Dr John-Arne Røttingen, has been appointed CEO of the charitable foundation Wellcome, one of the world’s largest funders of science aimed at solving urgent health issues, the body announced on Wednesday. Røttingen, who will assume the position in January 2024, has had a versatile and varied career. He started out […] Continue reading ->
Dr Hanan Balkhy has been elected as the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO), becoming the first woman ever to have been chosen for the challenging position in the world’s most conflict-ridden region. A Saudi national, Balkhy will assume the position on 1 February 2024 for a period of […] Continue reading ->
Excessive bleeding is the main cause of women dying in childbirth, yet the global guidelines to tackle postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) are inadequate and outdated. To rectify this, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners have developed the world’s first PPH roadmap, and aim to have new global guidelines by the first quarter of 2025. […] Continue reading ->
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) announced on Monday that it would invest $40 million to advance the development of mRNA innovation and production in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to help them produce low-cost and high-quality vaccines at large scale. In an address to the more than 1,400 scientists, policymakers, and donors attending […] Continue reading ->
One billion people were classified as migrants in 2020, including 26.4 million refugees and 4.1 million asylum seekers – many driven from their homes by political conflict and climate crises. But migrants and refugees seldom get access to mental health services, despite being amongst the most at-risk people. On World Mental Health Day on Tuesday, […] Continue reading ->
The inaugural Health Day at COP28, the upcoming UN climate summit in Dubai, will launch the one-year progress report of the Sharm el-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda, a key outcome of last year’s summit in Egypt. The agenda, which was agreed at COP27, includes a number of commitments to increase finance and investment in climate change adaptation, […] Continue reading ->
Negotiations at the World Health Organisation (WHO) about how to amend the International Health Regulations (IHR) to make them fit to tackle the next pandemic will be extended until as far as May 2024. This was resolved at the Working Group on the IHR amendments, which ended on Friday following a week-long meeting with a […] Continue reading ->
The Mauritius Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a colonial-era law criminalising consensual sexual relations between men is “unconstitutional” and should be struck from the country’s criminal code with immediate effect. According to Section 250 of the Mauritian Criminal Code, men convicted of same-sex relations could be jailed for a maximum of five years. The […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean region (EMRO) is struggling to address “an unprecedented number of health emergencies” driven by state fragility and conflict, climate-change-related extreme weather events, mass displacement and economic disparities”, regional director Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari told a media briefing on Wednesday. The most pressing immediate problems involve assisting Libya after its […] Continue reading ->