Session moderator Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association; Michel Demaré, board chair of AstraZeneca; Brazilian Health Minister Nisia Trindade Lima, Roy Jakobs, CEO of Royal Philips; Preetha Reddy, vice-chairperson of Apollo Hospitals and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Improving disease surveillance, strengthening primary healthcare, and being able to expand quickly during a crisis are some of the important lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic that can be applied to ‘Disease X’, according to health experts speaking on a panel at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

“Disease X is a placeholder for unknown diseases,” said World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “You may even call COVID the first disease X, and it may happen again.”

“We lost many people [during COVID] because we couldn’t manage them. They could have been saved, but there was no space. There was not enough oxygen. So how can you have a system that can expand when the need comes?” Tedros added.

Need to strengthen primary healthcare

Many countries spend large amounts on their healthcare but this does not always translate into superior outcomes. In the United States, the richest country in the world where healthcare spending is in trillions of dollars, maternal deaths are on the rise.

“It’s not just about spending more, it’s also spending smarter. A shocking statistic, for instance in OECD countries, is that the average spend on prevention is 3% of the budget of health systems. And obviously, if you spend so little on prevention, you end up spending the majority of your budget on hospitalization or only treatments,” said Michel Demaré, board chair of the pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca.

Tedros elaborated that the reason for poor outcomes was also that expenditure was focussed on tertiary healthcare which meant that some countries struggled with basics like contact tracing during the pandemic, as they ignored primary healthcare.

“To prepare countries, I think renewed commitment to strengthen primary healthcare is very important,” he said.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said to prepare for the next pandemic, countries will have to focus on strengthening their primary healthcare.

Collaboration Between stakeholders

A big takeaway from the pandemic was the benefit of collaboration, said Demaré, whose company distributed more than three billion doses of vaccine at no profit, mainly to low- and middle-income countries.

“Just as a reminder, we were not a vaccine company at the time. We just decided that this was a call for action and that we had to try to use our know-how and our networks to try to help. So we signed a license agreement with the University of Oxford. We then put together a network of more than 20 contract manufacturing organizations to which we transferred technology and skills to basically help build the vaccine,” Demaré said.

He added that quick action and quick decision-making were extremely important but the partnerships were the most important aspect. “We have partnered with academia, obviously with governments, with regulators, third-party commercial contractors, and with NGOs,” he said.

Michel Demaré, board chair of AstraZeneca, who said the large number of partnerships during COVID was a spontaneous and valuable response to the situation.

Risks to healthcare workers 

The healthcare sector is facing a huge shortage of staff which the medical journal The Lancet described as “dangerous” in May 2023, adding that the “situation is worsening.”

An estimated 115,000 healthcare workers died during COVID which has also brought into sharp focus the dangers facing those delivering care.

“Very quickly we saw that actually, it became more and more challenging for the healthcare systems to actually keep the staff up and running, to keep them motivated, but also actually to protect them from the disease and keep doing their job,” said Roy Jakobs, CEO of Royal Philips.

Jakobs said that while technology to help staff is available, making sure it gets to them and is scaled up rapidly, is a challenge.

“The lack of skilled manpower is a global shortage. We just do not have enough doctors and nurses to heal the world,” said Preetha Reddy, vice-chairperson of the private Indian healthcare provider, Apollo Hospitals.

But her group found digital tools helpful during the pandemic. “Within a span of two weeks we were able to train about all 150,000 workers on ventilator management,” she said.

Preetha Reddy, vice-chairperson of Apollo Hospitals.

Push for the pandemic agreement

Tedros made a push for the pandemic agreement currently being negotiated by member states with the May World Health Assembly as their deadline.

Much of the text of the agreement on technology transfer, pricing and transparency has already been watered down as Health Policy Watch reported earlier.

“The pandemic agreement can bring all the experience, all the challenges that we have faced, and all the solutions, into one, and that agreement can help us to prepare for the future in a better way because this is about a common enemy,” he said.

Brazilian Health Minister Nisia Trindade Lima reminded everyone that countries need social systems to support individuals during times of crisis.

“Health alone cannot resolve all of the matters. So, we have to include in this agenda, the social protection systems which are vital in times of crisis, like the ones that we lived through recently,” she said.

Ajay Banga, World Bank CEO

“What we have is an existential climate crisis,” World Bank CEO Ajay Banga told the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting (WEF) in Davos on Wednesday.

“We cannot think of eradicating poverty without caring about climate. We cannot think of eradicating poverty without thinking about health. We cannot think of eradicating poverty without caring about food insecurity and fragility.”

Banga’s remarks aptly summed up the mood of the past two days at the WEF, as the climate crisis casting a shadow over almost every session.

United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres spoke of a “global crisis in trust” caused by the “paradox” of “runaway climate chaos and the runaway development of artificial intelligence without guardrails”.

“As climate breakdown begins, countries remain hell-bent on raising emissions. Our planet is still heading for a scorching 3°C increase in global temperatures. Droughts, storms, fires and floods are pummelling countries and communities,” warned the UN head.

“The media has recently reported that the US fossil fuel industry has launched yet another multibillion dollar campaign to kneecap progress and keep the oil and gas flowing indefinitely. Let me be very clear again. The phase out of fossil fuels is essential and inevitable.”

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), told a meeting with private sector leaders that “the health impacts of the climate crisis are not theoretical risks in the future. They are right here and right now”.

He called on the private sector to assist with enabling access to financial resources, and using their innovation to address the crisis.

Money to address the effects climate of climate change could be redirected from the fossil fuel sector.

Direct fossil fuel subsidies add up to $1.3 trillion, according to Kristalinea Georgieva, managing director of IMF News.“Put it into climate action,” she urged. “Let us take money from where it hurts to where it helps.”

The threat and promise of AI

Meanwhile, Guterres warned that AI was a double-edged sword that could both address and deepen inequity, and that the UN had already made preliminary recommendations on AI governance to” tap the benefits of this incredible new technology while mitigating its risks”.

“We need governments urgently to work with tech companies on risk management frameworks for current AI development and on monitoring and mitigating future harms,” he warned.

However, Gianrico Farrugia, CEO of Mayo Clinic, said that it was not possible to wait until every AI-related concern had been addressed: “Why? Because the need is so big and therefore in healthcare, we have to embrace AI, while at the same time we work together on regulations.”

Farrugia added that, “unless you embrace the fact that AI is truly an opportunity to transform healthcare, we’ll be missing out a lot”.

Gianrico Farrugia, CEO of Mayo Clinic

For example, AI analysis of a “simple and cheap electrocardiogram” has enabled healthcare providers to predict heart failure five years ahead of symptoms, and ahead of conventional testing. 

“Other algorithms based on the same data are now being able to predict silent atrial fibrillation – heart arrhythmias, valvular heart disease.. But then most interestingly, liver doctors found they could diagnose liver disease from the same electrocardiogram. Blood doctors found they could diagnose blood disorders.”

Mayo Clinic now runs “about 200 algorithms every day”, and AI has transformed ”our ability to create better outcomes; our ability to increase productivity, and our ability to scale in ways we couldn’t do before”, he stressed.

Christophe Webe, CEO of Takeda Pharmaceuticals, said AI would enable his company to achieve an “overall 30% efficiency gain in a few years”, and “discover new molecules that don’t exist today”. 

Stella Kyriakides, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said that it was possible to both harness “the potential that AI officers and have the guardrails in place” –  and the EU is the first place in the world to introduce an AI Regulation Act.

The European Union (EU) was using AI foremost to build a “European health data space” that would enable a patient’s records to be accessible at any healthcare facility in the EU, and also to track disease trends.

Paula Ingabire, Rwandan Minister of Information, Communication, Technology and Innovation, said that her country has been using drones to improve healthcare in hard-to-reach areas by, for example, collecting patient samples for testing.

Paula Ingabire, Rwandan Minister of Information, Communication, Technology and Innovation,

Meanwhile, Dr Jean Kaseya, head of Africa Centre for Disease Control, said that Africa was also planning to digitize data collection as part of its efforts to build pandemic preparedness, alongside improved early warning systems, better skilled health workers and multisectoral collaboration.

“We driven by the conviction that a healthier Africa is a healthier world for us all,” Kaseya told the WEF.

The ‘disastrously branded’ threat of antimicrobial resistance

Another lethal and growing threat is that posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – and issue that has been hampered by “disastrous branding due to ambiguity”, according to the Global Fund’s Peter Sands.

“The terminology needs to be sharpened to get the public involved. The global community is bad at dealing with creeping problems. By the time it becomes a blazing fire, it’s going to be really dangerous,” urged Sands.

AMR is already the third leading cause of death globally, disproportionately affecting women and children.

European Health Commissioner Kyriakides said that one in three European citizens were prescribed an antibiotic every day – with overuse being a key driver of resistance. In addition, some 40% of Europeans thought that antibiotics were effective against viruses, which they are not.

“The European Union (EU) has adopted guidelines to prevent the abuse and  misuse of antimicrobials, with targets and measurable goals,” said Kyriakides.

Cheryl Moore, (Wellcome Trust); Vanessa Kerry, (CEO of Seed Global Health), Bayer AG CEO Bill Anderson; Nisia Trindade Lima, Brazil’s health minister, and Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine.

Progress made towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is being reversed by climate change and, despite the promises made at the recent COP28, there are gaps in funding to address the crisis, Vanessa Kerry, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Special Envoy for Climate Change and Health told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The global temperature increase is already 1.4°C above pre-industrial era and the world is currently on path to a 2.4°C increase, added Kerry, who is also CEO of Seed Global Health.

“A lot of funding was put on the table for climate and health. $1 billion was pledged,” said Kerry. “But of that $800 million was pre-committed, pre-earmarked, so this isn’t new money. And this isn’t available money. We are sitting here in Davos, this is some of the biggest wealth in the world. So when we talk about what we have to do in this moment, we have to think about how we can step into that gap more now.”

Kerry was speaking at the event called, “When climate change impacts your health”. 

The year 2023 shattered global temperature records and at 1.4°C above the pre-industrial era, the planet is just shy of the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement in 2015.

In countries like Zambia, cholera outbreaks linked to a rise in rainfall are leading to school closures, and malaria is spreading in countries where it had been previously eradicated. All of this, she said, were progresses made after significant investments and that are now at risk of reversal. Experts across fields said there is recognition that climate change is having an enormous impact on health, but the response has been limited and slow. 

Climate resilient health systems 

Nisia Trindade Lima, Brazil’s health minister

Brazilian Health Minister Nisia Trindade Lima spoke of the wide range of climate-related impacts on health in her country from rising food insecurity as droughts become more frequent, to epidemics of infectious diseases like dengue as rising temperatures lengthen the transmission season of the virus. 

“In order to build resilient health systems, we need to conceive systems that focus on equality and that are going to be developed and implemented hand-in-hand with other sectors of the government, civil society, and the private sector so that we can have plans that reduce carbon emissions, that implement sustainable measures in the health system itself,” said Lima. 

Brazil will unveil proposals to build resilient health systems at the G20 meeting in Rio in November, said Lima. Brazil took over the G20 Presidency from India this year and also hosts the 2025 climate talks, COP30.  

Promoting climate-resilient agriculture

Bill Anderson, CEO of Bayer AG, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, said that with crops failing regularly now due to climate extremes, many countries are struggling with food insecurity. 

Bill Anderson, CEO of Bayer AG

Anderson said his company has worked on short-stature corn that will only grow to be six feet instead of 10 feet so the stalks would not bend and collapse as easily during extreme weather events, as well as making pesticide applications easier.

Bayer is also working on reducing methane production from rice, a staple crop in many countries. Although methane stays in the atmosphere only for a few decades it is a greenhouse gas that is 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide. 

“We have an opportunity to replace that (rice) with so-called direct-seeded rice that requires about 40% less water, and [causes] 90% less methane production. So these are examples that are good for farmers, they’re good for eaters, and they’re good for the environment,” Anderson said.

Need to bring down health-sector emissions

Victor Dzau, President of the US National Academy of Medicine said that in recent years the health sector has woken up to the impact of climate. It has also reckoned with its own contribution to global carbon emissions which is estimated to be around 5% of the global carbon emissions, equivalent to the carbon footprints of some countries.

At the same time Dzau said that to reduce the health impacts of climate change, one has to go beyond the health sector.

“At the end of the day, if you look at where the carbon emissions coming are from, three-quarters are from energy use, and 20% from agriculture, land-use. So those have direct impacts on climate, which have impact on health,” he said.

Image Credits: The Future of Food .

Filmmaker Leopoldine Huyghues Despointes, a global advocate on disability rights, and ATscale CEO Pascal Bijleveld address the launch in Davos.

“It’s not just about people with disabilities, this is about all of us,” stresses Pascal Bijleveld, the CEO of ATscale Global Partnership, an organization established in 2018 to advocate for assistive technologies (AT) access, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

The first-ever global campaign to expand access, ‘Unlock the Everyday’, was launched on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, led by ATscale together with UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Disability Alliance and other partners.

The term assistive technology (AT) describes a broad range of products and their related systems and services – from the most basic, like eyeglasses to access ramps for people with motor impairments and smartphone text- to- speech functions, explained Bijleveld.

An estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide need at least one form of assistive technology, with the most common devices being eye glasses, hearing aids, prostheses and wheelchairs. By 2050, the number is likely to increase to 3.5 billion, says WHO.

But access to AT is more than uneven: in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) only 10% of those in need can obtain appropriate devices in contrast to 90% in high-income countries.

‘My wheelchair is my independence’

“Assistive technology is a bridge that connects individuals with disabilities, ageing populations, and those suffering from non-communicable diseases to a world of opportunities – opportunities for education, employment, and above all, inclusion in society,” said the First Lady of Pakistan, Begum Samina Arif Alvi, who is encouraging global leaders to support the campaign.

During the launch, speakers representing ATscale  and other campaign partners discussed the importance of AT and the role different stakeholders can play in bringing about change.:

“My wheelchair is my legs. My wheelchair is my independence. [Without it] I wouldn’t have studied, or be able to go around and spread the word and travel,”  said Leopoldine Huyghues Despointes, a filmmaker and global advocate for disability rights

The campaign is largely directed at governments, and calls for greater investment in AT and related services through appropriate, inclusive policies.

“Without government support, we’ll never reach sufficient AT access – the market forces alone are not enough,” highlighted Bijleveld, in an interview with Health Policy Watch ahead of the event.

Nonetheless, the campaign is also appealing to other stakeholders who have their part to play: including private sector and bilateral development partners, which often neglect AT needs in programmes and initiatives to foster more inclusive health services.

Nine-to-one investment return

Ensuring lifetime access to the AT they need for people in LMIC would cost approximately $70 billion over 55 years, the campaign estimates.

But there is a nine-to-one return on investment from providing AT through improved educational outcomes, better paid employment and lower longer-term healthcare costs, a recent ATscale study shows. Yet those benefits are often overlooked by policy makers.

Bijleveld, admits that health financing choices are often difficult, especially on a tight budget: “For some countries it might be a matter of, say, picking between AT and malaria vaccine subsidies. In such cases there is a tendency to favor the option that is more visibly live-saving.”

Eyeglasses or smartphones? Hard to choose

Asked to identify the most important AT, Bijleveld says it is difficult to rank.

Some might go for eyeglasses, he observed, because of the huge number of people – estimated to be about two billion – who need corrective glasses.

But a smartphone is an equally useful AT because of its versatility, he pointed out. It can provide a text-to-speech function or speech recognition, magnify text, and provide other, less standard visual aids. It also helps those who have trouble hearing: from captioning to sign language translating applications. It can help people to navigate through a city and also to communicate without having to go to a physical destination.

By raising the profile of the issue and promoting collaboration between organizations and sectors, Unlock the Everyday hopes to reach more inclusion through AT.

“We truly believe that by uniting partners, policymakers, global decision-makers, the private sector, communities and of course, assistive technology users themselves, we can create a global movement that will motivate those in a position of power to take decisive action,” he concluded.

As  the proportion of older people grows worldwide,  AT will become all the more necessary on a global level. But AT accessibility for older people can also help achieve more inclusion for people living with disabilities

“Captioning is a good example,” Bijleveld observed. “If you’ll get it right for somebody needing AT, you’ll get it right for everyone.”

Image Credits: Devex.

A dense toxic smog in New Delhi blocks out the sun. (8 November 8, 2017).

The Clean Air Fund (CAF) urged philanthropic funders to significantly increase their support for programs and services to enhance air quality with a new report published in time for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 in Davos.

“It is vital to ramp up the scale and impact of air-quality funding from this sector,” the fund wrote in the report.

The report showed that philanthropic foundation funding for air quality surged to $330 million from 2015 to 2022, with annual financing experiencing a more than fourfold increase during that period. Nonetheless, the data indicates only a marginal uptick in 2022, with estimated funding for air quality from foundations at $71.3 million—a slight rise from the previous year—hinting at a deceleration in year-on-year growth.

From 2019 to 2021, annual increases averaged $14.7 million, whereas during the subsequent period from 2021 to 2022, the increase dwindled to just $3.8 million.

Moreover, outdoor air-quality funding accounts for less than 0.1% of all foundation funding.

“Funding for air quality from foundations has increased but remains a minuscule proportion of total philanthropic funding,” said CAF CEO Jane Burston. “Air pollution is one of the most pressing challenges of our time, with 99% of the world still breathing toxic air.

“I urge funders to recognize that air quality isn’t a niche issue and work together to tackle the problem,” she continued. “By doing so, we can act on climate change, improve our health, strengthen economic outputs, and address social inequality all at the same time.”

Air Pollution’s Deadly Toll

Pedestrians in Bangladesh cover their faces to keep from breathing in dust and smog. Air pollution takes 22 months off the average life expectancy in Bangladesh, according to recent reports. (Photo: Rashed Shumon)

Air pollution causes 8.3 million deaths a year, including 5.1 million from fossil fuel pollution, according to an article published last year in the BMJ. In addition, air pollution can have long- and short-term health effects. The report cited a connection between air pollution and cancer, heart attacks, diabetes and strokes, as well as exacerbated asthma and even miscarriage.

The situation is more acute in low- and middle-income countries, which bear the burden of nine out of 10 deaths attributable to outdoor air pollution.

Philanthropic Gaps in Air Quality Funding

CAF’s report focuses exclusively on funding for air quality from philanthropic foundations. The data was gathered through direct engagement with foundations actively providing grants related to air pollution and from online and public sources. These foundations encompass various forms, including individual, family, and business entities or those funded through public donations.

CAF is a global philanthropic organisation that funds programs that promote air quality data, build public demand for clean air and drive policy change.

In its report, CAF also noted that foundation funding is meager in countries that need it most. For example, Africa, home to 50% of countries with the highest air pollution based on population-weighted PM2.5 exposure, received only around 1% of total outdoor air quality funding.

It also showed that more than a quarter (26%) of funding was aimed at communications and raising awareness projects; only around 10% went toward implementation (12.3%) and data (11.5%) projects.

Strategic Shifts for Air Quality Action: CAF Recommendations

Severe air pollution in Anyang, China in January 2022. Africa and the Middle East are among the world’s pollution hot spots according to the largest-ever collection of WHO data.

CAF called on foundations to shift their priorities and examine opportunities for partnerships to increase scale and address air pollution alongside other causes. It also stressed investing in air-quality data, which, it said, is necessary to build policy and strategy.

“A major barrier to progress on air pollution in many contexts is the lack of solid local data and analysis of air-pollution levels, including the sources of emissions and the localized health impacts of dirty air,” the report said.

Finally, it noted that “health funders should support efforts to understand the health costs of air pollution and health benefits of action and to better understand health-equity impacts on marginalized groups.

“They can also play a role in synthesizing evidence on the interplay between air pollution, climate and health security, including vulnerability to epidemics, the resilience of health systems, and negative feedback loops between climate change and air quality – such as wildfires, desertification and heatwaves – which exacerbate health risks,” the report concluded.

Image Credits: Rashed Shumon, Wikipedia, V.T. Polywoda.

Smoking prevalence is higher amongst European women than anywhere else in the world.

Tobacco use amongst women in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) European region is more than double the global average and is reducing much slower than in all other regions.

Some 65 million women smoke in the region, representing 40% of all female smokers in the world, according to the WHO’s tobacco trends report released on Tuesday.

While the highest percentage of people over the age of 15 who currently use tobacco live in WHO’s South-East Asian Region (26.5%), the European region is not far behind (25.3%) – and by 2030, the European Region is projected to have the highest rates globally.  

Smoking trends in women (200-2030)

European countries with stubbornly high tobacco use include Bosnia and Herzegovina (35.8% of the population), Bulgaria and Cyprus (34%).

Meanwhile, Indonesia is the biggest tobacco user in South-East Asia with 36.3% prevalence.

The Western Pacific Region has the largest number of smokers – 368 million smokers in 2022. This is propelled by a number of small island states with very high rates – such as Nauru (47.2% in 2020), Papua New Guinea (41.5%) and Kiribati (39.9%). 

Overall, however, tobacco use is declining with about one in five adults worldwide consuming tobacco in 2022 – around 1.25 billion adults – compared to one in three in 2000.

Some 150 countries are successfully reducing tobacco use, with the WHO singling out Brazil and the Netherlands for their successes in implementing MPOWER tobacco control measures. 

Brazil has reduced tobacco use by 35% since 2010 and the Netherlands is on the verge of reaching 30% – the  voluntary global goal for 2025 (with 2010 as the baseline).

Only 56 countries globally will reach this goal, down four countries since the last report in 2021. 

Tobacco use continues to rise in Congo (Brazzaville), Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Oman, and Moldova, while progress is stagnant in nine other countries.

Massive smoking rate in Indonesian men

Far more men than women use tobacco, and in 2000 half the global male population over the age of 15 used tobacco. Through concerted anti-tobacco campaigns, largely funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, this percentage dropped to 41,6% in 2022 and is projected to decline to 30.6% by 2030. 

However, curbing smoking in Indonesian men – over 70% of whom smoke – remains a huge challenge.

Global tobacco use trends by sex.

“Good progress has been made in tobacco control in recent years, but there is no time for complacency,” said Dr Ruediger Krech, WHO director of Health Promotion.

“I’m astounded at the depths the tobacco industry will go to pursue profits at the expense of countless lives. We see that the minute a government thinks they have won the fight against tobacco, the tobacco industry seizes the opportunity to manipulate health policies and sell their deadly products.” 

The Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2023, published by STOP and the Global Center for Good Governance in Tobacco Control, shows that efforts to protect health policy from increased tobacco industry interference have deteriorated globally.

Next month countries are set to meet in Panama for the 10th Session of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of Parties. 

Strengthening the WHO FCTC is a global health priority outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals. 

“WHO stands ready to support countries in defending evidenced based tobacco control measures in the face of industry interference,” according to the report.

Image Credits: Zaya Odeesho/ Unsplash, WHO.

Attacks on health facilities and services has become a deliberate tactic of war.

Climate and conflict-related malnutrition in the Horn of Africa, rising gender-based violence in Haiti and attacks on medical facilities are some of the challenges facing the World Health Organization (WHO) as it seeks $1.5 billion to finance its emergency response.

“For those facing emergencies, disruptions to essential health services often mean the difference between life and death,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the launch of the global body’s health emergency appeal on Monday.

The WHO needs the money to address 41 emergencies affecting an estimated 87 million people – greater than the populations of Germany, France or the UK.

“There are only two ways to reduce the human suffering caused by health crises: increase the funding or reduce the needs. Neither is happening at the moment. The cost of inaction is one the world cannot afford,” added Tedros.

“The greater Horn of Africa is one of the most vulnerable regions when it comes to climate change and that appears through erratic rainfalls rising temperatures which then translates into droughts and floods,”  said Liesbeth Albrecht, WHO’s incident manager in that region.

“The increase in these deadly climate related disasters together with conflict has driven extremely high levels of hunger. Currently more than 50 million people are food insecure, which represents more than 30% increase compared to mid-2022. 

“We’re seeing the highest numbers in years of malnourished children, including 2.7 million, with severe acute malnutrition, which not only increases their risk of starvation, but also weakens these kids’ immunity, which makes them much more susceptible to disease,” she added.

People fleeing drought and conflict in the Horn of Africa take refuge in a temporary camp.

Lawlessness and rape

Meanwhile, Haiti recorded an increase of over 150% in serious crimes such as kidnappings, murders and gender based violence, particular rape.

“Armed gangs now control 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and gang activity has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes,” said Dr Oscar Barreneche, WHO’s Haiti representative.

“As the violence spreads in the country, almost half of Haitians are facing food insecurity, which explains the whopping 30% increase in the case of acute severe child malnutrition observed recently.”

In the first half of last year, 6000 cases of gender-based violence were recorded, and only 16% of those affected received health services, he added.

Dr Mike Ryan, WHO’s executive director of health emergencies, said that he was concerned about the “rapid increase in hunger, driven by climate driven and conflict” globally.

“Famine is what weakens the human immune system; weakens the human capacity to resist disease and very often creates conditions for a secondary health crisis,” said Ryan.

Dr Mike Ryan, WO executive director of health emergencies.

Deliberate attacks on health facilities

“We are witnessing an era in which attacking healthcare has become a tactic of war,” added Ryan. “Not euphemistically referred to before as collateral damage or accidental damage, but actually fundamentally a weapon that is used to increase terror and to deny people the health services that they need.”

Martin Griffiths, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said 2023 had been a year where health institutions had been targeted as a priority in territories such as Sudan, Gaza and Ukraine.

“That red cross sign, which was there to protect people, has become a sign for an attack,” said Griffiths.

In 2023, there were 1300 attacks on health care across 19 countries, resulting in more than 700 deaths and 1100 injuries to health workers and patients, he added.

“In the Occupied Palestinian Territories alone, more than 624 attacks on healthcare have resulted in the deaths of 619 health workers and patients and the injury of 826 others as of 11 January,” said Griffiths.

Denise Brown, UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Ukraine, said that the availability of health care “holds a community together”. 

“Every community needs a doctor, needs a nurse, needs a health care professional; a place to go when you’re sick when you have a baby to deliver, surgery, vaccinations,” said Brown. 

“So unfortunately, the flip side of that is that the loss of healthcare disrupts the well being of a community. People have to leave and that’s what we see oftentimes in the communities directly impacted by the war in Ukraine. 

“The loss of health care is also the beginnings of the loss of a sense of community. Following the full scale invasion by the Russian Federation February 2022, according to WHO, there have been more than 1400 attacks on health infrastructure in Ukraine.”

‘Small price’ to protect health

Paying tribute to the WHO’s leadership in emergencies, Griffiths said that when he visited humanitarian crises, he often found Tedros and Ryan were already there.

“In 2023, WHO led the health cluster in meeting the health needs of 102 million people across 29 countries. They supported more than 44 million primary health care consultations. WHO deployed more than 8000 mobile clinics and help to distribute 30 million oral cholera vaccine doses,” said Griffiths, adding that the need was expected to be even greater this year.

“The sum asked is a very small price to pay to protect the health of the most vulnerable and to prevent deepening of the global health crisis,” added Griffiths.

Image Credits: International Committee of the Red Cross, WHO.

A fire in a favela in Brazil

The world is world is “plagued” by a duo of dangerous crises: climate and conflict, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) ahead of its annual meeting, in Davos starting on Monday.

“Underlying geopolitical tensions combined with the eruption of active hostilities in multiple regions is contributing to an unstable global order characterised by polarising narratives, eroding trust and insecurity,” notes WEF managing direct Saadia Zahidi, writing in the forum’s Global Risks Report 2024.

Insights about risks were sought from 1,490 experts across academia, business, government, the international community and civil society in September and October last year.

Lethal conflicts from Sudan to Gaza and Israel; record-breaking heat and societal discontent were high on the risk agenda.

Two-thirds of respondents rank “extreme weather” as the top risk most likely to present a material global crisis this year, as well as over the next 10 years.

Misinformation and disinformation emerged as the key short-term threat over the next two years, and is  anticipated to “further widen societal and political divides”.

“As close to three billion people are expected to head to the electoral polls across several economies – including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States – over the next two years, the widespread use of misinformation and disinformation, and tools to disseminate it, may undermine the legitimacy of newly elected governments,” according to the report.

“Resulting unrest could range from violent protests and hate crimes to civil confrontation and terrorism.”

Societal polarisation features in the top three risks over both the current and two-year time frames, and is closely linked to economic downturn.

WEF Global Risks 2024

The cost-of-living crisis remains a major concern in the outlook for 2024.

“High rates of job churn – both job creation and destruction – have the potential to result in deeply bifurcated labour markets between and within developed and developing economies,” notes the report.

Meanwhile, interstate armed conflict, with the report warning of “conflict contagion”.

The report also flags the global South’s growing “dissatisfaction with the continued political, military and economic dominance of the global North”.

“Historical grievances of colonialism, combined with more recent ones regarding the costs of food and fuel, geopolitical alliances, the United Nations and Bretton Woods systems, and the loss and damage agenda, could accelerate anti-Western sentiment over the next two years.”

Over 2,800 leaders are convening in Davos under the theme, Rebuilding Trust, and will focus on achieving security and cooperation; growth and job creation, artificial intelligence and “a long-term strategy for climate, nature and energy”

Reduce energy demand

Transition to solar would help companies’ energy demand

Meanwhile, the WEF has also called on companies and countries to adopt measures to reduce the demand for energy in order to reduce carbon emissions and save cash.

The forum made the call to reduce what it calls “energy intensity” – the amount of energy used per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) –in a new report that was also released on the eve of its annual meeting.

A 31% reduction in energy intensity and up to $2 trillion in annual savings is possible if certain measures are taken, according to modelling.

“Actions are doable today, at attractive returns with existing technology, and so it is believed this establishes a compelling case to act as much on energy demand as supply in the journey to net zero,” according to the report.

It describes three “levers” to reduce energy use. The first is “energy savings”– essentially through operational improvement interventions. 

The second is “energy efficiency” measures that require capital expenditure. 

The final lever is “value chain collaboration”, where companies work directly with suppliers and business partners to reduce cost. 

The WEF calls on each sector to develop a “roadmap” to guide company and government action. 

“Company and national energy transition plans are needed to capture the benefits of managing energy consumption while integrating supply-side actions. Businesses across the energy demand and supply spectrum will need to work together with governments to develop these plans and increase awareness of the routes and results available to address barriers to action.”

Some of the examples of reduced energy include the digital optimization of plant operations, and automation and electrification of transport in mining and extractive industries, which use  around 8% of global energy. 

The vast majority of energy use in mining – some 93% – is used for extraction, intra-mine movement and crushing, all of which are equipment focused. 

“An automated truck network has the potential to save 15-20% of transport energy demand, through the optimisation of routing, uptime and throttle input,” according to the report.

Tensions between security and sustainability

“The energy transition creates immense and growing tensions between the imperatives of security, affordability and sustainability,” according to the report.

“On energy security, the first challenge is to simultaneously maintain a secure and stable supply of energy amid an increasingly volatile geopolitical situation, all while transforming today’s hydrocarbon-dominated supply,” it adds.

During 2021-22, energy shortages as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saw European governments procuring oil and gas from the flows normally destined to other emerging markets and developing economies (EMDE), which had to use more coal and face higher energy prices. 

The second challenge is affordability, particularly the population is expected to expand by two billion people and GDP is set to double by 2050.

“This will intensify pressure on energy supply systems, particularly in EMDE, which are responsible for approximately 60% of current demand. These markets need a clear range of routes to economic growth, which include abundant access to affordable clean energy,” notes the report. 

The third challenge is sustainability to meet this growth in energy demand in a way that keeps the world on track to meet the 2050 Paris Agreement. Most scenarios forecast a significant shortfall in clean energy supply by 2050, which is why more efficient energy use is imperative.

Image Credits: Zubair Hussain/ Unsplash, Denys Argyriou/ Unsplash, WEF.

Mature Nipah Virus particles (blue) close to the periphery of an infected VERO cell (purple)

The first clinical trial of a vaccine for Nipah, a deadly communicable disease mostly found in South-East Asia, is about to start, the Oxford Vaccine Group announced.

Despite 25 years of outbreaks and its WHO status of a priority disease, there is no treatment or vaccine for Nipah up to this date. 

“This vaccine trial is an important milestone in identifying a solution that could prevent local outbreaks occurring, while also helping the world prepare for a future global pandemic” – highlights Dr. In-Kyu Yoon, acting executive director of Vaccine Research & Development at the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

Nipah is a paramyxovirus, the same family as measles, and is carried by fruit bats. Infections occur after people or animals eat fruit contaminated with bat urine or saliva, or have contact with other infected animals or people. 

Even though Nipah outbreaks are typically small-scale, its devastating mortality rate – sometimes reaching 75% – and the fact that it is transmitted both from animals and among people are reasons enough to consider it a potential threat.

The disease attacks the central nervous system or the respiratory system. In most extreme cases, it can lead to a coma in under two days.

The most recent outbreak of September 2023, in India’s district Kerala, was contained quickly thanks to a systematic and decided response. From its first detection in 1998, there were over 600 cases, with many proving fatal.

The new vaccine trial will first be tested on 50 healthy individuals aged 18-55 with a vaccine is developed by the Oxford Vaccine Group and funded by CEPI. It is using the same platform as a previous creation of the team, the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

“Nipah has epidemic potential, with its fruit bat hosts found in areas home to over two billion people,” said Yoon. “This trial is a step forward in efforts to build a suite of tools to protect against this killer virus.”

Image Credits: NIAD.

A report surveying 58,000 people across five continents has found that there is significant support for climate action.

There is overwhelming support for immediate government action on climate change, according to a global report from 23 countries.

Over three-quarters (77%) of people agree with the statement, “It is essential that our government does whatever it takes to limit the effects of climate change,” and just over 10% disagree, according to the report produced by non-profit Potential Energy Coalition, research institute Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, and philanthropies Meliore Foundation and Zero Ideas.

Some 58,000 people across five continents were surveyed to gauge support for climate action and what messages motivate people to work towards accelerating climate action.

Last year was the hottest on record by a huge margin, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Apart from smashing temperature records, the average global temperatures were on many occasions 1.45° C higher than the pre-industrial era, and just shy of breaching the target of 1.5° C set by the Paris Agreement in 2015.

Next week global leaders will meet in Davos, Switzerland to discuss urgent global issues, including climate change.

“We cannot afford to wait any longer. We are already taking action but we have to do more and we have to do it quickly. We have to make drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo, who took charge at the start of the year.

Climate action requires global consensus, and according to this report by Potential Energy Coalition, it exists already.

Across all 23 countries surveyed there was support for climate action. The narrative that most resonated with people was the generational narrative about protecting the planet for their children.

Safeguarding next generation resonates most

According to message testing, people are not looking for endless economic growth or jobs. Instead, across every country, concern for the next generation was the dominant reason for action on climate change – 12 times more popular than creating jobs.

“In randomised controlled trial message tests, the most effective narrative — the urgent generational message — lifted the level of global strong support for climate action by an average of 11% points,” the report says.

“In every country in the study, the ‘later is too late’ narrative outperformed messages focused on economic opportunity, fighting injustice, improving health, or even preventing extreme weather,” according to the report.

Protecting the planet for future generations was the biggest motivator for climate action, 12 times more powerful than job growth.

“When we talk about this, about the urgency to act for our kids, for what we love, it moves people a lot,” said Jessica Lu, senior manager for strategy and analytics at Potential Energy Coalition. “This was by far the most effective, the most universal message.

“The data is saying repeatedly, what is the thing that matters most? It’s our love for the next generation, protecting all the things that we care about so that they have a livable and safe future,” she said.

Lu added that another important takeaway is that, when the message is done right, it can move people across age, gender, countries and political spectrum.

United States stands out as an anomaly

There was great support for climate action in developing countries but lower support in the countries with high per capita emissions of carbon.

For instance, citizens from the United States – responsible for 25% of the historic carbon emissions – showed the least support for climate action. In contrast, in countries like Chile and Kenya that are extremely vulnerable to climate change citizens expressed large support for climate action.

The report also found that how a message is framed has a significant impact on how it is received.

“Frames that included the words mandate, ban or phaseout on average had nine points lower support (and in some cases, up to 20 points lower support) than those that did not. Framings that included ideas like upgrading, setting standards, making solutions accessible, and reducing dependency performed significantly better,” the report says.

US has the least among of support for climate policy, compared to the other 22 countries surveyed.

It is okay to create worry

Over the years, as the climate coverage, so has the anxiety around it among those consuming the news. There are reports about young people feeling paralysing fear and therapists having to deal with a rise in climate anxiety.

John Marshall, the founder and CEO of Potential Energy Coalition, said simple messages that educate people about climate change and let people know that is a concern are the most effective.

“It’s okay to create worry. And in fact, it makes sense to create worry because most people don’t know enough about this. So go through the front door, talk about climate, convey the nature of the risk, and give solutions. That is much more effective than getting super creative about ideas, about jobs and prosperity,” Marshall said.

Image Credits: Unsplash.