The United States has moved at speed to secure several new bilateral health Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) in the past week, including, for the first time, four in Latin America – with the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama. To date (2 March), the US has signed 24 bilateral health MOUs in terms of […] Continue reading ->
Europe is failing to curb tobacco use – particularly in women and girls – and will have the world’s highest prevalence by 2030, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) European region revealed this week. Of the region’s 53 states, tobacco use is highest in Serbia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Montenegro – all exceeding 30% prevalence in […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced its updated recommendations for the 2026-2027 Northern Hemisphere seasonal flu vaccine on Friday, a critical adjustment driven by the rapid global dominance of a new A(H3N2) variant known as subclade K. Following four days of intense consultation by the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS), experts finalized the […] Continue reading ->
NEW DELHI – For years, residents of the Indian capital have looked to the skies in March with a sense of relief, believing that the notorious winter pollution had finally retreated. However, a drone armed with an air quality monitor has shattered this perception, revealing a massive blanket of toxic air hovering just above the […] Continue reading ->
Financial innovation is a key, underused tool that can be mustered to strengthen humanitarian outreach in crisis settings, while also strengthening public health systems over the long term, according to a new report published by The Geneva Health Forum. “New sources of financing are developing, breaking with the traditional vision of charitable action financed by […] Continue reading ->
Mozambique and Madagascar are struggling to address the after-effects of cyclones and cyclone-related flooding, with huge increases in cholera cases and displaced people. There has been a seven-fold increase in cholera cases in southern Africa in the first six weeks of 2026 in comparison to the same time last year, with 90% of the 4,300 […] Continue reading ->
The government of Zambia acknowledged this week that it is unhappy with part of a proposed health aid deal with the United States that “does not align with the country’s interests”. The Zambia-US bilateral deal was due to be signed last December, but it faltered after the US linked the billion-dollar deal to access to […] Continue reading ->
Surgeon General nominee Dr Casey Means, a confidante of HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy, was grilled in a tense Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. She fielded questions on vaccines, her conflicts of interest, pesticides, and birth control, and reaffirmed her focus on America’s chronic disease epidemic, promising to use her platform to promote “whole healthy […] Continue reading ->
Following the lead of Australia, France, and Spain, Germany’s governing parties have found common ground on a proposal to ban social media for children. But as politicians prepare strict age restrictions, experts warn that significant legal roadblocks and data protection concerns could stall the legislation. At a recent party conference in Stuttgart, the centre-right Christian […] Continue reading ->
As the war in Ukraine grinds into its fifth year, the systematic destruction of healthcare infrastructure is accelerating, with strikes targeting hospitals, ambulances, and medical workers surging by nearly 20 percent in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to a statement by the World Health Organization Europe region (WHO/EURO) released on Tuesday. The cumulative […] Continue reading ->