Fears over the side effects of COVID-19 jabs, which led to initial vaccine hesitancy, mostly gave way to acceptance in the course of the pandemic, with only a small minority remaining unvaccinated due to deep-seated mistrust, a new major study published in The Lancet finds. For the first time, the study “Profiling vaccine attitudes and […] Continue reading ->
When and how the United States withdraws from the World Health Organization (WHO) is an “open question” for member states to discuss, according to Steven Solomon, the body’s legal officer. This is because the US has failed to pay its WHO membership dues of $260.6 million for the past two years (2024-2025) in violation of […] Continue reading ->
While the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will still consider the health benefits of emissions regulations, it will no longer publish estimates of the economic costs of deaths, illness and disability from unsafe air pollution levels. The US EPA, whose path-finding work on air pollution’s health impacts helped set standards internationally, will no longer put […] Continue reading ->
Governments should “significantly strengthen” taxes on alcoholic and sugary drinks as these products are getting cheaper, fueling obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancers and injuries. This is according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which issued two reports on taxing sugary drinks and alcohol on Tuesday, including how countries are implementing these. “In most countries, these […] Continue reading ->
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Along the winding road to Babusar Top, a favourite summer tourist spot in northern Pakistan, there was once a thick forest that shielded the slopes and cooled the air. Today, these hillsides are bare, stripped of trees that took a century to mature. So when torrential rains arrived in August, torrents of […] Continue reading ->
Stigma remains one of the most under-examined yet damaging forces shaping global health policy and practice, according to anthropologist Alex Brewis, who argues that shame-based approaches often undermine the very outcomes health interventions aim to achieve. In a recent episode of Dialogues, a special program of the Global Health Matters Podcast hosted by Dr. Garry […] Continue reading ->
As the magnitude of the global crisis surrounding youth mental health continues to unfold, increased attention has been placed on developing strategies to prevent young people’s mental health from deteriorating and promote mental wellbeing at scale. With global stressors accelerating and services failing to keep pace, the need for system-level solutions has never been more […] Continue reading ->
Over December, the United States signed bilateral health co-operation agreements with 14 African countries, setting out the parameters for aid in exchange for speedy information about new disease outbreaks – and, in some instances, clinched alongside trade deals profitable to US companies. The fourteen countries, in order of when the agreements were signed, are: Kenya, […] Continue reading ->
The German government is set to halve its funding for the Berlin-based WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence this year as part of a broader retreat from global health and aid financing under Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Funding for the pandemic surveillance hub will be reduced from €30 million yearly to €15 million, with only […] Continue reading ->
The Trump administration has withdrawn the United States from 66 multilateral organisations that it describes as “wasteful, ineffective, and harmful” – including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which coordinates the world’s response to climate change and has the buy-in of every other country in the world. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN […] Continue reading ->