Global health leaders have repeatedly called for stepped up investments to both slow down climate change and recognize the health co-benefits of more climate action. But political leaders, including those in low and middle-income countries, still need to do more, Prof. Guéladio Cissé, Coordinating Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told […] Continue reading ->
In a highly symbolic visit to Lviv, Ukraine, World Health Organization Regional Director Hans Kluge reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to rebuilding the country’s war-torn health system. Speaking in a press briefing staged directly from Lviv, Kluge said, “We are committed to work through a decentralized footprint [in Ukraine], both during the current humanitarian response but also […] 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 ->
As much as 99% of the world population breathes in air with pollution levels higher than WHO’s permissible limits. The majority of the world’s most polluted cities are in South Asia. Air pollution is linked to higher rates of miscarriages, pregnancy complications and stillbirths, affecting women’s reproductive health. The pandemic is always on the back […] Continue reading ->
The Global South has been subjugated to the world economic order for centuries. This isn’t news to us. But the COVID-19 pandemic has started one of the most acute chapters in this story as, for over two years, we have witnessed our people dying en masse. In response to this unsustainable yet critical situation, countries […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 82 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since 24 February. The country’s virtual healthcare services, already strong from the pandemic, have stepped-up in response. Why it matters Online healthcare has provided a crucial lifeline to thousands of Ukrainians as the war imposes physical and psychological trauma on those caught […] Continue reading ->
WHO on Thursday launched a new global initiative that aims to tackle a group of fast-growing and poorly understood viral diseases that are carried by insects – and which have future pandemic potential. The Global Arbovirus Initiative aims to tackle diseases such as Dengue, Yellow fever, Chikungunya and Zika – which have few effective treatments, […] Continue reading ->
Two weeks of negotiations in Geneva over a critical new agreement to protect and conserve some 30% of the planet’s land and oceans spaces by 2030 have yielded only halting progress – with the parties to the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) agreeing to meet again in Nairobi in late June. The Nairobi meeting, 21-26 […] Continue reading ->
In some of his most forceful remarks to date, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and other senior WHO officials slammed both Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Ethiopia’s blockade of Tigray for both withholding vital health and humanitarian aid – as well as deliberately targeting civilians or putting them in harms way. Speaking from […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO)’s first pilot biohub facility in Spiez, Switzerland, has been able to provide laboratories around the world with biological materials with epidemic or pandemic potential in under nine days, according to a consultative meeting convened last week. The Spiez Biohub was set up according to an agreement between Switzerland and the WHO […] Continue reading ->