A sweeping new report by a consortium of climate and health experts offers a global indictment of how fossil fuels harm populations – from extraction to emissions, devastating human health from cradle to grave. Treating the fossil fuel sector like the tobacco sector will help, recommends the study’s authors. Fossil fuel advertisements should be banned, […] Continue reading ->
Amid rising disease threats, it is “critical” that the World Health Organization (WHO) presents a completed pandemic agreement to the United Nations (UN) High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response in 2026, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom told member states at the start of negotiations on the final outstanding annex to the […] Continue reading ->
While deaths from malaria have fallen by 29% since over the past two decades, mortality could rise again this year due to the cuts in global health funding seen recently, says Peter Sands, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “There has been a significant impact…and I suspect that we […] Continue reading ->
At least 68 people are suspected of Ebola in four districts of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Kasai state, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty cases have been confirmed and 16 people have died since the DRC declared the outbreak on 4 September, Africa CDC’s Dr Ngashi Ngongo told […] Continue reading ->
The final political declaration for the United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on NCDs is substantially weaker than the zero draft, no longer referring to taxing sugar-sweetened beverages – while describing higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol as “considerations… in line with national circumstances” rather than concrete proposals. However, targets for reducing tobacco use and increasing […] Continue reading ->
After a month-long delay, the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission’s strategy to address child health was released by the White House on Tuesday – but it offers few concrete proposals and no curbs on ultra-processed food or pesticides. “We are now the sickest country in the world,” said US Health and Human Services (HHS)Secretary […] Continue reading ->
For the first time, more school children and adolescents worldwide are obese than underweight, according to a report released on Wednesday by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). One in five children and adolescents aged 5-19 globally are overweight (some 391 million), while one in 10 are obese – putting them at risk of life-threatening […] Continue reading ->
NAIROBI, Kenya – The sun beats down on Tom Mboya Street, where buses belch black smoke into the air and vendors shout amid the constant honking of matatus (minibus taxis). The air is already thick with smoke before midday. In the midst of this stands James Muro, a fruit seller whose workday is measured in […] Continue reading ->
The latest Ebola outbreak in Kasai province in southern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is being hampered by lack of instructure, including roads and transport. Samples from the index case and five other suspected cases took eight days to get to the National Public Health Laboratory (INRB) in Kinshasa, only arriving on 3 September. The […] Continue reading ->
China saw a decline in overall levels of health-harmful particulate pollution (PM 2.5) in 2024 as compared to 2023 thanks to ardent mitigation efforts of leading pollution sources. But India remained a global air pollution hotspot, while wildfire activity led to above average PM 2.5 levels in Canada, Siberia and central Africa, according to the […] Continue reading ->