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 ->
WHO has ended its declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for Mpox, announced in August 2024, saying that cases in the most affected areas of Africa had leveled off or were declining. However, continued vigilance in testing – along with regular supplies of vaccines and drug treatments remains essential to ensure […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s 2025 Essential Medicines Lists (EML), published Friday, has included the active ingredients in popular weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy –  semaglutide or other comparable  GLP-1 receptor agonists – in a recommendation that recognizes the growing importance of the drugs in clinical treatment of diabetes worldwide.  These drugs, as well as new PD-1/PD-L1 […] Continue reading ->
SRINAGAR, INDIA – When record-breaking rains, landslides and cloudbursts lashed northern India in late August — across Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh — highways turned into rivers, homes collapsed and death tolls mounted. But beneath the visible destruction lies a quieter emergency: public health systems buckling under the strain. In Kashmir, the Jhelum […] Continue reading ->
Regulating pharmaceutical companies that manufacture essential health products during a public health emergency is a key flashpoint between developed and developing countries ahead of the final round of talks on the pandemic agreement. This is evident in some of the 17 submissions made to the Intergovernmental Negotiating Working Group (IGWG), which is coordinating the final […] Continue reading ->