KUALA LUMPUR – As scientists, economists, financiers, and policymakers gathered to discuss the impact of climate at the Global Tipping Points conference last week, the air quality in the Malaysian capital was ranked among the worst in the world. Toxic smog from fires in Indonesia enveloped the city and closed schools as conference delegates discussed […] Continue reading ->
Low- and middle-income countries that contribute little to global warming have done the most to plan for its toll on health, while the major economies behind more than half the world’s emissions barely consider it in their latest climate commitments, filed with the UN ahead of next month’s COP31 summit. The findings come from a […] Continue reading ->
BANGKOK- Act fast and use the super-pollutant emergency brake to save lives and limit global warming. This is the message to governments and the private sector delivered by experts at the UN-hosted Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) annual conference this week in Bangkok. They are urging climate negotiators at the upcoming Climate Change Conference […] Continue reading ->
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza –For Faten Youssef Ayyash, the gap between promises and action is measured in an earthen pit. She dug the drainage pit around her tent in Al-Mawasi, a crowded coastal area west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, so that water would not pool around the living quarters for her and her six […] Continue reading ->
BERLIN – Germany’s top climate civil servant pushed back on Monday against a call from the world’s poorest countries for more climate finance for health. The money fight of COP31 opens officially in Antalya, Türkiye, next month. In the halls of the World Health Summit in Berlin, it’s already started. Less than 0.5% of climate […] Continue reading ->
HARIPUR, Pakistan – Unregulated industrial pollution and lead exposure are poisoning a generation, with four in 10 children in high-risk cities carrying unsafe blood-lead levels, exacerbated by toxic smog and weak enforcement, according to a UNICEF study. Few months ago, Malik Ayaz Ahmed, 22, took a job at a lead-processing factory in Hattar, an industrial […] Continue reading ->
In the face of dwindling health budgets, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) expert committee on immunisation has made several suggestions to enable countries to optimise existing vaccine supplies. Countries can continue giving a single dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to girls aged 9-14 years to prevent cervical cancer – instead of two doses, […] Continue reading ->
Escalating pandemic risks are outpacing international readiness as the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) completes its eight-year mandate. The board demands an urgent shift from technical fixes to sustained political commitment and independent oversight, laying out a five-pillar blueprint to translate technical evidence into intergovernmental action. BERLIN – A comprehensive review of global health reforms […] Continue reading ->
Six years after COVID-19, with Ebola Bundibugyo virus still raging in eastern Congo and the pandemic treaty stalled, a packed World Health Summit workshop asked why the world keeps paying for fire engines instead of fire prevention. BERLIN – By the time Katrín Jakobsdóttir opened the session, people were standing two deep along the back […] Continue reading ->
BERLIN – A new $100 million initiative to halve stillbirth rates across select countries over the next decade launched at the World Health Summit on Monday (12 October). Backed equally by the Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap, a spin-off of the UK-based Wellcome Trust, the effort will test and deploy a package of diagnostic technologies […] Continue reading ->