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 ->
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 ->
Over 800 million children have unsafe lead levels in their blood, according to the latest estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO). A toxic metal found in the Earth’s crust, humans are increasingly exposed to lead contained in a range of everyday products, including paint, cookware, cosmetics and spices. Informal recycling and contaminated environments can […] Continue reading ->
BERLIN – As candidates to become WHO director-general squabbled in the halls of the InterContinental, a three-year effort by the Lancet on future health threats delivered a sombre if uncertain warning: There is a chance, however small, that humanity will not survive this century – and we may all die. Two of the extinction threats […] Continue reading ->
I sought to lead the World Health Organization (WHO) because the rules of intelligence are becoming the rules of health. My name will not be on the ballot. The responsibility remains. I will now work to organise the political and economic power needed to put intelligence at the service of humanity – and to keep […] Continue reading ->
International development lenders committed $4.7 billion in 2024 to projects aimed explicitly at reducing air pollution, less than 1% of all international development finance, according to an annual analysis published Tuesday by the Clean Air Fund (CAF). That was up 58% from $3.0 billion in 2023, nearly matching the 2022 peak of $4.8 billion. A […] Continue reading ->
Nearly three in four maternal healthcare workers say extreme heat-related complications among pregnant women have increased over the past five years, according to a five-country survey released as climate ministers gathered in Fiji for the last major meeting before COP31. The poll of 1,001 obstetricians, midwives, nurses and other maternity staff in Australia, Brazil, India, […] Continue reading ->
Rural farm fires and Diwali fireworks likely to trigger pollution emergencies in northern India during late autumn and early winter, despite the rollout of new pollution control measures in the capital city territory. DELHI, India – As India braces for the winter smog season, Delhi has announced a pollution mitigation plan for the expected peak […] Continue reading ->
ISRAELI-OCCUPIED WEST BANK – The oxygen mask slipped from three-month-old Ahmad Zaid’s face. He was in his father’s arms, in front of a closed Israeli military gate blocking the road between Deir Ammar refugee camp, northwest of Ramallah, where the family lives, and the city of Ramallah, with a hospital the family was desperate to […] Continue reading ->