Twice in three years – at its 75th anniversary and again this July at the Constitution’s 80th – the World Health Oganization (WHO) has told the official story of what it has achieved. Twice, water, sanitation, air, chemicals and climate have been left out. The former head of WHO’s environmental health programme argues this is […] Continue reading ->
CHENNAI, India – Women in drought-prone areas are at a higher risk of intimate partner violence during the hot summer months, but heat action plans being drafted by cities and countries rarely account for this public health issue. The unique vulnerability of women to intensifying climatic events such as heatwaves was at the centre of […] Continue reading ->
As wildfires rage across continents, heatwaves claim thousands of lives and ocean temperatures shatter records, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Friday that the climate crisis has entered “overdrive.” “This is only a warm-up act,” he said. “El Niño is strengthening, adding fuel to a planet already on fire with scorching heat domes, apocalyptic wildfires […] Continue reading ->
PRETORIA, South Africa – Multilateral agencies and funders urged African nations at last week’s Africa Clean Air Forum to speak the language of finance to attract investment in improving the continent’s air quality. Air pollution is the second leading risk for death in Africa after malnutrition. Four African countries feature in the top 10 most polluted […] Continue reading ->
PRETORIA, South Africa – Participants from 47 African nations are meeting at the Africa Clean Air Forum this week as part of a continental drive to address the air pollution health crisis. The forum, convened by the Africa Clean Air Network (AfriCAN), is in its fourth year, and this is the first time it is being […] Continue reading ->
The explosive growth of artificial intelligence is siphoning off water and electricity supplies used by communities around the globe, and creating new sources of air pollution and climate emissions from additional power generation. Yet, experts and industry representatives claim that the technology holds the key to mitigating the very crises it compounds. Advanced algorithms are […] Continue reading ->
After years of stonewalling, the city is finally acknowledging the public health risks of air pollution – launching a major initiative to clean up emissions from the capital’s 10 million vehicles, along with stricter curbs on waste, construction and traffic during winter-time pollution peaks. The most radical measures include: banning new fossil fuel–powered 2 & […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Western Pacific region, the agency’s most populous, is home to nearly two billion people, including some small island nations like Fiji, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands whose very existence is threatened by climate change. And yet, no one really knows how many people are on the move due to climate-related extreme weather events that […] Continue reading ->
The El Niño conditions that bring extreme rainfall, heat waves and drought to different parts of the world are set to intensify further during the July-September period this year, said the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). While the Indian subcontinent has to brace for below-normal rainfall, parts of Africa and southern Europe will see above-normal rainfall, […] Continue reading ->
In 1994, Manvati Nag, an indigenous woman from Bijapur district in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, married and moved to Halbaras village in the forested Dantewada region about 80 kilometres away. Although the move was relatively short, it dramatically altered her health. Before moving, Nag never got sick. But after her move, she started […] Continue reading ->