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 ->
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 ->
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 ->
The World Health Assembly chooses a new chief for the World Health Organization in May 2027. Before judging the candidates, assess the predecessors. Eight people have held the post over 78 years. Their varied track record offers pointers for selecting the future incumbent. Every five years, WHO rediscovers that its Director-Generalship is a political office […] Continue reading ->
More sexual misconduct and abusive claims were filed against WHO staff than closed over the previous month – with 361 open cases in 2026, as of the beginning of September, according to the agency’s own investigations dashboard. In August, the last month reported, investigators opened 37 new sexual and abusive conduct cases and closed 25, […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) released its first-ever guidelines to address how clinicians should manage obesity in children and adolescents, which include conditional recommendations for obesity medications and even surgery for children over the age of 10. Since 1990, the number of children ages 5-9 years and adolescents 10-19 years living with obesity has quadrupled, […] Continue reading ->
China has nominated a prominent Chinese health official for WHO Director General in the 2027 elections, multiple diplomatic sources have confirmed to Health Policy Watch. But there are mixed reports about who that candidate actually may be. Some high-level sources have cited Song Li, a senior Chinese Communist Party official who mounted a failed bid […] Continue reading ->
HARARE – In March, 27-year-old Jemitius Gangata succumbed to malaria in Mahombokombe village in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West Province, becoming part of the country’s growing malaria statistics. By mid-April, the country had recorded over 65,000 malaria cases and 174 deaths, almost double the numbers from the same period last year, when 36,000 cases and 85 deaths […] 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 ->