Climate-change related temperature increases are making physical exercise more uncomfortable and dangerous, especially for people in lower-and-middle income countries. A new study from The Lancet estimates this could lead to half a million more premature deaths and aboout $2.5 billion dollars a year in lost economic productivity. In a village in Upper Egypt, a women’s-only […] Continue reading ->
It’s a cold winter morning in Davos, but the pictures on the screen are aglow with warmth – a 100-year-old man cuddling an infant; ancient women with faces wrinkled in laughter; aged men sharing a flask of local red wine; and an extended family gathered around a Mediterranean meal of chickpeas, cheeses, salads and seafood. […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board faced a grim reckoning on Thursday in a report detailing how global progress on maternal, infant and child nutrition has largely stalled or even regressed. Notably, six critical nutrition targets remain “off track,” with rising rates of anaemia and childhood obesity sliding back, threatening to reverse years of […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has slowed the pace on the development of a Global Plan of Action to advance the health of indigenous peoples globally, with the Executive Board voting on Thursday to delay the plan’s final consideration until May 2027. The draft strategy aims to address the stark health inequities faced by many […] Continue reading ->
A new initiative that aims to measure and promote the inclusion of “brain capital” as an economic indicator was launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. Advocates for the Global Brain Economy initiative, and a companion Global Brain Capital Index argue that using brain health as a development indicator can help spur […] Continue reading ->
First-ever WHO guidelines recommending the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies for the treatment of obesity in adults has been issued by the World Health Organization – in what the global health agency said is a “conditional” sign of approval for the cutting edge medications that have become widely popular. The new WHO recommendations go […] Continue reading ->
As the G-20 Health Ministers meeting takes place next week in Johannesburg, South Africa, a new global coalition is trying to put Alzheimer’s and dementia-related diseases on the priority list of the world’s major economies; and there’s one man who stands out as a driving force behind this movement. In his video “Leadership Lessons from […] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK CITY – A painstakingly negotiated Political Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases with overwhelming support from UN member states failed to win formal endorsement at a special High Level Session of the General Assembly (GA) Thursday – after the United States torpedoed its adoption by consensus. The last minute moves means that the draft declaration […] Continue reading ->
On 25 September, world leaders will gather at the United Nations for the Fourth High-Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs). It comes at a pivotal moment: funding for global health has plummeted, while NCDs like heart disease, cancer and diabetes continue to claim 75% of all lives lost worldwide. This amid recent efforts to water […] Continue reading ->
For the first time, more school children and adolescents worldwide are obese than underweight, according to a report released on Wednesday by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). One in five children and adolescents aged 5-19 globally are overweight (some 391 million), while one in 10 are obese – putting them at risk of life-threatening […] Continue reading ->