SRINAGAR, INDIA – When record-breaking rains, landslides and cloudbursts lashed northern India in late August — across Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh — highways turned into rivers, homes collapsed and death tolls mounted. But beneath the visible destruction lies a quieter emergency: public health systems buckling under the strain. In Kashmir, the Jhelum […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated government regulatory authorities in Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom as WHO-Listed Authorities (WLAs), a status granted to national authorities that meet the highest international regulatory standards for medical products. The recognition widens the pool of WHO-recognized authorities significantly beyond the previously recognized authorities in Europe, the United […] Continue reading ->
The proportion of the world’s population suffering acute hunger declined globally in 2024 to about 673 million people, but continued to rise in most African regions as well as western Asia, according to the new UN State of Food Security and Nutrition (SOFI) report, launched Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Global hunger levels have remained […] Continue reading ->
The global childhood vaccination rate in 2024 held steady with 85% of infants and children receiving three doses of the vaccine for diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT), used as a global benchmark for immunization rates overall.  However large, continued gaps in coverage are propelling outbreaks, including the highest rate of measles cases since 2019.  “In […] Continue reading ->
Low-income countries could confront the massive health finance crisis they are facing after the withdrawal of most US-based aid through a 50% increase in the price of tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks – saving 50 million lives and raising some $1 trillion dollars in vital revenue for strapped health systems, says WHO. The ambitious WHO […] Continue reading ->
Saima Wazed, WHO’s South East Asia Regional is attending the World Health Assembly in Geneva, and presiding over official events, even while her home country, Bangladesh, has a warrant outstanding for her arrest.  The warrant follows the filing of charges in March against Wazed in March by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) alleging fraud, forgery and […] Continue reading ->
NEW DELHI – The theme was “Scaling Access to Ensure Health Equity”, but that hardly reflected the intense concerns raised at the first World Health Summit regional meeting with the storm of Trump administration’s cutbacks and closures of global health programmes since January.   Traditional medicine, climate and health, data transparency, and the role of artificial […] Continue reading ->