UNICEF raises alert over lagging confidence in childhood vaccines
Public perception of the importance of vaccines for children fell during the pandemic in 52 of 55 countries studied.
Climate & Health
Melting glaciers. Rising sea levels. Wildfires. Food shortages. Mass coral reef deaths and widespread species extinctions. Global pandemics. Every other issue is secondary. In a world of climate change, direct impacts on humanity are evident where we live and work and on the health and well-being of many populations. Climate change is a truly global issue; fighting it demands global cooperation and financing through summits, known as COPs, and landmark treaties like the Paris Agreement.
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At 75, U.N. health agency is lightning rod for equity and cooperation
As the World Health Organization celebrated its 75th anniversary – commemorating World Health Day and the day its constitution took effect, recognizing health as a human right – the COVID-19 pandemic's lessons were inescapable.
Rapprochement could help address the Middle East's climate problem
The Middle East and North African region is among the most vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change but the public health impacts are relatively unknown, according to a new study published in The Lancet Planetary Health.
European court hears first citizen complaints over climate inaction
The European Court of Human Rights heard two climate cases brought by citizens against Swiss and French authorities complaining they must do more to reduce carbon emissions.
Vanuatu's 'epic' win lets top U.N. court set climate obligations
Prodded by Vanuatu and other nations, the U.N. General Assembly will ask the ICJ based in The Hague for an unprecedented legal opinion on nations' legal obligations to fight global warming – and the consequences if they don't.
New IPCC report urges 'hope' and climate justice for most vulnerable
Almost half of the world’s population lives in regions highly vulnerable to climate change and where deaths from floods, droughts and storms were 15 times higher in the past decade.
WHO chief calls 3-year pandemic 'a chaotic patchwork of responses'
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus offered three lessons the world must learn to be able to effectively cope with future global health crises.
U.N. panel prepares last report of series to shape climate policy
The head of the U.N.'s Nobel Prize-winning panel of climate experts called for quick action because "make no mistake, inaction and delays are not listed as options."
In the Greater Horn of Africa, tens of millions hungry and driven to flee
The staggering numbers include 129,000 people "facing starvation and staring death in the eyes," while 11.9 million children under five likely will face acute malnutrition in 2023.
U.N. agrees to buy $55M crude carrier for removing stranded oil
The stranded supertanker FSO Safer has been moored off the coast of Yemen – toward the end of a pipeline to the oil and gas fields near Marib city – and nearly sank in 2020.
WHO fires Western Pacific regional chief over 'findings of misconduct'
The global health organization said it plans to hold a closed-door election to replace Dr. Takeshi Kasai in October.
U.N.'s early warning climate plan for extreme weather picks up support
The U.N. chief called for the initiative saying as climate impacts worsen, it's unacceptable that a third of the world, mainly in least developed countries and small island developing states, isn't covered by early warning systems.
Negotiators clinch historic deal for high seas biodiversity
The treaty is intended to strengthen marine protections on the high seas, which are the international waters beyond the 200 nautical mile (370 kilometer) jurisdiction of coastal nations.
Nations work to update draft of WHO's proposed pandemic treaty
The treaty takes aim at the huge inequalities in health care and access to products such as vaccines, therapeutics and tests that the COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus.
WHO's COVID origins investigation in China has become 'very difficult'
The U.N. health agency says it updated its plans based on China's response but there's been "no quiet shelving of any plans" for investigating how the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Malta elevates sea level rise on the world's peace and security agenda
The tiny island nation made the case that more attention must be focused on the threat of rising sea levels and gaps in international law about how to handle the loss of land.