Budget and broader access top assembly's global health agenda
The 76th World Health Assembly ended after moving to strengthen its budget and broaden access to health care.
Global Issues
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Talks open on plastics treaty to defuse environmental 'time bomb'
About 69% of all the plastics produced, mainly through fossil fuel burning, are used just once or twice before they are thrown away. About 22% is mismanaged. Just 9% is recycled.
More than 100 armed conflicts, most lasting for more than 30 years
A Swiss-led U.N. Security Council session called on all countries and armed groups to fulfill their obligations for protecting civilians under international humanitarian law.
WHO chief opens assembly with push for 'historic' pandemic treaty
The COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus many of the world's glaring inequalities between rich and poorer nations.
Economic sanctions as a modern tool: Cruel to the most vulnerable?
A study finds sanctions contribute to a rise in mortality, poverty and inequality, and a decline in income and rights.
Odds are 2-1 of temporary breach to Paris treaty's lower limit in 5 years
The annual average near-surface global temperature between 2023 and 2027 will likely be more than 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels for at least one year.
U.N. proposes global 'roadmap' to 80% cut in plastic pollution by 2040
The estimated annual social and environmental costs of plastic pollution range from $300 billion to $1.5 trillion.
Progress in reducing deaths during pregnancy and birth has 'flatlined'
More than 4.5 million pregnant women and babies die each year during pregnancy, childbirth or the first few weeks of life.
U.N. health agency declares COVID-19 no longer a global emergency
Though the emergency phase is over, the World Health Organization's pandemic designation still holds.
El Niño event could push global temps to new warming record
WMO says the warming effect on global temperatures usually plays out in the year after an El Niño event develops.
Faking content is getting easier. Digging for truth is getting harder.
There's a growing industry and more tools for producing and distributing disinformation. Meanwhile, authorities are getting more aggressive and hostile toward journalists.
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.
The great Twitter cull looms for leaders and organizations
Hundreds of accounts of world leaders and their institutions, plus 40 organizations and their leaders, were to be demoted.
Cost of gender inequalities in food and agriculture put at 1% global GDP
Closing the gender gap in productivity and wages would boost GDP by nearly $1 trillion and cut hunger for 45 million people.
Developing nations forecast to lose $800B from debt and slowdown
UNCTAD expects global growth in 2023 to drop to 2.1%, but only if financial fallout from higher interest rates is contained.
At 75, U.N. health agency is lightning rod for equity and cooperation
As WHO celebrated its 75th anniversary – commemorating World Health Day and the day its constitution took effect – the COVID-19 pandemic's lessons were inescapable.