By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | 2 November 2023 (IDN) — A new multi-agency report coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned that as the world warms at a faster rate than at any point in recorded history, climate change is threatening to reverse decades of progress towards better health and well-being, particularly in […]
Who’s WHO?
BY Aayusha Pokharel* KATHMANDU. 12 October 2023 (IDN) — The World Health Organisation (WHO) will be nominating its South East Asia Regional Office (SEARO) Director at its 76th session starting 30 October in New Delhi. Nepal’s candidate Shambu Prasad Acharya has emerged as a clear favourite among international public health practitioners. But vying for the […]
Hospitals in the Gaza Strip at a Breaking Point, Warns WHO
JERUSALEM | 12 October 2023 (IDN | WHO EMRO) — WHO warns that the health system in the Gaza Strip is at a breaking point. Time is running out to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe if fuel, life-saving health, and humanitarian supplies cannot be urgently delivered to the Gaza Strip amidst the complete blockade. Hospitals have only a few hours of electricity […]
Fiji: Outrage at Japan Dumping Fukushima Waters into the Pacific Ocean
By Ravindra Singh Prasad SUVA, Fiji. 26 Aug 2023 (IDN) — With Japan announcing that they will start the process of dumping the contaminated waters from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean starting 24 August, island nations in the Pacific are gripped with fear and outrage with a nation that was seen as […]
First Person: Life Story of a 3rd Generation Survivor of Soviet Nuclear Tests in Kazakhstan
At a side event co-organized by the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan in Vienna, Soka Gakkai International (SGI), and Center for International Security and Policy (Kazakhstan), Dmitriy Vesselov—a third-generation Semipalatinsk nuclear-testing survivor—spoke at the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear […]
Bangladesh Grappling with Severe Dengue Outbreak
By Sohail Choudhury* DHAKA. 12 August 2023 (IDN) — Bangladesh is currently facing a significant challenge as it grapples with a dengue epidemic. Since January, hospitals in the country have reported a staggering 80,074 cases of dengue, with 2,046 new cases added in the latest daily count. The death toll has risen by nine in […]
WHO Investment Platform to Boost Primary Health Care Services
By Jaya Ramachandran PARIS (IDN) — Three multilateral development banks have joined with the World Health Organization (WHO) to launch the Health Impact Investment Platform. This is a landmark development aimed at investing in and strengthening essential, climate-resilient primary health care (PHC) services in low- and low-and-middle-income countries (LICs and LMICs).
Fiji’s Health Services in Crisis As Nurses Migrate
By Pauliasi Mateboto SUVA, Fiji, 13 June 2023 (IDN) — Fiji’s ailing medical industry has seen another massive blow as over 800 nurses have reportedly left for greener pastures so far this year, either to the local private sector or migrated overseas, mainly to neighbouring Australia and New Zealand.
WHO and the Global Fund Commit to Enhance Collaboration
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA, 9 June 2023 (IDN) —The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) intend to build stronger and more resilient health systems. With this in view, they signed a new and revised Strategic Framework for Collaboration on June 8. It aims at […]
Multiple Problems Bring Sri Lanka’s Healthcare System to Brink of Collapse
By Hemali Wijerathna COLOMBO, 11 May 2023 (IDN) — In the face of the current economic crisis, Sri Lanka’s free healthcare system, which was the envy of South Asia not long ago, is now at the brink of collapse. It is facing multiple problems with a lack of drugs, doctors migrating and the government strictly […]