How does an institution like the World Bank come to put a price tag on a virus like Zika or any other health calamity?
Treatment has transformed the outlook for people living with HIV from almost certain death to a manageable chronic condition.
Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters
The World Health Organization classifies the common herbicide glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. But this doesn’t mean using it to kill weeds in playgrounds will hurt children.
A man lights candles as part of a World AIDS Day event in Jakarta.
Dadang/Tri
Residents in Nairobi’s urban slums are opting for fast food rather than the healthy alternatives, which is increasing their risk of developing diabetes.
Should there be an outbreak of the Zika virus in Africa, the continent will not be able to cope.
Shutterstock
Overnight, World Health Organisation Director-General Margaret Chan declared the outbreak of Zika virus a public health emergency. So what does this mean?
Illustration of the zika virus.
Zika by Shutterstock
The unfolding information about the Zika virus and saddening images of babies infected with microcephaly should really scare us all. The disease has spread “explosively” throughout the Americas, with 32…
Around 200 stillbirths could be prevented in Australia every year in the last three months of pregnancy.
{ pranav }/Flickr
Around 20,000 late-pregnancy stillbirths could have been avoided globally in 2015, according to research published in the Lancet medical journal today.
World Health Organisation director-general Margaret Chan at the launch of a new global campaign against antibiotic resistance.
Reuters/Pierre Albouy
More than 700,000 people die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections. The World Health Organisation is trying to end the age of ignorance to protect this global common good.
Antibiotics are used extensively in Africa because of the continent’s high disease burden. This also means that resistance is high. Steps are being taken to raise awareness and encourage prudent use.
The apparent seesaw in health journalism causes science fatigue in the public mind.
David/Flickr
The media constantly bombards us with the latest research on a plethora of topics without much nuance on its quality or relevance. So how can we trust science if it can’t seem to make up its own mind?
A report released by the World Health Organisation has ranked red meat as probably carcinogenic to humans, possibly causing bowel cancer.
Supplied
Hollywood may already have done it but when we eventually send real astronauts to Mars, what medicines should we arm them with? And will they work the same way as they do on Earth?
Improving maternal mortality and ending preventable deaths in children are some of the health targets in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade/Flickr
Health has secured its place as one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. But without clear mechanisms to report, finance or engage other sectors, could more end up as less?
Who ya gonna call? The World Health Organization has been criticised for its poor response to last year’s Ebola outbreak.
Ahmed Jallanzo/AAP
William Isdale speaks with Lawrence Gostin about the lessons we can learn from the global response to last year's Ebola outbreak and the future of global health.
The oral vaccine is the most common polio vaccine used in the world.
S. Sabawoon/EPA/AAP
Recent polio outbreaks in Ukraine and Mali, caused by a vaccine-derived form of poliovirus, don’t mean the vaccine isn’t working. On the contrary, they are a reminder to keep up vaccination rates.
Director of Koi Tū, the Centre for Informed Futures; former Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau