Hunger, stress, trauma, inadequate sanitation and other factors are converging to create a widespread humanitarian disaster with consequences that could last for generations.
The COVID-19 pandemic amplified inequalities between rich and poor.
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Vaccinating public village leaders or respected older community members might be an effective approach to increasing vaccine uptake.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, delivers his statement during the opening of the World Health Assembly, which took place in Geneva from May 27 to June 1.
(Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
Roojin Habibi, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
The WHO’s International Health Regulations are the world’s only existing international legal agreement focused exclusively on preventing and addressing infectious disease outbreaks across borders.
The chance of living one more year is up to 44% more likely thanks to the past 50 years of vaccines, according to new research. But global drops in vaccine coverage pose a risk.
Aid trucks loaded with supplies wait in Arish, Egypt, after a border crossing with Gaza was closed on May 8, 2024.
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A United Nations agency known as UNRWA is the main player in crisis response in Gaza – but Israel will no longer work with UNRWA, and border crossings are not consistent in getting aid through.
Only two Canadian provinces have published policy proposals for dealing with future pandemics.
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To minimize the effects of future pandemics, it is not enough that we recognize deficiencies in our responses to COVID-19; we must start to build policies for the next pandemic as soon as possible.
Pathological demand avoidance isn’t listed in the diagnostic manuals clinicians use. But that doesn’t make it less distressing for children or families. What can help?
Meningitis bacteria can cause severe meningitis and generalised infection particularly in children.
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People often think of leprosy as a bygone disease, relevant primarily in biblical times. But in fact, it is still present in more than 120 countries, and the US is seeing an uptick in cases.
Social sciences play a key role in preventing zoonotic diseases from spreading to people from animals.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
Pandemics often have animal origins, so prevention is often dominated by health and veterinary sciences. However, social sciences’ role in understanding human behaviour is also crucial to prevention.
The World Health Organization recommends formal school programmes as the key to preventing skin cancer.
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Being severely sunburnt as a child more than doubles the chance of developing future skin cancer but less than half of primary schools questioned in new research have a sun safety policy.
Children queue for food aid in the southern Gaza Strip, February 2024.
EPA-EFE/Mohammed Saber
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