However, it’s also important to remember the progress that has been made in tackling HIV/AIDS since 2000. The annual number of global deaths due to AIDS-related illnesses among people living with HIV has declined by around 50% from 2004 to 2017, mainly due to scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART). This drastic decline has been mainly due to progress in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in eastern and southern Africa where about 66% of people living with HIV were accessing ART in 2017, and more than 80% were aware of their HIV status.

Within the new NHS Long Term Plan, a response to the £20.5 billion funding allocation to NHS England over the next five years, sits the new cancer strategy announced by Prime Minister Theresa May in October.

Climate change is projected to affect health through a myriad of different pathways. From the direct effect of heat and exposure to other extreme events, including floods and droughts, to effects on natural systems such as on vector-borne or water-borne diseases and undernutrition. Socially-mediated effects, such as migration and conflict are also estimated to have an impact…but what about poverty?

In two tweets, he wrote: “They [the Puerto Rico government] hired GWU Research to tell them how many people had died in Puerto Rico (how would they not know this?). This method was never done with previous hurricanes because other jurisdictions know how many people were killed.” Trump’s objection seems to be that there is no list of 2975 people killed directly and violently by Hurricane Maria. But that is not what the GWU researchers set out to provide.

The letter was prompted by the news that at least 17 speakers and delegates from low-and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia have been denied visas to enter the United Kingdom to attend the 2nd Women Leaders in Global Health Conference, being held at LSHTM over 8 and 9 November.

Last week saw an important milestone for the international health community - the Global Conference on Primary Health Care, held in Astana, Kazakhstan.  Sponsored by WHO and UNICEF, this meeting marked the 40-year anniversary of an earlier conference, whose result was the famous Alma Ata Declaration of 1978.  Under the banner ‘Health For All’, this was the world’s first commitment to make primary health care universally available. 

Washing our hands is such a simple act engrained in daily routines around the world. But it is easy to forget that it’s more than just a habit – handwashing saves lives by reducing the spread of infection and disease. Using water and soap after going to the toilet and before eating is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions globally, leading to large reductions in diarrhoea and pneumonia among other transmissible diseases.

On World Mental Health Day, the new report of the Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development offers a timely and fresh perspective on global mental health in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. While the adoption of mental health and substance use targets and indicators in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reflects significant progress, the Commission underscores the need to transition from commitment to action.

At the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil the world’s media gathered en masse in Rio de Janeiro. But it wasn’t just potential medal winners making headlines. The Zika virus epidemic had emerged in Latin America, transmitted by the mosquito Aedes aegypti which is very common in the region’s urban areas and causing a rash and fever in those affected. The mosquito helped the epidemic take off, spreading from city to city, crossing borders, and reaching islands further afield.

Being shorter than expected may sound fairly innocuous, but it’s a marker of underlying conditions that can bring severe consequences: a significantly increased risk of disease and death, as well as long-term effects including reduced learning and earning capacity.