While progress has been made, AIDS remains a significant challenge. Last year, globally, 630,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses, 1.3 million were newly infected with HIV, and 9.2 million lacked access to life-saving HIV treatment. In Zimbabwe in 2022 alone, there were 20,000 AIDS-related deaths and 17,000 new HIV infections. Against tha...

In the 2023 Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), governments missed the opportunity to truly advance gender-responsive UHC, particularly regarding the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women, girls, gender-diverse and marginalized groups. The Alliance for Gender Equality and UHC has consistently called on g...

Africa, today, has one of the youngest population demographics in the world, with the median age at around 19 years. Nearly 60% of its population is younger than 25 years, it is projected to be home to nearly 42% of the world’s youth by 2030. The 2022 Africa New Public Health Order laid out a roadmap for improving health outcomes and health se...

It appears the UN development system, as well as ongoing multi-pronged reform attempts in global health governance to prevent and deal with a pandemic, have a blind spot for the potentially pernicious impact of the world travel and tourism industry.  Indeed, as New York is gearing up for its annual high-level week and the 78th session of the UN ...

An alarming outbreak of  meningitis has been gripping the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) since mid-April. Reminiscent of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the lack of information and transparency surrounding the disease has hindered efforts to understand its causes and the affected population. Informal reports suggest that the ...

Thailand is regarded as a leader in health security for both Asia and the developing world at large. The Southeast Asian country sits on the permanent steering group of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) and was selected as its Chair in 2021. The Global Health Security Index (GHSI) 2021 report ranked Thailand as 1st in Asia and 5th overall...

On October 30th 2015 the  Collective nightclub in Bucharest completely went up in flames  in a matter of seconds, as “the fireproof and emergency exit-equipped building” turned out only real in the project documentation. As if the 27 deaths from the fire tragedy weren’t enough, 37 more burn victims  died in hospital in the days and weeks aft...

“The reality on the ground” is an expression that refers to the state of things as they are or appear to be, rather than as one might wish them to be. Policies and principles are  guidelines and rules to help bring about a ‘wanted’ reality  – how things “ought” to be (at least from the point of view of decision makers). One of the ...

“I get up at 6 in the morning. I do 30 min of yoga and then have breakfast. I put on my make-up and head to work. I prefer the day shift because it has more of a chill vibe. My clients are office workers, students, and older clientele. They come, they shower, fun happens, maybe even a bit of kinky stuff for which I charge extra. The brothel ch...