Global Health Security

‘People are starving to death’: Famine ‘imminent’ in northern Gaza, experts warn

Palestinians face ‘catastrophic’ levels of hunger in the northern part of the Strip, where 300,000 remain trapped by the Israel-Hamas war

Unprecedented outbreak of dengue surges across Brazil

Hospitals and doctors are stretched to the limit after more than 1.5 million people catch the virus so far this year

More than 800 ‘good-looking’ people rescued from love scam centre

Individuals tricked into promise of well-paid jobs in the Philippines are coerced into fraudulent activity or face violence

How the grisly discovery of a ‘foetus mortuary’ re-shaped Thailand’s abortion laws

Years after the country’s abortion legislation shifted, entrenched attitudes still obstruct access in the Buddhist country

Healthy humans will be deliberately infected with Covid in bid to develop nasal spray vaccine

A £44m project aims to develop next-generation treatments that reduce disease severity and block transmission

How Covid killed off a deadly strain of flu

During the pandemic, the B/Yamagata strain dropped out of circulation – but its disappearance creates a headache for vaccine makers

Global child mortality rates dropped to a ‘historic’ low in 2022, UN says

Report findings show clear signs of progress, despite the pandemic and subsequent surge in the price and availability of basic foods

Almost 230,000 children and new mothers could starve to death in Sudan, experts warn

After 10 months of fighting, the war-ravaged nation is at breaking point, Save The Children reports

South Africa’s alcohol addiction and the disabled newborns paying the price

Mothers-to-be are drinking during pregnancy, unaware of the implications for their unborn children

The mine that sparked a civil war but could bankroll the world’s next nation

Bougainville is on the brink of becoming the world’s newest country. But one major obstacle remains: a lucrative mine

The rise of live-streamed child abuse – and Britain’s role in it

More and more British offenders are directing the sexual abuse of children over live streams – so what is being done to tackle it?

What Britain can learn from India’s ‘Vaccine Prince’

Investment is crucial to shoring up biosecurity defences – but political will is fading post-Covid, warns Serum Institute of India chief

UN chief: Only so much we can do to screen staff for pro-Hamas sentiments

Exclusive: Head of UNRWA acknowledges risk of neutrality breaches among workers and calls for more money to improve vetting of new recruits

Churches burned and children ‘seized’ as militants target Christians in Mozambique

At least 80,000 people have been driven from their homes as ‘a massive escalation in insurgent violence’ returns to the Cabo Delgado region

FGM cases rise by 30 million in the last decade, report shows

Latest figures from Unicef suggest there are now 230 million victims globally, compared to 200 million in 2016

How Gen Z is fighting back against binge drinking in South Korea

Korean workers have become the biggest binge-drinkers in East Asia – but a backlash could be about to change that

WHO warns of growing resistance to first-line HIV drug

Antiretroviral’s effectiveness begins to wane as the virus grows resistant to the drug, according to report

The ‘spiritual Ponzi schemes’ bringing exponential wealth to African prophets

Zimbabwe’s evangelist pastors wield more influence than politicians – but do their promises of riches ever materialise for devout followers?

Revealed: Inside Wuhan’s failed Covid response – and how the pandemic could have been avoided

A new book by a world-leading China expert lifts the lid on the mistakes that allowed Covid-19 to escape Wuhan and infect the globe

Palestinian children subject to ‘starvation and beatings’ in Israeli prisons, charities say

Save The Children cited testimonies of starvation and bones being broken among children detained by Israeli authorities

Scores of elephants killed in Botswana amid poaching surge

Armed poachers are trafficking ivory tusks out of the country, targeting national parks and even endangered ‘big tusker’ elephants

How Canada’s flourishing far-right movement is fuelling violent Islamophobia

Beneath the radar, Trudeau’s progressive country has turned into a far-right haven – it is ranked worst in the G7 for murders of Muslims

How South Africa’s ‘pit toilets’ became a damning symbol of the nation’s inequality

Ten years after the death of a boy who drowned in a latrine, the poor are still forced to use inadequate sanitation

Britain’s outdated pandemic labs need urgent investment, spending watchdog warns

Damning report from the National Audit Office says labs – including those at high-security Porton Down – are so old they need to be replaced

‘They kill and play with their victims’ bodies like dolls’: The elephants terrorising Thailand

After years of endangerment, elephant numbers in the wild have surged – with deadly consequences for local communities

Peru declares health emergency as dengue cases soar

Growing number of dengue cases thought to be caused by El Niño weather phenomenon

China’s ‘fertility crisis’ and the women rejecting motherhood

As China’s birth rate falls and its population shrinks, many women simply aren’t interested in having children

Scientists one step closer to universal ‘holy grail’ antivenom

Scientists have discovered that a human antibody could be the key to protecting against venom from world’s deadliest snakes

Long-lasting HIV jab marks ‘new era for prevention’ in Africa

An injectable version of PrEP, which offers protection against the virus for up to two months, is rolled-out in Zambia

Children ‘starting to die from malnutrition’ in northern Gaza as food crisis worsens

Head of paediatrics at Kamal Adwan Hospital says his team has 'lost a significant number of children in recent days from malnutrition'

Sexual violence against Palestinian women ‘may be higher than first thought’, says UN expert

UN experts cited ‘credible’ reports of rape and sexual assault among hundreds of women and girls detained by Israeli authorities

More than half of the world at ‘high’ risk of measles outbreaks, WHO warns

Cases have surged across the globe as vaccination rates have fallen