Author: GHealth News

GHealth News - Apple Watch Series 11 models that go on sale on Friday can notify users that they may have high blood pressure, in a feature the company has powered using artificial intelligence rather than a blood pressure monitor. The notification feature, which will work with models back to the Apple Watch Series 9, came about from applying AI models to existing sensor data, said Sumbul Ahmad Desai, Apple's vice president of health. Apple had been interested for years in trying to identify high blood pressure, she told Reuters. The condition affects more than 1 billion people globally, but half of the adults with it go undiagnosed, in part because the standard for measuring blood pressure - a cuff called a sphygmomanometer - is something many people encounter only at a doctor's ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released the full edition of its guideline on balanced national controlled medicines policies, the first comprehensive global framework aimed at ensuring access to controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes, while reducing the risks of misuse and diversion. This follows an initial rapid communication presented at the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly, which introduced the guideline. Controlled medicines such as opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and amphetamines are vital for pain relief, surgery, seizure management, palliative care, and the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. Yet, millions of patients around the world remain unable to obtain them. WHO estimates that up to 98% of patients in low-income...

GHealth News - A landmark opinion delivered by the United Nations' highest court last week that governments must protect the climate is already being cited in courtrooms, as lawyers say it strengthens the legal arguments in suits against countries and companies. The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, laid out the duty of states to limit harm from greenhouse gases and to regulate private industry. It said failure to reduce emissions could be an internationally wrongful act and, found that treaties such as the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change should be considered legally binding. While not specifically naming the United States, the court said countries that were not part of the United Nations climate treaty must still protect the climate a...

GHealth News - On 25 June 2025, the European Union and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation co-hosted the Gavi 6.0 High-Level Pledging Summit in Brussels, with strong backing from Gavi donors and implementing countries. The event gathered global leaders from governments, international organisations, vaccine manufacturers, civil society, and the private sector to secure funding for global immunisation efforts. The summit raised over €7.7 billion in pledges toward Gavi’s €10.2 billion target for 2026–2030. Team Europe composed of the EU and its Member States reaffirmed its leadership role with a collective pledge exceeding €2 billion, including €360 million from the European Commission. In addition to donor pledges, the summit secured: €3.8 billion in complementary financing fro...