The ninth WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic tracks the progress made by countries in tobacco control since 2008 and, marks 15 years since the introduction of the MPOWER technical package which is designed to help countries implement the demand-reduction measures of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

An estimated 3.6 billion people – almost half the global population – live without access to safely managed sanitation. These figures come with a devastating human cost: each day, around 1000 children under 5 years of age die from diarrheal diseases attributed directly or indirectly to unsafe water, sanitation and hand hygiene.

The backsliding of immunization coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with delayed catch-up efforts has resulted in a large and growing immunity gap. There is an urgent need to close this gap, and enable millions of missed children to be vaccinated.

Nearly one in three people, the vast majority of them in the poorest regions of the world, still lack access to clean cooking facilities, with major ramifications for public health, local environments and socio-economic development.

Nearly 29 million children with disabilities live in Eastern and Southern Africa. Each of them – like every child in the world – has the right to be nurtured and supported through responsive care and education, to receive adequate nutrition and social protection, and to enjoy play and leisure time. Too often, however, such rights are denied.

The Guidelines on Alternatives to Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) is designed to: (a) Identify the roles of the different stakeholders in the process of replacing HHPs and suggest how they can support one another in order to maintain agricultural productivity while protecting health and the environment; (b) Provide information and reassurance

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the largest cause of mortality and premature deaths worldwide, killing 50 million people every year. NCDs can be controlled through awareness and preventative and curative interventions.

This guideline provides updated, evidence-informed guidance on the intake of saturated fatty acids and trans-fatty acids to reduce the risk of diet-related noncommunicable diseases in adults and children, particularly cardiovascular diseases.

Nearly 13.5 crore people were pulled out of multi-dimensional poverty in five years on the back of improvement in parameters of nutrition, sanitation, years of schooling and access to cooking fuel among others, according to this report by NITI Aayog.