WHO published its World health statistics report 2025, revealing the deeper health impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on loss of lives, longevity and overall health and well-being. In just two years, between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years—the largest drop in recent history— reversing a …
Union Health & Family Welfare Minister approved the “National Policy for Rare Diseases 2021” on 30th March 2021. The Rare Diseases Policy aims to lower the high cost of treatment for rare diseases with increased focus on indigenous research with the help of a National Consortium to be set up …
A new report by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and UNDP showcases the evolving partnership in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The brief report features the exemplary societal resilience across sectors, the sheer determination by Africans to cautiously minimize the health impact, as well as …
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created the worst crisis in Asia and the Pacific since World War II. Across the Asia-Pacific region, as across the world, countries have suffered sudden economic contractions, along with interruptions to trade, broken supply chains, and with the collapse of international tourism – …
Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Leaving No Country Behind is the theme report of the Asia-Pacific SDG partnership for 2021. Reflecting on the theme of the 8th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development, it aims to support regional dialogue, in preparation for the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) and …
The World Happiness Report 2021 focuses on the effects of COVID-19 and how people all over the world have fared. Aim was two-fold, first to focus on the effects of COVID-19 on the structure and quality of people’s lives, and second to describe and evaluate how governments all over the …
The COVID-19 pandemic is undoubtedly the most significant public health episode to have affected human beings, societies and minds throughout the world and Africa. All governments have adopted public health measures, in particular lockdown and other exceptional measures in the context of the state of health emergency, to contain the …
Over recent decades, South Asia has made remarkable progress in improving the health of mothers and children. But the year 2020 brought a great shock to South Asia, as it did to the whole world. The COVID-19 pandemic has had major and multiple impacts – both direct and indirect. One …
India's healthcare system is dominated by a fragmented and highly diverse private healthcare sector ranging from large multi-specialty and corporate hospitals, diagnostic centres, not-for-profit hospitals, charitable trust hospitals and nursing homes, to individual practitioner led clinics (qualified and unqualified), chemist shops and traditional healers. This paper contributes to the developing …
The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy on 17th March 2021 has published the Draft Drugs and Cosmetics (Amendment) Rules, 2021 to further amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945. The Amendment is brought under Part XVI which deals with manufacturing for sale of ayurvedic, siddha …
The COVID-19 pandemic is having unequal impacts. Research has highlighted that across race, gender, age, and income groups, the health and economic consequences of this crisis are far from uniform and other preexisting inequalities have been exacerbated. This paper focusses on the differential impact on the formal and informal segments …
The COVID-19 crisis has amplified the urgency of addressing together the dual challenges of inequality and environmental degradation. This paper contributes to the debate on the inequalities-environment nexus by analysing the consequences of the environmental degradation and of environmental policies on four well-being dimensions: health, income and wealth, work and …
This paper calculates and compares the minimum cost of a recommended diet across four countries in South Asia. The analysis finds that the cost of a recommended diet is highest in the smaller countries, such as Bhutan and Nepal, but because of differences in purchasing power, more households are unable …
The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over 100,000 African lives and nearly 4 million cases have been recorded so far. Africa’s COVID-19 story is one of nuances. Only 10 countries account for over 80% of all cases, island nations suffer peculiar impacts, rural-urban differentiation is evident, socioeconomic implications reveal gender biases, …
What has the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic been on poverty in Zambia, and how can social protection programs mitigate these effects? This paper estimates the pre-pandemic poverty level in Zambia and then simulates the distributional impact of COVID-19 in the country. The paper also estimates the impact of a …
The report highlights the crucial role of engineering in achieving each of the 17 SDGs. It shows how equal opportunities for all is key to ensuring an inclusive and gender balanced profession that can better respond to the shortage of engineers for implementing the SDGs. It provides a snapshot of …
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on March 04, 2021 has issued the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) First Amendment Regulations, 2021 to further amend the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011.
The World Report on Hearing (WRH) has been developed in response to the World Health Assembly resolution (WHA70.13), adopted in 2017 as a means of providing guidance for Member States to integrate ear and hearing care into their national health plans. Based on the best available evidence, this report presents …
The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and social effects on households have created an urgent need for timely data to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis and protect the welfare of the least well-off Ethiopians. To track how the pandemic is affecting Ethiopia’s economy …
This report was developed with the technical leadership and financial support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as part of the advocacy efforts of the wider United Nations System led by the Resident Coordinator to support the socio-economic response and recovery efforts to the Covid-19 pandemic. UNDP wishes to …
The Labour Department of Uttarakhand has issued the Draft Uttarakhand Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Rules, 2021. The following rules have come into the suppression: The Uttarakhand (U.P. Factories Rules, 1950) Adaption and Modification order, 2002. The Uttarakhand (U.P. Factories Welfare Officers Rules, 1955) Adaption and Modification order, 2002. …
