Health and Human Rights News
News to 25 September 2026
UN human rights funding crisis
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned this week that severe funding cuts are causing the entire human rights treaty body mechanism to face collapse. The budget crunch has forced sharp staffing reductions and the cancellation of UN monitoring committee sessions, threatening global human rights protection systems. He appealed to Member States to fulfil their international obligations to support the organization financially and participate in its processes.
WHO unable to pay for fuel to stop hospitals closing in Gaza
Health organisations in Gaza are warning that shortages of fuel and medical supplies have closed two hospitals this week and are pushing more services towards shutdown, with particular concern for neonatal units, delivery rooms and operating theatres. Gaza Health Ministry Director General Munir al-Bursh said WHO had decided to stop diesel supplies to more than 20 hospitals and health centers starting this week because of its funding shortage.
WMO urges action to protect water in “a new reality”
New data showing that rivers were about as dry as they have been for 35 years last year is a clear sign that countries must take action to protect dwindling freshwater reserves, the UN World Meteorological Organization announced this week. They added that for the fourth consecutive year, all major glaciers lost ice and that communities around the world are experiencing more water-related disasters which devastate livelihoods.
WHO expands safe contraception options
From recommending mifepristone as an additional emergency contraceptive to longer-lasting implants and future contraceptives for men, the World Health Organization this week released, “WHO guidelines on expanding contraceptive options”. An estimated 164 million women who want to delay or avoid pregnancy are not using contraception, underscoring the urgent need for better and expanded access to contraceptives.
WHO calls for ethical oversight of AI research
WHO released a report calling for stronger ethical oversight of AI-related health research, warning that issues such as bias, fairness, privacy, transparency, and accountability could undermine human rights and equity if not properly addressed. Artificial Intelligence-related health research: ethics review and oversight, provides recommendations for researchers, ethics committees, regulators, funders, and policy-makers to help ensure that AI-enabled health research is conducted responsibly and for the benefit of all.
AI and the health workforce to be discussed at UNGA
WHO’s UN General Assembly programme includes a 24 September discussion on whether artificial intelligence should be viewed as an aid or an adversary to the global health workforce. The discussion forms part of a broader WHO focus on ensuring that technological transformation strengthens rather than undermines equitable, safe and human-rights-based health systems.
Measles cases soar in US
The US has recorded 3,471 measles cases this year as of September 17, according to CDC data. In 2020 there were 13 cases. Nine percent of people with measles this year have been hospitalised, and 95% of cases are in unvaccinated people. Earlier this month, Pennsylvania reported measles-related deaths among unvaccinated residents, a toll that sparked disagreement between Governor Josh Shapiro and U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over how many fatalities were directly caused by the virus.
Academic alliance seeks protection of health rights in conflict
The World Health Summit Academic Alliance issued a declaration calling for protection of the right to health amid armed conflicts and for health to be used as a tool for peace and conflict resolution. It highlighted attacks on health-care facilities and personnel and restrictions on humanitarian access in conflicts including Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Lebanon, Myanmar, and Iran and stressed that the world is currently facing the largest number of armed conflicts since 1946 with 59 active state-based conflicts.
Denial of medical care to women prisoners in Myanmar
Human Rights Watch reports that women political prisoners in Myanmar are being subjected to torture, sexual violence and life-threatening denial of medical care. Of the 30,000 political prisoners detained since the junta’s February 2021 coup are about 6,600 women and 640 children.
Türkiye targets on LGBTI groups and activists
Amnesty International reported that at least 116 people had been arrested across Türkiye in a crackdown targeting LGBTI organisations and human-rights defenders, with allegations including intrusive searches, humiliation, and isolation. The measures form part of a wider deterioration in rights protections affecting LGBTI people and civil society.
Stay up-to-date: join our email list now
News to 18 September 2026
Damaging year of the America First Global Health Strategy
Physicians for Human Rights has published an assessment of the first year of the US “America First Global Health Strategy,” arguing that cuts to US global-health funding have disrupted health programmes and research. Data from PHR and others show that “services are weaker than they were a year ago, HIV testing is down, treatment of children living with HIV is down, and community-based prevention is gutted.”
See also: FIGHT FOR RIGHTS: Enforceable Commitments to Global Health Needed to Fulfill Rights
Moses Mulumba, Jessica Oga, Juliana Nantaba, and Ana Lorena Ruano, 2 March 2025
WHO launches research agenda for traditional medicine
The World Health Organization this week launched the WHO Global research priorities and agenda for traditional, complementary and integrative medicine 2025–2034, identifying where traditional medicine research can make the greatest contribution to improving health outcomes, addressing non communicable diseases and advancing universal health coverage. Despite its widespread use, traditional medicine remains one of the least researched areas in global health.
WHO and Commonwealth Secretariat focus on strengthening health systems
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Commonwealth Secretariat have reaffirmed their shared commitment to improving health and well-being across the Commonwealth. Its 56 member countries will be supported to build stronger health systems that advance primary health care and UHC, address health determinants and health inequities, and respond to climate change.
Hostilities in Yemen push 12m children deeper into crisis
Renewed hostilities across Yemen are forcing families from their homes, killing and injuring children and disrupting access to health care and education, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis, UNICEF reports. More than 104,000 people, including over 57,000 children, have been displaced in the past two weeks. Twenty-six UNICEF-supported health facilities have had services disrupted.
Increasing Russian attacks on medical supplies in Ukraine
Physicians for Human Rights reports that increasing Russian strikes on medical-supply warehouses in Ukraine are putting millions of people at risk by threatening the availability of essential medical supplies. PHR has documented more than 3300 attacks on health care in Ukraine since 2022, and it listed seven medical supply facilities attacked between 3 and 14 September.
$15m fund creates ‘unstoppable momentum’ to end FGM
Leaders in the fight against female genital mutilation, which has affected more than 230 million women and girls worldwide, have welcomed a $15.5m fund aimed at creating “unstoppable momentum” to finally end the practice, the Guardian reports. The launch of the fund comes as women’s rights are increasingly under attack and donor funding is in sharp decline. It is thought to be the largest single philanthropic contribution to ending the practice of FGM.
See also: Eradicating Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Human Rights-Based Approaches of Legislation, Education, and Community Empowerment, Beth D. Williams-Breault, 14 August 2018
Ebola response encouraging in parts of DRC
The World Health Organization said the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is showing some encouraging signs, including declining transmission in the worst-affected parts of Ituri and more than 1,700 people are recovering. It stressed nevertheless that the epidemic remains dangerous and that Ebola is worsening other health problems by reducing access to health centres, increasing hunger and maternal deaths, and interrupting HIV treatment, and continues to spread in other regions.
HHR special section: Health, Rights, and the Future of Global Drug Control
A special section in HHR has been launched with an interview with Laura Gabriela Gil Savastano – Colombia’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Vienna (2023–2025) where she led a landmark resolution to initiate a review of the international drug control regime. The Commission on Narcotic Drugs has now established an independent panel of experts to review the functioning of the UN drug control machinery.
News to 11 September 2026
Toxic air tests not disclosed for 25 years
Toxic air quality was being recorded in Manhattan soon after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 but officials played down health risks to the public, according to newly released files. Asbestos was found “nearly everywhere” tested near Ground Zero, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced this week. “People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” he said. Illnesses related to dust and smoke from the towers’ collapse have since claimed more than threefold the nearly 3,000 lives lost in the attacks, US health officials say.
Special envoy for health resilience
The World Health Organization has appointed Dr Vanessa Kerry as the WHO Director-General’s Special Envoy for Health Resilience. The role is to focus on building resilient, integrated and sustainably-financed health systems capable of responding to day-to-day challenges and emerging threats from climate change, health emergencies and other complex global challenges.
UK patients withdraw data to stop Palantir’s access
Tens of thousands of patients in the UK have withdrawn their data from use in research projects over concerns with Palantir’s work in the National Health Service, the Guardian has reported. The health innovation minister, said he was worried about “mistrust” of the US defence and health tech company and “the impact it could have on people’s willingness to share data with the NHS”. The UK government is deciding whether to axe the company’s £330m contract to operate the health service’s federated data platform.
Climate shocks heavily impact education
A newly released analysis highlighted by UNICEF revealed that climate emergencies—specifically storms, floods, and severe heatwaves—disrupted education for over 220 million students globally last year, with young girls facing the highest risk of lost learning and long-term socio-economic impacts.
Exposing PR agencies working for both camps
Released a week after a UNEP report finds that global temperatures are set to rise above 1.5°C, a new online toolkit exposes communications agencies hired by the health sector to promote health, wellbeing and sustainability who are also aiding fossil fuel companies. Their PR campaigns help green fossil fuel companies public profile, and maintain public support for continued coal, oil and gas production which suggests a serious conflict of interest, said the Global Climate and Health Alliance.
UN expert: Unilateral sanctions creating severe crises
A UN expert this week expressed serious concern about the expanded use of unilateral coercive measures globally, from Cuba to Iran. “Unilateral sanctions are creating severe humanitarian crises and punishing entire populations,” said Zaina Jallad, Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights. She added that in Cuba, entire generations have lived under the constraints imposed by US sanctions, which obstruct rights to food, health, education, and essential public services and infrastructure.
Embargo leads to Cuban health crisis
The US Embassy in Havana issued a health alert warning of rising intestinal illness and diarrhoea in Cuba amid deteriorating water, electricity and sanitation infrastructure. The US naval embargo and increased sanctions, including on medicines and oil, have led to island-wide electricity blackouts, food shortages and closure of medical and other services.
News to 4 September 2026
‘Fight for humanity’: Avoiding a climate catastrophe means acting now
Record heat waves, deadly flooding, and extreme weather reflect an ever-warming planet poised to soon breach safe temperature limits, according to a UN report released on Tuesday, but doubling down on climate action now could avoid a climate catastrophe. Governments must over-deliver on national climate plans, net zero commitments and beyond, and developed countries must triple adaptation finance and ensure it reaches those most at risk, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
Nepal floods: Mounting death toll and concern for women and girls
Nearly a week after the catastrophic flooding in Nepal, triggered by a glacier collapse in the Himalayas, the death toll stands at over 1,000 and 4,247 people remain missing. As rescue efforts continue UN Women estimates 43,000 women and girls in Nepal now require immediate humanitarian assistance. Eight health facilities have suffered damage, destruction or are inaccessible said the World Health Organization. Stagnant water and heavily damaged infrastructure have severely heightened the immediate risk of infectious and waterborne outbreaks, including dengue and scrub typhus.
Aid and medical evacuations in Gaza
Humanitarian teams collected hundreds of pallets of aid for people in Gaza including infant food, as the World Health Organization revealed that more than 13,000 patients have now been evacuated from the enclave for urgent medical care. WHO stresses, however, that thousands more still urgently need specialized treatment unavailable in the enclave, and called for the reopening of the West Bank referral pathway, including to hospitals in East Jerusalem.
UN supports calls for slavery reparations
Slavery is not just a thing of the past and the passage of time cannot serve as a pretext for States to refuse to recognise historical injustices or to adopt appropriate measures of restorative justice and accountability, said the UN Committee against Racial Discrimination (CERD) on the International Day of People of African Descent this week. It added, the effects of slavery continue to be felt in systemic inequality and racism.
UNICEF finds 1 in 5 children sexually exploited on tech platforms
An estimated 20 million children aged 12 to 17 – almost 1 in 5 – were subjected to at least one form of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse in a single year across 21 countries, according to a report released by UNICEF this week. The report estimates that over 15 million children were exposed to unwanted sexual content, 9 million were asked to engage in sexual conversations or share sexual images against their will, and 4 million children had sexual images of themselves shared without their consent.
Almost half of world’s farmers poisoned by pesticides every year
Almost half of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, 11,000 of them fatally, a study has found. The data from 2006-2023 commissioned by Pesticide Action Network, found an estimated 402-433 million cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning of farm workers every year which equates to about 46% of all farmers globally. Most poisonings are in southern Asia, followed by south-east Asia and east Africa.
Ebola spreading exponentially while UN reports $1.1 billion funding gap
The world must move faster to contain Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as it is growing exponentially, the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator warned this week. Local authorities had reported 6,100 confirmed cases and 2,950 deaths, with more than 5,000 cases recorded in Ituri Province alone. The UN reports a $1.1 billion funding gap as the DRC grapples with the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record.
Applications now open for child protection training course
The FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University, is inviting applications for the one week G. Barrie Landry Child Protection Professional Training program. The intensive course is for mid-career professionals who work to protect children from abuse, violence, exploitation and neglect. The course will take place in June 2027 and applications must be made by 1 December 2026.
Previous news bulletins