Global

World Immunization Week 2025: Uniting for Universal Vaccine Coverage

World Malaria Day 2025: United Against Malaria

World Malaria Day, celebrated every April 25th, is a crucial event aimed at raising awareness about the global effort needed to defeat malaria. Instituted by WHO Member States during the World Health Assembly in 2007, this day emphasizes the importance of continued investment and sustained political commitment for malaria prevention, control, and elimination.

The Genesis of World Malaria Day

Soil systems play a key role in the fight against climate change. A paper, produced by Rubio et al., 2024, highlights the importance of soil management and land conservation for sustainable use of resources. It calls for a comprehensive vision recognizing soil's socio-economic benefits and ecological functions, urging for radical environmental, social, and economic shifts to address climate change responsibly for present and future generations, in alignment with initiatives like the European Green Deal and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Areas prone to drought and land degradation need effective water management plans to secure food production. Methods such as hydrological modelling and digital soil mapping can aid in evaluating water availability (water content and water stress). A study by Horta et al., 2023 examined the use of a global and local soil hydraulic properties (SHP) dataset to simulate soil-water balance at a regional scale in Portugal and found that the SHP dataset is a key factor to consider. The results showed that the choice between global and local SHP datasets significantly impacts the accuracy of soil-water balance simulations, influencing irrigation schedules and potentially jeopardizing crop production and soil quality, particularly in Mediterranean conditions.
Artificial grassland restoration can be an effective method when applied to severely degraded grassland in alpine areas, however, their effects on slope runoff and sediment yield are still unclear. Qian et al., 2024 studied the effects of artificial restoration and degradation on the runoff sediment process in three areas and found that artificial grassland can significantly reduce runoff and sediment yield compared to alpine meadows and severely degraded alpine meadows. The study underscores the importance of plant and soil characteristics in erosion processes, highlighting the effectiveness of artificial grassland in mitigating soil erosion through improved soil conditions and enhanced vegetation coverage, with implications for restoration efforts in alpine regions.
This research highlights the potential environmental and social impacts of scaling renewable energy technologies that rely on transition minerals, emphasizing the need to study resource frontiers to understand the local consequences of global climate policies. This topic is relevant to the International Day of Indigenous Peoples as it underscores the importance of considering the impacts on indigenous communities and their lands in the pursuit of sustainable energy solutions.
This multi-city, multi-country One Earth Research Article shows that Paris Agreement-aligned climate action (SDG 13) is needed to avoid increasing ozone-related* deaths (SDG 3) because greener energy production is also cleaner pollution-wise. These actions will help make cities and communities more sustainable (SDG 11). *Some greenhouse gases, and many co-emitted pollutants from fossil-fuel burning, contribute to ozone production near ground level where it is a harmful pollutant.
Elsevier,

Julian K. Trick, Marianne Stuart, Shaun Reeder,
Chapter 3 - Contaminated groundwater sampling and quality control of water analyses,
Editor(s): Benedetto De Vivo, Harvey E. Belkin, Annamaria Lima,
Environmental Geochemistry (Third Edition), Elsevier, 2024, Pages 35-62, ISBN 9780443138010

This chapter aligns with Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation by reviewing the tools available for the collection of groundwater samples, methods of on-site water-quality analysis, and the appropriate preservation and handling of samples. This work contributes to the anaylis of groundwater in efforts to monitor and improve water for populations.
Elsevier,

The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, Volume 8, February 2024

As a type of violence in intimate relationships, reproductive coercion encompasses a range of behaviours that exert external control over reproductive autonomy, from threats to coerce pregnancy to sabotaging contraception and controlling outcomes of a pregnancy, such as coerced abortion or forced continuation of a pregnancy. At a time when reproductive rights and bodily autonomy are under attack in many countries, and when adolescents (especially transgender and gender-diverse youth) are experiencing large barriers to health care, elucidating core characteristics of reproductive coercion, identifying harm reduction strategies, and preventing relationship abuse and reproductive coercion are of paramount importance.
This Series paper supports SDGs 3 and 5 by examining the determinants of maternal health and mortality and how these could be addressed to improve outcomes. The causes of maternal mortality, and efforts to improve maternal health, require a multipronged and multidisciplinary approach.

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