Features

On International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the work of seven mayors who are tackling the most pressing public health issues in their cities through the Partnership for Healthy Cities. Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease along with road injuries are responsible for 80% of deaths worldwide.

Vital Strategies’ Healthy Food Policy Fellowship supports Ph.D. candidates in Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico and South Africa who are committed to pursuing work in a field that will allow them to contribute to healthier food environments in their country of origin or residence through public policy.

In Barbados, an alarming 1 in every 3 children is considered overweight or obese. Experts are looking to healthier food in schools to improve the health of children.

There’s good news in tobacco control: the latest WHO data projects a first-ever decline in the number of male smokers. But the positive trend is tempered by the tobacco industry’s continued, relentless marketing of cigarettes in low- and middle-income countries. At the same time, Big Tobacco is reaping huge profits by addicting a new generation of users to nicotine through e-cigarettes—despite concerns and many unknowns about the products’ harms.