Lancet Identifies 17 Major Threats To Global Health; India Faces All Of Them

A new report by The Lancet Commission on 21st Century Global Threats to Health has identified 17 major threats to global health and human survival, warning that decisions taken today could determine how much healthy life future generations lose to preventable illness, disability and premature death.

Published in The Lancet and launched at the World Health Summit in Berlin on October 11, 2026, the Commission’s assessment examines threats across 204 countries and territories. It draws on historical evidence and risk modelling by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) to assess how different policy decisions could affect health outcomes between 2025 and 2100. The assessment identifies all 17 threats as relevant to global health, with each country facing significant risks.

What Are The 17 Threats To Global Health?

The Commission identified the following 17 threats as having the potential to cause catastrophic health losses by 2100:

• Air pollution
• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
• Childhood malnutrition
• Climate change
• Conventional conflict
• Declining development assistance for health
• High alcohol use
• High blood pressure
• Income inequality
• Low educational attainment
• Naturally occurring pandemics
• Obesity
• Poor mental health
• Smoking
• Unhealthy ageing
• Malicious use of artificial intelligence (AI)
• Nuclear conflict

The Commission defines a catastrophic threat using three criteria: it could account for at least one billion disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) by 2100, there is sufficient data to model it, and there is scope for policy intervention.

DALYs measure healthy years lost due to illness, disability or premature death. The Commission uses the measure to compare the potential health consequences of different threats and assess how much harm could be avoided through action.

Obesity Among The Largest Projected Health Burdens

Obesity is among the major threats identified by the Commission. Its modelling estimates that effective interventions could avert 23.1 billion DALYs associated with obesity by 2100.

Other threats include high blood pressure, smoking, antimicrobial resistance and poor mental health, alongside childhood malnutrition and unhealthy ageing. The inclusion of these conditions reflects the scale of their potential long-term health consequences and the scope for interventions to reduce them.

The Commission also identifies income inequality and low educational attainment as threats to health, underlining the importance of social and economic conditions in shaping health outcomes across populations.

Climate Change And Its Impact On Health

The Commission identifies climate change as a major threat that can cause direct health harms and intensify other risks. Its modelling estimates that limiting global warming to around 1.8°C, rather than allowing it to reach 4.4°C, could prevent 1.89 billion years of healthy life from being lost to direct effects, including extreme heat and air pollution.

The Commission cautions that this estimate captures direct harms that can currently be measured and excludes harder-to-quantify effects, including displacement, drought and mental health impacts. The actual health burden could therefore be greater.

Naturally occurring pandemics are also included among the 17 threats. The Commission’s assessment considers both the potential health impact of future pandemics and the role that preparedness and intervention could play in reducing losses.

AI And Nuclear Conflict Identified As Threats With Extinction Potential

The Commission identifies the malicious use of artificial intelligence and nuclear conflict as two threats with the potential to threaten human survival.

Although the likelihood of these events remains uncertain, the consequences could be catastrophic if they occur. The assessment includes these risks because of their potential scale and the possibility of taking action to reduce them.

The Commission estimates that action to prevent nuclear conflict could avert 133 million deaths and 9.35 billion DALYs by 2100. Measures to reduce the risk of malicious AI use could avert an estimated 10.4 billion DALYs.

These figures are modelled estimates of potentially avoidable losses, not predictions that the deaths or health losses will necessarily occur. The Commission notes that estimates for threats such as nuclear conflict and malicious AI carry greater uncertainty because historical data are limited.

Commission Calls For Greater Preparedness And Investment

The Commission recommends three broad measures to address the identified threats: building health systems equipped for prevention and preparedness, accelerating investment in innovation, and strengthening the monitoring and assessment of emerging risks.

The recommendations include increasing investment in vaccines, antibiotics, obesity treatments and climate technologies, alongside improving access to effective interventions. The Commission also calls for threats to be reassessed regularly and independently so that evidence can keep pace with changing risks.

Professor Christopher JL Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and co-chair of the Commission, said the findings demonstrate that decisions made by leaders today will shape the health and wellbeing of future generations. He also emphasised that the threats are interconnected and should be addressed collectively rather than in isolation.

For India, the findings place existing public health challenges alongside longer-term risks involving climate change, conflict and emerging technologies. The Commission’s framework calls for coordinated action across health, finance, education, climate, defence and technology, with the aim of reducing preventable health losses over the coming decades.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for food, medicines, exercises and so on.   

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  

https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    

https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

https://GSiyers home remedies.blogspot.com   is the latest addition to my blogs

 

 

Everyday hygiene reduces need for antibiotics by 30 per cent

Improved everyday hygiene practices, such as hand-washing, decreases the risk of common infections by up to 50 per cent, reducing the need for antibiotics by up to 30 per cent, according to a new position paper. Global public health experts are now calling for home and community hygiene to become part of strategic plans to reduce hundreds of thousands of deaths from AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance) globally each year. The position paper is published in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC). As witnessed during the recent global efforts to delay the spread of COVID-19, hygiene practices, including hand-washing, have become an essential part of everyone's daily routine and are considered to be the first line of defence in reducing the spread of common infections. However, national and international AMR strategies, while focussing on the important role of hygiene in the healthcare setting, fail to recognise the key role that home and community hygiene plays.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

Researchers discover antibiotics with unique approach to attacking bacteria

A new group of antibiotics with a unique approach to attacking bacteria has been discovered, making it a promising clinical candidate in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.

The newly-found corbomycin and the lesser-known complestatin have a never-before-seen way to kill bacteria, which is achieved by blocking the function of the bacterial cell wall. The discovery comes from a family of antibiotics called glycopeptides that are producedM by soil bacteria.

The researchers also demonstrated in mice that these new antibiotics can block infections caused by the drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus which is a group of bacteria that can cause many serious infections.

The findings were published in Nature today.

Bacteria have a wall around the outside of their cells that gives them shape and is a source of strength.

Antibiotics like penicillin kill bacteria by preventing building of the wall, but the antibiotics that we found actually work by doing the opposite – they prevent the wall from being broken down. This is critical for cell to divide.

 In order for a cell to grow, it has to divide and expand. If you completely block the breakdown of the wall, it is like it is trapped in a prison, and can't expand or grow."    Beth Culp, study's first author, PhD candidate in biochemistry and biomedical sciences at McMaster

Looking at the family tree of known members of the glycopeptides, researchers studied the genes of those lacking known resistance mechanisms, with the idea they might be an antibiotic demonstrating a different way to attack bacteria.

"We hypothesized that if the genes that made these antibiotics were different, maybe the way they killed the bacteria was also different," said Culp.

The group confirmed that the bacterial wall was the site of action of these new antibiotics using cell imaging techniques in collaboration with Yves Brun and his team from the Université de Montréal.

Culp said: "This approach can be applied to other antibiotics and help us discover new ones with different mechanisms of action. We found one completely new antibiotic in this study, but since then, we've found a few others in the same family that have this same new mechanism."

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement