Latest news with #theLancet
New Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Rising refugee crisis amid collapse of global moral order
With the rise of populist nationalism and majoritarianism, the displaced are facing an unprecedented pushback around the world. Last week, the Lancet pointed out that one in every eight people in the world is on the move today, driven by economic, political, demographic, environmental and socio-cultural forces. However, even as migration—including movement propelled by climate emergencies—is emerging as one of the biggest concerns in the 21st century, the rights and lives of refugees are coming under inhumane pressure. In this context, it is a solemn moment to remember that, stung by the partition's humongous refugee crisis, India has not ratified either the 1951 Refugee Convention, which serves as the principal legal document defining refugee status, or the 1967 Protocol that removed geographic and time-based limitations on the status. These treaties flowed from 1948's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the high-minded document that underlined the newly-formed UN's purpose. Today, with its resolutions observed more in breach, the warnings of its secretary-general ignored and the funding of its agencies gutted, the UN system is becoming increasingly comatose. The Lancet pointed out that the World Health Organization's Health and Migration Programme faces an uncertain future barely five years after being set up; the health journal warned of the devastating consequences of its closure for millions of refugees around the world.
Time Magazine
08-05-2025
- Health
- Time Magazine
Francesco Rubino
With obesity medications like Wegovy and Zepbound dominating social media and conversations in doctors' offices, you might think that doctors at least have a good idea about what obesity is. But there really isn't a conclusive definition of the condition, with some clinicians maintaining it's a chronic disease, like high blood pressure or diabetes, while others say it's not a disease itself, but a risk factor for other diseases. 'There isn't a description in medical history, because historically, obesity has been recognized as a spectrum,' says Dr. Francesco Rubino, chair of metabolic and bariatric surgery at King's College London. In 2024, he led a group of more than 50 international experts, convened by the medical journal the Lancet, in an effort to define obesity so doctors could better recognize, diagnose, and treat it as a disease. 'We found that nobody was entirely right when we started to discuss whether obesity is a disease or not, and also nobody was entirely wrong,' he says. The committee came up with guidelines, published in January, to help doctors distinguish between preclinical obesity—in which people gain weight but may not yet have any negative health outcomes—and clinical obesity, in which people have symptoms such as diabetes or sleep apnea. It may seem semantic, but defining a condition that affects more than 1 billion people worldwide has consequences for treatment. Rubino says understanding where people fit on the obesity spectrum, and creating more useful distinctions between those at risk and those beginning to experience disease, will help more people to manage their weight better with medical help. Already, 79 major health organizations, including the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association and the World Obesity Federation, have endorsed the revised guidelines.
