London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Our world is in a dire state. All around us, we see the impact of climate change on people’s physical and mental health, lives and livelihoods. More deaths are linked to heat and extreme weather, air pollution, waterborne diseases and the expanded range of vector-borne infectious diseases. Growing evidence of how heat can harm pregnant women, their unborn babies, and children’s development. Pressure on water and food supplies. And the list goes on. 

As the UK prepares to convene a new international coalition to tackle violence against women and girls, announced recently by the Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, there is a growing sense that we are at a crossroads. While gender-based violence continues to dominate headlines globally, progress at scale remains out of reach.

The NHS 10 Year Plan aims to transform England’s health service through three key shifts: moving care from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from treating sickness to preventing it in the first place. The 'fit for the future' plan, published in July 2025, is ambitious, and achieving its vision is made more complex at a time of tight government budgets.

The speed at which this current Andes hantavirus genome has been shared should be applauded, as it provides a valuable early signal to help with managing the outbreak.