by Medact Staff | Jun 5, 2018 | Work Areas, Human Rights, Peace & Security
The right of everyone to ‘the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health’ is enshrined within the 1966 UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) placing both a moral and a legal imperative on the UK to produce policies...
by Deirdre Duff | May 10, 2018 | Campaigns, Work Areas, Climate & Environment, Divestment, Energy
Climate change is affecting the health of both people and the planet right now. It will affect the most fundamental determinants of health: water, food, air and which infectious diseases we are exposed to. This is something that health bodies around the world have...
by Elizabeth Atherton | Oct 26, 2017 | Work Areas, Climate & Environment, Economic Justice, Food
Every year, the NHS spends about £600 million on food and catering services, mostly in hospitals. But hospital food is often considered to be of poor quality, and the hospital retail environment unhealthy. There is an urgent need to improve the quality of hospital...
by Elizabeth Atherton | Sep 26, 2017 | Work Areas, Climate & Environment, Food
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an increasing global public health threat, that requires urgent and co-ordinated action across all sectors. Whilst most of the focus has been on human use of antibiotics, there is now “compelling” scientific evidence that antibiotic...
by Medact Staff | Sep 2, 2017 | Work Areas, Health Through Peace, Nuclear Weapons, Peace & Security
Nuclear weapons are the most destructive, most indiscriminate, most inhumane instruments of mass murder ever created. Their use—and even their possession—goes against every principle of international humanitarian law. In fact, it is likely that humanity could not...
by Elizabeth Atherton | May 26, 2017 | Work Areas, Climate & Environment
Our global food system is destroying the very environment on which future food production relies. It is the leading cause of deforestation, land use change and loss of biodiversity. It contributes almost a quarter of human produced greenhouse gas emissions, is...
by Rhianna Louise | Oct 18, 2016 | Work Areas, Health Through Peace, Peace & Security
The international arms trade is in direct opposition to efforts to protect and pursue the health of our world and its inhabitants. Not only does military expenditure steal funds away from health systems, climate change solutions, social development and essential...
by Alice Munro | Aug 2, 2016 | Work Areas, Climate & Environment, Energy
“The arguments against fracking on public health and ecological grounds are overwhelming. There are clear grounds for adopting the precautionary principle and prohibiting fracking” – Quote from an open letter in the BMJ in support of Medact’s report...
by Alice Munro | Jul 17, 2016 | Work Areas, Climate & Environment
Climate change is affecting the health of both people and the planet right now. It will affect the most fundamental determinants of health: water, food, air and which infectious diseases we are exposed to. To learn more about the links between climate change and...
by Medact Staff | Jul 15, 2016 | Work Areas, Peace & Security
Three of the authors of this series of reports have collaborated on a response to the release of the findings of the Chilcot inquiry Medact has produced a total of 5 reports on the health effects of the Iraq War. The first, in 2002, considered the risks prior to the...
by Medact Staff | Jul 1, 2016 | Work Areas, Nuclear Weapons, Peace & Security, Trident
Nuclear weapons continue to pose a profound threat to human life on the planet. This section of the website includes material on the history of nuclear weapons and their effects, why they are still such a threat and why the UK should not be renewing Trident. The UK...
by Benjamin Walpole | Jun 7, 2016 | Work Areas, Health Through Peace, Peace & Security
Militarisation Militarisation: The action of making military in character or style; spec. transformation to military methods or status, esp. by the provision or expansion of military forces and other resources. (Oxford English Dictionary). Medact believes that...
