The current measles outbreak has gripped US states like Texas and New Mexico leaving people worried whether it would become a new pandemic. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services as of February 21, 90 cases were diagnosed in the last month in the South Plains area, with at least 77 of them were reported in children and teens under 17.

Measles is highly contagious and can be deadly. The outbreak, which started spreading in late January, has resulted in multiple hospitalizations, with at least nine confirmed cases and three probable cases as of early February. Health officials caution that at least one in five infected individuals will have to be hospitalized, highlighting the severity of the situation.

Misinformation surrounding vaccines and with the new Trump administration anti-vaccine campaigs, has causing parents to hesitate or refuse vaccination.

Furthermore, the country down under Australia is also witnessing a surge in measles cases as health officials in Sydney have issued an urgent alert, urging residents to watch for measles symptoms after an infected individual visited several places in Sydney over the last seven days.

Authorities report that the traveller had returned from South East Asia where there are ongoing outbreaks of measles.

What Are The Symptoms Measles?

Key symptoms of measles include fever, a runny nose, sore eyes, and a cough. Typically, a red, blotchy rash appears three to four days later, spreading from the head down to the body. Symptoms can manifest between 7 and 18 days after exposure.

Anyone who experiences these symptoms after potential exposure should immediately contact their doctor or emergency department. It is crucial to call ahead before visiting to avoid potentially exposing others in the waiting room. Dr. Selvey also highlighted that ongoing measles outbreaks are occurring in various parts of the world, making awareness and prompt action essential.

Why It Is Important To Get Vaccinated?

According to CDC everyone should get the MMR vaccine. It protects you from measles, mumps, and rubella. Getting vaccinated helps stop these diseases from spreading. There are two safe MMR vaccines available. They work the same way, so it doesn't matter which one you get. Kids can also get a shot that protects against chickenpox too, but this is only for children.

Who Should Get Vaccinated?

Kids Need Two Shots

All children should get two MMR shots. The first shot should be given when they are between 12 and 15 months old. The second shot should be given when they are between 4 and 6 years old. If needed, the second shot can be given earlier, but it must be at least 28 days after the first shot.

College Students Need to Be Protected

Students going to college or other schools after high school, need two shots if they are not already immune. The shots must be at least 28 days apart.

Adults Need at Least One Shot

Most adults need at least one MMR shot. Some adults need two shots, especially those who work in healthcare, travel a lot, or go to college. These people should get two shots, with 28 days between them.

Travelers Need to Be Extra Careful

Anyone traveling to other countries should make sure they are protected. Babies 6 to 11 months old should get one shot before traveling. Kids 12 months and older, teens, and adults need two shots, with 28 days between them.

Healthcare Workers Must Be Immune

People who work in healthcare should have proof that they are immune to measles, mumps, and rubella. If they are not immune, they need two MMR shots, spaced 28 days apart.

Women Thinking About Having Babies

Women who might get pregnant should talk to their doctor about the MMR vaccine. It's safe to get the shot while breastfeeding.

Climate change is already driving illness, disrupting essential services and putting health at risk, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned at COP31 in Türkiye on Monday. Calling the climate crisis a health crisis, he urged governments to strengthen health systems, implement existing climate plans and increase funding for proven interventions.

Speaking at a news briefing alongside Turkish Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu, Tedros said the health impacts of climate change were no longer a distant threat.

"They are here and now," he said, pointing to heat, floods, droughts, wildfires and air pollution that are increasingly affecting healthcare services.

"Health is also the most compelling reason for climate action," he said.

COP31: WHO Chief Lists Three Priorities For Health

Also read: COP31 Begins On Health Day: How Will Countries Measure The Health Impact Of Climate Change?

Tedros outlined three priorities to address the health impacts of climate change, saying the newly launched Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience (AIR) could help countries put them into practice.

1. Build climate-resilient health systems

Hospitals and clinics must be able to operate through heatwaves, floods and storms. This requires reliable electricity and water, early warning systems, resilient supply chains and trained healthcare workers.

2. Move from plans to implementation

Countries already know many of the measures that work, but financing, capacity and coordination remain major barriers to implementing them at scale, Tedros said.

He stressed that climate-related health risks cannot be addressed by health ministries alone. Ministries overseeing finance, environment, energy, transport, housing and urban planning must work together and integrate health into national adaptation plans and climate commitments.

3. Increase funding for proven interventions

Tedros called for greater investment in measures that can save lives, reduce emissions and strengthen economies.

"Climate action is not simply a cost. It's an investment in healthier people, more resilient communities and stronger economies," he said.

A WHO technical analysis published on November 4 found that six priority climate-health actions could save 1.6 million lives annually and generate US$24 in benefits for every dollar invested.

What Is The Antalya Initiative For Health Resilience?

Read More: Climate Crisis Is A Health Crisis: Just 6 Actions Could Save 1.6 Million Lives, Says WHO

Launched by the COP31 Presidency, the Antalya Initiative for Health Resilience (AIR) is a voluntary, non-binding initiative to help countries share practical experience and strengthen health systems against climate-related risks.

It will support the documentation of successful interventions, peer learning and the exchange of approaches that countries can adapt to their own settings.

AIR complements the WHO-led Alliance for Transformative Action on Climate and Health (ATACH), which brings countries and partners together to make, renew and report climate-health commitments. While

ATACH provides a platform for coordination, AIR focuses on sharing practical lessons from implementation.

The initiative will also build on the Belém Health Action Plan (BHAP), adopted at COP30, with lessons and resources carried forward through ATACH at future COPs.

"The focus now should be implementation, implementation and implementation," Tedros said, urging countries to learn from existing best practices rather than reinvent solutions. He called on governments to strengthen climate resilience across health systems and urged climate negotiators and funders to make health an explicit part of climate decisions and financing.

COP31 Health Day: What To Expect

Health Day, which opens COP31 on November 9, focuses on building dynamic and resilient health systems. It features four high-level panel discussions and a ministerial roundtable covering climate-resilient healthcare, digital health, climate-sensitive health technologies, humanitarian assistance and climate-health financing.

The scale of the health threat underscores the urgency. Around 3.5 billion people live in contexts highly vulnerable to climate change.

More than 90% of deaths from climate-related disasters over the past two decades occurred in developing countries. Air pollution, including pollution from fossil fuel combustion, causes around seven million deaths globally each year, according to WHO.

Two experimental heart drugs developed by Novartis and Novo Nordisk have failed to reduce major cardiovascular events in separate late-stage trials, despite successfully targeting cholesterol and inflammation.

Novartis' pelacarsen lowered lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), by 78%, while Novo Nordisk's ziltivekimab substantially reduced inflammatory markers. However, neither drug reduced heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular deaths compared with a placebo.

"Everybody in the world, me included, thought that this was going to work," said Dr. Steven Nissen of Cleveland Clinic, presenting the pelacarsen results at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2026.

Novartis' Pelacarsen Fails To Reduce Heart Events

Also read: Confused By Your Cholesterol Report? Here's What LDL And ApoB Really Mean

The seven-year Phase III Lp(a) HORIZON trial involved 8,323 people with established cardiovascular disease and elevated Lp(a) levels across 42 countries.

Participants received monthly injections of pelacarsen or a placebo. Despite reducing Lp(a) by 78%, the drug did not lower the risk of non-fatal heart attacks, strokes, urgent procedures to unblock arteries or cardiovascular deaths.

Even participants with higher Lp(a) levels showed no cardiovascular benefit.

"I cannot avoid the disappointing conclusion – it didn’t work," Nissen said, adding that cardiovascular outcomes remained unchanged despite the significant reduction in Lp(a).

Novo Nordisk's Ziltivekimab Also Fails

Novo Nordisk's Phase III ZEUS trial tested whether ziltivekimab, an experimental anti-inflammatory drug, could reduce cardiovascular events by blocking interleukin-6 (IL-6).

The trial included 6,376 patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and systemic inflammation.

In July 2026, Novo announced that the trial had failed to demonstrate a cardiovascular benefit. Results published in the New England Journal of Medicine on November 7 showed that although the drug substantially reduced inflammatory markers, it did not prevent major cardiovascular events.

During a median follow-up of 33 months, cardiovascular death, non-fatal heart attack or non-fatal stroke occurred in 17.6% of patients receiving ziltivekimab and 17.7% receiving placebo.

On September 7, Novo Nordisk discontinued two additional late-stage trials of ziltivekimab in patients with heart failure and inflammation.

An independent data monitoring committee recommended stopping the studies, concluding they were unlikely to succeed.

Read More: This Common Heart Attack Risk Starts Silently In Healthy People In Their 20s

Why Did The Drugs Fail?

Nissen suggested that participants may have had advanced cardiovascular disease, making it too late for the drug to prevent further events.

Dr. Roger Blumenthal of Johns Hopkins suggested that participants' blood pressure and LDL cholesterol were already well controlled, leaving limited scope for additional risk reduction.

Another hypothesis was that anti-clotting medications taken by all participants may have diluted pelacarsen's potential effect, since Lp(a) is thought to contribute to cardiovascular disease partly by promoting blood clots.

These remain hypotheses, not proven explanations.

The findings also do not mean that Lp(a) or inflammation is irrelevant to heart disease. They show that lowering these markers with these particular drugs did not reduce cardiovascular events in the populations studied.

What Happens Next?

People with elevated Lp(a) can manage their cardiovascular risk by addressing other risk factors.

Nissen recommended exercise, weight management and lowering LDL cholesterol with statins when appropriate.

Three other cardiovascular outcome trials involving investigational Lp(a)-lowering drugs are underway. Their results may help determine whether targeting this cholesterol particle can prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Climate change is no longer a distant environmental concern. The effects of increasing temperatures, extreme weather events, melting glaciers, changing rainfall patterns and worsening air pollution on human health are alarming. Countries are continually identifying these health risks but monitoring if their climate policies are actually effective is the big question. This is one of the important areas of discussion at the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), which starts on November 9, 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is stressing upon health to become a central part of climate policy discussions. The health body has urged countries to increase focus on measurable action, healthcare systems that can withstand climate change and funding to execute those actions.

Ahead of the conference, Dr Diarmid Campbell Lendrum, Head of the Climate Change, Energy, and Air Quality Unit at WHO headquarters said, “Health is the strongest argument for climate action."

Countries Need Reliable Health Indicators For Climate Change

Also read: Climate Crisis Is A Health Crisis: Just 6 Actions Could Save 1.6 Million Lives, Says WHO

Climate change has numerous effects on health. Extreme heat can lead to dehydration, heat exhaustion and heatstroke, while floods and droughts can disrupt access to safe drinking water, food and healthcare. Changing temperatures and rainfall patterns can also fuel spread of infectious diseases, including mosquito-borne illnesses.

Air pollution, which is closely linked to the burning of fossil fuels, adds to the burden of respiratory and cardiovascular disease.

However, measuring these effects is not as straightforward as one might think.

An increase in hospital admissions during a heatwave, for instance, could be considered an indicator, but countries also need to monitor who is most affected, whether healthcare facilities can cope and whether preventive measures are working.

A WHO review published in October 2025, Mapping Climate Change and Health Indicators, examined 31 reports from 22 countries. It identified 3,880 indicators being used to assess health risks related to climate change. After removing overlaps and combining similar measures, researchers identified 1,684 unique indicators.

These indicators covered climate hazards, population exposure, vulnerability, health outcomes, the impact on healthcare systems, future risks, and the policies and resources available to address them.

What Will Countries Measure?

Also read: Big Lancet Report: Heat-Related Deaths Rise 36% Since Paris Climate Agreement, Global Warming Blamed

Health indicators can help governments think beyond recording extreme weather events and examine their consequences for public health and healthcare systems. Some of the areas that countries could monitor include:

• Heat-related illness and deaths: Hospital admissions, emergency visits and mortality linked to extreme temperatures.
• Infectious diseases: Changes in the geographical spread of climate-related diseases, including dengue and malaria.
• Food and water security: Malnutrition, food insecurity and illnesses linked with unsafe drinking water.
• Healthcare infrastructure: The number of hospitals vulnerable to floods, heatwaves and other extreme weather events.
• Healthcare preparedness: Availability of early warning systems, emergency response plans, trained health workers and essential emergency medicines.
• Population vulnerability: Health impacts on children, older adults, people with disabilities, outdoor workers and underprivileged communities.

What Is WHO Calling For At COP31?

WHO is using COP31 to push for stronger implementation of existing climate and health commitments. Its priorities include making healthcare systems resilient to climate change, reducing the health sector's environmental footprint and ensuring that health considerations are included in climate policies and financing decisions.

The conference will begin with a dedicated Health Day on November 9, featuring discussions on health technologies related to climate, digital health, humanitarian response and resilient healthcare systems.

WHO's November 2026 briefing estimates that 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts highly vulnerable to climate change. It also says that scaling up six climate health actions could save 1.6 million lives annually and generate around US$24 in returns for every dollar invested.

Ultimately the challenge for countries is to turn climate and health commitments into measurable improvements. Tracking heat-related deaths, diseases, healthcare preparedness and unequal health impacts can help governments understand where action is working and where gaps remain.