Extracts below. Read online: https://healthpolicy-watch.news/chemical-hazards-causes-most-foodborne-d...
Unsafe food causes 1.5 million deaths and 866 million illnesses each year – a burden similar to tuberculosis, according to World Health Organization (WHO) research published in The Lancet this week...
CITATION: Robin J Lake et al. Lancet Global Health, June 03, 2026
WHO estimates of the global, regional, and national burden of 42 foodborne infectious and chemical hazards, 2000–21: an updated data synthesis
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00156-7/fulltext
EXTRACTS
Diarrhoeal diseases cause the most illnesses, but chemical hazards cause the most deaths...
More than one million people died from cardiovascular disease and cancer caused by inorganic arsenic and lead in 2021...
Children under the age of five... account for a third of all foodborne disease cases, although they are only 9% of the world’s population...
In addition, exposure to Methylmercury and lead in food can also harm children’s developing brains, causing lifelong neurological and developmental problems. Children and people living in poor communities in Africa and South-East Asia, the worst-affected regions, bore the highest burden...
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General: “For the first time, countries have their own data to see where the burden is highest. With that knowledge, governments can prioritise the actions needed to protect people’s health.”
COMMENT (NPW): This research demonstrates the unique capacity of WHO to convene stakeholders to undertake vital secondary research - research that might not have been done, or done less rigorously, in the absence of WHO. The authors conclude: 'These data should be used for policy development at national and international levels'. The next logical step would be for WHO to provide international policy guidelines that member states can adapt, integrate with local evidence, and apply. Simultaneously there should be measures to address barriers to evidence-informed practice. This crucial aspect of knowledge translation - synthesis of global and local evidence - has been repeatedly highlighted on the HIFA forum but has been relatively ignored. I understand from our WHO contacts that the issue will become a priority for WHO in the near future, and HIFA stands ready to support. Meanwhile we could start to address this topic through a HIFA Spotlight: hifa.org/spotlights
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org