ICYMI: world on fire, tackling inequality, trade wars, harmful design – and upcoming conferences not to miss

A global call for researchers to engage with efforts to tackle growing inequality. A milestone for self-determination in research. A challenge to strengthen intersectional solidarity for global health equity. Practical lessons on turning evidence into equity. An argument for tackling the harmful design of social media rather than implementing blanket bans.

These are just a few of the topics covered in this ICYMI column. We also link readers into tributes for the late Professor Tony Walker ASM, who featured in this 2021 article at Croakey by Dr Simon Judkins about health leaders addressing climate concerns.

The quotable?

Between 2000 and 2024, the richest one percent of people captured 41 percent of all new wealth created in the world.”

Global health

France has requested assistance from ⁠the European Union to help it deal ⁠with a ⁠major wildfire near the country’s Atlantic coast, while Spain has declared a national emergency in the Madrid region and in the province of Avila, because of several wildfires burning out of control, reports The Guardian.

**https://aftinet.org.au/us-forced-labour-pretext-unilateral-tariffs**

**https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02147-7?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nature&linkId=62780460**

The article in Nature says the Global Justice Report comes at a time when many countries are becoming concerned about inequality and looking to researchers for answers. Between 2000 and 2024, the richest one percent of people captured 41 percent of all new wealth created in the world, according to a report on the state of knowledge on inequality that was published last year under South Africa’s presidency of the G20 group of the world’s 20 largest economies.

**https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/gary-lineker-andy-burnham-wealth-tax-5Hjdf42_2/**

**https://grist.org/global-indigenous-affairs-desk/indigenous-leaders-give-the-un-a-roadmap-for-protecting-their-peoples/**

Indigenous News Alliance reports: Indigenous communities around the world face mounting, and colliding, impacts from climate change, violence, rising threats from artificial intelligence, and many other crises. Their leaders are demanding that the world take action, and they’ve given the United Nations a 12-point plan for what they say it must do. They call on the UN and governments around the world to take sweeping and rapid action to protect Indigenous land, rights, and lives.

**https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/07/13/frances-new-anti-racism-plan-falls-short**

**https://www.msf.org/destruction-healthcare-ukraine-deliberate-and-calculated**

**https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/07/1168003**

**https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/17579759261451153**

**https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/07/france-protecting-children-online-starts-with-platform-design-not-bans/**

#AusPol

Snapshots

**https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100327**

This article in the BMJ says: “We treat noise as an irritation, but it also affects patient and staff safety. It raises stress, disrupts sleep, drowns out speech, and makes it easier to miss or misunderstand what’s being said. For autistic patients and others with sensory sensitivities, it can be overwhelming before care has even begun. This problem may not be bigger than the crisis of too few beds, too little space, and too many patients, but it’s one more way in which a crowded department becomes riskier. Unnecessary noise should be designed out of hospital environments, not left for staff and patients to endure.”

First Nations

**https://www.caac.org.au/news/new-ceo-to-lead-congress-into-next-chapter/**

Vale

With respect to Professor Tony Walker ASM, Life Member and Fellow of the Australasian College of Paramedicine, former Chief Executive Officer of Ambulance Victoria, and a highly respected leader whose contributions helped shape the profession of paramedicine in Australia.