A fully-equipped medical ship has set sail from Rosyth on an epic 6,600 mile transatlantic voyage to Peru. The Vine Trust's MV Forth Hope is heading to the remote Amazonian city of Iquitos in Peru where it will provide life-changing healthcare services to isolated and vulnerable communities.

New Zealand will contribute $1.5 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross for crucial humanitarian assistance in Iraq, Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced. [...] “The funding will help meet critical humanitarian needs through providing emergency food, water, healthcare and household items to affected people.

Traditional Chinese medicine is readily identified with China by people overseas, an official said yesterday, opening a possible new avenue for the nation to project soft power around the globe. Wang Guoqiang [...] attributed traditional medicine’s high recognition to the authority’s attention to its development and the increasing recognition of its value by the international community.

WHO and UNFPA are scaling up primary and reproductive health services in eastern Mosul to ensure life-saving care for more than 60,000 people living near the front lines. Two WHO mobile medical clinics were deployed to eastern Mosul as soon as access was possible, marking the first time that health aid reached people in the area since June 2014.

Health officials from across China visited the University of Birmingham to learn more about how British medical staff deliver healthcare to patients. A group of 25 senior officials from departments at the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) and other medical institutions across 10 provinces and cities travelled to the University. Their visit was part of a project supported by the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office that gave health professionals the opportunity to learn about the UK’s system of healthcare delivery.

Global health diplomacy is the interdisciplinary field where health sciences, including medicine, meet policy-making. A simple definition would struggle to capture the broad spectrum covered by this emerging field, which exceeds the disciplinary boundaries of public policy and health sciences. The discipline relies on training, advanced research and critical exploration of cultural, social and political affairs and their relation to healthcare.

NPR's wide-ranging interview with President Obama covers recent executive actions on Cuba and immigration, race relations in the U.S., health care, the midterm elections and extending democracy in the Middle East.