A major new collaborative effort, the Global Breast Cancer Initiative, is being introduced today by the World Health Organization, with the objective of reducing global breast cancer mortality by 2.5% per year until 2040, thereby averting an estimated 2.5 million deaths.  In recognition of International Women’s Day, WHO is hosting an advocacy event “Hearing the call of women with breast… Read More

Falsified VITAMIN A (retinol) identified in WHO region of Africa Alert Summary This WHO Medical Product Alert refers to two falsified VITAMIN A (retinol) capsules identified in Chad and reported to WHO in November 2020. Laboratory analysis of recovered samples identified that both products are severely degraded and underdosed – containing less than the stated active ingredient. Both falsified products… Read More

Women deliver health. Women comprise almost 70% of health and care workers globally. Yet, women are not equally represented in decision making positions. WHO has been working with partners to redress this gap and ensure that the women who are delivering health are included at all levels of decision making and leadership.   Today, March 8th, International Women’s Day with the… Read More

New research from WHO and partners shows that the COVID-19 pandemic is severely affecting the quality of care given to small and sick newborns, resulting in unnecessary suffering and deaths. A study published in the Lancet EclinicalMedicine highlights the critical importance of ensuring newborn babies have close contact with parents after birth, especially for those born too small (at low… Read More

Every second person in the world is believed to hold ageist attitudes – leading to poorer physical and mental health and reduced quality of life for older persons, costing societies billions of dollars each year, according to a new United Nations report on ageism. The report released today by WHO, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), United… Read More

The WHO laboratory manual for the examination and processing of human semen (originally WHO laboratory manual for the examination of human semen and sperm–cervical mucus interaction) was first published in 1980, in response to a growing need for standardization of procedures for the examination of human semen. The manual was revised four times (Belsey, et al., 1980, World Health Organization,… Read More

These guidelines provide new and updated recommendations on the use of point-of-care testing in children under 18 months of age and point-of-care tests to monitor treatment in people living with HIV; the treatment monitoring algorithm; and timing of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among people living with HIV who are being treated for tuberculosis. New recommendations launched today outline key new actions… Read More

Over the past two decades, the epidemiology of global child health has changed markedly, alongside our understanding of what works to improve the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents. As countries seek to recover and rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of papers published today in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) supplement calls for a substantial evolution in… Read More