Today, global leaders confirmed US$ 2.6 billion in funding toward the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) 2022-2026 Strategy to end polio at a pledging moment co-hosted by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) at the World Health Summit in Berlin. The funding will support global efforts to overcome the final hurdles to polio eradication, vaccinate 370 million children annually… Read More

Today at the World Health Summit, in front of an audience including more than 40 parliamentarians from 30 different countries, WHO signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UNITE, Parliamentarians Network for Global Health. This represents a new step in strengthening WHO engagement with parliaments. With this agreement, UNITE commits to support WHO in raising awareness and building capacity of parliamentarians… Read More

Almost 500 million people will develop heart disease, obesity, diabetes or other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) attributable to physical inactivity, between 2020 and 2030, costing US$ 27 billion annually, if governments don’t take urgent action to encourage more physical activity among their populations. The Global status report on physical activity 2022, published today by the World Health Organization, measures the extent… Read More

A strained global supply of cholera vaccines has obliged the International Coordinating Group (ICG) — the body which manages emergency supplies of vaccines — to temporarily suspend the standard two-dose vaccination regimen in cholera outbreak response campaigns, using instead a single-dose approach.   The pivot in strategy will allow for the doses to be used in more countries, at a… Read More

The WHO Director-General has the pleasure of transmitting the Report of the thirteenth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) pandemic, held on Thursday, 13 October 2022, from 12:00 to 16:00 CEST. The WHO Director-General concurs with the advice offered by the Committee regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and determines that… Read More

WHO appreciates the broad range of views on the ACT-Accelerator (ACT-A) setup, operations and results that are captured in the External Evaluation, which was commissioned by the ACT-A Facilitation Council.  Of particular value in this report are the perspectives expressed by a number of countries in Africa, South America and Asia that used ACT-A processes and services during the pandemic,… Read More

WHO’s Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today appointed the Lacks family as WHO Goodwill Ambassadors for Cervical Cancer Elimination. The appointment recognizes their efforts to champion cervical cancer prevention and to preserve the memory of Henrietta Lacks, who died from cervical cancer in 1951. Henrietta Lacks’ story is one of injustice, with the vast contribution she made to science hidden… Read More

At the World Health Summit today in Berlin, WHO and the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining their joint efforts to achieve their common objectives to strengthen public health functions and health emergency preparedness. WHO and IANPHI share the same vision that essential public health functions are a comprehensive and cost-effective approach… Read More