The new Global Alliance for Ending AIDS in Children by 2030, made up of UN agencies, civil society groups, governments and international partners, was announced at the landmark International AIDS Conference, which comes to a close in Montréal, Canada, on Tuesday. ‘Healthy, informed generation’ Addressing the conference, Limpho Nteko from Lesotho shared her journey from a surprise HIV diagnosis to… Read More

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and UNICEF chief Catherine Russell, issued a joint statement on Monday, marking the start of World Breastfeeding Week, and pointed out that global crises, supply chain shocks and insecurity threaten the health and nutrition of millions of babies and children like never before. This World Breastfeeding Week, under its theme Step up for breastfeeding: Educate and Support, UNICEF and… Read More

Mandeep Dhaliwal, the director of HIV and health at the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is concerned that the proliferation of such laws is hampering the UN’s response to the virus, which is also being hit by a host of interconnected global crises. Mandeep Dhaliwal: It is a pivotal time and opportunity to galvanize people around getting the AIDS response back… Read More

New World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines advise countries to use the new potentially game-changing drug which is not yet available for sale, as a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV, and as part of a comprehensive approach to prevent the virus from spreading. Those using most PrEP medications on the market, have to remember to take their medication daily, a greater challenge… Read More

The current uptick focuses attention on the thousands of acute viral hepatitis infections that occur every year among children, adolescents, and adults. Treat hepatitis WHO, together with scientists and policymakers in affected countries, are working to understand the cause of this infection that does not appear to belong to any of the known five types of hepatitis viruses: A, B,… Read More

Globally, the number of new infections dropped by only 3.6 per cent between 2020 and 2021, the smallest annual decline in new HIV infections since 2016, said UNAIDS. The agency warned that progress in prevention and treatment has faltered worldwide, putting millions of lives at risk. “In 2021, there were 1.5 million new HIV infections and 650,000 AIDS-related deaths. This translates… Read More

“At this time, we do not recommend mass vaccination against monkeypox”, the agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus told journalists on Wednesday. Tedros informed that one smallpox vaccine, called MVA-BN, has been approved in Canada, the European Union and the United States for use against Monkeypox, while two other vaccines, LC16 and ACAM2000, are currently being considered. More data “However, we… Read More

But “time is going by and we all need to pull together to make that happen”, warned Dr Rosamund Lewis, WHO Technical Lead on Monkeypox, who was speaking the regular press briefing Geneva. More than 15000 cases, over two thirds reported in the WHO European Region. We spoke to two clinicians in Portugal and Italy about their experience of treating… Read More

What is Monkeypox? Monkeypox got its name in 1958, when it was detected in several laboratory apes. It is a zoonotic viral disease, which means it can be transmitted from animals to humans. It can also pass from human to human. Human monkeypox was first identified in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in a 9-month-old boy,… Read More

The appeal on World Drowning Prevention Day outlines actions that individuals, groups and governments can take, and highlights initiatives already underway in some countries.  The majority of drowning deaths, more than 90 per cent, occur in low- and middle-income nations, with children under five at greatest risk.  Most deaths preventable  These deaths are frequently linked to daily routine activities, such… Read More