Category: Development

In the last decade, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding has increased by a remarkable 10 percentage points, to 48 per cent globally, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Promoting and supporting breastfeeding at workplaces can help drive the progress higher and towards the global target of 70 per cent by 2030, they said.… Read More

Hailing Mauritius and the Netherlands for implementing all of the UN health agency’s MPOWER tobacco control measures – a feat matched to date only by only Brazil and Türkiye – the WHO said that 2.3 billion people in 44 countries remain unprotected by tobacco control measures, exposing them to sickness and the economic burden of addiction.  In 53 countries, complete… Read More

Cases of infectious diseases and other illness have been reported among displaced populations who have sought shelter in hard-to-reach locations, where health services are limited. “The scale of the health crisis is enormous. We are working hard to step up our response, delivering critical medical and other emergency health supplies,” said Dr. Nima Saeed Abid, WHO Representative in Sudan, speaking… Read More

Koketso Mukubani now works as a Community Linkage Officer for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime-supported South African Network of People who use Drugs. The UNODC staffer spoke to UN News ahead of World Hepatitis Day on 28 July about receiving his diagnosis during a needle exchange outreach programmme, in which people who use drugs can get clean and unused… Read More

Only a quarter of low-income countries cover childhood cancer medicines in through public benefits, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said at his weekly press briefing in Geneva. Survival rate slashed “This subjects children and families to significant suffering and financial hardship, or puts them at risk of receiving substandard and falsified medicines. As a… Read More

“About half of the world’s population is at risk of dengue, and dengue affects approximately 129 countries,” said Dr Raman Velayudhan, WHO’s Head of the Global Programme on control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. “We estimate that about 100 to 400 million cases are reported every year. This is basically an estimate and the American region alone has reported about 2.8 million… Read More

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, cautioned that just as mis- and disinformation undermined the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, they are undermining efforts “to keep the world safer from future pandemics.” He drew comparisons with the efforts by the tobacco industry to derail negotiations at the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. “The same thing is happening now. Groups… Read More

As of Wednesday, 12 July, no human contacts of A(H5N1) positive cats have reported any symptoms, the UN health agency said, adding that the surveillance period for all contacts has now complete. National first There have been previous “sporadic” cases of what is more commonly referred to as the bird flu virus, but the cases in Poland are the first… Read More

Global immunisation services reached four million more children in 2022, compared with the previous year as countries increase efforts meant to combat the historic backsliding in immunisation triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions missing out Data published by the UN agencies on Monday reveal that, in 2022, 20.5 million children failed to receive one or more diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis… Read More

The joint assessment from WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), which is part of WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization, represents the first public intervention by the UN health agency on the widely used sweetener. Aspartame has been used in multiple food and beverage products since the 1980s,… Read More