Category: Development

“Since the peak of the Omicron wave, the number of sequences being shared has dropped by more than 90 per cent, and the number of countries sharing sequences has fallen by a third,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking during his latest media briefing.   The WHO chief recalled that the first sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was shared… Read More

Issues surrounding working hours and conditions are “at the heart of most labour market reforms and evolutions taking place in the world today”, Branch Chief Philippe Marcadent said in the foreword to ILO’s Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World. “The number of hours worked, the way in which they are organized, and the availability of rest periods can… Read More

In 2021, an estimated five million boys and girls died before their fifth birthday together with some 2.1 million counterparts aged between five and 24 years, according to the latest estimates by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME).  A second report found that 1.9 million babies were stillborn during the same period.  Many of these… Read More

“We continue to ask China for more rapid, regular, reliable data on hospitalizations and deaths, as well as more comprehensive, real-time viral sequencing,” he said, speaking from Geneva.  WHO is concerned about the risk to life in the world’s most populous country and reiterated the importance of stepping up vaccination coverage, including booster doses, particularly for vulnerable groups such as… Read More

A global population weary of the chaos caused by COVID-19 pandemic had to contend with a new, highly transmissible variant at the beginning of the year: Omicron. Omicron and on This latest version swept across Europe, leading to record weekly case numbers, although the number of deaths was relatively low, compared to previous outbreaks. And, although many countries began to… Read More

“The costs have been catastrophic”, Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement marking the day. Since the pandemic struck, he pointed out that millions of lives have been lost, as hundreds of millions fallen ill. And economies have been shattered, health systems stretched, and trillions of dollars lost. Moreover, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been “thrown off… Read More

To make a comprehensive risk assessment of the situation on the ground, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu told journalists at a regular briefing in Geneva that WHO needs more detailed information on disease severity, hospital admissions and requirements for ICU support. “WHO is supporting China to focus its efforts on vaccinating people at the highest risk across the country, and we continue to… Read More

A single dose of the vaccine can provide comparable efficacy and protection as a two-dose regimen, the UN agency said, which could result in greater global access to the life-saving drug.  Cervical cancer is the fourth most common type of cancer in women, with roughly 604,000 new cases and 342, 000 deaths in 2020.  Preventing unnecessary deaths  More than 95… Read More

“The map is under threat (from cholera) everywhere,” said Dr. Philippe Barboza, from the World Health Organization, speaking in Geneva, via Zoom. Available data points to cases of infection in around 30 countries, whereas in the previous five years, fewer than 20 countries reported infections, on average. Reversing recent successes “The situation is quite unprecedented, for not only we are seeing… Read More

“To be effective, pandemic responses need to move beyond one-way communications to bring communities into decision making at all levels”, said Matthew Kavanagh, UNAIDS Deputy Executive a.i for Policy, Advocacy and Knowledge.  “Community leadership is not a mere nice-to-have. It is essential for ending pandemics”.  Step in the right direction  In a positive step forward, the first international definition of “community-led… Read More