Category: Development

The UN agency revealed that the tobacco industry costs the world more than eight million human lives every year. As well as the human costs, 600 million trees, 200,000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water, and 84 million tonnes of CO2 are used in the production of tobacco. Most of the environmental cost falls on low-and-middle-income countries, where… Read More

First elected in 2017, his re-election by secret ballot, was confirmed during the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva. He was the sole candidate. The vote was the culmination of an election process that began in April 2021 when Member States were invited to submit proposals for candidates for the post of Director-General. The WHO Executive Board, meeting in January of this year,… Read More

“Not only are the majority of rich countries failing to provide healthy environments for children within their borders, they are also contributing to the destruction of children’s environments in other parts of the world,” said Gunilla Olsson, Director of the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti. Unhealthy. Dangerous. Toxic. This is the world the majority of wealthy countries are creating… Read More

“What we know from this virus and these modes of transmission, this outbreak can still be contained; it is the objective of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Member States to contain this outbreak and to stop it,” said Dr Rosamund Lewis, head of the smallpox team, which is part of the WHO Emergencies Programme. “The risk to the general… Read More

As of May 21, the World Health Organization (WHO) received reports of 92 laboratory-confirmed cases and 28 suspected cases from 12 countries not endemic for the disease. Some cases have been identified through sexual health clinics and investigations are ongoing.  The disease could affect anyone According to WHO, available evidence suggests that those who are most at risk are those… Read More

Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus delivered his message during the kick-off of the annual World Health Assembly–the decision-making body of WHO comprised of representatives of 194 countries. Noting that it was the first time since 2019 that the Assembly could take place in-person, he asked Ministers where the world stood two years into the most severe health crisis in a century. “So,… Read More

During a ministerial meeting on global hunger taking pace at UN Headquarters in New York, Secretary-General António Guterres said the number of severely food insecure people had doubled in just two years – from 135 million pre-pandemic to 276 million today, with more than half a million experiencing famine conditions – an increase of more than 500 per cent since… Read More

More than 918,000 cases were recorded last week, a 27.2 per cent increase over the previous week, and over 3,500 deaths, latest information from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has revealed.  Eighteen nations saw spikes in hospitalizations, while admissions to intensive care rose in 13 countries and territories.  “The rise in cases should serve as a wake-up call. When… Read More

This marks the second imported case of wild poliovirus in southern Africa this year, following an outbreak in Malawi in mid-February, said the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Office for Africa, in press release. The lone case so far, is the country’s first since 1992. The infected child began experiencing onset of paralysis in late March. Genomic sequencing analysis indicates that… Read More