Category: Development

Seven out of ten deaths in the world are caused by NCDs – which include heart disease, diabetes, cancer and respiratory disease – but the vast majority of these deaths are preventable, according to a new report released by WHO on Monday. The UN health agency’s tried and tested NCD so-called ‘Best Buy’ interventions are evidence-based effective public health interventions,… Read More

The findings launched on International Universal Health Coverage Day, highlighting the devastating impact of COVID-19 on people’s ability to obtain healthcare and pay for it. The #COVID19 pandemic has made it increasingly difficult for people to pay for care. Even before the pandemic, half a billion people were being pushed into extreme poverty as they had to pay for health care… Read More

The one-dose schedule is already authorized under the Emergency Use Listing Procedure, the agency explained in their updated recommendations, but now a second dose “may be appropriate”, the UN health agency said.   For WHO, in some circumstances, using one dose may have advantages.   Many countries face severe vaccine supply constraints, combined with a high disease burden.   In these cases, a single dose of the vaccine is efficacious and makes… Read More

The development follows reassurance from the World Health Organization (WHO) that available vaccines “hold up very well” in protecting people from the worst forms of coronavirus sickness for six months or more, with a “minor, modest reduction” thereafter, particularly among over-65s or those with underlying medical conditions. “The neutralization data has an underpinning, but it’s really the clinical data that… Read More

That was one key takeaway from Wednesday’s latest weekly briefing on the virus from WHO Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, speaking to journalists in Geneva.   So far, Omicron has been reported in 57 countries, and WHO expects the number to continue growing.  Tedros highlighted “a consistent picture of rapid increase in transmission” but said that the exact rate of increase relative to other variants remains difficult to quantify.  Despite some data from South Africa suggesting increased risk of… Read More

That was one key takeaway from Wednesday’s latest weekly briefing on the virus from WHO Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, speaking to journalists in Geneva.   So far, Omicron has been reported in 57 countries, and WHO expects the number to continue growing.  Tedros highlighted “a consistent picture of rapid increase in transmission” but said that the exact rate of increase relative to other variants remains difficult to quantify.  Despite some data from South Africa suggesting increased risk of… Read More

Around 940 million people living in high-income countries are protected by these policies, but no one living in low-income countries has the same regulatory protection, so far.  Trans fat is an artificial compound that can be found in cakes, cookies, biscuits, packaged foods, cooking oils and spreads. WHO estimates that consumption of these fats cause around 500,000 deaths per year due to coronary heart disease.  According to the agency,… Read More

While plastic refuse littering beaches and oceans draws high-profile attention, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Assessment of agricultural plastics and their sustainability: a call for action suggests that the land we use to grow our food is contaminated with even larger quantities of plastic pollutants. “Soils are one of the main receptors of agricultural plastics and are known to… Read More

However, “the doomsday scenario” projected by the WHO has not materialised,” Dr Pedro Alonso, Director, WHO Global Malaria Programme said at the launch of the UN agency’s annual World Malaria Report in Geneva. According to the analysis, moderate disruptions in the delivery of malaria services contributed to 14 million malaria cases and 69,000 deaths. Two thirds (or 47,000) of the… Read More

Heralding South Africa’s and Botswana’s decision to report the appearance of the Omicron coronavirus mutation last month, the UN health agency repeated that it will take another two weeks before more is known about how transmissible and how dangerous it actually is. Speaking in Geneva, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier stressed that data suggesting that Omicron was highly transmissible was only… Read More