Category: Development

The vaccine is geared towards children, in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with moderate to high transmission.   The recommendation to begin using the RTS,S vaccine, is based an ongoing pilot programme set up by WHO and partners in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, that has reached more than 800,000 children since 2019.  “The long-awaited malaria vaccine for children is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control”, said the… Read More

Compared to the previous week, this represents a nine per cent decrease in cases, while deaths remained similar, the WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update. This continues the trend that has been observed since August.   During the week of 27 September to 3 October, all regions reported a decline in the number of new cases, apart from Europe which remained similar to the week before.  The largest decrease in… Read More

The UN health agency says that global demand for care for people with life threatening illnesses, will continue to grow as populations age and the burden of noncommunicable diseases rises. By 2060, the need for palliative care is expected to nearly double.  To address this need, the agency released two new resources to support countries in assessing the development of palliative care and improving the quality of… Read More

Even before the crisis, children and youth were already carrying the burden of mental health conditions and without significant investment in addressing them, according to the latest edition of its flagship report, the State of the World’s Children. Globally, more than one in seven adolescents aged 10–19 is estimated to live with a diagnosed mental disorder, while almost 46,000 die… Read More

The first-ever roadmap to defeat bacterial meningitis, aims to reduce deaths by 70 per cent and halve the number of cases by 2030, in addition to reducing disability caused by the disease. The strategy was launched by a broad coalition of partners involved in meningitis prevention at a virtual event, hosted by WHO in Geneva. Its focus is on preventing infections and… Read More

In a pre-recorded message for the high-level debate of the 76th General Assembly, Mr. Suga highlighted that it is necessary to create an environment where all countries and regions can secure vaccines equitably with no political or economic conditions. “‘Save as many lives as possible and leave no one’s health behind’. This has been the conviction that Japan, as a… Read More

“This is a major breakthrough in the care of COVID-19 patients”, said Dr. Janet Diaz, WHO head of clinical care. “This is our first recommendation for a therapeutic for those patients with mild, moderate disease,” she said, because it reduces “the need for hospitalisation if they are at high risk”.  Effective ‘reduction in mortality’   WHO’s conditional recommendations are for use of the drug… Read More

Speaking at a summit on the global pandemic, hosted by United States President Joseph Biden, the UN chief stressed that the move is not philanthropy, but self-interest. “Global health security until now has failed, to the tune of 4.5 million lives, and counting.  We have effective vaccines against COVID-19. We can end the pandemic,” he told the online meeting. At… Read More

The development came as the United Nations’ top humanitarian official, Martin Griffiths, announced the release of $45 million from an emergency fund to support Afghanistan’s crumbling health-care system.  “Allowing Afghanistan’s healthcare delivery system to fall apart would be disastrous,” said Mr. Griffiths. “People across the country would be denied access to primary healthcare such as emergency caesarean sections and trauma care.”  Kabul crisis  Echoing that message from the Afghan capital, Kabul, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that international funding cuts had forced health providers to decide “who to save and… Read More

Under the banner of A Shot for All, on the margins of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, prominent leaders and personalities stressed the importance of vaccine equity and how to achieve universal access, particularly in developing countries and marginalized communities in Africa.  For the UN agency, the goal is not a luxury, but an urgent global development priority.   Development priority for all  “Delaying vaccines in low-income countries… Read More