Category: Development

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the recent data in an address to the Emergency Committee on COVID-19, established under the International Health Regulations (IHR), a treaty that guides global response to public health risks. Recalling the sustained decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths that was being driven, in recent months, by increasing vaccination rates in Europe and North America, he sounded alarms over… Read More

According to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2021, people living with HIV are at a higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness and death, yet the vast majority are denied access to life-saving vaccines.   Gender inequality & gender-based violence continue to fuel the HIV epidemic among women & girls. In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls & young women account for 25% of HIV infections despite representing just… Read More

“High costs, coupled with persistently high levels of poverty and income inequality, continue to keep healthy diets out of reach for around three billion people, in every region of the world”, added António Guterres, in a statement highlighting the importance of the global Food Systems Summit, due to take place in September.   In a world of plenty, we have no excuse for billions… Read More

“We’re in the midst of a growing two-track pandemic where the haves and have-nots within and between countries are increasingly divergent”, underscored Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus. He explained that although the Delta variant was spreading quickly in places with high vaccination coverage, in countries with low vaccination coverage, the situation is particularly bad. “Delta and other highly transmissible variants are driving… Read More

“Human genome editing has the potential to advance our ability to treat and cure disease, but the full impact will only be realized if we deploy it for the benefit of all people, instead of fuelling more health inequity between and within countries”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).  A representative report  The total complement of genes in any organism or… Read More

New data that represents the first comprehensive global assessment of food insecurity carried out since the coronavirus pandemic began, indicates that the number of people affected by chronic hunger in 2020, rose by more than in the previous five years combined.   Reversing this situation will likely take years if not decades, maintained the World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.  Food system reform call  “The pandemic continues to expose weaknesses in our… Read More

In his message for World Population Day, observed on Sunday, the UN chief called for closing gaps in access to sexual and reproductive health services which the crisis has created. Grim milestones The pandemic “continues to upend our world, reaching one grim milestone after another,” said Mr. Guterres.  Last week, the global death toll due to COVID-19 officially surpassed four… Read More

Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle and pericarditis an inflammation of the lining that surrounds the heart. While serious illness can result, cases are often mild and respond well to “conservative treatment”, said the COVID-19 subcommittee of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety in a statement. Causal association According to the data in the US Vaccine Adverse… Read More

Amid a political and economic crisis heightened by the assassination of Haiti’s beleaguered president on Wednesday, young people have also been suffering the long-term impact of disrupted education and protection services amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the threat of hurricanes. UNICEF said it was deeply concerned that further violence and insecurity following the assassination could pose serious challenges… Read More

“Many of us know this loss directly and feel its pain”, said Secretary-General António Guterres. “We mourn mothers and fathers who gave guidance, sons and daughters who inspired us, grandmothers and grandfathers who shared wisdom, colleagues and friends who lifted our lives.” He said that while vaccines “offer a ray of hope” most of the world lagged behind: “The virus is… Read More