Development Health Advice 

From Prince to Picasso, the arts can be just the tonic, new UN health agency study shows

The Health Evidence Synthesis report, from WHO’s Regional Office for Europe, analysed evidence from over 900 publications supporting ways in which the arts can help improve physical and mental health, in the most comprehensive review of its kind to date. The report reviewed the health benefits (either through active or passive participation) in five broad categories of arts: performing arts… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Disease slashing global meat output, cereals boom, bananas under watch: FAO

The Organization’s latest Food Outlook, published on Thursday, anticipates ASF will lead to a contraction of at least 20 per cent in the output of pork products in China, the world’s largest producer, accounting for half of all global production.  As a result, the combined output of cattle, sheep, poultry and pig meat is forecast to total 335 million tonnes in carcass weight equivalent – one per cent lower than the previous year, according to FAO.  ASF prompted soaring prices for pig meat earlier this… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Cholera prevention efforts underway to protect millions in Sudan’s Khartoum state

Latest figures from Sudan’s health ministry indicate that there have been 332 suspected cases of cholera and eight deaths, mainly in Blue Nile and Sennar States, since the disease was declared on 2 September. Two cases of cholera were confirmed in Khartoum state in mid-October. “The risk of cholera spreading is very real,” said Dr Naeema Al Gasseer, World Health… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Monday’s Daily Brief: US formally announces climate accord withdrawal, young foreigners stranded in Syria, India toxic smog crisis, Ebola worker death shows frontline risks

US withdrawal from Paris Agreement to take effect in November 2020 The United States announced on Monday that it was formally beginning the process of withdrawal from the historic Paris Agreement on climate change, signed by 193 countries in 2015. The UN Spokesperson’s Office issued a note to correspondents, in reaction to the notice of withdrawal, which came from US Secretary of State,… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Ebola emergency chief decries new attacks on frontline staff, after DR Congo worker death

Speaking at a public event in Geneva, Dr Mike Ryan from the World Health Organization (WHO), said that in his 25-year humanitarian career, violence carried out deliberately against health workers and hospitals had never been so bad. The “overwhelming impact” had been on local health workers, not international staff, Dr Ryan told a Geneva Peace Week event, in his capacity… Read More
Development Health Advice 

UN migration agency appeals to South Sudan group to free volunteer worker and child

According to IOM, they were caught in the crossfire between two armed groups in Isebi, Morobo County, in South Sudan’s Central Equatoria region. The volunteers had been manning an Ebola virus screening point in border areas between South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo to prevent the spread of the deadly disease. It is understood that the four-year-old child… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Nepal benefits from end to open toilet use

The campaign to end open defecation also raised awareness about the benefits of hand-washing., by © WSSCC/Hiroyuki Saito In this under-developed area, sanitation has hitherto been lacking. “Previously, the people did not have toilets, they did not see the necessity of having a proper place to defecate,” says Raju Prajad Sah, the local Chief Administrative Officer. He describes how open… Read More
Development Health Advice 

World is closer than ever to seeing polio disappear for good

The deadly viral disease is “very close” to disappearing altogether, with the number of affected children having dropped by 99 per cent since 1988, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced on World Polio Day, marked each 24 October, positioning the world closer than ever to its total eradication. Then: In 1988 the wild poliovirus existed in 125 countries.Now: In 2019 the wild… Read More
Development Health Advice 

UN Committee says Ebola in DR Congo still an international public health emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) convened its Emergency Committee on the disease which concluded with a call for sustained political commitment and continued cross-border screenings, among other recommendations. The outbreak began in August 2018 and there have been 3,114 confirmed cases and 2,123 deaths, according to latest figures. It is occurring in an area long affected by armed group activity,… Read More
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