Tag: Health News

The Walk the Talk event returns on Sunday, 22 May 2022 to Geneva, Switzerland on the morning of the 75th World Health Assembly. WHO is joining with the UN family and the Geneva community to celebrate the importance of healthy lifestyles and demonstrate measures to safely conduct public events. The third edition of the Walk the Talk: The Health for All Challenge, and the first since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event is an opportunity to gather safely and to promote solidarity and a health lifestyle. There is…

Today, WHO made a strong recommendation for nirmatrelvir and ritonavir, sold under the name Paxlovid, for mild and moderate COVID-19 patients at highest risk of hospital admission, calling it the best therapeutic choice for high-risk patients to date. However, availability, lack of price transparency in bilateral deals made by the producer, and the need for prompt and accurate testing before administering it, are turning this life-saving medicine into a major challenge for low- and middle-income countries. Pfizer’s oral antiviral drug (a combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir tablets) is strongly recommended…

An increase in measles cases in January and February 2022 is a worrying sign of a heightened risk for the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and could trigger larger outbreaks, particularly of measles affecting millions of children in 2022, warn WHO and UNICEF. Pandemic-related disruptions, increasing inequalities in access to vaccines, and the diversion of resources from routine immunization are leaving too many children without protection against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. The risk for large outbreaks has increased as communities relax social distancing practices and other preventive measures for COVID-19…

Formula milk companies are paying social media platforms and influencers to gain direct access to pregnant women and mothers at some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives. The global formula milk industry, valued at some US$ 55 billion, is targeting new mothers with personalized social media content that is often not recognizable as advertising. A new World Health Organization (WHO) report titled Scope and impact of digital marketing strategies for promoting breast-milk substitutes has outlined the digital marketing techniques designed to influence the decisions new families make on…

New estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic (described as “excess mortality”) between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 was approximately 14.9 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million).   “These sobering data not only point to the impact of the pandemic but also to the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO…

The COVID-19 pandemic and other recent large disease outbreaks have highlighted the extent to which health care settings can contribute to the spread of infections, harming patients, health workers and visitors, if insufficient attention is paid to infection prevention and control (IPC). But a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that where good hand hygiene and other cost-effective practices are followed, 70% of those infections can be prevented.  Today, out of every 100 patients in acute-care hospitals, seven patients in high-income countries and 15 patients in low-…

On this World Health Day (April 7, 2022), WHO is issuing an urgent call for accelerated action by leaders and all people to preserve and protect health and mitigate the climate crisis as part of an “Our planet, our health” campaign marking the organization’s founding day, which falls at a time of heightened conflict and fragility. In issuing its call-to-action, WHO notes that 99% of people breathe unhealthy air mainly resulting from burning of fossil fuels. A heating world is seeing mosquitos spread diseases further and faster than ever before. Extreme…

A grim milestone has been crossed today in the war in Ukraine – more than 100 attacks on health care verified by WHO since the start of the war on 24 February. The attacks so far have claimed 73 lives and injured 51. Of the current total of 103 attacks, 89 have impacted health facilities and 13 have impacted transport, including ambulances. “We are outraged that attacks on health care are continuing. Attacks on health care are a violation of international humanitarian law,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General,…

WHO welcomes the establishment of a new Heads of State and Government Group to accelerate progress towards the SDG target for noncommunicable diseases  ̶ a one-third reduction in “premature” deaths from diseases like diabetes, cancer, heart and lung disease and the promotion of mental health and well-being. The decision was taken at the inaugural International Strategic Dialogue on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and the Sustainable Development Goals, held today in Accra, Ghana, where a new Global Compact on NCDs was launched. The dialogue was co-hosted by WHO, together with the Governments…

The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution welcoming the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar football championship and hailed the promotion of the tournament as a public health benchmark for other nations hosting future mega sporting events. By the terms of the resolution (document A/76/L.48), which was passed on 8 April, the 193-member Assembly also expressed its support for the launch of “Healthy 2022 World Cup — Creating Legacy for Sport and Health”, a multi-year collaboration among the International Federation of Association Football, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Qatar, which…