Development Health Advice 

Holistic approach urgent for health of people, animals and environment

The heads of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN-backed World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) have come together in the face of multiple global emergencies – from COVID-19 to Ebola – continued threats of disease spillover between animals and humans, loss of biodiversity and climate change. In… Read More
Development Health Advice 

World Tuberculosis Day: WHO ramps up initiative to combat killer disease

On the eve of World Tuberculosis Day, WHO announced that it will expand the scope of a five-year-old initiative in efforts to eradicate one of the world’s top infectious killers by 2030. TB mainly affects the lungs, but it is preventable, treatable and curable. Although deaths have dropped by nearly 40 per cent globally since the year 2000, 1.6 million… Read More
Development Health Advice 

WHO chief warns against misinformation over global pandemic accord

Briefing correspondents in Geneva at his regular weekly press conference, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “the claim that the accord will cede power to WHO is quite simply false. It’s fake news.” Countries will decide He made clear that countries themselves will decide the wording and scope of any global agreement on how to tackle the next pandemic, “and countries alone”. “No country… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Access to chronic disease medication ‘still out of reach for many’: WHO report

Access to NCD Medicines: Emergent Issues During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Key Structural Factors, highlights the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to NCD medicines, and the policies and strategies implemented by countries to both anticipate and mitigate the disruption that has hit medical supply chains. Pandemic shortages During the pandemic, people living with cancer, heart diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes and other NCDs,… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Cocaine trafficking surges following COVID-19-related slowdown

“The surge in the global cocaine supply should put all of us on high alert,” UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly said. “The potential for the cocaine market to expand in Africa and Asia is a dangerous reality.” Sky high supply and demand Criminal networks are now diversifying with alarming results alongside record levels of production, moving beyond the pandemic and… Read More
Development Health Advice 

55 countries face a health worker crunch linked to COVID-19: WHO

According to the UN agency, African nations have been worst-hit by the phenomenon, with 37 countries on the continent facing health worker shortages that threaten their chances of achieving universal health care by 2030 – a key Sustainable Development Goals pledge. The actions of wealthy countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) come under scrutiny in the WHO alert, among other regions. Recruitment… Read More
Development Health Advice 

A pinch (less) of salt can save lives, WHO says in new report

“Unhealthy diets are a leading cause of death and disease globally, and excessive sodium intake is one of the main culprits,” the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared. A first-of-its-kind WHO global report on sodium intake reduction shows that the world is off-track to achieve its global target of reducing sodium intake by 30 per cent, by… Read More
Development Health Advice 

WHO chief underscores need for ‘peace for health’ in landmark visit to northwest Syria

“I have rarely been so disturbed and heartbroken,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking later at a media briefing.  “The earthquake that struck more than three weeks ago adds unimaginable suffering to people who have already suffered so much over 12 years of war, economic collapse, the COVID-19 pandemic and an ongoing cholera outbreak.”  Sorrow, respect, commitment  The region… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Repealing laws targeting people living with HIV/AIDS saves lives

“The only reason people are still dying of AIDS is the inequalities in society, and all these come together to make them more at risk,” Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said. “Criminalizing laws chase people away from life-saving treatment and need to be removed.” Commemorated on 1 March, Zero Discrimination Day aims at emphasizing how people can become informed… Read More