Tag: Healthy News

According to new estimates from UNICEF, 40 per cent of the world’s population – or 3 billion people – do not have a handwashing facility with water and soap at home. The number is much higher in least developed countries, where nearly three-quarters go without.  Kelly Ann Naylor, Associate Director of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at UNICEF, said that it… Read More

According to the UN health agency, though TB cases fell by 9 per cent and deaths by 14 per cent between 2015 and 2019, access to TB services remains a challenge.  “Equitable access to quality and timely diagnosis, prevention, treatment and care remains a challenge”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, said in a news release announcing the findings.  “Accelerated… Read More

In a joint statement, the International Labour Organization (ILO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted that tens of millions are at risk of falling into extreme poverty. “Now is the time for global solidarity and support, especially with the most vulnerable in our societies, particularly in the emerging and… Read More

“Herd immunity is a concept used for vaccination, in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), told the agency’s regular press briefing in Geneva. But, he explained, it is achieved by protecting people from the virus, “not by exposing them… Read More

High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet said that in examining “the legacy of some of the most appalling chapters in human history”, the historic conference in South Africa, and resulting declaration inspired by the host nation’s struggle against Apartheid, is a work in progress, she reminded the Intergovernmental Working Group on the declaration’s Programme of Action.  Durban was the… Read More

In an urgent call for countries to prepare better for all catastrophic events – from earthquakes and tsunamis to biological threats such as the new coronavirus – data from the UN Office on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) indicates that wealthy nations have done little to tackle the harmful emissions that are linked to climate threats which make up the bulk of disasters today.  Short odds  “Disaster management agencies have succeeded in saving many lives through improved preparedness and the dedication of staff and volunteers. But the odds… Read More

The country, together with the Republic of Korea and the tiny Pacific island of Nauru, joined the COVAX Facility this week, bringing the total number of participating nations and economies to 171, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced during his regular media briefing on the pandemic.   “The world is eagerly anticipating the results of trials of vaccines against COVID-19, which… Read More

Painting a gloomy picture of under-investment in health, Secretary-General António Guterres said in his video message to senior ministers: “Universal Health Coverage is not only essential to end the pandemic, it will also drive progress across all health-related SDGs ”. #COVID19 is eroding decades of progress made towards universal health coverage. We need to invest in stronger health… Read More

A Neglected Tragedy: The Global Burden of Stillbirths, released by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), reveals that 84 per cent of these grievous episodes occur in low and lower-middle income countries. The first-ever joint global estimates also point out that stillbirths remain… Read More

Launching his latest policy brief, “COVID-19 and Universal Health Coverage”, Secretary-General António Guterres called on everyone to draw “hard lessons” from the pandemic, for which the world was not prepared.  One of those lessons, he said, “is that under-investment in health can have a devastating impact on societies and economies.”  The pandemic revealed utterly inadequate health systems, yawning gaps in… Read More