Development Health Advice 

WHO mission to Syria quake zone boosts protection from disease outbreaks

“The focus of the mission was to enhance the capacity of the early warning alert and response network (EWARN) and ensure rapid detection, verification and response to communicable diseases alerts and outbreaks”, the WHO office for the Eastern Mediterranean said in a statement issued on Thursday. They identified areas in preparedness and response that needed strengthening, said WHO, and carried out several… Read More
Development Health Advice 

INTERVIEW: Making family planning choices simpler for 8 billion

Instead of instituting these measures, policy and law makers must work to empower women to achieve their individual reproductive goals. Speaking to UN News, Marielle Sander, the Fund’s Resident Representative in Papua New Guinea, explained why the current global population of 8 billion marks an opportunity for a broader conversation on how to make reproductive choices simpler for families and… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Initiative aims to prevent Hep C infection in marginalized groups in low-income countries

Marginalized groups are disproportionately affected by the blood-borne disease, which can cause serious liver damage and cancer when left untreated, according to Unitaid, a global health agency hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO).  The funding will support the integration of hepatitis C testing and treatment within harm reduction programmes in 10 countries and trial the use of two products… Read More
Development Health Advice 

World Chagas Day calls for primary health care to track ‘silent’ disease

“UNITAID calls upon the global health community and governments to make Chagas disease a priority and support ongoing efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission and improve access to tests and treatments,” said Herve Verhoosel, UNITAID’s head of communication. “Together, by integrating it into primary health care and systematically screening mothers and babies, we can make Chagas a disease of the past,”… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Better access to fertility care essential for global health: WHO

Infertility, which affects men and women, is a reproductive condition defined by the failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. To compile the new in-depth estimates, WHO analysed all relevant studies on infertility from 1990 to 2021. The research shows that 17.5 per cent of the adult population experience infertility in their… Read More
Development Health Advice 

WHO calls for action to protect, support and expand global health force

The world has witnessed extraordinary health gains since the UN agency was established, including smallpox eradication, the near elimination of polio, and declines in maternal mortality.  Millions of young lives have also been saved through childhood immunization.  “The history of WHO demonstrates what is possible when nations come together for a common purpose,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a… Read More
Development Health Advice 

Marburg virus outbreaks highlight link between health and planet: Tedros

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in Equatorial Guinea, WHO is on the ground supporting the outbreak response.  “We have deployed teams to assist with case finding, clinical care, logistics, and community engagement. We have also helped to establish treatment units in the affected areas,” he said.   The number of officially reported cases remains at nine, with… Read More
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