CARTAGENA, Colombia – From toxic methane flares in the Amazon rainforest to the death of a nine-year-old girl from London smog, the second WHO Conference on Air Pollution and Health opened Tuesday with a series of emotional testimonials on the deadly effects of smog. Behind the human stories, however, stands a mounting array of evidence […] Continue reading ->
CARTAGENA, Colombia – A tour bus emits a cloud of black diesel smoke in front of Cartagena’s glittering white conference center. It is a vivid reminder that from the hottest tourist destinations to the slums of Latin America, Asia and Africa, nine out of ten people on the planet breathe dangerously unhealthy levels of air […] Continue reading ->
Bangladesh’s Anti Corruption Comission (ACC) has filed two cases against Saima Wazed, director of WHO’s South East Asia Regional Office (SEARO), for fraud, forgery and misuse of power in connection with her campaign to become the WHO’s top official in the South East Asia region. The charges against Wazed, who took office as Regional Director […] Continue reading ->
To save the World Health Organization (WHO), move staff to regional and country offices; cut posts at the top not only bottom; reduce gig workers rationally; and create a merit- and equity-based HR strategy for all levels of the organization, urge critics The number of WHO’s top-ranked directors (D2), the highest level of staff before […] Continue reading ->
Global tobacco use prevalence has dropped by one-third, and there are now an estimated 118 million fewer tobacco users in the world today, as compared with 2005, said Dr Adriana Blanco Marquizo, Head of the Secretariat, on Tuesday. She was speaking at a WHO press conference marking the 20th anniversary of the WHO Framework Convention […] Continue reading ->
Bolstered by strong support in Africa, Europe and Latin America, there are high hopes that an ambitious new Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health will be approved in May by the World Health Assembly, said Maria Neira, World Health Organization (WHO) Director of the Department of Climate, Environment and Health. The WHO move […] Continue reading ->
A third mass polio vaccination campaign will be carried out next week in the embattled Gaza Strip, following the further detection of poliovirus in wastewater samples, WHO and UNICEF said in a surprise, joint announcement on Wednesday. “This campaign follows the recent detection of poliovirus in wastewater samples in Gaza, signaling ongoing circulation in the […] Continue reading ->
A coalition of American non-profit, legal and small business groups welcomed a federal judge’s temporary restraining order (TRO) halting the Trump Administration’s executive order freezing virtually all USAID activities – followed by a “stop work” order on the agency by new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The ruling Thursday evening in a Washington DC […] Continue reading ->
From the deadly mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the composition of the next seasonal flu vaccine, the collapse of USAID and the US CDC communications blackout are creating new challenges for WHO and its partners to respond in disease emergency hotspots – well beyond the direct loss of financial support. That […] Continue reading ->
WHO’s Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appealed for a second time to the United States to “reconsider” it’s decision to withdraw from the UN global health agency. Speaking Tuesday at the close of a fractious meeting of WHO’s 34-member Executive Board, the WHO DG said, “we regret the announcement by the United States, of […] Continue reading ->