A new State of Global Air/2019 report estimates that average life expectancy worldwide is reduced by about a year and eight months due to exposure to current levels of global air pollution. Image Credits: IHME, IHME/HEI, Rashed Shumon. Continue reading ->
[WHO News Release] One in four health care facilities around the world lacks basic water services, impacting over 2 billion people, according to a new report by WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP). The WHO/UNICEF JMP report, WASH in Health Care Facilities, is the first comprehensive global assessment of water, […] Continue reading ->
NEW YORK — United Nations members and stakeholders are mobilising to bring about universal health coverage across the world with all eyes on the UN High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage planned for 23 September. Continue reading ->
In 2015, Sub-Saharan Africans lost 630 million “healthy life years” as a result of sickness and disease, amounting to an estimated loss of $US 2.4 trillion for the region, a new study finds. These economic losses, it says, emphasise the need for increased investment in health financing in Africa to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) […] Continue reading ->
In extended conflicts, “bullets and bombs are not always the deadliest threats to a child’s life,” a new UNICEF report reveals. During such conflicts, children are up to 20 times more likely to die from diarrhoea than violence. As is evidenced by recent outbreaks of cholera in Yemen and Mozambique, conflict and disaster-resilient water, sanitation […] Continue reading ->
Despite high public interest in severe air pollution episodes, the real long-term health impacts of air pollution are rarely discussed by news and social media in South and Southeast Asia, says a new study on public perceptions of the problem in one of the most dangerously polluted areas of the world. Image Credits: Vital Strategies. Continue reading ->
A “broader” call to action engaging a “wider universe of advocates,” is needed to more effectively tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – including everyone from financial investors to environmental groups. This was the message emerging out of a global meeting on the issue yesterday in London. Image Credits: The Economist. Continue reading ->
[WHO News Release] From Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa and Dr Ahmed Al Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean MUSCAT/ AMMAN/CAIRO, 26 March 2019 – “In Yemen, since the beginning of the year until 17 March, nearly 109 000 cases of severe acute watery diarrhoea and suspected […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization called on the international community to ramp up contributions to the US$ 148 million in funding required for the next six months’ Ebola outbreak response in the Democratic Republic of Congo – after infection rates saw a worrisome increase in recent weeks. Image Credits: World Bank Group/ V.Tremeau, WHO. Continue reading ->
The largest and most comprehensive study to date of the HIV prevention benefits of male circumcision for men who have sex with men (MSM) found that circumcision reduced the odds of HIV infection among this group by 42 percent in low- and middle-income countries, and overall by 23 percent. Image Credits: Avert/Gil Eilam/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Continue reading ->