Immunisation has saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years, since the World Health Organization (WHO) launched its Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in 1974. Of the lives saved, 146 million were children under five, and 101 million were babies. Global infant deaths have reduced by 40% and more than halved in […] Continue reading ->
A year into one of the most brutal conflicts in decades, the war in Sudan has triggered the world’s largest displacement crisis and left the country’s healthcare system in tatters. Nearly 25 million people need immediate humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations (UN) and over 18 million people face acute food insecurity, with the World […] Continue reading ->
“It’s not just about people with disabilities, this is about all of us,” stresses Pascal Bijleveld, the CEO of ATscale Global Partnership, an organization established in 2018 to advocate for assistive technologies (AT) access, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The first-ever global campaign to expand access, ‘Unlock the Everyday’, was launched on Tuesday at […] Continue reading ->
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country has introduced the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into its routine immunization system, aiming to reach 7.7 million girls – in the continent’s largest-ever vaccination drive against the virus that causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer. Girls aged 9–14 years will receive a single dose of the vaccine, which is […] Continue reading ->
The world is on track to miss the United Nations’ target of eradicating hunger by 2030 by 600 million people, according to a flagship UN report on food security released Wednesday. The report, jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organiztion (WHO) has been far too slow in providing financial, psychological and legal assistance to victims of sexual assault and exploitation committed by its staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during the 2018-2020 Ebola response, a veteran international investigator said at a WHO press conference on Friday. Hervé Gogo, presenting […] Continue reading ->
Water and sanitation crises across the world affect women and girls more than men and boys, particularly since the responsibility to collect water in seven out of 10 households without individual water supply falls on the female family members. This is a key message in the latest edition of the joint WHO/UNICEF report on progress […] Continue reading ->
Zero gains have been made in any region of the world in reducing premature births in the past decade, a major UN report found. In a perfect storm of flatlining progress in maternal and newborn health, preterm birth has become to the leading cause of child mortality worldwide, responsible for the deaths of over one […] Continue reading ->
An estimated 7.1 million children and teens up to the age of 24 years died in 2021, according to a United Nations (UN) report released on Tuesday. Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia bore higher burden of these deaths than other regions. This includes five million children under the age of five and 2.1 million […] Continue reading ->
As the first snows fall across Ukraine, World Health Organization officials in Kyiv warn the coming winter will be “life-threatening for millions” of Ukrainians. At a press conference in Kyiv on Monday, WHO’s European Regional Director Dr Hans Kluge called the Russian airstrikes on Ukraine’s energy and medical infrastructure “the largest attack on health care […] Continue reading ->