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 ->
Speaking out on World Health Day, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus decried the destruction of Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital and blamed Israel for the devastation, saying that the “atrocity” of the Hamas attacks on Israeli communities 7 October, did not justify “the horrific ongoing bombardment, seige and health system demolition by Israel in Gaza.” […] Continue reading ->
Two final – and likely sleepless – weeks of negotiation on the pandemic agreement begin on Monday, and negotiators have been urged to bring in their principals to ensure speed up decision-making. The negotiations may well be extended but, for now, this ninth meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) is […] Continue reading ->
COPENHAGEN – In Lebanon, international donors are supporting a network of public primary health care centers to test for diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), offering treatment equally to Lebanese nationals and Syrian refugees who are unlikely to return anytime soon to their war-torn homeland. In Kenya, a new national insurance law aims to make […] Continue reading ->
COPENHAGEN – While conflict and natural disasters are usually played out in the media against dramatic scenes of mass casualty response and rescue teams, there’s an iceberg of chronic health conditions that can be even more life threatening and these need far greater attention in emergency response. That is the theme of a global high […] Continue reading ->
International humanitarian law is clear that “even if health care facilities are being used for military purposes, there are stringent conditions which apply to taking action against them, including a duty to warn and to wait after warning”, said Steven Solomon, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) principal legal officer. “Disproportionate attacks are strictly prohibited. All […] Continue reading ->
One year after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake wracked Türkiye and Syria, some 690,000 people remain displaced in southern Türkiye, out of the 3 million people that initially lost their homes when the natural disaster hit in the early morning of 6 February 2023. Another 40,000 Syrians remain internally displaced mainly in the northern region of […] Continue reading ->
Families of Israel’s Female Hostages Plead for Deeper Intervention by WHO and UN Officials in Geneva
Shay Dickmann stood stoically as the recorded screams of a woman pierced the darkness of the sealed metal container, followed by shouting and screams, the sounds of gunshots and a baby crying. A narrow tunnel led to a tiny room with a single lightbulb and a dirty mattress on the floor. On the wall, a […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) was able to get medical supplies to Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza on Monday but trucks attempting to deliver food were delayed near the checkpoint then were raided “by crowds who are also desperate for food”, said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the global body’s Director-General. Despite challenges including heavy fighting […] Continue reading ->
An alliance of conservative World Health Organization (WHO) member states and right-wing US organisations has halted the process of granting a reproductive health organisation “official relations” with the global body. Meanwhile, a similar member state grouping objected to the use of “WHO LGBTQI+ community” in a routine human resources report that the Director-General tabled at […] Continue reading ->