Monkeypox appears to be establishing itself as a prominent danger to high-risk populations such as children, immune-compromised people and pregnant women, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned. Already, WHO said authorities confirmed cases involving two children in the UK and a child each in Spain, France and the Netherlands. Tedros, however, […] Continue reading ->
  World Health Organization (WHO) member states endorsed a new polio eradication strategy 2022-2026 last week that aims to permanently interrupt all poliovirus transmission – both of the wild poliovirus and vaccine-derived cases.  Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the discovery of a second wild poliovirus case in Africa, confirmed on 18 […] Continue reading ->
[ISLAMABAD] Despite gains made to end polio during COVID-19, Pakistan has  recently reported a resurgence of the virus after a gap of fifteen months. The sobering news comes just ahead of the start of the World Health Assembly in Geneva -which will review progress on polio eradication – including a recent polio wildvirus outbreak in […] Continue reading ->
[NAIROBI] While deaths from some traditional pollution sources, like domestic cookstoves and unsafe water and sanitation are declining, increased exposures to “modern” sources of pollution, such as chemicals and outdoor air pollution, mean that pollution-related mortality remains steady at about 9 million a year.  This is a key finding of a new report on “Pollution […] Continue reading ->
In its largest release of data on air quality ever, WHO has found that most of the world’s population are breathing unsafe levels of air pollutant – particularly fine particulate matter (PM2.5)  and Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) – which cause excess illness and premature death from respiratory disease, as well as from cardiovascular disease and cancers.  […] Continue reading ->
The weekend of 12-13 March was a glorious time to be in the Swiss mountain resort of Villars-sur-Ollon post-pandemic. Special Olympics Switzerland had organized the regional games sporting competition with skiing, bowling, tennis and boccia, drawing dozens of keen athletes and supporters. My son joined the other 46 skiers and snowboarders from the region to […] Continue reading ->
Children and adolescents diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) will benefit from a set of new guidelines that aim to shorten the treatment plan, expand preventative care, and introduce better diagnostic testing and treatments. The World Health Organisation (WHO) today released a new set of ‘game-changer’ guidelines where children and adolescents with non-severe forms of drug-susceptible TB […] Continue reading ->