While the global stockpile of oral cholera vaccines (OCV) has been empty since mid-October, vaccine doses are being produced each week and shipped directly to countries in need, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). “As soon as adequate quantities are produced, they are shipped to countries in need. This is why the stockpile can […] Continue reading ->
Diets should be guided by four key principles, say the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) in a joint statement released this week. Their statement highlights the importance of adequate, balanced, moderate, and diverse food intake, and aims to clarify what exactly a healthy diet means. “With such prominence in the […] Continue reading ->
The final phase of a planned polio campaign in northern Gaza has been postponed due to escalating violence in the area, the World Health Organization announced on Wednesday. “Due to the escalating violence, intense bombardment, mass displacement orders, and lack of assured humanitarian pauses across most of northern Gaza, the Polio Technical Committee for Gaza… […] Continue reading ->
The United Nations (UN) climate change meeting, COP29, will feature a Health Day on 18 November as part of the negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Maria Neira said that the global body wants to ensure that health is “very prominent” in all the member states’ climate negotiations, which run from 11-22 […] Continue reading ->
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced a new ruling that requires drinking water systems to replace lead pipes within 10 years. The rule also strengthens requirements to locate lead pipes, improve testing for lead in water, and ensure that exposure is minimized while lead pipe replacement efforts are underway. “Families like yours, exposed […] Continue reading ->
The first mpox test that enables health facilities to test people and get results onsite has been given Emergency Use List (EUL) approval by the World Health Organization (WHO). Abbott’s Alinity m MPXV assay is a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that can give an mpox diagnosis within around two hours from a swab of […] Continue reading ->
UNAIDS expressed “deep concern” Wednesday over Georgia’s newly adopted anti-LGBTQ+ law, saying that it could threaten progress made over the past decade to end AIDS in the former Soviet republic of 3.7 million people at the crossroads between Europe and Asia. The new legislation exacerbates stigma and hinders “LGBTQ+ people’s access to essential health services” […] Continue reading ->
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) will sign an official memorandum of understanding with its Japanese counterpart next month, the director of Europe’s largest public health agency announced Wednesday. “Next month I will sign a cooperation agreement with the Japanese Center for Disease Control,” said Pamela Rendi-Wagner, who took over the agency […] Continue reading ->
Investing in as little as $0.24 per patient per year in digital health interventions – telemedicine, mobile messaging, and chatbots – could significantly lower the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), says a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunication Union (UTI). These interventions could avert 2 million deaths and 7 […] Continue reading ->
Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi has been announced as the new European Commissioner for Health, in a portfolio that now includes animal welfare. He succeeds Cyprus’s Stella Kyriakides, whose portfolio was health and food safety. Várhelyi has been the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement since 2019, leading efforts to increase membership of the European Union. “He […] Continue reading ->