Only a quarter of countries worldwide have a national plan to support people with dementia and their families, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) ‘Global status report on the public health response to dementia’ released on Thursday. More than 55 million people globally are living with dementia and the number is estimated to increase […] Continue reading ->
The only thing that moves faster than viruses is data, experts noted at Wednesday’s launch of the World Health Organization (WHO) Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin. The aim of the hub is to work with partners to “create the tools and data needed to enable countries to prepare, detect and respond to […] Continue reading ->
As the European Union (EU) announced on Tuesday that 70% of its adults had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, it recommended reimposing restrictions on travellers from the US, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. On 8 June, the six were included on an EU Council list of “safe countries” identified for the relaxing of […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has not listed the SARS-CoV2 C.1.2 variant discovered in South Africa as either a variant of interest or of concern, and it does not appear to be increasing in circulation. This follows an alert about the variant that was issued on Monday by the South African National Institute for Communicable […] Continue reading ->
In the midst of the tragedy and turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is gratifying to see work continuing in Africa to find new ways of fighting malaria, a very old disease that has been a formidable foe for thousands of years and still kills 400,000 people every year, most of them African children […] Continue reading ->
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) pose a threat to more than 1.5 billion people worldwide, making them one of the biggest health problems in the developing world. In sub-Saharan Africa, these diseases are found “at the end of the road” in the most rural and poor communities where an estimated 600 million people are at risk […] Continue reading ->
KABUL – As the Taliban blitzed through towns and villages of Afghanistan finally capturing Kabul August 15, the war-ravaged country’s fragile health system was also crumbling, leaving the sick and vulnerable in despair. Over the past week, the health ministry’s previously daily updates of coronavirus infections, vaccinations and other key updates on public health have […] Continue reading ->
WHO Rolling Out Emergency Aid in Afghanistan – Stresses Importance of Retaining Women Health Workers
WHO has affirmed that it is staying in Afghanistan and providing emergency aid to the tens of thousands of recent victims of conflict and displacement – even as staff in some NGOs go into hiding or desperately seek to leave the country for fear of their lives. “The World Health Organization (WHO) is committed to […] Continue reading ->
This year’s 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), will be a critical moment of decision on climate policies, as the clock runs down before the more severe ravages of global warming become irreversible. Against the panoply of issues under debate, health is getting more attention from this year’s COP26 organisers as a […] Continue reading ->
As wealthy countries opt to give third COVID-19 vaccine booster doses to vulnerable citizens, some researchers have called instead for “fractional doses” to stretch the scarce resources. “If you have two million doses of vaccine, you can give that as two doses to one million people. But what about if you gave fractional doses?” asked […] Continue reading ->