Category Archives: World Health Organization

Climate crisis poses greatest risk to people with respiratory illnesses, experts warn

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Call for EU to match WHO’s air pollution regulatory limits as impact of climate emergency interlinks with human health

The climate crisis may pose the greatest risks to people with respiratory illnesses, with high temperatures and changing weather patterns exacerbating lung health problems, experts have said.

Respiratory experts have called on the EU to lower its regulatory limits for air pollution in line with the World Health Organization (WHO). In a European Respiratory Journal editorial, they said: “We need to do all we can to help alleviate patients’ suffering.”

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‘Safe and effective’: first malaria vaccine to be rolled out in 12 African countries

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An initial 18m doses will be delivered over the next two years to combat a disease that kills nearly half a million children annually

A long-awaited vaccine for malaria has been announced for rollout across 12 African countries over the next two years, potentially saving tens of thousands of lives.

An initial 18m doses of the world’s first malaria vaccine have been assigned to the countries where the risk of children falling ill and dying from malaria is highest, according to a statement from the global vaccine alliance Gavi, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef.

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World Health Assembly commits to boosting global access to rehabilitation

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‘Landmark’ resolution in Geneva seeks to boost neglected service in all healthcare sectors, from prosthetics to physical therapy

Rehabilitation needs are “largely unmet globally” and in many countries less than 50% of people receive the services they require, according to a “landmark” resolution adopted by the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Friday.

At the 76th World Health Assembly, World Health Organization (WHO) member states made a non-binding commitment to expand rehabilitation services to all levels of healthcare and to strengthen their financing mechanisms. Demand for the services is expected to grow as the burden of non-communicable diseases rises globally, says the document.

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WHO members vote to move Moscow office and urge Russia to stop attacks on hospitals

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Member states vote to relocate the office to Denmark by the end of the year, in response to health impacts of Ukraine conflict

Member states of the World Health Organization voted on Wednesday to move a Moscow-based office of the WHO to Copenhagen, and urged Russia to stop attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities in Ukraine.

At the 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva, 80 member states voted to request the WHO secretariat to relocate the European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases to Denmark before the new year.

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Outcry as World Health Assembly locks out Taiwan under pressure from China

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Taipei criticises ‘unfair and unjust’ decision to deny observer status despite support from US, UK, France and other countries

The World Health Assembly has again rejected Taiwan’s request to join its annual gathering amid routine objections from China and despite strong support from a coalition of countries including the US, UK, France and Australia.

The assembly – the forum through which the World Health Organization is governed – on Monday decided not to extend an invitation for Taiwan to attend the 21-30 May event in Geneva as an observer. China and Pakistan spoke against the bid, while the Marshall Islands, Belize, Nauru and Eswatini – four of Taiwan’s 13 formal diplomatic allies – spoke in support.

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Sudan medical volunteers detained after being seized from ambulance

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Mohamed Ahmed and Mohamed Jamal went missing last week while working to reopen a hospital in Bahri

Activists in Sudan have expressed outrage after two medical volunteers were seized from the ambulance they were driving in northern Khartoum and detained for days by army intelligence officers, as airstrikes and clashes continued across the capital.

Mohamed Ahmed and Mohamed Jamal went missing last week while working with other volunteers to reopen the Haj al-Safi hospital in Bahri, which had been forced to close amid heavy fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

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Rochelle Walensky, who played a key role in Covid response, resigns as CDC chief

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Her departure comes as emergency declarations come to an end: ‘I have never been prouder of anything I’ve done’

Rochelle Walensky, who played a key role in the Biden administration’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, announced she will step down as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The announcement came as the World Health Organization said Friday that Covid is no longer a global emergency. The waning of the pandemic was a good time to make a transition, Walensky said.

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Tanzania announces outbreak of deadly Marburg virus disease

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Five deaths and three further cases of the Ebola-like virus have been reported in the country’s north-west

Tanzania has announced its first outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus disease (MVD), after five fatalities and three further cases were reported at a hospital in the country’s north-west Kagera region.

Through contact tracing, approximately 161 people have been identified as at risk of infection, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The government has deployed an emergency response team to the area and neighbouring countries have stepped up surveillance. No cases have yet been reported outside Kagera.

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UK ambassador to Yemen took part in opening of Jordanian cigarette factory

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Michael Aron praised facility part-owned by British American Tobacco at ribbon-cutting event in 2019

A UK ambassador took part in the opening ceremony of a Jordanian cigarette factory part-owned by British American Tobacco (BAT) and praised the new facility in a televised interview, in the latest example of British diplomats breaching strict guidelines against mixing with the tobacco industry overseas.

The envoy stood at the ribbon as it was cut and later appeared in promotional material on the tobacco company’s website, but no record of his presence at the event was kept by the British embassy in Amman because the event was not considered a “formal meeting”.

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New data links Covid-19’s origins to raccoon dogs at Wuhan market

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Analysis of gene sequences by international team finds Covid-positive samples rich in raccoon dog DNA

Newly released genetic data gathered from a live food market in Wuhan has linked Covid-19 with raccoon dogs, adding weight to the theory that infected animals sold at the site started the coronavirus pandemic, researchers involved in the work say.

Swabs collected from stalls at the Huanan seafood market in the two months after it was shut down on 1 January 2020 were previously found to contain both Covid and human DNA. When the findings were published last year, Chinese researchers stated that the samples contained no animal DNA.

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WHO calls on US to share information on Covid-19 origins after China lab claims

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World Health Organization’s director general says the politicisation of research into Covid’s origins was making the scientific work harder

The World Health Organization has urged all countries to reveal what they know about the origins of Covid-19, after claims from several US government agencies that a Chinese lab leak was behind the disease were furiously denied by Beijing.

“If any country has information about the origins of the pandemic, it’s essential for that information to be shared with WHO and the international scientific community,” the WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Friday.

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WHO says avian flu cases in humans ‘worrying’ after girl’s death in Cambodia

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Child died and father tested positive for H5N1, prompting fears of possible person-to-person transmission

The discovery of two cases of bird flu within the same family in Cambodia has highlighted the concern over potential human-to-human spread of the virus, although experts have stressed the risk remains low.

On Thursday, Cambodian authorities reported an 11-year-old girl from Prey Veng province had died from H5N1, with subsequent testing of 12 of her contacts revealing that her father also had the virus.

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WHO urges action after cough syrups linked to more than 300 child deaths

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Deaths in the Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan due to kidney injury associated with contaminated medicines, the WHO said

The World Health Organization has called for “immediate and concerted action” to protect children from contaminated medicines after a spate of child deaths linked to cough syrups last year.

In 2022, more than 300 children - mainly aged under 5 - in the Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan died of acute kidney injury, in deaths that were associated with contaminated medicines, the WHO said in a statement on Monday.

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China data ‘under-represents’ true impact of Covid outbreak – WHO

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Analysis of Chinese data finds no new variants of concern emerging, but world health body says it still does not have ‘complete data’

The World Health Organisation has criticised China’s “very narrow” definition of Covid-19 deaths, warning that official statistics are not showing the true impact of the outbreak.

There is growing concern over the steep rise in Covid infections since Beijing last month abruptly lifted years of hardline restrictions, with hospitals and crematoriums quickly overwhelmed.

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China Covid: experts estimate 9,000 deaths a day as US says it may sample wastewater from planes

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Infectious disease experts believe strategy more effective in slowing virus spread than new travel restrictions, as health data firm says thousands are likely dying daily in China

The United States is considering sampling wastewater taken from international aircraft to track any emerging new Covid-19 variants as infections surge in China, as UK-based health experts estimate about 9,000 people a days are now dying of the disease in China.

The proposed of testing wastewater by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would provide a better solution to tracking the virus and slowing its entry into the US than new travel restrictions announced this week, three infectious disease experts said.

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US to require arrivals from China to provide negative Covid test

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Other countries including Italy have taken similar steps after Beijing’s rollback of ‘zero-Covid’ policies led to surge in cases

The US has announced all travellers from China must provide a negative Covid-19 test to enter the country, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections.

The increase in cases across China follows the rollback of the nation’s strict anti-virus controls. Beijing’s “zero Covid” policies had kept the country’s infection rate low but fuelled public frustration and crushed economic growth.

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China changes definition of Covid deaths as cases surge

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No new fatalities reported this week, despite numerous reports of overloaded hospitals and crematoriums

China has moved to a narrower definition of Covid deaths, which will drastically cut its death statistics as cases increase following the relaxation of zero-Covid rules.

Authorities reported no new fatalities in the latest Covid statistics update on Wednesday, despite widespread reports and images of overloaded hospitals and crematoriums and queues of hearses. The official number of deaths since the pandemic began in Wuhan three years ago even had one struck off on Wednesday and now stands at 5,241 – an extremely low number compared with many less populous countries.

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Chinese doctors and nurses reportedly told to work while infected as Covid surges

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Some Beijing hospitals have as many as 80% of staff infected, according to one doctor, leading to serious staff shortages

Chinese doctors and nurses are being told to keep working even when infected with Covid-19, staff and residents reported, as the virus rips through the population in the wake of eased restrictions.

Some hospitals in Beijing have up to 80% of their staff infected, but many of them are still required to work due to staff shortages, a doctor in a large public hospital in Beijing told Reuters, adding he had spoken to his peers at other big hospitals in the capital.

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says uncle murdered in Ethiopia

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WHO director-general says he is ‘not in good shape’ after learning Eritrean troops killed his uncle in Tigray

The head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday that Eritrean troops “murdered” his uncle in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

The WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former Ethiopian minister who comes from Tigray, has previously been a vocal critic of Ethiopia’s role in the conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

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Families sue Indonesian government after 199 deaths from syrup medicines

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Since August, 199 people have died of acute kidney injury, prompting an inquiry and ban on some medicines

A dozen families, whose relatives died or fell ill after consuming cough syrup medicines, have sued the Indonesian government and companies accused of supplying the products.

At least 199 people, many of them young children, have died as a result of acute kidney injury since August, prompting the government to ban some syrup medicines and launch an investigation.

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