Category Archives: World Health Organization

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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Poorer women in UK have sixth-highest cancer death rates in Europe, WHO finds

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Those from deprived backgrounds are particularly at risk of dying from cancer of the lungs, liver, bladder and oesophagus

Poorer women in Britain have some of the highest death rates from cancer in Europe, an in-depth new World Health Organization study has found.

They are much more likely to die from the disease compared with better-off women in the UK and women in poverty in many other European countries.

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EU plans tighter controls on pollution as doctors call for urgent action

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Stricter standards will tackle fine particulates and PFAS and require polluters to pay for cleanups

The EU executive has proposed tighter controls on pollutants and chemicals that harm air quality and foul lakes, rivers and seas, but health campaigners said the plans lacked urgency.

As part of a major reform of the EU’s anti-pollution legislation, the European Commission said it planned to tighten air quality standards, including on one of the most dangerous pollutants, fine particulate matter. Water standards are also going to be stricter, with 25 substances added to a control list, such as the category of PFAS (also known as “forever chemicals”), the substance Bisphenol A, pesticides including glyphosate, and antibiotics.

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Head of WHO’s Syria office faces allegations of fraud and abuse

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Numerous complaints made about Dr Akjemal Magtymova, AP reports after whistleblower leak

The head of the World Health Organization’s Syria office has been accused of widespread mismanagement, including misspending donor money, plying government officials with gifts and pressing for contracts to be signed with regime officials and politicians.

Staff at the UN organisation have made numerous complaints about Dr Akjemal Magtymova, who has led WHO’s Syrian operations for almost three years, according to an investigation by the Associated Press.

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End of Covid pandemic ‘in sight’, says World Health Organization

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Global weekly deaths down to 11,118 on 5 September – the lowest level since March 2020

The end of the Covid-19 pandemic is “in sight”, the World Health Organization has declared, after revealing that weekly deaths from the virus around the world were at the lowest level since March 2020.

The weekly global deaths figure on 5 September 2022 was 11,118, according to the WHO’s website. March 2020 was the month that the UK entered its first national lockdown.

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Health officials warn of major outbreaks of disease after severe floods in Pakistan

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Diarrhoea and malaria cases spread, with risk of dysentery and cholera, as millions of displaced people forced to drink flood water

Health officials have warned of large-scale outbreaks of disease in Pakistan after severe flooding displaced millions of people.

A rise in cases of diarrhoea and malaria has been reported after months of heavy rains left people stranded and without access to clean water.

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Togo achieves ‘major feat’ of eradicating four neglected tropical diseases

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WHO hails west African country as first in world to stamp out Guinea worm, lymphatic filariasis, sleeping sickness and trachoma

Togo has been praised by the World Health Organization for becoming the first country in the world to eliminate four neglected tropical diseases.

The WHO presented the west African country with an outstanding achievement award this week for eliminating Guinea worm, lymphatic filariasis, sleeping sickness and trachoma in just 11 years.

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‘Colour of the skin’: WHO chief hits out over Tigray crisis indifference

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says world ignoring disaster being inflicted on 6 million people by Ethiopian government

The head of the World Health Organization has returned to his suggestion that racism may be driving the lack of international interest in the ongoing war in Ethiopia.

Civil war broke out in November 2020 and has pitted Tigrayan forces against federal Ethiopian forces, also drawing in Eritrean troops, in fighting that has triggered a serious humanitarian crisis.

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WHO stresses monkeypox surge not linked to monkeys amid attack reports

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World Health Organization issues statement after reports of animals being poisoned in Brazil

The World Health Organization has stressed that monkeypox outbreaks are not linked to monkeys, following a number of reported attacks on the primates in Brazil.

“What people need to know is that the transmission we are seeing is happening between humans,” a WHO spokesperson, Margaret Harris, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

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UK needs urgent vaccine drive to curb monkeypox, campaigners say

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Terrence Higgins Trust says action must be stepped up to prevent disease becoming endemic

Health authorities are underestimating the scale of the response required to stop monkeypox becoming endemic in the UK, sexual health campaigners have warned, as a new vaccination drive is launched.

The Terrence Higgins Trust urged the NHS and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to urgently pump cash into the system to pay more healthcare workers to administer vaccines. It also wants the number of doses ordered to be doubled to protect against a virus that has infected at least 2,208 people in the UK, according to the latest official figures.

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Critical elements of leading Alzheimer’s study possibly fraudulent

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The highly influential paper, first published in 2006, has helped guide billions of dollars in US federal research into the disease

Critical elements of one of the most cited pieces of Alzheimer’s disease research in the last two decades may have been purposely manipulated, according to a report in Science.

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia globally, according to the World Health Organization. The highly influential paper, which was published in Nature in 2006, has helped guide billions of dollars in US federal government research into Alzheimer’s, according to Science.

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Covid: European governments must urgently boost monitoring, WHO says

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‘Waiting for the autumn will be too late,’ says regional director as Omicron variants drive threefold surge in cases over past six weeks

The World Health Organization has called on European governments to urgently reinforce rather than reduce Covid-19 monitoring, warning of a potentially difficult winter as a new wave of infections sweeps across the continent.

Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, said it was now “abundantly clear” that the region faced a surge driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variants BA.2 and BA.5 and that it would intensify further as indoor mixing increases in the autumn.

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Ghana reports first cases of deadly Ebola-like Marburg virus

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No treatment or vaccine exists for Marburg, which can spread from infected animals such as bats

Two cases of the deadly Marburg virus have been identified in Ghana, the first time the Ebola-like disease has been found in the west African nation.

Earlier in the month, blood samples taken from two people in the southern Ashanti region suggested they had the Marburg virus.

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