Tag Archives: WHO

WHO estimates up to 10,000 lives could be saved by November through malaria prevention and control, if more funds are secured Following more than eight years of conflict in Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, some 3.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and all are at risk for malaria, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The global ...

The Kingdom of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean may be small in population, but it is kicking big goals in public health. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has validated that the country has eliminated lymphatic filariasis – also known as elephantiasis – as a public health problem. Lymphatic filariasis is a mosquito-borne disease that damages the lymphatic system, leading to ...

No country in the world fully meets recommended standards for breastfeeding, according to a new report by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with the Global Breastfeeding Collective, a new initiative to increase global breastfeeding rates. The “Global Breastfeeding Scorecard”, which evaluated 194 nations, found that only 40 per cent of children younger than six ...

New World Health Organisation (WHO) data from 28 countries – representing approximately 70% of the global hepatitis burden – indicate that efforts to eliminate hepatitis are gaining momentum. Published to coincide with World Hepatitis Day, the data reveal that nearly all 28 countries have established high-level national hepatitis elimination committees (with plans and targets in place) and more than half ...

Cholera continues to spread in Yemen, causing more than 390,000 suspected cases of the disease and more than 1,800 deaths since April 27, 2017. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners are responding to the cholera outbreak in Yemen, working closely with UNICEF, local health authorities and others to treat the sick and stop the spread of the disease. ...

As the world gets set to observe this year’s edition of World Hepatitis Day, indications have emerged that Nigeria harbours one of the world’s highest number of sufferers of hepatitis. Hepatitis is the inflammation of the liver tissue, leading in some cases to yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes. Indeed, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has included ...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) latest “WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic” published on Wednesday, July 19, 2017 finds that more countries have implemented tobacco control policies, ranging from graphic pack warnings and advertising bans to no smoking areas. About 4.7 billion people – 63% of the world’s population – are said to be covered by at least one comprehensive tobacco ...

Worldwide, 12.9 million infants, nearly one in 10, did not receive any vaccinations in 2016, according to a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) immunisation estimates. This means, critically, that these infants missed the first dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP)-containing vaccine, putting them at serious risk of these potentially fatal diseases. Additionally, an estimated 6.6 million ...

Experts say Gambia could become the first country in sub-Sahara Africa to eliminate malaria on its track record of combating the mosquito-borne disease. The prevalence of the malaria parasite in children under five has plunged to 0.2 per cent from four per cent in 2011, according to the National Malaria Control Programme (NMPC). NMCP data shows that the total number ...

Some three in 10 people worldwide, or 2.1 billion, lack access to safe, readily available water at home, and 6 in 10, or 4.5 billion, lack safely managed sanitation, according to a new report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report, “Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update ...