Global tobacco use tumbles despite industry lobbying: WHO
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters Global tobacco use has tumbled in a generation with one in five people smoking versus one in three in 2000, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. The drop comes despite what the UN global health agency said were ongoing efforts by Big Tobacco to seek to influence global health policies to […]
Agencies consider new aid route into Sudan as humanitarian crisis worsens
Reuters Aid agencies are looking at delivering aid to Sudan on a new route from South Sudan as they struggle to access much of the country, a senior UN official said on Monday, nine months into a war that has caused a major humanitarian crisis. The war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support […]
Healthcare under pressure: WHO sees “incredibly low” COVID, flu vaccination rates as cases surge
JENNIFER RIGBY and JULIE STEENHUYSEN, of Reuters, report…
Ban flavoured vapes, WHO says, urging tobacco-style controls
London, UKReuters The World Health Organization on Thursday urged governments to treat e-cigarettes similarly to tobacco and ban all flavours, threatening cigarette companies’ bets on smoking alternatives. Some researchers, campaigners and governments see e-cigarettes, or vapes, as a key tool in reducing the death and disease caused by smoking. But the UN agency said “urgent […]
Scientists see risk of lost opportunity for long COVID research in China
Shanghai, ChinaReuters With more than a full year past since China eased restrictions and let COVID-19 sweep its households, scientists are worried a unique opportunity may be slipping away to study long COVID from possibly hundreds of millions of infections in that country. Global disease experts say little is known about China’s experience with long-term […]
World at risk of losing malaria fight as cases rise, report says
Reuters The world is in danger of losing the fight against malaria, as cases of the disease rose by around five million year-on-year in 2022, exceeding global targets to contain it, a new World Health Organization report showed on Thursday. Pandemic-related disruptions and extreme weather events linked to climate change have hindered the fight against […]
WHO says Gaza’s health system must be protected as disease spreads
Geneva, SwizterlandReuters The World Health Organization on Wednesday called for Gaza’s vulnerable health infrastructure to be safeguarded as the war-torn enclave faces an increased risk of epidemics and challenges in detecting infectious diseases. A fragile truce agreement between Israel and Hamas last week has allowed WHO and aid organisations to increase their deliveries of essential […]
Heat-related deaths could more than quadruple by mid-century – report
Reuters Heat-related illnesses and deaths are rising as the world warms, an international team of health experts said on Tuesday, forecasting a 370 per cent surge in yearly heat deaths by mid-century if the world warms by two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Already, at roughly 1.1 degrees Celsius of warming, people experienced about 86 […]
A child killed on average every 10 minutes in Gaza, says WHO chief
United NationsReuters A child is killed on average every 10 minutes in the Gaza Strip, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the United Nations Security Council on Friday, warning: “Nowhere and no one is safe.” He said that half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and two-thirds of its primary healthcare centres were not functioning […]
WHO warns of “worrying trends” in disease spread in Gaza
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The Gaza Strip faces an increased risk of disease spreading due to Israeli air bombardments that have disrupted the health system, access to clean water and caused people to crowd in shelters, the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday. “As deaths and injuries in Gaza continue to rise due to intensified hostilities, intense […]