WHO

July 26, 2024 4:36 PM

WHO sends over 1 mln polio vaccines to Gaza to protect children

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday. "While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's T...

June 26, 2024 5:17 PM

Wake up Call for South Asia; 45% adults at risk of disease due to physical inactivity:WHO

Nearly 31% of adults worldwide and 45% in South Asia are not doing enough physical activity, posing a growing threat to health across the world, a major study said on Wednesday. The findings point to a worrying trend of physical inactivity among adults, which has increased by about 5 percentage points between 2010 and 2022, according to a study by the World Health Organization and other researchers. If the trend continues, levels of inactivity are projected to further rise to 35% worldwide by 2...

SUQIAN, CHINA - NOVEMBER 23, 2022 - Financial Illustration: MPOX, Suqian City, Jiangsu Province, China, November 23, 2022. The World Health Organization plans to rename monkeypox "MPOX". (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

June 25, 2024 5:19 PM

WHO, scientists warn on mpox strain in Congo

The spread of mpox in Africa needs to be addressed urgently, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as scientists warned separately of the dangers of a new strain spreading in a hard-to-reach part of Democratic Republic of Congo. "There is a critical need to address the recent surge in mpox cases in Africa," said Rosamund Lewis, the WHO's technical lead for mpox, in a briefing note to journalists. In a separate briefing, John Claude Udahemuka of the University of Rwanda, who has been w...

MARSEILLE, FRANCE - 2022/01/16: A hen is seen in a farm. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, France has more than 150 farms infected with avian flu or also known as bird flu, two-thirds of which are in the Landes Department. (Photo by Gerard Bottino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

June 12, 2024 11:13 AM

WHO confirms human case of bird flu in India

The World Health Organization on Tuesday said a case of human infection with bird flucaused by the H9N2 virus was detected in a four-year-old child in West Bengal. The patient was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) of a local hospital due to persistent severe respiratory issues, high fever and abdominal cramps in February, and was discharged three months later after diagnosis and treatment, the WHO said. The patient had exposure to poultry at home and in his surroundings, and ...

In this photo illustration a World Health Organization logo is display on a smartphone screen and a pencil in Athens, Greece on November 8, 2021. (Photo by Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

June 8, 2024 11:46 AM

WHO says bird flu case in Australia followed travel to Kolkata, India

The World Health Organization on Friday said the child with H5N1 bird flu reported by Australia last month had traveled to Kolkata, India, and the family said they did not have any known exposure to infected people or animals while there. The WHO said on Friday that the child, Australia's first case of H5N1 in a person, had traveled to Kolkata from Feb. 12 to Feb. 19 and returned to Australia on March 1. The child was hospitalized on March 2 and remained there for more than two weeks. No close...

Employees are working on epidemic prevention for chickens at a livestock company in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China, on April 9, 2024. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

June 6, 2024 10:48 AM

Person with bird flu died in Mexico, WHO says

A person with prior health complications who had contracted bird flu died in Mexico in April and the source of exposure to the virus was unknown, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. WHO said the current risk of bird flu virus to the general population is low. The 59-year-old resident of the State of Mexico had been hospitalized in Mexico City and died on April 24 after developing a fever, shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea and general discomfort, WHO said. "Although the source...

June 2, 2024 10:55 AM

Global pandemic treaty to be concluded by 2025, WHO says

Talks aimed at reaching a global agreement on how to better fight pandemics will be concluded by 2025 or earlier if possible, the World Health Organization said on Saturday. The WHO's 194 member states have been negotiating for two years on an agreement that could increase collaboration before and during pandemics after the acknowledged failures during COVID-19. The UN-agency had initially aimed for an agreement this week, but talks have been extended amid deep divisions between rich and poore...

May 31, 2024 7:09 PM

World unprepared for another pandemic as WHO treaty talks push on

The world is unprepared for another health crisis like COVID-19, a leading global health expert has warned, as countries make a last push to agree a way forward for a pandemic treaty amid fears the political climate for agreement could sour. World Health Organization member states gathered in Geneva on Friday to work out how to continue negotiations about an accord after missing this month’s deadline. A major sticking point in the treaty has been provisions for low and middle-income countrie...

May 31, 2024 6:08 PM

NIMHANS Bengaluru receives Nelson Mandela Award for health promotion

The National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru has been honored with the Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion for 2024 by the World Health Organization (WHO). Established by WHO in 2019, the Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion acknowledges individuals, institutions, and organizations that have made significant contributions to health promotion. This year, NIMHANS was recognized for its exceptional work in mental health. Union Health Minister Dr. ...

May 30, 2024 5:25 PM

WHO emergencies team faces funding crunch as health crises multiply

The World Health Organization's emergencies department is facing “existential threats” as multiplying health crises have left it so short of cash that it needed emergency funds to pay staff salaries at the end of last year, an independent report said. It will likely have to ask for funding again to cover salaries up to June, the document, released ahead of the WHO’s annual meeting in Geneva this week, said. In 2023, the department responded to 72 emergencies. They included earthquakes in...