Page 2 - Who

Countries must make 'massive efforts' to reduce salt intake, says WHO

Implementing highly cost-effective sodium reduction policies could save an estimated seven million lives globally by 2030, the WHO said

WHO fires director in Asia accused of racist and unethical conduct

The World Health Organization has fired its top official in the Western Pacific after the Associated Press reported last year that dozens of staff members accused him of racist, abusive and unethical behaviour that may have compromised the U.N. health agency's response to the coronavirus pandemic. In an email sent to employees on Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Dr. Takeshi Kasai's appointment had been terminated after an internal investigation found findings of misconduct. It is the first time in WHO's history that a regional director has been dismissed. This has been an unprecedented and challenging journey for all of us, Tedros wrote. He said that the process of electing a new regional director for the Western Pacific would begin next month. A summary of an internal WHO investigation presented at a meeting of the agency's executive board this week in Geneva found Kasai regularly harassed workers in Asia, including engaging in aggressive communicati

Flu cases on rise, experts blame mutated strain, dropping of masks

Current H3N2 strain has its origin in the 1968 pandemic; experts also cite lack of awareness about the influenza vaccine, which must be taken every year

WHO-GCTM to help strengthen traditional medicine practices: Sonowal

The Global Center for Traditional Medicine of World Health Organisation (WHO-GCTM) will help member countries take measures in their respective countries to strengthen education and practices of traditional medicine, Union Minister Sarbnanda Sonowal said. Sonowal, the union minister of Ayush, inaugurating the first B2B Global Conference and Expo on Traditional Medicine under Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) here, said India has made the best use of available natural resources through Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine to provide healthcare to its people. India is focused on making best use of traditional medicine to achieve the goal of universal health coverage, he said. It is with this goal that the country has supported the establishment of the Global Center for Traditional Medicine of World Health Organisation (WHO-GCTM) at Jamnagar in Gujarat, Sonowal said. ''It will help member countries in taking measures in their respective countries to strengthen ...

Ahead of World Birth Defects Day, WHO calls to strengthen health systems

Ahead of this year's World Birth Defects Day, the WHO has urged countries, especially in the South-East Asia Region, to strengthen their health systems to prevent and respond to birth defects -- structural or functional anomalies a baby develops in the mother's body. World Birth Defects Day is observed on March 3 to raise awareness on birth defects surveillance, prevention and management. An estimated 8 million newborns suffer from birth defects annually worldwide. Nine out of every 10 children born with a serious birth defect are in low- and middle-income countries, said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO regional director for South-East Asia. In South-East Asia Region, birth defects are the third-most common cause of child mortality and the fourth-most common cause of neonatal mortality, accounting for 12 per cent of all neonatal deaths, she said. She said that birth defects increased as a proportion of child mortality in the region, from 6.2 per cent to 9.2 per cent between 2010 and ..

WHO warns tourists to avoid wet markets to avert human bird flu risk

The agency also suggested people in close contact with poultry to get vaccinated against seasonal human flu, to reduce the risk that H5N1 could recombine with a human avian virus

Court orders jail for 2 Maiden Pharma execs for exporting substandard drugs

The company has denied its drugs were at fault for the deaths in Gambia and tests by an Indian government laboratory found there were no toxins in them

WHO appeals for $392 mn healthcare donations to help war-torn Yemen in 2023

The appeal was made on the eve of a high-level pledging event for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, a UN-led fund-raising activity held on Monday in Geneva, Switzerland, Xinhua news agency reported

A woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth every 2 minutes: UN estimates

This report highlights that the world must significantly accelerate progress to meet global targets for reducing maternal deaths, or else risk the lives of over 1 mn women by 2030

WHO to set up mRNA vaccine hub in Hyderabad: IT Minister KT Rama Rao

The World Health Organisation will be setting up mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) vaccine hub in Telangana, Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao said on Tuesday here. mRNA is becoming a promising technology to address a growing number of infectious diseases. Speaking to reporters on various steps being taken by the state government to promote the life sciences sector, Rama Rao said Telangana has a target of making the industry worth USD 100 billion from USD 50 billion in 2021 and the workforce from the existing four lakh to eight lakh in the next five years. "In fact, this will be another big announcement. WHO is going to set up its mRNA vaccine hub in Hyderabad," he said refusing to provide details. In an interview to a TV channel in Davos in January, KTR said the WHO was keen to set up the hub in Hyderabad and hopefully it will happen soon. Rama Rao said more than USD 3 billion worth of investments and trade took place during the past 19 editions of BioAsia, a flagship an

Urgent and accelerated efforts needed for universal eye coverage: WHO

The World Health Organisation on Tuesday called for accelerated action to provide quality, affordable, integrated and people-cantered comprehensive eye care for everyone, addressing the increasing disproportionate burden of vision impairment and blindness in the WHO South-East Asia Region. Nearly 30 per cent of the 2.2 billion people living with vision impairment or blindness globally are in the WHO South-East Asia Region, it said. Addressing a high-level meeting of member countries on 'Integrated People-Centred Eye Care' in Hyderabad, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, said, "This huge burden is unacceptable as nearly half the global vision impairment could have been prevented or are yet to be addressed." Young children and older people are most vulnerable, while women, rural populations and ethnic minority groups are more likely to have vision impairment and less likely to access care, she said. The increased prevalence of vision impairment and blindness in the region

Over 33 million kids vaccinated against polio in southern Africa: WHO

More than 33 million children in several southern African countries have been vaccinated against polio, part of ongoing efforts to eradicate the infectious paralytic disease that has been largely contained in much of the world, the World Health Organization announced on Friday. About 80 million drops of the inoculation have been placed in the mouths of children across Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe since the launch of an emergency response in March last year, WHO said in a statement. Malawi detected the wild poliovirus disease in a young child in its capital, Lilongwe, in February last year the first time the strain was reported in Africa in five years. The virus spread to neighboring Mozambique, causing other countries in the region to be on alert. Africa was certified as free of indigenous wild polio in 2020, according to WHO, which says the recent strain originated from Pakistan. The South Asian country and its neighbor, Afghanistan, are the only two countries

WHO chief Ghebreyesus vows to push for answers on coronavirus origins

Solving the mystery of where the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from and how it began spreading among humans is considered vital for averting future pandemics

World Cancer Day: WHO calls for action for prevention, early detection

On World Cancer Day, World Health Organization (WHO) has called for intensified action across the Southeast Asian region to strengthen health systems to prevent and detect cancers early.

Urgently address gaps in leprosy services disrupted by Covid pandemic: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday urged countries, especially those in the South-East Asia Region, to urgently address gaps in leprosy services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The global health organisation asked these countries to accelerate efforts towards achieving the goal of zero leprosy disease, stigma and discrimination -- the vision of the WHO Global Leprosy Strategy 2021-2030. Leprosy is 100 per cent curable when detected early, yet today in addition to COVID-19-related challenges, stigma and discrimination, both institutionalised and informal, continue to impede prompt diagnosis and treatment and facilitate onward spread, said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director of WHO South-East Asia. "This has to change, she said on the eve of World Leprosy day. In 2021, 1,40,000 new leprosy cases were reported, with 95 per cent of new cases coming from the 23 global priority countries. Of these, 6 per cent were diagnosed with visible deformities or grade-2 ...

WHO calls for action to protect children from contaminated medicines

In the wake of fatalities among children linked to cough syrups and medicines made by manufacturers based in India and Indonesia, the WHO has issued an "urgent call to action to countries to detect and respond to incidents of falsified medical products and protect children from contaminated medicines. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that over the past four months, countries reported several incidents of over-the-counter cough syrups for children with confirmed or suspected contamination with high levels of diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG). The cases are from at least seven countries, associated with more than 300 fatalities in three of these countries, with most young children under the age of five. The WHO said the contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that can be fatal even in small amounts, and should never be found in medicines. WHO is releasing an urgent call to action to countries to prevent, detect and ...

WHO says it backs global health agenda of Indian presidency set at G20 meet

The Health Track of the G20 India Presidency would comprise four Health Working Group (HWG) Meetings and one Health Ministerial Meeting (HMM)

Kerala mask mandate precautionary measure, no major rise in cases: Experts

They say there is no major rise in cases, and state just following WHO guidelines

Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif kicks off nationwide polio eradication drive

The resurfacing of the cases has certainly raised concerns among the partners, including World Health Organization (WHO) and other stakeholders

WHO seeks deeper cooperation from China on origins of Covid-19 pandemic

'I appreciated the release of detailed information, which we request they continue to share'