An interactive data tool launched by WHO reveals for the first time the current and future financial cost of health care for women living with conditions caused by female genital mutilation (FGM). The total costs amount to USD 1.4 billion annually. The FGM Cost Calculator is being launched on this year’s International Day of Zero Tolerance…
Co-sponsored by 20 Member States and the EU, the draft resolution for the Seventy-Third World Health Assembly (WHA) was presented on 5 February, 2020, at EB146. The proposal followed Executive Board Members’ review of the Director-General’s report. The proposed resolution recommends that the World Health Assembly adopt the global strategy to accelerate the elimination of cervical…
Globally, there are 1.1 billion adult smokers, 60% of them want or intend to quit. Much has been written and said about the potential of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) such as e-cigarettes to help tobacco users quit. While the evidence is still inconclusive, e-cigarettes are often used along with one or more tobacco products.…
Vaccination, screening, treatment and palliative care are the key interventions of WHO’s Draft Global Strategy towards the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem, the fourth most common cancer in women. On World Cancer Day, new estimates show that this strategy could save more than 62 million girls and women from a cervical…
The World Health Organization (WHO) today spells out the need to step up cancer services in low and middle-income countries. WHO warns that, if current trends continue, the world will see a 60% increase in cancer cases over the next two decades. The greatest increase (an estimated 81%) in new cases will occur in low-…
Geneva: France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian, and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO today met at the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations in Geneva to discuss the WHO Academy, which will be the world’s largest and most innovative lifelong learning platform in global health. The…
WHO has declared 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife to mark the bicentenary of the birth of the founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale and to recognize the critical contribution both professions make to global health. May is a key moment to catalyse high-level dialogue and collaborative engagements for moving…
In response to calls for action, WHO has provided guidelines, physical standards, training and technical support to improve blood product quality, safety and availability in WHO regions and in countries. Despite these actions, progress in blood availability and safety under effective regulation has been slow in many parts of the world. For that reason, the…
In a new position paper, published in the Weekly Epidemiological Record today, WHO recommends vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis in people of all ages where the disease is highly endemic. Where the prevaccination incidence of the disease is moderate or low or is limited to particular geographical locations or certain outdoor activities, immunization should target individuals…
As climate and commercial threats intensify, WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission presses for radical rethink on child health No single country is adequately protecting children’s health, their environment and their futures, finds a landmark report released today by a Commission of over 40 child and adolescent health experts from around the world. The Commission was convened by the…