Would you like to take a ride on a driverless bus? This will be possible in five European cities between April and October 2020, where autonomous buses will be tested in real-life traffic conditions. Three international consortia have been awarded with contracts for the final phase of the pre-commercial procurement under the EU-funded FABULOS project.…
Scientists from the RIKEN, in collaboration with international partners, have succeeded in creating an ultrathin organic solar cell that is both highly efficient and durable. Using a simple post-annealing process, they created a flexible organic cell that degrades by less than 5 percent over 3,000 hours in atmospheric conditions and that simultaneously has an energy…
The 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action remains the world’s most progressive blueprint for advancing gender equality worldwide. Twenty-five years after it was affirmed by 189 countries, what progress has been made in raising this blueprint off the page? On International Women’s Day the World Health Organization, United Nations University – International Institute for…
The World Health Organization’s new action plan to speed up universal access to safe blood and blood products pulls together existing recommendations and recommends new improved ways of working. It’s the start of a four-year collaborative effort to improve blood transfusion and blood-based therapies in all countries. Safe blood saves lives in all sorts of…
The World Health Organization has launched a new easy-to-access, digital version of its Model list of Essential Medicines (EML). The move will revolutionize the way this core WHO reference tool is used. More than 150 countries currently use the WHO list to work out which medicines best meet their national health contexts and priorities, so they…
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…
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…
Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding in an Ebola outbreak face similar challenges as other population groups, but they have specific health needs which must be met. As the second largest Ebola outbreak in history continues in the Democratic Republic of Congo, WHO has released new clinical guidelines for healthcare providers supporting pregnant or breastfeeding…
Female genital mutilation (FGM) exacts a crippling economic as well as human cost, according to World Health Organization (WHO). “FGM is not only a catastrophic abuse of human rights that significantly harms the physical and mental health of millions of girls and women; it is also a drain on a country’s vital economic resources,” said…
The key to preventing obesity in future generations is to make their parents healthier before they conceive, leading health researchers suggest. In a series of papers, published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, the researchers say that the time before couples conceive represents a missed opportunity to prevent the transmission of obesity risk from one…