Category: Health

Briefing journalists in Geneva, Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, insisted that the risk from mpox to the general population was “low”. He rejected comparisons between the fast-spreading viral disease which the agency declared an international public health emergency last week, and the COVID-19 pandemic, “regardless of whether it’s mpox clade 1, behind the […]

But, what is it, where did it come from and how can the world deal with the threat, which inevitably raises the spectre of pandemics past such as COVID-19 and the early spread of HIV infections? Here’s what you need to know: Mpox lesions often appear on the palms of hands. (file) What is mpox? […]

“Flying to transport food to those who need it is the most fulfilling mission I have ever done,” said UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) pilot Christine Brown about her job delivering World Food Programme (WFP) support, along with humanitarian workers, to some of Burkina Faso’s most remote, food-insecure and conflict-torn hotspots.  ”It is heartbreaking to […]

The WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called for the meeting last Wednesday to seek advice on whether the mpox – previously monkeypox – outbreaks are cause for international concern.  On Tuesday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared the situation a public health emergency. “The Emergency Committee’s advice to me, and that of […]

“Extreme heat is increasing, disrupting children’s health, well-being and daily routines,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. The study compared averages in the 1960s with the period 2020-2024, measuring the days which exceeded 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). It presents a stark warning over the speed and scale at which such days are increasing for almost half a […]

“At least two rounds of [orally delivered polio vaccine] will be necessary to shut down transmission,” the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) explained in an update. The development comes after vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 was identified on 16 July by the Global Polio Laboratory Network (GPLN) in sewage samples collected on […]

In an update, the WHO said that an outbreak of mpox was declared in Burundi on 25 July, at around the same time that Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda also confirmed their own cases.  The UN health agency noted that all of these infections – where patients’ symptoms included fever, joint pain and a widespread rash […]

In light of the situation, and the potential for further international spread within and outside Africa, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus convened an Emergency Committee to advise him on whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern. The designation is the UN agency’s highest level of alert. “The committee will meet as […]

The past two weeks have seen a variant of poliovirus type 2 detected in sewage samples in Gaza, deadly military strikes in several neighbouring countries, and the confirmation of famine in Sudan’s North Darfur state, among other challenges. Rebuild health systems WHO Regional Director Dr. Hanan Balkhy voiced grave concern over the ongoing escalation across […]

The UN health agency is also concerned that more severe variants of the coronavirus may soon be on the horizon. “COVID-19 is still very much with us,” and circulating in all countries, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove of WHO told journalists in Geneva. Testing positive “Data from our sentinel-based surveillance system across 84 countries reports that the percent […]