WHO reports 71 per cent rise in cholera deaths last year

Over 4000 people died from the disease last year, a 71 per cent increase compared to 2022. The number of reported cases also increased by 13 per cent. Cholera is an acute intestinal infection spread through contaminated food and water. While it is preventable and easily treatable, communities with limited access to sanitation are most affected.  […]

Continue Reading

Gaza: Disease and war stalk children, despite vaccine success

It’s been nearly 11 months since war erupted in the enclave following Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel. Today more than nine in 10 people have been forcibly displaced by the fighting, leaving them vulnerable to hunger, malnutrition and sickness. “So far, we’ve been able to vaccinate 187,000 children and as we’ve been tent to tent […]

Continue Reading

‘Major milestone’ immunization campaign begins in DPR Korea

“This campaign is a major milestone in our drive to vaccinate every child in the DPRK and protect them from common childhood diseases,” said UNICEF’s Acting Representative for the country – more commonly known as North Korea – Roland Kupka. “This is the first step in restoring routine immunization and closing the gap that has […]

Continue Reading

Gaza: UN humanitarians ahead of polio vaccination target

“We think that we will need another day tomorrow to actually wrap-up the central zone completely,” said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Speaking from Gaza, he explained that day three of the campaign was continuing during the eight-hour daily pauses agreed by the Israeli military and Hamas fighters. Each […]

Continue Reading

Between fear and hope, Gazans parents line up in their thousands to protect their children from polio

Wael al-Haj Mohammed’s daughter is a child of war. Born the day after the outbreak of the  conflict in Gaza between Hamas and Israel forces that began last October, Mr. Mohammed has struggled to get medical care. She is one of the thousands of children benefiting from the mass polio vaccination campaign, which began on […]

Continue Reading

UN officials repeat calls for peace as Gaza polio vaccinations gets underway

Hundreds of Gazan families have been queueing to await the turn of their child to receive a polio vaccination since early Sunday morning, in a campaign designed to stop the resurgence of a virus whose re-emergence has been blamed on insanitary conditions. Speaking to international media on Sunday, Sam Rose, a spokesperson for UNRWA, the […]

Continue Reading

Humanitarian pauses in Gaza pave way for polio vaccinations

WHO Representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, said that the two-round vaccination campaign is due to begin this Sunday in central Gaza for three days, then move to the southern and northern areas. A second dose will be administered after four weeks. “During each round of the campaign, the Palestinian Ministry […]

Continue Reading

Level of unprotected teenage sex ‘worryingly high’, WHO finds

This is putting young people at greater risk of sexually transmitted infections, unsafe abortions and unplanned pregnancies. The new data was published as part of the multi-part Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study, which surveyed over 242,000 15-year-olds across 42 countries in Europe, central Asia, and Canada from 2014 to 2022. ‘Pervasive’ decrease in condom use […]

Continue Reading

Nigeria becomes first in Africa to receive mpox vaccines: WHO

On 14 August 2024, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the rise of mpox, formerly monkeypox, a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Following his announcement, the chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was working with partners to facilitate equitable access to vaccines. The United States government has donated the Jynneos […]

Continue Reading

UN upholds safety and efficacy of Gaza polio vaccine

Dire conditions brought on by the war have caused the disease to resurface after more than two decades.  Last week, a case was confirmed in a 10-month-old. Countering vaccine misinformation  During his daily media briefing from New York on Tuesday, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric noted that there had been misinformation surrounding the vaccine. “I want […]

Continue Reading