West Africa Doctors Network News Portal

17 July 2008 -- More than 2.5 billion people do not have have access to improved sanitation facilities that hygienically separate human waste from the environment. Nearly half of them practise open defecation, says a new report issued today by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation.

11 July 2008 -- Worsening malnutrition and the threat of disease outbreaks are compounding Ethiopia's humanitarian crisis. WHO is working with the Government of Ethiopia and health partners to support the 4.6 million people needing urgent emergency food relief nationwide.

11 July 2008 -- WHO completed a two-day emergency radiation exercise today. This test involved a simulated accident at the Laguna Verde nuclear power plant in Mexico. It was coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), together with 74 of its Member States and 9 international organizations.

Marburg haemorrhagic fever

8 July 2008 -- The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes the agreement announced today in Japan by G8 leaders and their commitment to full, annual measurements of progress in meeting their pledges to improve global health.

30 June 2008 -- People in low-resource countries who are ill with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) will get a faster diagnosis thanks to two new initiatives unveiled today by WHO, the Stop TB Partnership, UNITAID and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND). Test results will be available in two days, compared to the standard two to three months later.

25 June 2008 -- With major surgery now occurring at a rate of 234 million procedures per year - one for every 25 people - and studies indicating that a significant percentage result in preventable complications and deaths, WHO today launched a new safety checklist for surgical teams to use in operating theatres, as part of a major drive to make surgery safer around the world.

Lead intoxication

Avian influenza

Poliomyelitis

13 June 2008 -- China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have made impressive strides in tackling the risk of contamination from unsafe blood by reaching close to 100% voluntary blood donation, said WHO today.

13 June 2008 -- WHO and other UN agencies will tomorrow make the first high-level visit to Abyei in Sudan since last weekend's peace accord. The mission is to plan for the reconstruction of health facilities and other vital infrastructure in the town.

9 June 2008 -- Heads of governments, public health and business leaders, heads of UN agencies and activists came together at UN Headquarters today to confront a threat to global health that could undermine investments in life-saving drug treatment for people living with HIV.

2 June 2008 -- Nearly 3 million people are now receiving anti-retroviral therapy in low- and middle-income countries, according to a new report jointly launched today by WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF.

30 May 2008 - WHO today urged governments to protect the world’s 1.8 billion young people by imposing a ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

30 May 2008 -- WHO and its partners in Myanmar have launched a six-month action plan at the cost of US$ 28 million to provide immediate health care for cyclone survivors and to support longer-term efforts to rebuild the country’s ravaged health system.

Avian influenza

24 May 2008 -- The 61st World Health Assembly, which comprised of a record 2704 participants from 190 nations, today set WHO on a course to tackle longstanding, new and looming threats to global public health.

Enterovirus

Yellow fever