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Health

WHO statement: Tobacco use and COVID-19

Tobacco kills more than 8 million people globally every year. More than 7 million of these deaths are from direct tobacco use and around 1.2 million are due to non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. Tobacco smoking is a known risk factor for many respiratory infections and increases the severity of respiratory diseases. A review of studies by public health experts convened by WHO on 29 April 2020 found that smokers are more likely to develop severe disease with COVID-19, compared to non-smokers. COVID-19 is an infectious disease that primarily attacks the lungs. Smoking impairs lung f

WHO: People living longer and healthier lives but COVID-19 threatens to throw progress off track

All over the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant loss of life, disrupting livelihoods, and threatening the recent advances in health and progress towards global development goals highlighted in the 2020 World Health Statistics published by the World Health Organization (WHO) today. “The good news is that people around the world are living longer and healthier lives. The bad news is the rate of progress is too slow to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and will be further thrown off track by COVID-19,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The pandemic h

WHO and Costa Rica preview technology pooling initiative to ensure access to COVID-19 health products for all

Geneva, 15 May 2020 – Presidents Carlos Alvarado Quesada of Costa Rica and Sebastián Piñera of Chile joined WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus today to announce progress on a technology platform that aims to lift access barriers to effective vaccines, medicines and other health products against COVID-19. Costa Rica proposed the idea at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak and several countries are now backing the proposal. “Our proposal relies on solidarity,” said President Alvarado of Costa Rica. “It’s a Solidarity call to action to Member States, to academia, to companies,

WHO and UNHCR join forces to improve health services for refugees, displaced and stateless people

The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency today signed a new agreement to strengthen and advance public health services for the millions of forcibly displaced people around the world. The agreement updates and expands an existing 1997 agreement between the two organizations. A key aim this year will be to support ongoing efforts to protect some 70 million forcibly displaced people from COVID-19. Around 26 million of these are refugees, 80 per cent of whom are sheltered in low and middle-income countries with weak health systems. Another 40 million internally displace

Smithsonian Science Education Center With Support of the World Health Organization Launches New COVID-19 Guide for Youth

The Smithsonian Science Education Center, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)—a partnership of 140 national academies of science, engineering and medicine—has developed “COVID-19! How can I protect myself and others?,” a new rapid-response guide for youth ages 8–17. The guide, which is based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, aims to help young people understand the science and social science of COVID-19 as well as help them take actions to keep themselves, their families and communities safe. Through a set of seven cohesive st

At least 80 million children under one at risk of diseases such as diphtheria, measles and polio as COVID-19 disrupts routine vaccination efforts, warn Gavi, WHO and UNICEF

COVID 19 is disrupting life-saving immunization services around the world, putting millions of children – in rich and poor countries alike – at risk of diseases like diphtheria, measles and polio. This stark warning comes from the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance ahead of the Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June, at which world leaders will come together to help maintain immunization programmes and mitigate the impact of the pandemic in lower-income countries. According to data collected by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Gavi and the Sabin Vaccine Institute,

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Stop tobacco industry exploitation of children and young people

The World Health Organization is today launching a new kit for school students aged 13-17 to alert them to the tobacco industry tactics used to hook them to addictive products. Every year the tobacco industry invests more than USD 9 billion to advertise its products. Increasingly, it is targeting young people with nicotine and tobacco products in a bid to replace the 8 million people that its products kill every year. This year’s WHO’s World No Tobacco Day campaign focuses on protecting children and young people from exploitation by the tobacco and related industry. The toolkit has a set of cl

Statement from Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme at the Yemen High-level Pledging Conference

(Thank you Mark, Shukran Dr. Al Rabeeah) I am speaking today on behalf of WHO Director-General Dr Tedros, and of Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, salam aleikum, As we all know, Yemen is the most complex humanitarian operation in the world. Indeed, when Dr Al-Mandhari - who is also participating in this event - visited Yemen last year, he saw parents who were desperate to find help for their sick children; an elderly man die before his eyes as doctors tried to save him, and he met the so

World Food Safety Day 2020: UN experts in Facebook live event on 5 June 2020

On 7 June 2020, the United Nations will mark the second global World Food Safety Day, led by two of its specialized agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Food safety is a shared responsibility, and everyone has a role to play including governments, industry, producers, business operators and consumers. This is reflected in the theme of the day ‘Food safety: everyone’s business!’ FAO and WHO are supporting their Members in efforts to provide enough safe food for all and to enable people to trust that what they eat is

A cluster of COVID-19 in Beijing, People’s Republic of China

WHO is following up with Chinese authorities about a cluster of COVID-19 cases in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Today, officials from the National Health Commission and Beijing Health Commission briefed WHO’s China country office, to share details of preliminary investigations ongoing in Beijing. As of 13 June, 41 symptomatic laboratory confirmed cases and 46 laboratory confirmed cases without symptoms of COVID-19 have been identified in Beijing. The first identified case had symptom onset on 9 June, and was confirmed on 11 June. Several of the initial cases were identified through six

WHO welcomes preliminary results about dexamethasone use in treating critically ill COVID-19 patients

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomes the initial clinical trial results from the United Kingdom (UK) that show dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, can be lifesaving for patients who are critically ill with COVID-19. For patients on ventilators, the treatment was shown to reduce mortality by about one third, and for patients requiring only oxygen, mortality was cut by about one fifth, according to preliminary findings shared with WHO. The benefit was only seen in patients seriously ill with COVID-19, and was not observed in patients with milder disease. “This is the first treatment to be s

Countries failing to prevent violence against children, agencies warn

Half of the world’s children, or approximately 1 billion children each year are affected by physical, sexual or psychological violence, suffering injuries, disabilities and death, because countries have failed to follow established strategies to protect them. This is according to a new report published today by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, UNESCO, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children and the End Violence Partnership. “There is never any excuse for violence against children," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Direc

The World Health Organization reminds public to remain vigilant through Mr Bean’s Essential COVID-19 Checklist

Public Service Announcement reminds people about the importance of washing hands, physical distancing and showing kindness The World Health Organization (WHO), Project Everyone and Tiger Aspect Productions have partnered to launch a Public Service Announcement (PSA) using global comedy cartoon star, Mr Bean. With cases of COVID-19 continuing to rise globally, “Mr Bean’s Essential COVID-19 Checklist” is a reminder to people about the importance of washing hands, physical distancing and demonstrating kindness to their neighbours. The PSA features a cartoon sketch of Mr Bean comically tackling a

IOC joins forces with WHO and the United Nations to fight COVID-19

The International Olympic Committee and WHO together with the United Nations launch a partnership to encourage individuals and communities around the world to be #HEALTHYTogether. The three partners and Olympic athletes will spotlight the global collaboration needed to stay healthy and reduce the spread and impact of COVID-19.

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ACT-Accelerator update

The tools developed will benefit the whole world, and by saving lives and reducing severe COVID-19 disease, contribute to the goal of protecting health systems and restoring full societal and economic activity globally in the near term, and facilitating high-level control of COVID-19 disease in the medium term. The consolidated investment case calls for US$31.3 billion over the next 12 months[1]. US$3.4 billion has been contributed to date, resulting in a funding gap of US$27.9 billion, of which $13.7 billion is urgently needed. Pillar plans published today show a path to the accelerated devel

Listings of WHO’s response to COVID-19

WHO provides this timeline of the organization’s COVID-19 response activities for general information. WHO will update the timeline on a regular basis and in light of evolving events and new information. Unless noted otherwise, country-specific information and data are as reported to WHO by its Member States. This timeline continues in the spirit of, and supersedes, the WHO Rolling Updates and the WHO Timeline statement published in April 2020. It is not intended to be exhaustive and does not contain details of every event or WHO activity. As of 29 June 2020, the following milestones and event

WHO discontinues hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir treatment arms for COVID-19

WHO today accepted the recommendation from the Solidarity Trial’s International Steering Committee to discontinue the trial’s hydroxychloroquine and lopinavir/ritonavir arms. The Solidarity Trial was established by WHO to find an effective COVID-19 treatment for hospitalized patients. The International Steering Committee formulated the recommendation in light of the evidence for hydroxychloroquine vs standard-of-care and for lopinavir/ritonavir vs standard-of-care from the Solidarity trial interim results, and from a review of the evidence from all trials presented at the 1-2 July WHO Summit o

Natural compound could fight rheumatoid arthritis at its source

A natural compound extracted from a medicinal plant has shown surprising promise against rheumatoid arthritis. In rats, it reduced joint swelling, protected cartilage, and calmed the immune responses responsible for chronic inflammation. Scientists discovered that the compound works by targeting a specific protein and restoring balance to fatty acid metabolism, revealing a previously underexplored way to fight the disease.