Tag: health
Gaza health workers pushed to the limit amid airstrike ‘carnage’
World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Teams coordinator Sean Casey said that “100-plus patients” had been brought into Al-Aqsa Hospital on Monday in the space of 30 minutes, following reported blasts, including near Al-Maghazi refugee camp. All of them needed urgent treatment for serious wounds, the WHO official told UN News, while “about 100” more…
Read MoreDengue spike fuels concerns of public health threat in previously untouched countries: WHO
The warning came as WHO reported more than five million dengue infections and 5,000 deaths from the disease worldwide this year. Briefing journalists at the UN in Geneva, Dr. Diana Rojas Alvarez, WHO Team Lead on Arboviruses, said that the threat required “the maximal attention and response from all levels” of the UN health agency…
Read MoreWorld News in Brief: Russia’s LGBT ban condemned, unprecedented Africa malnutrition crisis, health after childbirth
This, in effect, bans all public LGBT activities and organisations within the country. The nine UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts said the ruling “significantly distances” Russia from its obligations under international law to promote and protect human rights for all. The experts sent an official letter to the Russian Government on Monday, outlining their urgent…
Read MoreCOP28: The climate crisis is also a health crisis
Our planet has logged higher mean temperatures each year, with 2023 set to be the hottest on record. Ice sheets are melting at an unprecedented rate. Wildfires have made the air hazardous in some regions, while in others, floods regularly threaten to contaminate drinking water. Against this backdrop, more and more people are being affected…
Read MoreTackling health impacts of climate change and scaling up digital climate action in the spotlight at COP28
Ahead of the first ever ‘Health Day’ at a UN climate conference, delegates signed onto a new declaration on climate and health and separately considered the role of digital technology can play in climate action. The UN World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the new declaration, which aims to help accelerate actions to protect people from…
Read MoreWorld News in Brief: Delivering on health at COP28, aid for north Darfur, food standards watchdog turns 60
That’s the message from UN health agency WHO, which said on Monday that negotiators at the upcoming meeting must recognize their responsibility “for the health of populations worldwide”. “Leaders must deliver in Dubai, providing the strong health outcomes their peoples expect and their economies urgently need,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. According to the…
Read MoreUN agencies urge action to safeguard maternal, child health amidst climate crisis
In Protecting maternal, newborn and child health from the impacts of climate change, the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) jointly underscore the neglect, underreporting, and underestimation of climate events’ effects on maternal and child health. It also draws attention to the importance of integrating maternal or child…
Read MoreBesieged Gaza hospital misery continues while rainfall prompts new health scare
“Rain will just add further to the suffering” of people in the Strip, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris told reporters in Geneva, at a time when disruptions in sewage pumping and water shortages have caused a spike in waterborne diseases and bacterial infections. The World Health Organization warned last week that since mid-October, over 33,500 cases of…
Read MoreWorld News in Brief: Protection call for refugees in Pakistan, ‘One Health’ plan launched, radio waves saving lives
According to news reports, Pakistani security forces began detaining and deporting dozens of Afghans under the new policy this week after a Government deadline for them to leave ran out. The majority of undocumented refugees who have settled in Pakistan over decades are from neighbouring Afghanistan, and following the Taliban takeover, thousands more fled seeking…
Read MoreFirst Person: Israel’s health system responds to October attacks
Dr. Thieren spent almost two weeks travelling across the country to meet with survivors, authorities and families of more than 200 hostages held captive in Gaza. WHO offered humanitarian support to Israel’s health response immediately after the attacks. At the time, Israel’s Health Ministry replied that the system was coping, but that it would not…
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