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May312022 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

First-ever global coverage targets for diabetes

NCDs

GHealth News - For the first time ever, WHO Member States have supported the creation of global targets for diabetes, as part of recommendations to strengthen and monitor diabetes responses within national noncommunicable disease (NCD) programmes. The five new targets set the standard that, by 2030: 80% of people living with diabetes are diagnosed80% have good control of glycaemia80% of people with diagnosed diabetes have good control of blood pressure60% of people with diabetes of 40 years or older receive statins100% of people with type 1 diabetes have access to affordable insulin and blood glucose self-monitoring. The aim is to reduce the risk of diabetes, and move towards a world where all people who are diagnosed with diabetes have access to equitable,...

May312022 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Watching less TV could cut heart disease, study finds

NCDs

By: Nicola Davis More than one in 10 cases of coronary heart disease could be prevented if people reduced their TV viewing to less than an hour a day, research suggests. Coronary heart disease occurs when fatty material builds up inside the coronary arteries causing them to narrow, reducing the heart’s blood supply. Researchers say cutting down on time spent in front of the TV could lower the risk of developing the disease. “Reducing time spent watching TV should be recognised as a key behavioural target for prevention of coronary heart disease, irrespective of genetic susceptibility and traditional risk markers,” said Dr Youngwon Kim, an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong and an author of the research. While the team did not look at what was behind the asso...

May312022 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Awards for outstanding contributions to public health – World Health Assembly

Global Health

GHealth News - During a moving ceremony at the Seventy-fifth World Health Assembly in Geneva, awards were presented to a group of individuals from around the world for their outstanding contributions to public health. Opening the award ceremony, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said: ”The 2022 public health prizes and awards celebrate people and institutions for successfully addressing a huge array of health challenges around the world. It is an honour for us to come together to acknowledge these true champions of health. I thank the foundations and institutions who so generally support these awards.” Many of the prizes awarded have been established by, or set up in memory of, an eminent public health professional. The call for nomi...

May302022 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Monkeypox outbreak reaches 257 confirmed cases worldwide, WHO says

Communicable Diseases

Highly magnified electron micrographic image shows a mulberry-type monkeypox virus particle GHealth News - The World Health Organization has received reports of 257 confirmed monkeypox cases and about 120 suspected cases in 23 nations where the virus is not endemic as of Thursday, it said in a Sunday update. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 12 cases in eight states as of Friday afternoon. In five African countries where monkeypox is commonly found, the WHO said it has received reports of 1,365 cases and 69 deaths due to the virus. These illnesses were reported in various periods ranging from mid-December to late May. No deaths have been reported in nonendemic countries. "Since 2017, the few deaths of persons with monkeypo...

May232022 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

WHO DG announces Global Health Leaders Awards

Global Health

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) GHealth News - The WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has announced six awards to recognize outstanding contributions to advancing global health, demonstrated leadership and commitment to regional health issues. Dr Tedros himself decides on the awardees for the World Health Organization Director-General’s Global Health Leaders Awards. The ceremony for the awards, which were established in 2019, was part of the live-streamed high-level opening session of the 75th World Health Assembly. “At a time when the world is facing an unprecedented convergence of inequity, conflict, food insecurity, the climate crisis and a pandemic, this award recognizes those who have made an outst...

May212022 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Monkeypox: 80 cases confirmed in 12 countries

Communicable Diseases

GHealth News - More than 80 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in at least 12 countries. The World Health Organization has said another 50 suspected cases are being investigated - without naming any countries - and warned that more cases are likely to be reported. Infections have been confirmed in nine European countries, as well as the US, Canada and Australia. Monkeypox is most common in remote parts of Central and West Africa. It is a rare viral infection which is usually mild and from which most people recover in a few weeks, according to the UK's National Health Service. The virus does not spread easily between people and the risk to the wider public is said to be very low. There is no specific vaccine for monkeypox, but a smallpox jab offers 85% protect...

May192022 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

WHO Results Report shows global health achievements despite COVID-19 pandemic

Global Health

Brazilian 99-year-old former WWII combatant Ermando Armelino Piveta gestures as he leaves the Armed Forces Hospital after being treated for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and discharged, in Brasilia, Brazil. REUTERS GHealth News - Despite the the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization’s 2020-2021 Results Report tracks WHO’s significant achievements across the global health spectrum. Released ahead of the World Health Assembly next week, the report details such accomplishments as the delivery of more than 1.4 billion vaccine doses via the COVAX facility, the recommendation for broad use of the world’s first malaria vaccine and WHO’s response to some 87 health emergencies, including COVID-19. During 2020-2021, WHO led the largest-ever global response to a health crisis, w...

May152022 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Climate change: ‘Fifty-fifty chance’ of breaching 1.5C warming limit

Climate Change

By Matt McGrath Rising temperatures are linked to more extreme weather events such as these floods in China UK Met Office researchers say that there's now around a fifty-fifty chance that the world will warm by more than 1.5C over the next five years. Such a rise would be temporary, but researchers are concerned about the overall direction of temperatures. It's almost certain that 2022-2026 will see a record warmest year, they say. The Met Office is the UK's national meteorological service. As levels of warming gases in the atmosphere have accrued rapidly over the past three decades, global temperatures have responded by rising in step. In 2015, the world's average temperature first went 1C above the pre-industrial levels, which are generally thought of as the temperat...

May102022 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

WHO launches first ever global report on infection prevention and control

Global Health

GHealth News - The COVID-19 pandemic and other recent large disease outbreaks have highlighted the extent to which health care settings can contribute to the spread of infections, harming patients, health workers and visitors, if insufficient attention is paid to infection prevention and control (IPC). But a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that where good hand hygiene and other cost-effective practices are followed, 70% of those infections can be prevented. Today, out of every 100 patients in acute-care hospitals, seven patients in high-income countries and 15 patients in low- and middle-income countries will acquire at least one health care-associated infection (HAI) during their hospital stay. On average, 1 in every 10 affected patients will die from their H...

May22022 by GHealth NewsNo Comments

Bill Gates calls for task force to monitor future pandemic outbreaks

Global Health

GHealth News - Bill Gates has outlined proposals for a new global pandemic surveillance unit, claiming the World Health Organization currently has "less than 10 full-time people" on the lookout for deadly new viruses. The Microsoft cofounder was pushing countries to take the threat of a global pandemic more seriously long before COVID-19 arrived, warning viewers of a 2015 TED Talk the world was "not ready" for a deadly outbreak. Speaking to the FT ahead of the release of his upcoming book, "How to Prevent the Next Pandemic", Gates said his proposed "Global Epidemic Response and Mobilization" initiative should fall under the WHO's management. The billionaire philanthropist suggested the task force be put together to monitor global hea...