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Posted: February 3rd, 2012, 4:00am CST
3 February 2012 -- Current WHO guidelines call on health service providers to remind patients, that neither hormonal contraceptives nor intrauterine devices known as IUDs offer protection against HIV or other sexually transmitted infections. Protection against both unwanted pregnancy and STIs including HIV is called "dual protection" and condoms are the mainstay of dual protection.
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Posted: January 18th, 2012, 6:00am CST
18 January 2012 -- Dr Margaret Chan was nominated today by the WHOs Executive Board for a second term as Director-General of the Organization. If confirmed by the World Health Assembly, Dr Chan's new term will begin on 1 July 2012 and continue until 30 June 2017.
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Posted: January 17th, 2012, 11:00am CST
17 January 2012 -- Dr Ala Alwan will take up his appointment as the Regional Director of WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region (WHO/EMRO) for a five-year term starting on 1 February 2012.
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Posted: January 11th, 2012, 6:59pm CST
12 January 2012 -- India appears to have completed one year without polio since its last case on 13 January 2011. This is a momentous achievement because India was once recognized as the world’s epicentre of polio. However, there remains no room for complacency. India must maintain surveillance and high childhood immunity against wild poliovirus until eradication is achieved globally.
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Posted: January 6th, 2012, 4:00am CST
6 January 2012 -- Six Gulf States detail how they plan to tackle noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) during the coming years. The regional strategy by Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates lays out details on setting targets and measuring results, advancing multisectoral action, and strengthening national capacity to combat NCDs.
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Posted: December 30th, 2011, 4:00am CST
30 December 2011 -- WHO takes note that studies undertaken by several institutions on whether changes in the H5N1 influenza virus can make it more transmissible between humans have raised concern about the possible risks and misuses associated with this research. WHO is also deeply concerned about the potential negative consequences. However, WHO also notes that studies conducted under appropriate conditions must continue to take place so that critical scientific knowledge needed to reduce the risks posed by the H5N1 virus continues to increase.
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Posted: December 14th, 2011, 6:59pm CST
15 December 2011 -- About 358 000 women still die each year during pregnancy and childbirth; 7.6 million children die before the age of 5 annually. A new global consensus has agreed on the key evidence-based interventions that will sharply reduce these numbers. The study, Essential interventions, commodities and guidelines for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, is designed to facilitate decision-making in low- and middle-income countries about how to allocate limited resources for maximum impact on the health of women and children.
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Posted: December 12th, 2011, 6:59pm CST
13 December 2011 -- Malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25% globally since 2000 according to the World malaria report 2011, issued today. This is the result of a significant scaling-up of malaria prevention and control measures in the last decade, including the widespread use of bed nets, better diagnostics and a wider availability of effective medicines to treat malaria.
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Posted: November 29th, 2011, 6:59pm CST
30 November 2011 -- The Report on the global HIV/AIDS response shows that increased access to HIV services resulted in a 15% reduction of new infections over the past decade and a 22% decline in AIDS-related deaths in the last five years. While there is still much to be done, 2011 was a game changing year, in terms of current progress and innovations creating hope for substantial future advances.
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Posted: November 21st, 2011, 4:00am CST
21 November 2011 -- Only one candidate has been proposed for the election of WHO Director-General. The candidate is Dr Margaret Chan, the current Director-General, whose name has been submitted by China.
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Posted: November 4th, 2011, 5:00am CDT
4 November 2011 -- The Executive Board of WHO ended a three-day special session with Member States expressing strong support for WHO's work. Agreement was reached on broad proposals for reform, which aim to better position WHO to improve health outcomes.
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Posted: October 19th, 2011, 5:00am CDT
19 October 2011 -- Life expectancy gap between countries is 36 years and there is ample evidence that a person's health status is largely determined by his/her socio-economic position. Governments will be discussing necessary steps to tackle the root causes of health inequities.
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Posted: October 10th, 2011, 7:59pm CDT
11 October 2011 -- For the first time the number of people falling ill with tuberculosis (TB) is declining. A new WHO report also shows that the number of people dying from the disease fell to its lowest level in a decade. Yet, current progress is at risk from underfunding, especially efforts to combat drug-resistant TB.
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Posted: October 7th, 2011, 12:00pm CDT
7 October 2011 -- One in four people will require mental health care at some point in their lives but in many countries only two per cent of all health sector resources are invested in mental health services.
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Posted: September 25th, 2011, 7:59pm CDT
26 September 2011 -- Air pollution is reaching levels that threaten people's health according to air quality data released today by WHO. The information includes data from nearly 1100 cities across 91 countries, including capital cities and cities with more than 100 000 residents.
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Posted: September 19th, 2011, 12:00pm CDT
19 September 2011 -- WHO welcomes the UN General Assembly's adoption of a political declaration on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, chronic respiratory disease and cancer). For the first time, global leaders have reached consensus in the General Assembly on concrete actions to tackle these diseases.
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Posted: September 17th, 2011, 7:59pm CDT
18 September 2011 -- Noncommunicable diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, killing more people every year. Nearly 80% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. But a new WHO study reveals that low-income countries could introduce strategies to prevent and treat cancer, heart disease, diabetes and lung disease for just US$ 1.20 per person per year.
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Posted: September 14th, 2011, 7:59pm CDT
15 September 2011 -- The number of children under five years of age dying each year declined from more than 12 million in 1990 to 7.6 million in 2010, UNICEF and WHO said today, releasing the latest estimates on worldwide child mortality.
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Posted: September 13th, 2011, 7:01pm CDT
14 September 2011 -- More than nine million of all deaths attributed to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) occur before the age of 60; 90% of these "premature" deaths occurred in low and middle income countries. A new WHO report features information on the NCDs situation in 193 countries, as global leaders prepare to meet at the United Nations high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases in New York, 19-20 September 2011.
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Posted: September 9th, 2011, 1:00pm CDT
9 Spetmeber 2011 -- Today, WHO acknowledges the generous commitment by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to donate 400 million more deworming tablets - albendazole - a year over the next five years to help children in deprived communities. This donation comes on top of the 600 million tablets of albendazole already being used in the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis.
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Posted: August 30th, 2011, 3:00am CDT
30 August 2011 -- Newborn deaths decreased from 4.6 million in 1990 to 3.3 million in 2009, shows a new study published in the medical journal PLoS Medicine today. Most of these newborns are dying of three causes - preterm delivery, asphyxia and infections - for which well-documented cost-effective interventions exist.
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Posted: August 16th, 2011, 3:00am CDT
16 August 2011 -- Humanitarian emergencies - like earthquakes, extreme drought, or war - not only affect people’s physical health but also their psychological and social health and well-being. A new guide makes sure that best practices are consistently applied in humanitarian settings to improve the mental health of disaster affected populations.
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Posted: August 10th, 2011, 4:00am CDT
10 August 2011 -- A new e-library for nutrition provides guidance on life-saving nutrition interventions, and assists governments and health-care providers to scale up action against malnutrition.
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Posted: July 21st, 2011, 4:00am CDT
21 July 2011 -- Sir Liam Donaldson has been named WHO Envoy for Patient Safety. Sir Liam will mobilize political support for WHO Patient Safety with health leaders around the world and with major donors, philanthropic organizations and governments for priority activities addressing patient safety issues at national and international levels.
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Posted: July 20th, 2011, 4:00am CDT
20 July 2011 -- A 12 month of rigorous analysis reveals that a blood test for diagnosing active TB disease is a bad practice. The inaccurate test can result in some people unknowing transmitting the disease to others or even death from untreated tuberculosis while other people can undergo unnecessary treatment.
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Posted: July 7th, 2011, 4:00am CDT
7 July 2011 -- Over one billion people in 19 countries are covered by laws requiring large, graphic health warnings on packages of tobacco. Requiring such health warnings is among the six tobacco demand-reduction measures recommended by WHO.
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Posted: June 21st, 2011, 4:00am CDT
21 June 2011 -- Men who have sex with men and transgender people everywhere face huge difficulties in accessing HIV services. New guidelines from WHO present evidence for effective prevention interventions for these populations and provide recommendations to help ensure that pervasive barriers like stigma and criminalization no longer stand in the way of accessing services.
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Posted: June 20th, 2011, 7:00am CDT
20 June 2011 -- The first State of the World's Midwifery report released today confirms the critical role midwives play in improving maternal and newborn health and survival. It highlights the shortage of skilled midwives in many low-income countries, stressing the need to train and deploy more midwives in all parts of a country - especially remote and rural areas.
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Posted: June 17th, 2011, 4:00am CDT
17 June 2011 -- WHO's the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases has been given the 2011 Gates Award for Global Health.
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Posted: June 14th, 2011, 4:00am CDT
14 June 2011 -- The number of countries collecting all their blood supplies from voluntary unpaid donors increased by more than 50% between 2002 and 2008, according to new global data from WHO, released on World Blood Donor Day, 14 June.
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Posted: June 8th, 2011, 8:50pm CDT
09 June 2011 -- The first-ever World report on disability provides the first global estimates of persons with disabilities and an overview of the status of disability in the world. It shows that almost one-fifth of of persons living with disabilities, or between 110-190 million, encounter significant difficulties. The report stresses that few countries have adequate mechanisms in place to respond to the needs of people with disabilities.
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Posted: June 3rd, 2011, 6:00am CDT
03 June, 2011 -- Acclaimed Chinese vocal artist, Ms Peng Liyuan, was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS today, by the WHO's Director-General Margaret Chan
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Posted: June 3rd, 2011, 5:56am CDT
03 June 2011 -- New estimates reveal the largest-ever annual increase in the number of people newly accessing HIV treatment. An estimated 6.6 million people were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS at the end of 2010. This is an important milestone in the public health response to HIV.
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Posted: May 30th, 2011, 4:00am CDT
30 May 2011 -- This year, the tobacco epidemic will kill nearly 6 million people, including some 600 000 nonsmokers who will die from exposure to tobacco smoke. By 2030, it could kill 8 million. On World No Tobacco Day (31 May), WHO celebrates the successes of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in the fight against the epidemic of tobacco use.
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Posted: May 24th, 2011, 4:00am CDT
24 May 2011 -- The Sixty-fourth World Health Assembly concluded on Tuesday afternoon. The Assembly spent eight days working through a broad agenda. In the end, 28 resolutions and three decisions were adopted to guide the upcoming work of WHO and to address priority global health issues.
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Posted: May 13th, 2011, 4:00am CDT
13 May 2011 -- According to the World Health Statistics 2011, released today by the WHO, an increasing number of countries are facing a double burden of disease. The prevalence of risk factors for chronic diseases is increasing while many countries are still struggling to reduce deaths caused by infectious diseases.
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Posted: May 6th, 2011, 4:00am CDT
6 May 2011 -- Almost 1.3 million people die each year on the world's roads, making this the ninth leading cause of death globally. In addition, road crashes cause between 20 million and 50 million non-fatal injuries every year. As part of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, governments commit to take new steps to save lives on their roads.
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Posted: May 4th, 2011, 12:00pm CDT
4 May 2011 -- WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan met with representatives of the group "Independent WHO" today to listen to their concerns and discuss common interests on radiation and health.
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Posted: April 27th, 2011, 4:00am CDT
27 April 2011 -- Noncommunicable diseases cause billions of lost income every year and at the same time push millions of people into poverty.
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Posted: April 17th, 2011, 7:50am CDT
17 April 2011 -- After a week of negotiations continued through Friday night and into Saturday morning, an open-ended working-group meeting of Member States successfully agreed upon a framework to ensure that in a pandemic, influenza virus samples will be shared with partners who need the information to take steps to protect public health.
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Posted: April 13th, 2011, 7:01pm CDT
14 April 2011 -- Some 2.6 million stillbirths occurred worldwide in 2009, according to the first comprehensive set of estimates published today in a special series of The Lancet medical journal.
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Posted: April 6th, 2011, 10:00am CDT
7 April 2011 -- Drug resistance costs vast amounts of money, and affects vast numbers of lives. The trends are clear and ominous. No action today means no cure tomorrow. At a time of multiple calamities in the world, we cannot allow the loss of essential medicines – essential cures for many millions of people – to become the next global crisis.
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Posted: April 6th, 2011, 4:31am CDT
6 April 2011 -- Drug resistance is becoming more severe and many infections are no longer easily cured, leading to prolonged and expensive treatment and greater risk of death, warns the WHO on World Health Day. Under the theme "Combat Drug Resistance", WHO calls for urgent and concerted action by governments, health professionals, industry and civil society and patients to slow down the spread of drug resistance, limit its impact today and preserve medical advances for future generations.
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Posted: April 4th, 2011, 3:00am CDT
4 April 2011 -- A study published today in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization calls for treatment that could significantly reduce the number of people on medication while preventing a similar number of heart attacks and strokes.
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Posted: March 23rd, 2011, 10:00am CDT
23 March 2011 -- FAO, IAEA and WHO are mobilizing their knowledge and expertise in support of the Japanese government's ongoing efforts to address food safety issues stemming from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear emergency.
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Posted: March 23rd, 2011, 4:50am CDT
23 March 2011 - On World TB Day, world leaders are called upon to step up their commitment and contributions to meet the goal of diagnosing and treating one million people with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis between 2011 and 2015.
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Posted: March 21st, 2011, 3:00am CDT
21 March 2011 -- Over eight million children under five die every year from causes like pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria. An estimated 1 000 women die every day due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Most of these deaths occur in developing countries and could be prevented if the right medicines are available and used correctly.
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Posted: March 8th, 2011, 3:00am CST
8 March 2011 -- On the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, WHO celebrates the many advances that have improved the health of women and girls, but points to major challenges ahead.
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Posted: February 11th, 2011, 6:50am CST
11 February 2011 -- More needs to be done to reduce the loss of life and suffering associated with harmful alcohol use. The Global status report on alcohol and health, published today, analyses available evidence on alcohol consumption, at global, regional and national levels.
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Posted: February 4th, 2011, 12:00am CST
4 February 2011 -- Just 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week can reduce the risk of breast and colon cancers.