WHO published its World health statistics report 2025, revealing the deeper health impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on loss of lives, longevity and overall health and well-being. In just two years, between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years—the largest drop in recent history— reversing a …
We are shocked and dismayed that The Lancet should have published the paper on the protective efficacy of monovalent oral type 1 poliovirus vaccine by Nicholas Grassly and colleagues (April 21, p 1356),1 having overlooked the serious ethical issues. (Correspondence) involved.
On July 1, England joins the growing list of countries that have introduced laws to protect the public and employees from the harmful eff ects of passive smoking. From July 1, smoking in almost all enclosed public or work places will be illegal, with fines for smokers who break the …
In a firm step towards checking tobacco use, on May 29 the who issued its strongest policy recommendations. It urged all countries to ban smoking at indoor workplaces and public buildings. It asked governments to immediately pass laws requiring all indoor workplaces and public places to be 100 per cent …
indonesia has agreed to share h5n1 avian influenza virus samples with who. This step comes after a high-level technical meeting was conducted in Jakarta on March 26-27, which discussed responsible practices for sharing avian influenza viruses for research and their benefits. This issue will be further discussed at the forthcoming …
If all this while you have been fretting about saturated fats and lipo-I proteins, here is one more health I scare: trans fats. These are the I cheap, chemically-treated fats the food industry loves, but our hearts and blood vessels don't. They lurk un recognized in all those snacks and …
In October 2006, the World Health Organisation (who) released new guidelines challenging governments around the world to improve air quality in their cities. The recommended limits of pm10, ozone and sulphur dioxide have been substantial lowered. The prescribed standards are far tougher than the those in vogue in many parts …
Following the diagnosis of four cases of yellow fever in Ivory Coast, who has called for an immediate vaccination programme in the country. According to who, about 20 per cent of the population is likely to get the disease, with half of them dying, if there is a yellow fever …
Who is now pushing for the use of pesticide ddt ( dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane ) in its malaria control programme , which the industrialised countries like the us banned 30 years back. Following the recommendation, meant particularly to target developing countries like Africa, the us government has said it is prepared to …
The South African government has put its health officials on high alert after an outbreak of xdr tb (extremely drug resistant tuberculosis). According to a who report, the disease is virtually untreatable with currently available drugs. In a recent case, doctors at a Johannesburg hospital had to seek a court …
The World Bank has come up with a Global Strategy and Booster Program for the years 2005-2010 to control malaria. But Amir Attaran of the Institute of Population Health and Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Canada, has argued in The Lancet that the bank does not have the expertise …
greenpeace International, a pressure group, has called a recent report by the World Health Organization (who) on the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident a gross underestimation. who had predicted that the accident would cause 9,000 cancer deaths. But Greenpeace quoted data from the Belarus national cancer statistics to say Chernobyl could …
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar frustrate India's efforts at polio eradication after a missed WHO deadline. LAST year the country recorded the least number of cases of the wild polio virus (WPV): 66 cases in 35 districts nationwide, the majority of which are in two pockets in Western Uttar Pradesh and …
regular exposure to lead dust and fumes reduces sperm density, motility and viability and lowers semen volume causing infertility among workers of lead acid battery factories, claim researchers at Kolkata's Regional Occupational Health Centre and Jadavpur University. "Sophisticated imaging techniques like scanning electron microscopy uncovered sharp depressions, membrane folding and …
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a combination therapy to ensure that Plasmodium falciparum, the malaria parasite, does not develop resistance against the drug artemisinin. This is the only drug effective against falciparum malaria at present. WHO's malaria department has also asked pharmaceutical companies to stop marketing single-drug tablets. …
Agenetic mutation of h5 n1, the bird flu virus, caused the death of two people in Turkey in early January, according to a collaborating institute of the World Health Organization (who). uk's National Institute for Medical Research in London, which conducted an analysis of the virus, said genetic mutations could …
The technology for developing new vaccines and the research that goes into it is becoming increasingly sophisticated and dependent upon an enormous corpus of funds to get off the blocks. This is raising important issues relating to pricing, access and international equity. Take the flu vaccine
The New England Journal of Medicine recently found that four patients died in spite of being treated with Tamiflu. Of the four, two had developed resistance to the drug and the other two might have been treated late. The report suggests the ideal doses may not be sufficient since inadequate …
