A new ICRC/Norwegian Red Cross policy brief "Making Adaptation Work" presents how the humanitarian consequences of environmental degradation and climate change are aggravated by armed conflict in the Near and Middle East, and which adaptation approaches are emerging to face the compounding impact using examples from Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
An improperly mixed or possibly sabotaged measles vaccine has killed as many as 50 children in insurgent-held areas of northwestern Syria, volunteer medical organizations and physicians reported Wednesday, forcing the suspension of a large-scale United Nations vaccination campaign intended to stop the spread of measles, rubella and polio. The victims, …
Genes From Wild Plants In Region Vital For Crops Millions of people could in future face starvation as an indirect result of the violent turmoil in the Middle East, which has the highest concentration of wild crop plants needed to produce new food varieties, scientists said. Civil wars raging in …
The United Nations expressed concern about the possible spread of polio in the war-ravaged countries of Syria and Iraq and beyond on Tuesday despite the biggest vaccination campaign undertaken in the history of the Middle East. A report by the World Health Organization and Unicef said that 36 children had …
Security analysts in London and Baghdad say control of rivers and dams has become a major tactical weapon for Isis The outcome of the Iraq and Syrian conflicts may rest on who controls the region’s dwindling water supplies, say security analysts in London and Baghdad. Rivers, canals, dams, sewage and …
The FAO Food Price Index was down for a third consecutive month in June, a decline mostly influenced by lower wheat, maize and palm oil prices that reflected ample supplies and improved global production prospects for these commodities. According to the FAO Crop Prospects and Food Situation report, the outlook …
Findings show cancer is an important problem in refugee settings and highlight the challenges and costs that health systems face when overwhelmed by massive influxes of refugees A study published in the Lancet Oncology journal reveals a high demand for costly cancer treatment among refugees from the recent conflicts in …
Following the update of 28 March 2014 on concerns about drought conditions in the Syrian Arab Republic, FAO has been closely monitoring the situation in cooperation with national authorities. Analysis based on satellite imagery together with field reports indicate that vast areas in the northwest of the country received well …
Pakistan’s failure to stem the spread of polio triggered global emergency health measures on Monday, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommending all residents must show proof of vaccination before they can leave the country. The emergency measures also apply to Syria and Cameroon, which along with Pakistan are seen …
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the spread of polio is an international public health emergency. Outbreaks in Asia, Africa and Middle East are an "extraordinary event" needing a co-ordinated "international response", the agency says. It recommends citizens of affected countries travelling abroad carry a vaccination certificate. It says …
The World Health Organization has declared its South East Asia region polio-free. The certification is being hailed a "historic milestone" in the global fight to eradicate the deadly virus. It comes after India officially recorded three years without a new case of polio. The announcement means 80% of the world …
New Regulation For Visitors To & From Polio-Endemic Nations Pune: India has made oral polio vaccine (OPV) mandatory for all travellers across all age groups visiting polioendemic countries such as Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Syria, Kenya, Somalia, Nigeria and Pakistan. The new regulation, which came into effect from March 1, is aimed …
The Middle East's driest winter in several decades could pose a threat to global food prices, with local crops depleted and farmers' livelihoods blighted, U.N. experts and climatologists say. Varying degrees of drought are hitting almost two thirds of the limited arable land across Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian territories …
102 vaccination posts have been set up along international borders in the wake of outbreak in Syria All States with international borders have been put on alert to reduce the risk of importation of poliovirus from neighbouring countries in the wake of a polio outbreak in Syria. As many as …
WHO has confi rmed an outbreak of at least ten cases of polio in Syria, where vaccination coverage has dramatically decreased during the civil war. Furthermore, wild-type poliovirus 1 (WPV1) has been isolated from sewage and faeces from asymptomatic carriers in Israel since February, 2013. Tourists and travellers could bring …
At least 22 people are suspected of having polio in Syria, the first outbreak of the crippling viral disease in 14 years, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday. Most of those stricken with acute flaccid paralysis, a symptom of diseases including polio, in Deir al-Zor province are children …
Melbourne made it three years in a row as the world’s most livable city while Dhaka was only saved by Damascus, the war-torn capital of Syria, to be placed at the bottom of the list, according to the 2013 Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Livability Survey. The top cities and …
Typhoid has broken out in an opposition-held region of Syria due to people drinking contaminated water from the Euphrates River, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. An estimated 2,500 people in northeastern Deir al-Zor province are infected with the contagious disease, which causes diarrhoea and can be fatal, …
The drought parching the United States is one of the worst in the nation's history, but it hasn't been as destructive as the drought that may have withered ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom. Pollen and charcoal buried in the Nile Delta 4,200 years ago tell the tale of a drought of …
Many species in some of the most remote vestiges of Britain's overseas territories face extinction unless a government plan to protect them sets out clearly defined preservation targets, according to wildlife experts. A newly unveiled government white paper pledges to "cherish the environment" in its 14 overseas territories, which include …
