World Health Organization

MOH, WHO and EU partner to boost access to medicinal oxygen in Vanuatu

The oxygen plant has the capacity to produce over 500,000 litres of medicinal oxygen within 24 hours, able to fill a total of 74 6800-litre oxygen cylinders.

This means that in a day, approximately 25 critical COVID-19 patients can be supported with non-stop medicinal oxygen.

The oxygen plant was inaugurated in a ceremonial handover led by the Minister of Health, Rick Tchamako Mahe, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union for the Pacific, Sujiro Seam, and WHO Vanuatu Country Officer-in-Charge Dr. Philippe Guyant yesterday.

Helen Clark to head WHO panel to review handling of Covid-19 pandemic

The announcement follows strong criticism by US President Donald Trump's administration, which accused the WHO of being "China-centric", and US formal notification on Tuesday that it was withdrawing from the UN agency in a year's time.

Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf have agreed to head the panel, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Coronavirus declared global health emergency by WHO

"The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The concern is that it could spread to countries with weaker health systems.

The death toll now stands at 170 people in China.

The WHO said there had been 98 cases in 18 countries outside of the country, but no deaths.

Most cases have emerged in people who have travelled from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began.

Pacific health chiefs meet in Rarotonga

The World Health Organisation says the biennial meeting is an opportunity to develop a unified view of NCDs as a development priority rather than a health concern.

The WHO said Pacific Island countries are struggling to cope with NCDs, including childhood obesity and diabetes, which it says are a burden on health systems and Pacific economies.

It said the causes of NCDs are diverse, therefore, the solutions must be multi-sectoral.

Developing the Pacific's health workforce will also be brought to the attention of ministers.

Polluted environments kill 1.7 million children each year, WHO says

The causes include unsafe water, lack of sanitation, poor hygiene practices and indoor and outdoor pollution, as well as injuries.

The new numbers equate to these pollutants being the cause of one in four deaths of children 1 month to 5 years old.

One new report highlights that the most common causes of child death are preventable through interventions already available to the communities most affected. These causes are diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia, which can be prevented using insecticide-treated bed nets, clean cooking fuels and improved access to clean water.

WHO says travellers could be spreading dengue in the Pacific

In the Solomon Islands more than 10-thousand dengue fever cases have been confirmed since an outbreak last August, Vanuatu has had more than 1700 since November, and New Caledonia has had more than 1-thousand cases since September.

WHO surveillance officer Viema Biaukula said many of the outbreaks had been identified as dengue serotype 2 which she said was likely being spread by travel.

Zika shrinks mice testicles, damaging fertility

Not only did male mice infected with the Zika virus have a tougher time getting females pregnant, their levels of sex hormones crashed, and their testicles shrunk by 90%, possibly permanently, according to new researchby the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Of course, these are mice, not men.

HIV effort let down by test shortages, says WHO

They looked at responses to annual surveys that the WHO had sent to 127 countries between 2012 and 2014 asking about capacity and usage of blood tests that check HIV status and health.

They found worrying gaps in provision.

They warn that United Nation targets for HIV could be missed as a result.

Nigeria revels in removal from list of polio-endemic nations

Polio which can cause life-long paralysis can be prevented with a simple vaccination.

Polio is no longer endemic in Nigeria, the World Health Organization said late Friday, leaving only Pakistan and its war-battered neighbor Afghanistan in the list of countries where the disease is prevalent.

UN official: Ebola epidemic could be defeated by end of 2015

Dr. Margaret Chan told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that there have been no new cases in Liberia, and only three new cases in Sierra Leone and Guinea, in each of the last two weeks, the lowest numbers in well over a year.

She says fears that the Ebola virus could be permanently established in humans in the region have also been defeated, which is "very good news."

But Chan also cautions against "a false sense of security."