Gender-based violence in emergencies highlighted on International Women’s Day 2018
6 March 2018 – This year, International Women’s Day, celebrated every year on 8 March, comes at a time when many countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region are severely affected by humanitarian and emergency situations, with adverse implications for the prevalence and consequences of various forms of gender-based violence, including domestic...
Nursing Now campaign: empowering nurses to improve global health
27 February 2018 – As part of efforts to improve global health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Council of Nurses are supporting the Nursing Now campaign – a 3-year global health initiative of the Burdett Trust for Nursing that will be launched in February 2018. The campaign, which continues until the end of 2020, aims to raise...
WHO calls for sustainable solution to health sector power shortages in Gaza
8 February, 2018, Gaza Strip – Gaza’s health sector was on the verge of collapse due to dwindling fuel supplies until the United Arab Emirates stepped in this week with a US$2 million grant to sustain hospital backup generators for critical health services. The donation will provide enough fuel to keep facilities running for several months. “The...
World Cancer Day 2018: “We can. I can” meet the challenge
Credit: World Cancer Day Campaign Material by Union for International Cancer Control 4 February 2018, Cairo – The world celebrates World Cancer Day on 4 February each year. This year’s theme “‘We can. I can” is a continuation of a 3-year campaign that explores, highlights and provides guidance on how everyone – together or individually – can help reduce...
High levels of antibiotic resistance found worldwide, new data show
BANGKOK / 29 January 2018 – The World Health Organization’s first release of surveillance data on antibiotic resistance reveals high levels of resistance to a number of serious bacterial infections in both high- and low-income countries. WHO’s new Global Antimicrobial Surveillance System (known as GLASS) reveals widespread occurrence of...
A new tool developed by WHO and academic partners supports systematic use of research evidence from qualitative studies for public health decision-making and guideline development
Cairo, 25 January 2018 - As a result of collaborative work between the World Health Organization (WHO) and several academic institutions, an important tool has been developed to streamline use of qualitative research evidence in public health decision-making. A series of academic papers published in the Implementation Science journal this week...
Universal Health Coverage Day: ensuring the right to health, leaving no one behind
13 December 2017, Cairo ‒ At least 3.5 billion people, or half of the world’s population, cannot obtain essential health services and each year, larger numbers of households are being pushed into poverty because they have to pay for health care out of their own pockets a new report from the World Health Organization and World Bank has revealed....
World AIDS Day 2017: HIV is treatable, test for HIV
HIV testing in countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region is available mostly through public health facilities and nongovernmental organizations. Encouragingly, community-based testing programmes are operating in an increasing number in some countries.30 November 2017 – The focus of World AIDS Day 2017 is to advocate for HIV testing with the aim...
Islamic Advisory Group launches training manual on polio eradication, mother and child health and immunization
Muslim leaders urge parents to vaccinate their children The Islamic Advisory Group convened the fourth annual IAG meeting on polio eradication in Al Azhar Al Sharif on 22 November 2017Credit: WHO Mona YassinCairo, 22 November – The Islamic Advisory Group for Polio Eradication (IAG) today launched a new training manual for students of religious...
WHO gravely concerned by deteriorating situation in eastern Ghouta, Syrian Arab Republic
22 November 2017, Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic – Seven people have been killed and 42 people injured in Damascus city and surrounding areas in recent days. In eastern Ghouta, Rural Damascus, local health authorities report that during a 4-day period alone from 14 to 17 November, 84 people were killed, including 17 children and 6 women; and 659...
