In a joint effort to provide essential medicines at affordable prices, the World Health Organization and Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis have agreed to provide developing countries with a new treatment for drug resistant malaria. The drug, co-developed by Novartis, will serve as a powerful tool against an illness that afflicts over 300 million people and kills more than one million each year.
Equity in Health
WHO AND NOVARTIS JOIN FORCES TO COMBAT DRUG RESISTANT MALARIA
WHO AND TOP PUBLISHERS ANNOUNCE BREAKTHROUGH ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES' ACCESS TO LEADING BIOMEDICAL JOURNALS
The World Health Organization and the world's six biggest medical journal publishers today announce a new initiative which will enable close to 100 developing countries to gain access to vital scientific information that they otherwise could not afford. The arrangement agreed to by the six publishers would allow almost 1000 of the world's leading medical and scientific journals to become available through the Internet to medical schools and research institutions in developing countries for free or at deeply-reduced rates.
WHO and UNAIDS still support the use of nevirapine, despite 'Irregularities' On Kampala Trials
Despite flaws in documentation and reporting in clinical trials of HIVNET 012 found by the United States' National Institute for Health, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS say they will still back prevention of mother to child transmission with the use of Nevirapine.
WHO Announces Details of 3 by 5 plan
The World Health Organisation as part of its World AIDS Day activities announced details of its "three by five" HIV/AIDS plan, which aims to treat three million HIV-positive people with antiretroviral drugs by 2005, the Washington Post reports.
WHO called to return to Alma-Ata Declaration
World Health Organisation
At the 59th World Health Assembly, Dr Serag challenged WHO to return to the principles of the Alma Ata Declaration in "Managing the Politics of Equity and Social Determinants of Health". The briefing drew sharper focus on the necessity of major health stakeholders to step up action on the social causes of ill-health. High-level policy makers, civil society members and WHO staff attended the briefing, proclaimed as a "historical moment" by a floor delegate. Among the attendees was Dr Halfdan Mahler considered to be the father of the Alma Ata Declaration and former WHO Director-General from 1973 to 1988.
WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health: Final reports of the Knowledge Networks
WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH)
The Knowledge Networks of the Commission in different regions have completed their reports. These reports will inform the Commission's interim statement to be published later this year for broader consultation. They are available on the Commission website and cover areas of Early childhood development; Globalisation; Health Systems; Employment; Women and Gender equity; Urban Settings and Measurement and Evidence.
WHO D-G focuses on impact of climate change on health on World Health Day
World Health Organisation, 7 April 2008
Climate-sensitive impacts on human health are occurring today, attacking the pillars of public health and providing a glimpse of the challenges public health will have to confront on a large scale, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan warned during World Health Day. She said although climate change is a global phenomenon, its consequences will not be evenly distributed. Climate change can affect problems that are already huge, largely concentrated in the developing world, and difficult to control.
WHO declares flu pandemic over, experts behind response are revealed
Mara K: Intellectual Property Watch, 10 August 2010
The pandemic threat of the H1N1 or ‘swine flu’ virus has now passed, according to World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Margaret Chan. The virus has largely run its course, said Chan, though she added that WHO continues to recommend the use of remaining pandemic vaccines as their efficacy has not decreased. The announced closing of the pandemic period means that the names of the WHO’s Emergency Committee, which decided when to declare the pandemic and when it could be considered ended, are now public. This new information should help answer some of the more critical questions being asked about WHO’s influenza response, such as whether conflicts of interest within the body’s expert advisory group led to an exaggeration of the risks of the H1N1 virus.
WHO defends itself against Lancet article
An editorial in the August 7 issue of The Lancet painted a bleak picture of the work of WHO in the African Region, giving the impression that WHO is not recording any successes there. In fact, despite the challenges of poverty and ongoing instability, the opposite is true. For example, in spite of recent political difficulties, the number of polio-endemic countries in the African Region has fallen from 20 in 1999 to just two today. Huge efforts are underway to eliminate the disease completely.
who dg pledges help in hiv/aids battle
Dr. Jong-Wook Lee, the newly elected director general of the World Health Organisation, said that he would make combating HIV/AIDS in the developing world a major priority, the Boston Globe reports. Lee said that he would fulfill the WHO's promise to provide three million HIV-positive people in resource-poor countries with antiretroviral drugs by 2005.