World Health Organization News Feed
The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding underpin the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative, which both organizations launched in 1991. The practical guidance encourages new mothers to breastfeed and informs health workers how best to support breastfeeding. According to reports from Health Cluster partners, during the shelling of Douma on Saturday, an estimated 500 patients presented to health facilities exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals. In particular, there were signs of severe irritation of mucous membranes, respiratory failure and disruption to central nervous systems of those exposed. The commitment is part of the Eliminate Yellow fever Epidemics (EYE) in Africa strategy, which was launched by Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, Professor Isaac Folorunso Adewole, Nigeria’s Minister of Health and partners at a regional meeting in Abuja, Nigeria on Tuesday (10 April). This year, World Health Day is dedicated to one of WHO’s founding principles: “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.” Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland announced contributions ranging from US$20,000 to US$5.6 million at a conference hosted at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday (March 26) – increasing CFE funding levels to US$23 million. I sincerely regret not being able to join you this week to take part in your discussions. However, I know that several members of my senior leadership team will be joining some sessions. I have asked them to brief me on your deliberations and meeting outcomes. Attacks on the health sector have continued at an alarming level in the past year. The 67 verified attacks on health facilities, workers, and infrastructure recorded during the first two months of 2018 amount to more than 50% of verified attacks in all of 2017. We agree that if we are to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, including its health targets, we need to vigorously address the world drug problem with a greater focus on the health and well-being of people. We need a balanced, comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach that puts people at the centre of the response and in particular those who are the most vulnerable. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is the “Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives”; and today is a good day for each and every one of us to speak-up for gender equality and women’s rights. The WHO Independent High-level Commission on NCDs is co-chaired by President Tabaré Vázquez of Uruguay; President Maithripala Sirisena of Sri Lanka; President Sauli Niinistö of Finland; Veronika Skvortsova, Minister of Healthcare of the Russian Federation; and Sania Nishtar, former Federal Minister of Pakistan. Rare diseases present fundamentally different challenges from those of more common diseases, especially for diagnosis. The small number of patients, the logistics involved in reaching widely dispersed patients, the lack of validated biomarkers and surrogate end-points, and the lack clinical expertise and expert centres all present significant barriers. Worldwide, an estimated 140 million births take place every year. Most of these occur without complications for women and their babies. Yet, over the past 20 years, practitioners have increased the use of interventions that were previously only used to avoid risks or treat complications, such as oxytocin infusion to speed up labour or caesarean sections. |