Tag: WHO

World Health Organisation announces global resurgence of cholera, as 1,900 die from disease

Aminu Imam
WHO on cholera

The World Health Organisation, (WHO), has announced a rapid rise in cholera in several regions of the world, with almost 195,000 cases and over 1,900 deaths reported in 24 countries since the start of this year. WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean region reported the highest number of cases, followed by the African Region, the Region of the Americas, the Southeast Asia Region, and the European Region. The organisation, in an issued statement on Thursday, stated that there are no reported cases in the Western Region, according to its bulletin released on Wednesday.…

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Malaria: WHO says Benin, Liberia, Sierra Leone roll out vaccine

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir
malaria AND MOSQUITOE

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the Republic of Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone have launched a large-scale rollout of the life-saving malaria vaccine targeting millions of children across the three West African nations. WHO said this in a statement as the world celebrates the 17th World Malaria Day with theme: “Advancing health equity, gender equality and human rights,”. The world health body said that the vaccine rollout, announced on World Malaria Day, seeks to further scale up vaccine deployment in the African region. “Today’s launch brings to eight the number of…

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Protecting youngsters from smoking; WHO bans act, vaping in schools

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released two new publications, “Freedom from tobacco and nicotine: guide for schools,” and “Nicotine- and tobacco-free school toolkit” to help protect children’s health. WHO made this known in a statement on Tuesday. It said that tobacco industry relentlessly targeted young people with tobacco and nicotine products resulting in e-cigarette use increasing, with nine out of 10 smokers starting before the age of 18. The statement said that the products have also been made more affordable for young people through the sale of single-use cigarettes…

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Diptheria: 11,000 suspected cases raises need for urgent vaccination in Nigeria

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare says it is aware of the mounting concern regarding the recent Diphtheria outbreak across several states with over 11,000 suspected case. The ministry gave the assurance that urgent vaccination efforts were underway. The Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, gave the assurance in an interview on Monday in Abuja. He said that since the confirmation of the re-emergence of diphtheria, the Federal Government had continued to respond to the outbreaks across different states. According to…

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Diphtheria: WHO says Nigeria facing second wave of outbreak

Aminu Imam

The World Health Organisation, (WHO), says Nigeria is currently facing a second wave of the diphtheria outbreak. Diphtheria is a bacterial infection caused by the corynebacterium species, which affects the nose, throat, and sometimes, skin of an individual. Some symptoms of diphtheria include fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough, red eyes, neck swelling, and difficulty in breathing. In a statement issued on Thursday, the health body said there has been an increase in Nigeria’s affected population with a rise in the number of confirmed cases and related deaths. The report…

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51 cases of new polio variant recorded in Nigeria – WHO

Aminu Imam

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said 51 new cases of Circulating Variant Polio Virus (cVPV2) have been detected in Nigeria from January to August 13 this year. WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Walter Mulombo disclosed this during a strategic meeting in Kaduna State organised by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in collaboration with the Sultan Foundation for traditional leaders of inaccessible communities in the North-West zone. According to him, while the disease has been detected in 15 local government areas across the country, 47 of the…

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Deadly virus reportedly sweeping through Europe, Africa and Middle-East – WHO

Aminu Imam

A deadly virus is reportedly spreading across Europe, Africa and the Middle-East and is feared to soon become the biggest threat to the public. The virus, which has been identified as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), broke out in Iraq and Namibia, and there have been cases in Spain as well as deaths recorded in Pakistan. An urgent health warning has already been issued in what has been described as the current biggest threat to public health and is feared to be accelerated by climate change. According to the World Health…

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WHO declares monkey pox an international public health emergency

Aminu Imam

The World Health Organisation, (WHO), yesterday declared monkey pox a public health emergency of international concern, a designation reserved for the most serious global disease outbreaks. That puts monkey pox on the same list as six other outbreaks with the same WHO label since 2007: Covid-19, Zika, H1N1 flu, polio and Ebola, which has been designated an emergency twice. WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, made the decision to issue the declaration despite a lack of consensus among experts serving on the U.N. health agency’s emergency committee. It was the first…

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WHO confirms 3rd Ebola case in northwest Congo

Abdul-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

Health authorities have confirmed a third Ebola case in the city of Mbandaka in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. The 48-year-old man is a high-risk contact of the first patient, who died on April 21, said the WHO on Twitter. The current outbreak is Congo’s 14th in the history of the hemorrhagic fever. Health workers started Ebola vaccinations last week in Mbandaka, the capital of Congo’s Equateur province. Responders have identified 444 contacts of the confirmed cases and are monitoring their health,…

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WHO endorses ‘groundbreaking’ malaria vaccine for Africa

Aminu Imam

The World Health Organisation, (WHO), says the only approved vaccine against malaria should be widely given to African children, potentially marking a major advance against a disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people annually. According to Reuters, the WHO recommendation is for RTSS – or Mosquirix – a vaccine developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L). Since 2019, 2.3 million doses of Mosquirix have been administered to infants in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi in a large-scale pilot programme coordinated by the WHO. The majority of those whom the disease kills…

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