Rwanda begins vaccinating against Ebola at border with Congo
Rwanda on Sunday started a voluntary Ebola vaccination program at its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly virus from its neighbor. All countries in high-risk areas, even if not hit by Ebola, had been ...
WHO slams 'collective failure' as measles killed 140,000, mostly kids, in 2018
Measles infected nearly 10 million people in 2018 and killed 140,000, mostly children, as devastating outbreaks of the viral disease hit every region of the world, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. In figures described by its director general as "an outrage," the WHO ...
Rebel attacks in eastern Congo kill at least four Ebola responders, prompting outcry
Rebels killed four Ebola response workers in an overnight ambush in eastern Congo, the World Health Organization said Thursday, warning that the attack will give the waning outbreak new momentum in what has been called a war zone. "We are heartbroken that our worst fears ...
Samoa measles death toll rises to 37 amid anti-vax push: WHO
A measles epidemic raging in Samoa has killed 37 people, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, blaming an anti-vaccine messaging campaign for leaving the Pacific island nation vulnerable to the spread of the virus. The U.N. health agency warned that a steep decline in vaccination ...
Ebola responders on 'lockdown' after Congo city's unrest, trashing of U.N. peacekeeping facility
Ebola responders are on lockdown in the eastern Congo city of Beni after angry residents attacked a United Nations base to protest repeated rebel assaults, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. At least four protesters were killed, a local official said. Every day that health ...
More polio cases now caused by vaccine than by wild virus: WHO
Four African countries have reported new cases of polio linked to the oral vaccine, as global health numbers show there are now more children being paralyzed by viruses originating in vaccines than in the wild. In a report late last week, the World Health Organization ...
U.N. to test impact of mosquito sterilization on disease spread
The U.N. said Thursday it was preparing to test a sterilization technique targeting mosquitoes that could help rein in the spread of a range of devastating diseases such as dengue and Zika. A form of insect "birth control," called Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), has been ...
Vaping and chemicals in e-cigarettes may damage the heart, study says
Vaping devices and the chemicals they deliver — increasingly popular among teens — may damage the cardiovascular system, a study said Thursday, adding to a growing chorus of concern over injury and deaths related to e-cigarettes. The latest findings, published in the journal Cardiovascular Research, ...
At tobacco industry forum, panic sets in over possible e-cigarette ban
While most of Washington is gripped by the impeachment storm swirling around Donald Trump, a few blocks up Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, hundreds of executives are pondering another potential presidential upheaval. Trump has floated the possibility of soon banning flavored e-cigarette products — ...
India announced on Wednesday a ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes, as a backlash gathers pace worldwide about a technology promoted as less harmful than smoking tobacco. The announcement by India came a day after New York became the second U.S. state to ban ...
The world faces a mounting threat of pandemics that could kill millions and wreak economic havoc, a international expert panel warns, saying governments should work to mitigate that risk. The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, convened by the World Bank and the World Health Organization, said ...
Nearly 800,000 people commit suicide each year — more than those killed by war and homicide or breast cancer, the World Health Organization said Monday, urging action to avert the tragedies. In a fresh report, the U.N. health agency said that the global suicide rate ...
